The Painting Process
Step One: Cleaning
Clean your marker and clean it damn good. Failure to do so will cause immense emotional scarring.
Use latex gloves. This will protect your digits and also keep you from depositing oils on the soon to be painted weapon.
Decide whether or not you want to strip the paint off of your old marker. M.E.K. will peel it all off. When working with chemicals of any sort, its generally a good idea to test it on a small surface (Say the bottom of your marker) to see how it reacts. Same with your hopper. I had no problems with M.E.K on my Model-98, other than the fact that it wanted to take off the original factory paintjob. I actually didn’t want this because it would entail a lot more scrubbing work. So after a quick cleaning with M.E.K. I rinsed it with water and wiped with alcohol.
CAUTION
MEK and paint strippers are nasty chemicals to work with. utilize proper protective equipment and procedures.
Gloves, Paint respirator and work in a well ventilated area. DO NOT TAKE CHANCES WITH YOUR HEALTH!
Step Two: Sanding
Take your sanding sponge, get it moist and scuff any smooth plastic areas, like your hopper. This will give the paint something to bite in to. Use a fine grit so that you don’t have any gouges. Rinse off any plastic dust.
My first attempt, at the very end when I pulled the stencil, voila, all the paint came off! So do it right the first time, lightly sand the plastic and make sure its clean when you are finished.
If you have any anodized aluminum or any other polished metal, you will need to sand it a bit for the paint to bite. (May require a special aluminium-oxide sand paper for metal surfaces (FINE GRIT or better). I tried steel wool to no real effect.
Mask off any areas you do not want paint to get into to. Like say, your open bolts, hopper feed tubes, etc...
I disassembled my marker, removed the bolt, placed masking tape inside to protect the internals.
Apply the basecoat.
This should be done slowly, and evenly.
It is better to apply 5 light coats than 1 heavy dripping coat.
Initiate the spray before you reach your marker, that way you have a nice fine mist hitting your gun. If you start right above your marker you risk globs and splotches. Not good. Not good at all young jedi.
Experiment with distances. If you spray from too far back, the paint particles will glob together making a nasty orange peel looking finish. For my airbrush 3 inches seemed good.
Basecoat of Urban White
Let it dry per the manufacturers instructions. Longer is better.
TIP: Using the oven
In general, yes you can cure your parts in a 100 degree over for 20mins - 1 hour.
But be careful, more residential ovens swing wildly. For protection, stick a rolled up towel in the door to prop it open.
Start placing stencils with the assistance of your xacto blade. Do not press them down until you are happy with the position. Remember, with Digital camo you want to make sure the pattern runs parallel/perpendicular to your marker. Once you are happy, press them down to make sure they stick.
TIP:
Dont be afraid to cut your stencils up if they seem to large or too wide.
Urban White w/ Stencils applied.
Note: Everywhere you place a stencil on the basecoat will show through all subsequent layers. I tend to use smaller stencils on the basecoat so that I dont overwhelm the following layers.
Apply the next lightest color. Let it dry.
Repeat until you are done
Snow Gray w/ Stencils Applied
After the weapon is dry, remove all the templates.
Now if you want you can place your female templates on the weapon now.
I tend to use these to cover up any areas where I feel the pattern is to large or to cover up areas where the paint peeled off with the stencil. It happens.
You may want to follow up with a matte clear coat for added durability. Plus it will even out the sheen of the different paints.
One final thought... Spray cans waste so much paint. I really prefer a small airbrush for this type of work.