Thanks to all for the kind remarks. I didn't do this job myself; a local "gun painter" did it. It's neither difficult nor expensive at the margin... but you need to have the proper equipment, including sand blasting cabinet, air brush, curing oven for the heat-cured finishes, and a dust free area for the air-dry finishes. Plus a place to spray paint and make a general mess of things... and time for the labor intensive nature of it, including complete disassembly and reassembly (I did that part myself). That's why professionals charge what they do - they have the equipment/facilities and you don't.
