DIY Spray Paint Camo Job

[Caleb]

This is how I camo my rifles, if it's good enough for the military....it's good enough for me.

Here is the rifle and paint colors I chose...





I also use Brakleen for degreasing the project. After you get ALL the grease/lube off, wipe it down good with some denatured alchohol. One that dries, go ahead and tape up anything you do not want painted. I use blue painters tape, i would not use anything that sticks strong or you will pull some paint off with the tape. Set up the rifle so you can easily hit all sides with the paint. In my case, I did one side at a time.



Now it's time to lay down your base layer. The first coat needs to be very light, this is important. Do NOT lay it down heavy or it will run on you and ruin the job. Typically, three coats is all that is needed for your base layer (two light coats and one medium "full coverage" coat). I chose Olive Drab for my base layer.



Follow the directions on the can for drying times and additional coats. Once the base coat is dry, go ahead and place your pre-cut stencils in random spots. Remeber, whatever you cover with the stencils will be showing once they are removed. So, if you want a lot of your base coat showing, you will need to add more stencils.





Now it's time to spray your second color. Two light-medium coats will suffice, you do not need a lot of paint from now on. Still follow the re-spray and dry times on your paint can and be patient. I chose (actually my brother chose it) a ish brown color for the second layer.



Once this layer is complete and dry (at least 30mins to an hour), you have choices to make. You can continue to add male stencils and spray your third color or peel the first set of stencils and use female stencils from now on. I chose the later. Here is how the rifle looks so far after the first two coats and the stencils removed.





Do not remove the blue tape yet, there is more paint to add! Unless, that look is good enough for you. I have two more colors to spray so, I will let this dry over night and continue tomorrow.

To be continued..............

[Caleb]

Moving along.....

I went with female stencils for this next part. Just randomly tape it on and cover the rest to avoid overspray.





I did not like how it was coming out so, plan "B".

Take a bowl, sea sponge, and a foam brush. Spray the paint in the bowl (FYI, foam bowls will melt, just saying) and dip the sponge lightly into the paint. Then lightly "tap" the paint onto random areas to apply a "Splattered" look. Do as much as you want or just go light, it's up to you. I went a little heavy on one side but, the next color will fix that mistake.



Here's what it looks like with a Tan splatter effect using the sponge.





Next, I added a little dark brown to tone down the tan.....using the same sponge technique.





At this point I called it done. You can keep adding color to satisfy your taste if so desired. I let the paint dry overnight and the next day I sprayed it with two light coats of flat clear.

Here is the finished project.

[NAMVET72]

Hey why not desert camo or woodland camo and Das camo colors???????????????????

[sdmc530]

Where is the pink camo? just kidding nice work.

[skosh69]

What's with the 2 reserved posts?????

Oh yeah, looks good!!!

[Caleb]

Originally Posted by NAMVET72

Hey why not desert camo or woodland camo and Das camo colors???????????????????

Because, my brother primarily shoots this rifle and I let him pick the colors.

Originally Posted by sdmc530

Where is the pink camo? just kidding nice work.

Not this time.

Originally Posted by skosh69

What's with the 2 reserved posts?????

Oh yeah, looks good!!!

It's not finished, figured I'd keep the tutorial all up top.

[GD2A]

Cool project and tutorial, thank you for posting this! Some questions...

What about the barrel under the quad rail - just incidental coverage?

Why tape off the end of the barrel?

Do you take special care to protect the internals from overspray or seepage?

What if you're unhappy with the finished product, is it easy to remove?

[Caleb]

Thanks bro.

Usually I'll do the barrel in high heat paint but, this time I got lazy and didn't want to remove the handguard. My brother wanted the bbl to stay black so, I just taped what you can see.

Yes, make sure to not get paint in the action, it will not be a good thing. The pics don't show it but, I taped up the action from the inside and outside of the ejection port.

If you screw up or get tired of the paint, a little mineral spirits and a rag will remove the paint. It might take a bit of time, tho.

[AutoMag]

It looks great to me , thanks for posting!!

[Caleb]

Originally Posted by AutoMag

It looks great to me , thanks for posting!!

Thank you, John!