By
Wild Bill
I've had numerous conversations with folk over whether or not it's
possible to paint black plastic to look like wood so I thought I'd have
a go! In main this is not a new technique, but I've just extended it to
start with a black base rather than just "aging" an existing woodgrain
effect.
I started out with my TSD Pump Shotgun...
I have a big "soft spot" for this 300fps springer but wanted to give it some "battle used" character!
Step 1 was to remove the heat guard over
the barrel and give the "metal" parts" a basic coat of
Ultra Flat Black Krylon.
Masking up well is the key
to this stage. Once the Krylon was on, Step 2 was to apply a Matte
Clear Varnish to seal the Krylon coat...
Step
3; once the Matte Clear Varnish had hardened I wiped the whole thing
down with some spirit and a lint free cloth.
Step 5
was to take some sandpaper and "roughen" the black plastic
pump and stock.
Step 6; re-mask the "metal
parts". I've used colored tape here to highlight which parts
need to be masked, but simple masking tape is cheaper...
Step
7; spray the "wood" areas with Ultra Flat Dark Brown Krylon
to give a dark base to the "wood".
Step
8; overspray the "wood" with a lighter brown Satin Finish
paint.
Things are starting to look a lot better...
After the spray I noticed that some of the moldings
were really showing up with the lighter color...
Step
9 was to take some paint and a brush and fill these areas in.
Step 10; back to the sandpaper to gently roughen
the "wood" areas. Take care with this as you want to just
take off a little of the lighter brown to expose some of the darker
brown beneath. Sand in one direction as if you were going with the
"grain" of the wood.
I also took a
screwdriver and made some "scratches" in the "wood";
look at the front of the pump handle...
Step
11; take some Acrylic Black and Light Brown paint; place a blob of
each side by side and dip the brush into it randomly. Do not mix the
two colors together otherwise you'll get a uniformly colored
"sludge"...
Apply the Acrylic paint to all the
roughened "wood" areas and immediately wipe it off with
some kitchen roll. The roughened areas will hold some of the Acrylic
giving a "depth" to the "woodgrain".
Don't
worry if you don't get it to your liking on the first attempt as the
Acrylic is water soluble; just wipe it down and start again!
Step
12; once you are happy with the finish, wipe down again with spirit
and then apply the Matte Clear Varnish to the entire weapon. This
will seal the Acrylic paint in place.
And there we
have it!
The TSD started out as an "anything"
shotgun but after applying the "wood" effect has turned
into a "Mossberg 500/590 Series" as used in by Pointmen in
Vietnam. The weapon was issued with an OD canvas GP Sling and OD
Cotton Duck 12 Round Pouch. I have the sling but I'm still searching
for the pouch...RARE!!!
What you will need for this project (apart from the
kitchen roll!)...
I hope this is useful; it was certainly a
fun project and I'm really pleased with the finished product. This
technique can also be used to give some further "battle used"
character to AEGs like Thompsons and AKs with the fake wood stocks...
just remember once you've finished, have patience and leave the
weapon alone for a week or so to let the Matte Clear Varnish harden
off fully!!!
Total spend to create this, including the
Shotgun itself and the GP sling is till under 60 bucks!
Next to real wood grips on the 1911, looks pretty good.
Thanks
to my good friend JV in the UK who helped me with this project;
cheers mate!
Wild Bill
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