This is by no means a professional tutorial. This is just the way that I completed this paint job.
List of items
[X] Rustoleum Camo paint
[X] Rustoluem Matte clear
[x] Xacto Knife
[X] Primer
[X] Ruler
[X] Address mailing labels
[X] Cleaner
[X] Oven
[X] Painters mask
[X] PATIENCE
[X] wet sand paper (800 grit)
Steps
1) What ever parts you want to paint, take it off of the rifle. This goes from the stock,grip, rail furniture,etc. If you plan on painting the magazine, this requires you to take out the spring,loading buttons,etc. Lower receiver remove take down pins,safety
2) Now that you have everything stripped and ready , this is where you prep prep prep. Now it's time to clean and clean good. I used rubbing alcohol to remove finger prints,dirt from my parts. Give it a nice good scrub
3) Once your parts are clean this is where you first lay down your primer. I used rustoleum automobile primer in the light grey (they have dark grey and light). Lay down a few light coats and let it dry (this doesn't mean let it dry for 10min and go straight to paint). Do not forget to mask off all areas you do not want painted/paint to get in (this includes covering the barrel,trigger,etc)
4) Once your primer is dry, now its time for you to spray your LIGHTEST color for the base coat. For me it was khaki. Put as many coats on as you like (I did about 4). Give it a good day for the paint to dry & for the smell to fade away (trust me)
5) Hopefully you took my advise and let the smell drift away. Once you have your first layer sprayed,dried,aired now its time to cook. Try to do this as many parts as you can at once (don't bake them separately or your significant other will plan your funeral). Place your items on a baking sheet (with tin foil, if you painted your complete upper rig something up to let it hang from a rack)) and bake them for 1hour at 300* (300* from what I researched was normal, feel free to bake them under 300*). Once the hour is up be very careful when removing them and set them aside to cool. (If it smells like a paint shop, better open a window or two, or just do this before)
6) Now your ready for the PITA part (you can do this step 1 to get this completely out of the way). Here's the part where you will cut your pattern. Hopefully you went and bought the address labels because it makes this a lot easier than painters tape (big fail my first time around).
Go to google.com, Images, and type in the digital camo you want. I typed in ACU digital and seen a lot of patterns. Chose which one fits the best (some have small,some is extremely large). Make sure you print female/male images. Try not to use the same one.
Once you found your pattern now its time to print. If you have photoshop/basic microsoft paint this will make it a little easier so you get more pattern on the paper instead of a little section. Open up what ever program you have, and for the dimensions use 8.5x11 (or if it asks for pixels its 612x792). Right click on the image and copy/paste it into the program and print away. Make sure you paste enough copies to fill the entire white blank spots. For my entire rifle/parts I believe I only used two sheets of paper.
Once the pattern is on the paper you will begin to just follow the lines very slowly and just "trace" the pattern. This is the most time consuming and cannot stress enough to take your time. Use a ruler for straight lines.
7) If your parts are well rested from step 5 then you are ready to apply the stencils. Place them where ever you please. Try to mix up the pattern and rotate when need be. Take your time when laying the labels down, especially with curved items, and parts that have texture. You want a nice firm stick! Make sure you mix the female with male, vise versa.
8) Once your stencils are all applied then you pick out the next color you want to lay down. Spray away. You should know the deal by now about light coats,letting the paint dry). After the paint is dry remove the labels very carefully. Proceed to step #5 after its dry
8.5) If you plan on doing 3 colors like a true digital cammo. Then once you spray the second color in step #8, let this dry for a couple days. DO NOT take off the first stencils. Once your parts are dry. Go ahead and lay down the next layer of stencils around/over the first set (don't go to crazy). Once you have them layered spray the third and final color, let it dry for a long time and remove all the stencils very carefully. Once removed, move back to step #5
9) Once your parts are free of stencils, dried. Sprayed in every color you wanted. You want to sand it. Wet sand at that. This gets all the fine lines from the paint/stencils removed for a flush feel. Watch what you are doing so you do not take that many layers of paint off and get left with a "faded" look. No need to rush in this step. Do not apply hard pressure, nice light pressure is all that is needed.
10) Ok, so now your finally done painting. Your rifle looks great. Either two tone or three. Now its time for protection. Spray down coats of clear coat (I did 4) protecting every ounce of the rifle that you painted. Let it dry fully and you are good to go. The clear coat smell will be the strongest, and the smell will stick for a couple days.
11) Start a topic and post pictures of your project. Also post them in the picture topic.
Special note
*Cover the take down pin holes (including the round little knubs around it) and mag well very good
.
*If you plan on painting the buffer tube also. No need to spray the bottom of it. Doing so will cause the stock to be a little rough sliding back and you will need to sand away the bottom so that it will slide freely. Cover the bottom and the sides that are 90* angles with tape.
*Make sure you mask off all area's on each stage of paint. Dont forget the serial number! (I forgot to on the final color
)
*Quad rail,riser were a PITA to try and tape off, take your time on this part and give a nice strong push to the label. I used a penny to "roll" the label into place between the slots
Hopefully this helps. This was my very first time doing this. No paint experience before. Watch a youtube video and do a little research.
Didn't see any written tutorial so I figure I would make one.
List of items
[X] Rustoleum Camo paint
[X] Rustoluem Matte clear
[x] Xacto Knife
[X] Primer
[X] Ruler
[X] Address mailing labels
[X] Cleaner
[X] Oven
[X] Painters mask
[X] PATIENCE
[X] wet sand paper (800 grit)
Steps
1) What ever parts you want to paint, take it off of the rifle. This goes from the stock,grip, rail furniture,etc. If you plan on painting the magazine, this requires you to take out the spring,loading buttons,etc. Lower receiver remove take down pins,safety
2) Now that you have everything stripped and ready , this is where you prep prep prep. Now it's time to clean and clean good. I used rubbing alcohol to remove finger prints,dirt from my parts. Give it a nice good scrub
3) Once your parts are clean this is where you first lay down your primer. I used rustoleum automobile primer in the light grey (they have dark grey and light). Lay down a few light coats and let it dry (this doesn't mean let it dry for 10min and go straight to paint). Do not forget to mask off all areas you do not want painted/paint to get in (this includes covering the barrel,trigger,etc)
4) Once your primer is dry, now its time for you to spray your LIGHTEST color for the base coat. For me it was khaki. Put as many coats on as you like (I did about 4). Give it a good day for the paint to dry & for the smell to fade away (trust me)
5) Hopefully you took my advise and let the smell drift away. Once you have your first layer sprayed,dried,aired now its time to cook. Try to do this as many parts as you can at once (don't bake them separately or your significant other will plan your funeral). Place your items on a baking sheet (with tin foil, if you painted your complete upper rig something up to let it hang from a rack)) and bake them for 1hour at 300* (300* from what I researched was normal, feel free to bake them under 300*). Once the hour is up be very careful when removing them and set them aside to cool. (If it smells like a paint shop, better open a window or two, or just do this before)
6) Now your ready for the PITA part (you can do this step 1 to get this completely out of the way). Here's the part where you will cut your pattern. Hopefully you went and bought the address labels because it makes this a lot easier than painters tape (big fail my first time around).
Go to google.com, Images, and type in the digital camo you want. I typed in ACU digital and seen a lot of patterns. Chose which one fits the best (some have small,some is extremely large). Make sure you print female/male images. Try not to use the same one.
Once you found your pattern now its time to print. If you have photoshop/basic microsoft paint this will make it a little easier so you get more pattern on the paper instead of a little section. Open up what ever program you have, and for the dimensions use 8.5x11 (or if it asks for pixels its 612x792). Right click on the image and copy/paste it into the program and print away. Make sure you paste enough copies to fill the entire white blank spots. For my entire rifle/parts I believe I only used two sheets of paper.
Once the pattern is on the paper you will begin to just follow the lines very slowly and just "trace" the pattern. This is the most time consuming and cannot stress enough to take your time. Use a ruler for straight lines.
7) If your parts are well rested from step 5 then you are ready to apply the stencils. Place them where ever you please. Try to mix up the pattern and rotate when need be. Take your time when laying the labels down, especially with curved items, and parts that have texture. You want a nice firm stick! Make sure you mix the female with male, vise versa.
8) Once your stencils are all applied then you pick out the next color you want to lay down. Spray away. You should know the deal by now about light coats,letting the paint dry). After the paint is dry remove the labels very carefully. Proceed to step #5 after its dry
8.5) If you plan on doing 3 colors like a true digital cammo. Then once you spray the second color in step #8, let this dry for a couple days. DO NOT take off the first stencils. Once your parts are dry. Go ahead and lay down the next layer of stencils around/over the first set (don't go to crazy). Once you have them layered spray the third and final color, let it dry for a long time and remove all the stencils very carefully. Once removed, move back to step #5
9) Once your parts are free of stencils, dried. Sprayed in every color you wanted. You want to sand it. Wet sand at that. This gets all the fine lines from the paint/stencils removed for a flush feel. Watch what you are doing so you do not take that many layers of paint off and get left with a "faded" look. No need to rush in this step. Do not apply hard pressure, nice light pressure is all that is needed.
10) Ok, so now your finally done painting. Your rifle looks great. Either two tone or three. Now its time for protection. Spray down coats of clear coat (I did 4) protecting every ounce of the rifle that you painted. Let it dry fully and you are good to go. The clear coat smell will be the strongest, and the smell will stick for a couple days.
11) Start a topic and post pictures of your project. Also post them in the picture topic.
Special note
*Cover the take down pin holes (including the round little knubs around it) and mag well very good
.
*If you plan on painting the buffer tube also. No need to spray the bottom of it. Doing so will cause the stock to be a little rough sliding back and you will need to sand away the bottom so that it will slide freely. Cover the bottom and the sides that are 90* angles with tape.
*Make sure you mask off all area's on each stage of paint. Dont forget the serial number! (I forgot to on the final color
)*Quad rail,riser were a PITA to try and tape off, take your time on this part and give a nice strong push to the label. I used a penny to "roll" the label into place between the slots
Hopefully this helps. This was my very first time doing this. No paint experience before. Watch a youtube video and do a little research.
Didn't see any written tutorial so I figure I would make one.
Attachments
Last edited:
