Get a stick usually a plastic offcut of a model parts tree is what I use. You got to stir it up as well as shaking, thoroughly. The paint settles to the bottom, you really have to stir it to get it all mixed up for best results. Might take 10mins. To get the thinners to mix in. Fine brush might be the way to go here. There is thinners you can add to the paint and mix up if it’s too thick for your purpose.
The thick tip on the marker pen. Bugger, not sure on that one.
i might use the marker pen to create a small ‘blob’ of paint, which i can use the superfine paintbrush to pick up the paint.
Worth a try, on a practise piece of plastic first…
Yep give that a try. 
x12 is acrylic, it won’t mix with Mr Hobby laquer
Yeah, i went back to the hobby store, and got Tamiya acyrlic gloss lacquer…
As well as acyrlic semi-gloss, from another brand.
Ive painted some x-12 strips on some plastic, letting it dry 24 hrs before trying different gloss combo’s…
I think i glossed up too quickly last time…2-3 hrs drying time.
Yes - need Tamiya x22 clear or revell crystal clear
Allow at least 2 days for gold leaf to harden before gloss
If you put clear on the gold before it hardens it looks like yellow
that most likely explains my previous misadventures…!!
Touch dry, is not dry!
Ok…finished the grips…for now.
After my previous misadventure, i trialed combos of different gloss coatings, on the different paints.
My sample tile…Top row is the Mr Hobby pen ( alcohol based, i think)
Bottom row is Tamiya x22 marker pen.
For a start, the mr hobby is a ‘yellower’ gold, and the Tamiya is a stronger gold. Tamiya works better with the grips. I applied 4 different coatings, to the two different types of paint (L-R). The coats were applied to the lower half.
1: Lacquer gloss
2: Mr hobby acqueous
3: Tamiya semi gloss
4: Tamita Gloss
a few findings…
The mr hobby pen was destroyed by all the coatings, except the tamiya gloss. Avoid this pen.
The Tamiya pen handled the coatings better, though the thin bits were eroded by all the coatings.
The tamiya semi gloss give the best finish (least reflective). Also, once the coat is applied, if the paint thins, you can reapply some more semi gloss over the new coat. I’ll let it dry tonight, and see how the coat holds up 2morrow…
Here is the older, touched up grips.
Tamiya gold marker applied, Tamiya semi gloss applied.
The Tamiya marker is thicker, and harder to control, so i got a bit of overrun.
3X dental loupes, were a must.
I applied the semi-gloss with a tiny brush, good for the circumference, but a bit streaky on the main body…
Best of all, the Semi-gloss didnt seem to attack the remenants of the original gold paint…
So, i trepidatiously applied the semi-gloss to the virgin / unmarked grips…
With bated breath, i waited…
Teeny, tiny bit of dissolving…the original paint must be super thin.
I used a wider brush (.5cm) to apply, much more even application over the stars/body. If need be, i can do another application around the circumference, with the tiny brush.
The one coat was fairly thick, i think i’ll leave it at that, and see how it holds up.
Slight yellowing of the gold, but still retains much of the shiny-ness.
MORAL of the Story: Use Tamiya x-22 marker pen to touch up, and Tamiya x-35 semi gloss to coat.
Also…I’m speaking to Tac Edge to see if they can do a ‘personal import’ for the gen2 Barry Burton…
Better grips, cooler moderator, stronger slide and full/semi auto.
Can only ask , and hope…
Good to see you are getting better results with Tamiya paints
Also, for what its worth, the STARS grips, fit perfectly onto a DB M92.
If somebody with one of these could bring in more grips, its one way to make more RE blasters available…
It wouldn’t have the engraved slide, but better than nothing…just dont forget the semi gloss coat, on the emblem…
That looks neat… very cool.
A silver barrel would go a long way…(see gen2 photo above)
Here we go again…!!
You could remove the barrel, and get it coated, i suppose…
Could paint it too …
I thought about silver paint…the slide isn’t in contact with barrel.
But, silver paint, looks a bit cheap and iffy…
The gleaming chrome barrel looks the goods.
Surely it wouldn’t cost too much, to get one coated somewhere…
Good luck. There aren’t many chrome plating places left and they don’t like doing small jobs - like a couple of small car parts. The bike guys might have better contacts
Have a look at metallic paint options. There are a couple of chrome finish paints that retain their shine like VHT plate finish @DocBob. Results depend on preparation
Check out the options for liquid chrome paints… I’ve seen things painted with it and it’s almost indistinguishable from actual chrome plating.
Obviously nowhere near as hard wearing as the real deal, but cosmetically it looks the business.
Clean, dried, and painted.
Lets see what tomorrow brings…
I wish it was easier to get the RE grips in.
They certainly look the goods.
I’m sure they’d sell more DB M92’s, if people could convert them to RE models easily…
Mix and match time.
Here we go again…!
Two tone M92…
No need to go into mind numbing frame / slide / barrel combo’s
It seems like they dont fit.
The DB slide fits onto the WEtech, but the WEtech slide doesn’t fit onto the DB.
At least not easily, and i’m not going to try to force it.
Still, it would be good , if you could get an engraved STARS slide to fit on a DB blaster…
ALSO…Hmmmm…
Closest thing to a M92 Moderator.
Lets see, if it fits onto the DB, as well…
Barry Burton, medincha clone…!! 
A quick spray of matte black rattlecan, to cover the 3d print filament look…
