More paint questions!

[t0aDe]

Hey! I'm thinking about painting up my G36 and I picked up some Krylon OD/Brown/Black paint from their camo product line. It says it bonds to plastic (which the G36 obviously is) without sanding etc ...but I know in some cases stuff like this is misleading on packages.

So from anyone's experience would you still suggest a good clean/sand first before application or should I be good to just clean up the surface a bit and paint away? Also the paint says its chip resistant after a week or so but should I be clear coating as well? I'm also worried about the clear coat making it too shiny or whatever, since I'm not looking for a glistening new car finish obviously. I'm still pretty new to painting stuff, last time I painted anything was my model cars when I was a kid and they weren't exactly subjected to the wear and tear of an airsoft gun, haha.

[Eeyore]

No need to sand, but you want to make sure all the dirt and grime is off the gun, as well as any oil in the areas you are painting.

[t0aDe]

Ok sweet, thanks man.

[Reckless]

scuffing the surface, and washing in soap/warm water helps. but it's really not absolutely needed ... as for a clearcoat, ultra flat clearcoat is available .. but again not really nesassary .. depends if you want that used/worn in look or you want it to remain utterly perfect and new looking.

the totally proper attention to all detail procedure varies person to person depending on their experiences... but my perferred method if it was a custom/show peice would be

completely disassemble, scuff down all the pieces being painted with 000 steel wool, wash all the peices in warm water with a bit of soap (just enough to clean, but too much will make getting all the soap off after washing some of a pain). then prime all the peices. wet sand @ 400 grit (water with a touch of soap) ... rinse off and prime/sand as needed for desired surface. apply colors/patterns/etc, wet sand, clear, wet sand, etc as needed (very dependant on what your doing)

for airsoft... typically I just disassemble, wipe or scuff as needed, tape if needed and blast it... beat on per usual and reapply if needed later on generally I just do black so I use a good primer and be done with it ... if doing camo .. I blow it over the black, but I don't do anything very technical, if I want it that indepth I wrap it LOL

[t0aDe]

Hey thanks for the extra info, now I guess I have to think about how careful I wanna be haha. The flat clear coat sounds like a good idea to me, perhaps I'll search for some at C-Tire. I had planned to use a mesh to make some patterns to break up the solid OD paint a bit and I figure its better to protect that than ending up having to re-do that shtufff later. I have an extra stock so perhaps I'll try a couple methods (read: try the lazy way first) on it and see what I prefer.

[Danke]

Try painting something else first as practice.

Use mesh bags to drop parts into and hang up to get the snakeskin finish. Too fine a mesh can give you some to too much bleed through but you'll have found the ideal size while practicing.

[EscapisT]

Before you paint, rub the whole thing down with windex or anything with ammonia in it to get rid of grease. If there is any grease on it (even the simple touch of your finger), it is likely to make it look like a bad job... When the grease reacts with the paint, it'll give an ugly orange peel texture rather than a nice smooth coat.

Orange peel:



If there aren't any glossy parts, then you shouldn't need to even touch sandpaper if you're really careful with the grease AND you are a patient painter.

Multiple, thin, light coats takes longer but believe me, it beats a run that you'll have to sand and redo which is a MASSIVE PITA.

Also, since the gun is going to be in your sweaty soldier hands and be put through a make-shift war, you should consider baking on your paint.

Baking your paint basically quadruples it's bond to the surface, and it's exponentially more resistant to wear from rubbing.... If you know what you're doing, you can take the gun apart and paint only the externals you want to paint, and paint them individually. I suggest taking an old metal backing pan, covering it with wax paper, and resting the part(s) on it. Spray, and immediately throw it in your oven, being careful not to get anything to touch the paint and ruin the coat. You want the oven hot, around 250F, and you want them in there for about 20 seconds for every thin coat you spray.

If you decide not to take it apart for painting, and if you can fit your whole gun in the oven, it should still be ok to bake. You're only heating up the paint and the surface it's bonding to, not the entire part.

Just remember whatever you do, paint patiently, you'll pat yourself on the back for it.

-Adam

[t0aDe]

I'd rather do it right so sounds like baking my gun is the way to go, haha. I will take off the pieces that are to be painted since their removal is quite simple. Question though, do you spray on 1 thin coat and then bake, then continue painting? Or do you spray multiple thin coats and then bake it on after? Also just to be safe, all the parts I'm painting are plastic. So I can still bake those without damage since its just a quick blast in the oven right?

EDIT: Reading comprehension fail, I got not sleep last night. I see that I spray 1 thin coat and bake it on, rinse repeat for a bunch of coats.

[Rabbit]

Just had to bring up this thread again - I plan to paint an M4 SIR handguard that is currently like shiny cheap cream colour to black. (Aftermath Kirenex)

I really dont want it to wear down and have the black wear off so the plastic colour shows through, that wouldn't look right at all.

I plan to just give it a good sanding first then applying a few coats of krylon flat black.

This baking method sounds a bit harsh and I can't imagine the cheap abs plastic handguard of mine living up to this too well.

Any suggestions? or should i just go with the ultra clear flat coat afterwards..

[Rooster]

You can either let it cure for about a month (it'l be nearly indestructable then) or bake it or clear. Try to find the Krylon camo clear coat. It's nearly impossible to get here but I know it does exist so you might have better luck..

[Spawn28]

you dont necessarely have to bake it persay just put it in a window where there is lotsa sunlight and let it sit till its hot then spray and repeat. It also saves the argument as to why there are Metal receivers or gun parts in the oven cooking..........my wife thinks im nuts...lol

[Rabbit]

So its not going to matter if im baking cheap plastic at 250F in the over?

I've got it all stripped down and i've already given it a good sanding..Im just debating on wether i should do black or some kind of khaki/sand colour.

The hanguard is a cream/khaki colour currently and after sanding it i could just smell the cheap plastic its made out of, it smelt like there was actually plastic on fire.