I just finished spaying a camo pattern on my air rifle for hunting small game in the Mojave Desert. I used aervoe camo paints, sand as a base coat, 2nd digital foliage, third olive green, and lastly some spots of coyote. I was trying to mimick ATACS AU, which I find does a very good job of blending into the deserts where I hunt. Thought that I would share the results in a couple of the pictures below. It is my first Camo job so comments and criticism is welcome.
- Thread starter fujam
- Start date
Shouldn’t be any criticism. Killed it dude. 
Awesome work! Can't distinguish it from the ATACS jacket in the picture, definitely agree that's a great pattern for the desert. What do you hunt out in the Mohave by the way? Jackrabbits and coyotes?
Looks awesome! What did you use to apply color after the base? I've done a few with synthetic sea sponges but yours looks blended much better than the ones I did.
Jack Rabbit and Chukar so far, maybe some quail too if I run across them.
Once the base coat was down I made some stencils that use pixeled patterns and then did very short busts of spray between moving the stencil slightly to blend the otherwise hard edges. While doing some tests I used a sea sponge too since I'd seen a bunch of videos of it used effectively but I was not able to get the blending and pattern breaking up that in my opinion makes the ATACS AU so effective. When I go to my shop I'll take a pic of the stencils so you can see the shapes I used. The other suprise was that the colors I ended up using were not the closest matching colors to the colors used in the ATACS. My I guess as to what's causing this is their overall value most closely resembles the textile's pattern and tricks the eye into thinking the individual colors are similar. The human eye is a funny one. I have to say I had a bunch of fun figuring out how to get the pattern to look close.
BTW Happy New Years, to you all!
Both are quite edible. Don't discount the back straps of an old jack. I'm surprised there are chukar out there. Love the smell of creosote bushes though! Beautiful place.
I've been enjoying eating the game, and the chukar who in the high desert at least near water seem to have fairly strong populations. Sure is beautiful out there, not everyones' cup of tea but I've always been a desert rat.
Here's a pic of the templates I made/used. As I mentioned above I hovered the templates around as I sprayed in short bursts so the edges were blended and the tones shaded. The patterns are based on a 1/8" square grid cut out of manila folders. However a thin polymer sheer that is not damaged by the solvents in the spray paint would be preferable as the manila gets a bit soggy and is hard to clean without damaging. My guess is the shapes and scale of the pixels are not too important as long as they contain broken features along the edges and are irregular. I'm thinking to do some more investigation by testing a larger grid patterns and see if the results are as effective at distance.
If you had a made a video of your process I would have definitely watched it.
I wasn’t saying you owed us anything
Just my way of saying you did an exceptional job!
Wow! That’s impressive, especially for a first timer. I’ve seen seasoned guys that don’t have stuff come out that good! Nice work!
PS Don’t drop it out there, you might not find it! Haha.
PS Don’t drop it out there, you might not find it! Haha.
Thank you!
Part of the process was spending hours trying different techniques and colors on scraps around the shop until I found a decent match. So it's technically my first time on a gun.
I have to say Atacs AU really nailed the Mojave Desert, (result may vary in other regions) I've had folks walk right by without noticing my position. Kind of freaky when they are hunting too:/
Here on the hide? I'll look for them. I'm already thinking about painting another rifle.
How did you cut the patterns? They look extremely sharp. I doubt you just used a pair of scissors.
Again, great job!
Thanks! I cut them out by hand using an X-Acto knife and a cutting mat.
Good job. That alone was a job. Did you have a pattern to work off of or did you just go with the flow and that's what came forom it?
I made them up by first drafting the grid, then drawing in the forms and cutting them out.
I'm as hands on as a man can get, but that's not something I want to try to do.
