I did watch a acrylic 
weathering job vid last night, thought might be bit over the top. But eh more info for the man might be of use, I’ll go find it. Looked pretty cool, on a tank model. Still more tools in the box…
oops not acrylic…
Make Your Models POP! Easy Beginner Weathering Tutorial for a Pinwash on Model Tanks
Hmmm…
Maybe baby poo brown, is closer to the mark…
Here is my HCG Hero…(albit under night lights)
The smaller spatula mark, in closer, is the lacquer…
Full shot, body shot…
under crap night lighting.
I’m still keen to see what dark gunmetal grey looks like, on the barrel/vents/ stock…a near black colour, but just off…
Looks to me a in between the two would be it.
I did read this… A quick PSA about different types of paint on ABS : r/Gunpla
But I don’t understand as I use lacquer on ABS plastic fine. Fk’d if I know… I just spray and pray 
Let’s see what the light of day brings 2morrow…
80% lacquer…20% acrylic…
Let’s call it Lacqurylic…!!
Or Acyl-Lacquer…
Which sounds like…
Accer-Dacker…!!
You’ve been…thunderstruck.!!!
For your dark gunmetal, you could always do what I did to my KELe Peacemaker and M16. Gunmetal grey Tamiya with a coating of translucent smoke Tamiya to darken it up.
It comes out well, looks metallic too, but not OTT👍
If you look at that M16 photo, the receiver and mag are both Tamiya gunmetal… the mag got a light smoke coating, the receiver got several smoke coats. The more smoke you apply, the darker it gets.
Looks good,worth considering…
How much paint do you need.?
These paints seem to cost around $333 per litre…!!
Does your airgun kit, only consume small quantities.?
I’ve only used larger airguns, for painting fences etc…
That might be TS38 I used on my Clodbuster.
One 100ml can would do it with a few coats.
Bingo, Maiphut… TS38 it is indeed. 
And yeah, one $12 can goes a long way… certainly enough to do the PR bits. 
And here’s the smoke I use to darken it up… TS71
Ok…
Full daylight shots.
This is the 2008 HCG Hero…probably the most colour accurate…
The smaller dab on the spatula, is lacquer (brown bess bottled)
Different depending on the angle, but reasonably close (assuming this was the reference colour).
The bunnings paint (larger dab) is darker/ browner…
Distance shot…
I could try, getting a bunnings trial pot, from this HCG colour, as its different from the bitsa…
This is the “bitsa”.
Its a cobbled up knock together , i got years ago from the states.
It looks like this guy has done his own custom spray, and made his own brown bess colour. Which i had bunnings do the trial pot yesterday.
It looks to be acrylic, as its old, thin, worn, and faded a bit.
I would happily give these shrouds a trial spray, as it would be an improvement, finish wise…and NOT being a blaster, a easier tear down…
The larger dab, is the bunnings match pot…
The lacquer is not a good match for this one…
The shell on this has a few cracks / repairs, and could do with some TLC…
The Bunnings looks closer to me. The Brown Bess bottled looks too grey/light 
In this light, I’d agree… but it’s hard to compare when the sample of the Bunnings paint is so thick…
It’d look much different thinned out and sprayed on.
To complicate matters…
Went to bunnings with the HCG hero magazine.
Colour matched that, for another acrylic paint sample.
She said it could also be done in a oil based paint…is that more durable.?
Brown is a hard colour to match, and the photos vary on the angle…
You really gotta do it in the flesh.
I got a piece of timber and elcheapo brushes, i’ll do larger samples / equal sizes/ same number of coats, and see how it ends up.
I reckon the “USA bitsa” is a prime candidate for test sprays…the paint on it is already buggered / acrylic and its going to be a simpler tear down for the shrouds…
Test pots are cheap…$12 for 500mls. …!!
No test pots for oil based…$75 per litre.
Stay tuned…
Yikes… I don’t really want to spray oil based paint through my airbrush gun.
she also said its glossy finish, too…
Yellow and brown Tamiya colours are better with an undercoat and many light applications, Grey undercoat will give brown a bit of a greenish tinge
Ok, two coats sample time, on some timber…
Its so hard to see the colour match, you literally twist the stick around , and the colour changes.
Far right is HCG Acrylic trial pot, which is a good match for the HCG PR.
Middle is the Bitsa trial pot, which is a bit “browner”.
Far left is Bottled Blaster brown, acrylic/ lacquer, a bit meh.
I think its just a matter of spray and see, remembering brown bess is a dull muted brown military colour.
Two coats of gunmetal grey , on the stick below…
I’ll give it a try, but maybe going for a Dark black / lighter black combo will work…
Just gotta give it a whirl…
Im not the only person going nuts, trying to figure it out…
Many others have tried…
What, you wanna see it outside.??
Heres a thread on it…
This guy did an awesome job on a nerf blaster…
Very good olive drab.
Black barrel / shrounds, and some very light weathering effects…
You almost overlook the fact is a nerf blaster…
apart from tri barrel, and wide mag…
I’d hazard a guess that the dark shade on the far left is the best match, along with what I believe is missing from your ingredients is a Gold metal flake.
Look online for fine gold flake and give it a mix.
I’m just going off many years of having to try and match Hot Rod paints, where it’s the different colour metal flakes in the base colours that REALLY make the difference.
This is why everyone is having so much trouble colour matching this particular colour, because of the way it reflects light on the various surfaces, it changes colour inside/outside/different angles and under different lighting.
A straight colour doesn’t give that same effect, even though it’s colour matched 100% by a Colour Spectrum Computer, those systems can’t replicate the true colours when viewed from different angles under different lighting conditions.
Use all the closest matching colours that you have already, then try maybe a dark green base coat, followed by a coat of colour mixed with either gold or silver fine metallic fleck for the top coat.
This will take a bit of experimenting, but I know you enjoy it and in my experience, this is exactly what’s missing in the equation for getting this project 100% bang on!
