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Camo Technique with Pics

Smurfwarrior

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Howdy,
Was asked to show this technique I use to camo guns so here goes.. Using standard Kyron/Rustoleum 'camo' paints and lots of 2" wide masking tape (must be the cheap white kind) I get pretty cool results. Its a layering technique with three seperate steps. Tape off everything you don't want painted, like turrent marks, actions etc..

Step one- make the gun one single color. Got a green stock? Paint the whole gun green.
Step Two- using the masking tape, rip out little roundish pieces with uneven edges and apply all over the gun in a pattern that leaves the spaces between the tape kind of a spidery vein. The more tape you put, the more of the base color remains. Then paint the whole gun again (over the tape) with the opposite color. Green gun- tan second layer
Step Three- Remove the tape after about ten minutes, so that the paint is drying but not completely dry. This feathers the edges on a lot of the new paint splotches and looks better. Reapply another layer of tape, this time in vertical strips leaving small gaps between the tape. Then, using foilage green and brown paint the gun in a zebra stripe pattern and lay on the paint kinda heavy. Again, in about ten minutes peal the tape off. It should be a little sticky and just wet enough to transfer a tiny bit of paint to your fingers so that you again get the feathered look on the edges of the patterns. Pretty simple, and it gives a cool 3d look to it. I've done over 20 rifles like this and its always turned out really well. Enjoy!

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Re: Camo Technique with Pics

Hahah. I guess I should do a blue/grey/white camo one to make it truly 'smurfy'.
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As a side 'tip' you can sneak in skull stickers or thinks like that into the paintjob really easy... and the best tip is to take your time with the masking tape and make sure you really cover everywhere you need it. Pealing off the tape is a treat during the last step as its like unwrapping a Christmas present to yourself
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Re: Camo Technique with Pics

I know you said you "must use the cheap white kind" of 2" masking tape. Just curious on the reason? I would think that the blue painters type would work better. I have no experience painting stocks, but have used it numerous times reapainting walls and such.
 
Re: Camo Technique with Pics

The idea is to leave a rougher edge. Painters tape comes off cleaner and won't give you the broken quality I think he is trying to achieve.
 
Re: Camo Technique with Pics

Autark is correct- using the blue tape (and I've tried it) leaves you with tiny pieces of tape that stick really really well and are hard to remove leaving you with a more defined edge and sometimes a scuff mark where your fingernail is used to get it off. The cheap white tape is easy to remove and allows for a more feathered edge, especially when you allow the tape to lift on the edges a tiny bit when you apply it. The blue tape (or any high quality tape like frog tape) is harder to get off your finger and into the pile of used wet paint covered tape pieces you are creating when you are removing them.

As a side note, yet related to the crispness of the edges, after you remove the final layer of tape the surface of the rifle will have texture from all these paint edges. Since you've removed the tape before the final layer is completely dry you can rub it with your hand to give it a tiny bit of smearing. Looks good, give it a try.
 
Re: Camo Technique with Pics

Thanks for this. Think I saw the pic of the rig with the Karsten the other day, & was admiring the camo job then. => Add one more project to the to do list for the coming long days of darkness ;-) Check.
Dare I ask how long were you able to resist playing with it after putting on the final layer of color?
 
Re: Camo Technique with Pics

Reximus- Yeah your former baby is taking shape! Getting down to about 1/4" groups at 100. Gotta love that.

Ref how long until I had to wait to play with it.. its amazing how fast the camo paint drys, I think it was about 15 minutes from last coat to picking off the tape (which I have fun with, strangly enough) and then about 30 minutes of drying and it was good to go.
 
I have done this but have used the checkered drywall joint tape, cut into shapes using scissors. A little more time consuming but leaves a really cool pattern
 
Fan-freakin-Tastic! Oh boy, I can't wait to get out the rattle cans and redo my rifle. I'm seriously going have to give this a try when it warms up a bit (so I can do it outside).