Painting a clear starter gun

[Acid_Snake]

you should have used krylons camo line of paints

They feel great and have an excellent matte finish

[Treefingers]

Some clear guns have a coating on the plastic that makes it shine and scratch less. This coat doesn't like paint.

[Loathing]

Originally Posted by Acid_Snake

you should have used krylons camo line of paints

They feel great and have an excellent matte finish

Krylon Camo is the way to go - as long as you don't fuck it up like I did.

I over sprayed a side of a metal receiver I was painting, which ended up making the paint run a bit. Me being the dumb ass I am, tried to wipe the excess off which made it even worse.

Minus the messy section it turned out good.

Now a question of my own. I'm finding that the paint is chipping off rather easily, is there any type of 'lacquer' or some sort of finishing I could of sprayed the body with after it was painted?

[Acid_Snake]

+1 to all you said

And I would try using Krylon's Make It Last!

I've never used it but its only 4$ What have ya got to lose?

[Jagd]

Just to give you guys an idea of what it looks with the OD Krylon Fusion Camo with 3 coats. It's a Cansoft KJW 32C, does not look Cansoft anymore...(the picture is not top quality either)



Going with thin coat is the key and washing with water and dish soap first before you start painting on a brand new gun. When it is dry you can pass a towel with just a little paint thiner, you let it dry a bit and then you spray away. It takes 7 days though to be scratch resistant, but it dries in about 15 min and you can rebuild your pistol after an hour.

[Huron]

Flat krylon fusion is great. It sticks incredibly well, I haven't been able to scratch the paint job I did on my cousin's springer yet. I did my C8 with just regular indoor/outdoor krylon, which I think is intended for wood. It looks nice, but it's not as tough as fusion would be.

[Scopedog]

Primer!

I see a lot of people painting their guns and neglecting this step. Some paints (yes, even the Krylon stuff) claim it adheres directly to the surface without fail. Lies, I say! Well, not entirely lies, but you will almost always get a better result if you prime the surface first.

1. Primer is what is truly designed to adhere to the surface in question.
2. The primer provides better adhesion for the paint that follows.
3. A primer undercoat helps provide an even colour consistency.

Now, the Krylon Camouflage series are pretty good on their own, but I still recommend priming first (grey is preferable, as opposed to white). If you follow the directions regarding drying times and multiple coats it will look great. Unless your gun is going to see a lot of abuse it may not be necessary to apply a protective topcoat, but it probably wouldn't hurt either. Just make sure your topcoat is in a "matte" finish. Last thing you want is an awesome paint job ruined by a shiny, "you can tell my gun's a toy" look.

[Goldidig]

Guys, I have had great success using a GREY Scotchbrite pad to rub the gloss off the clear parts and then using an automotive clear plastics primer and then fusion paint. We use these pads for final prepping of clearcoated panels in the bodyshop and they work fantastic on clear plastic gun parts too! :-) The Scotchbrite pad does NOT scratch the surface and leave any coarse sanding marks but does scuff it plenty to promote better adhesion. There are many different brands of clear plastics primers out there but one of the very best we have used in the shop is is made by a company named FUSOR and it works fantastic!!) I have also skipped the plastics primer and went with straight Fusion on plastic gun parts. It works decent but definitely doesn't bond as well as plastics primed parts. The grey scotchbrite pad is also a key to a succesful job. Hope this helps someone out.
Al

[PaddMadd]

Krylon's camoflage line is really good as well. I've given an old cheapsoft M4 I have laying around a good coat of it, and it's lasted a long time. It can wear on high-traffic areas(like your grips or buttpad), but it gives a really good protective coating to plastic parts.

[ATF-Hatman]

Well this is my Swiss Arms Clear S-552

I had originally painted it black and added some dustings of Krylon Fusion camo in a tiger stripe fashion.

Didn't like it (not the paint or adhesion, just the pattern) so I sanded it a bit and redid the body black. Then added tan touches.

I will tone down the Tan with a bit of black through a mesh webbing. It's just a tad bright at the moment

Cheers

[Spawn28]

IMO Krylon paints suck ass big time they take way too long to dry and enevidably wear off fairly quickly. Now i have tested multiple Brands with the same results they Suck. However not all is lost i have found that if you are only going to need Flat black paint I recomend using High heat BBQ Paint it dries really quick and permenant also the color is an exact match to real steel i have yet to have someone come up and say hey did you paint that they just assume its all metal im talking about my Broxxa also did 2 Shotties with it and same result they look like metal not painted Plastic. Now this is JMO choose your paints carefully.

[VooDooPeteK]

I used the Krylon camo paint to paint my cansoft guns and it worked great...3 coats with no primer and have had no issues with chips or scratches as of yet.

well worth the $6 a can

[Crunk_Ain't_Dead]

When I used to modify/paint nerf guns for a hobby, krylon fusion was the paint of choice. I did find it quite tacky though, but that usually wore off after about a week. A week is a while to wait, but it's worth it. I would also recommend sanding whatever you are painting with very fine (400 grit +) sandpaper before you put the paint on it. The finish on the plastic will prevent the paint from bonding to it, and will make it so that the paint chips off easily. You want to get that off.

[sewktbk]

Here's my advice, i'm a painter by profession, and a lot of advice here is missing IMO.

If you paint something, weither it be with Krylon or any other brand, you have to let the paint cure fully. This varies from brand to brand, but give it 3 days average. Theres usually directions on the label anyways. I usually reccomend Tremclad. Other brands with a very big range of colors exist out there, but i'm keeping my secrets :P

now

After you let the paint cure completely (no need to heat, just give it the required time), i strongly suggest applying a clear finish, 2 to 3 coats. for a MAT finish use SATIN clear, for glossy, GLOSS clear. This will GREATLY improve the durability of your work and will protect your gun from scratches or wear. Also, having done it in the past with guns, using this exact method, i have given new life to guns with the EXACT same finish they had when bought.

EDIT : spawn is right about high temperature paints, and Krylon sucks IMO as well. and for the record if you're gonna paint metal, i suggest anti rust paint. And please, please, READ THE LABELS. wanting to be too quick and not letting dry will make your paint job look amateur.

[sewktbk]

Yikes, sounds like you're doing what i would advise you not to do, and thats putting layers on top of layers of paint.

And do yourself a favor, and don't try to darken a colour by spraying black through a mesh. i mean common :P. Just find the colour you want. Right now looks like your gun is your guinny pig, its gonna end up looking like a lab experiment of paint.

PM me if you want it done by a professionnal, i'm in Montreal.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by ATF-Hatman

Well this is my Swiss Arms Clear S-552

I had originally painted it black and added some dustings of Krylon Fusion camo in a tiger stripe fashion.

Didn't like it (not the paint or adhesion, just the pattern) so I sanded it a bit and redid the body black. Then added tan touches.

I will tone down the Tan with a bit of black through a mesh webbing. It's just a tad bright at the moment

Cheers