Painting Camo on a long gun

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    pleasant1911

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 12, 2012
    10,343
    I want to paint my AR15. Search online and it shows helpful how-to-dos. I would be doing it with spray paint. I dont have access to a sand blaster. My questions are:

    Is it easy as just painting a base coat, and then painting coats on top of them?

    Can I/do I use steel wool or wet sandpaper to prep the lower and upper for the base coat so it sticks better?

    If I paint the stock, which is plastic, will it be okay?

    and finally, does it make it the texture feel "painted"?
     
    Fox123

    Fox123

    Ultimate Member
    May 21, 2012
    3,931
    Rosedale, MD
    Sorry for crappy pic I'll snap more if interested later, this was all I had on the cell phone.


    I did mine with the krylon camo rattle cans. Base coat of FDE, 4-5 inch diagonal stripes of ODG spaced approx 4-5 inches apart, then using sea sponge dabbed in the FDE blotched that on the ODG, repeated with dabbing the sponge in ODG and blotched that on the FDE stripes. Then repeated that process with blotches of black and brown over the whole thing. Finished it all off with 2 coats of flat clear. Comes out like a faux digital camo.
     

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    Fox123

    Fox123

    Ultimate Member
    May 21, 2012
    3,931
    Rosedale, MD
    I roughed the surface with scotch bright pad, could do a primer if worried about it.

    The couple coats of matte clear lets you steel wool afterwards to smooth out the surface, the good thing about spray paint... If it does get scuffed, just paint over it again..... You wouldn't be spray painting a trophy rack gun anyway.
     
    friendlyhippo

    friendlyhippo

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    May 7, 2015
    592
    Glen Burnout
    you don't need to blast it, or sand it, or scuff it, or any of that nonsense. it's krylon. the wear is what makes it better. ;)

    (or if you're a little girl with feelings and emotions, i suppose you can put clear coat over top of it....but seriously, it's krylon. if it wears, just paint over the worn spot and drive on)

    seriously. spray it and go. don't think too hard.

    get a laundry bag from wal-mart for the diamond-pattern stuff too. :)


    Here's a link to 47 pages of inspiration.
     
    P

    pleasant1911

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 12, 2012
    10,343
    It looks like it turned out good. How did you prep b4 painting? How does the gun feel? Does it feel coats of spray paint? Thx
     
    outrider58

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    50,029
    Did mine with Duracoat. No sanding or anything like that. Just degrease the hell out of it. Once you do that, never touch it with bare hands or you'll have to start all over again. And yes, Duracoat comes in cans if you don't have an air brush.
     
    Bolts Rock

    Bolts Rock

    Living in Free America!
    Apr 8, 2012
    6,123
    Northern Alabama
    Degrease with 90% isopropyl alcohol on the metal and plastic and you're good to go. Krylon has chemical resistance issues so I'd use Rustoleum and you can also use Tamiya model spray paint. Better color selection in both of those lines as well. Use flat, matte or satin then flat coat.
     
    Last edited:
    outrider58

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    50,029
    Bolts Rock said:
    Degrease with 90% isopropyl alcohol on the metal and plastic and you're good to go. Krylon as chemical resistance issues so I'd use Rustoleum and you can also use Tamiya model spray paint. Better color selection in both of those lines as well. Use flat, matte or satin the flat coat.
    Click to expand...

    Skip that. Go to Homeless Despot and buy a can of Paslode degreaser/cleaner. Then go to Duracoat for further instructions.
     
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