Painted M15A4

[luke213]

So lately I've been in the mood to make a change to my primary gun so I've been working on a few projects with it. Tonight I finally broke out the rattle can to change the look of it for good:)

Here are some pictures and also a little howto on how I made the gun look this way. I based the design off of qcon's work in: www.airsoftplayers.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=93

I know it's somewhat rough but keep in mind it's a work in progress. As most of you know I won't be seeing terrain
in the UP, that this gun will blend into for some months:) Plenty of time to get it where I want it.

So without further bullshiting:
Step 1:


Pretty much laid out the area I was going to work, since it's cold outside I did this work in my basement. I would suggest proper ventilation, since I still have quite a headache:) So this is essentially the before, notice the *leet* cut carry handle(always wanted one so I finally bit and cut mine down with a hacksaw).

Step 2:

This was basically taking the gun apart to the point I intended to start painting and blocking any places I didn't want to get paint into. IE Mag well and electric connections, at least for me most other things I felt were sealed enough to not be a concern.

Step 3:

This is what I would call a base coat(and I would think others would also:)), I laid on about 6 light coats of paint with some delay of around a cigarette between coats. I was tempted to leave it this way since I really liked the look but I figured I can always repaint back to this point.

Step 3:

This was probably the hardest part, like I said above I've not painted any of my guns in the past so I'm very leary of f*ing this one up:) I went at it with the stencils you see in the top of the picture and with Krylon Camo and ultra flat paint in brown, OD, and Black. So I worked it over from various heights and I still have to finish the other side and try to make it match but I'm happy with it so far. If I were to do it over I think I would have made the stencils a little smaller though I will likely do that with my brother's gun when I get around to doing it next, and I'll post the results as I go.

So thats about it, nothing to fancy but I'd like to hear what you guys think of the paint job and anything you can see that could use improvement. Thanks:)


Luke

EDIT2: Here is another pic of the gun assembled and with a different backdrop:

webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/finished (1).JPG[/img]
webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/finished (2).JPG[/img]
webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/finished (3).JPG[/img]
webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/finished (4).JPG[/img]

Cat sold seperatly(wouldn't get out of the damn photo's).

EDIT: And I forgot I intended to include links to the large images.

webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/step1.jpg
webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/step2.JPG
webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/step3.JPG
webpages.charter.net/luke213/m15a4/step4.JPG

I also will be posting more pictures as the gun changes.

[MayhemXXXFrosty (AndrewMp5k)]

Damn........... I would say that, that is one hell of a nice paintjob. Though, I do not see why you bothered striping the rear of the buffer tube, as the stock will, for the most part cover it all up.

Other than that, she looks beautiful. Very well done Luke.

[luke213]

Yeah I thought about even stripping it down the whole way since I've got some work to do on the mechbox yet. And I could have done the paint with it further together but the three peices gave me a small place to start;) So I did those then moved to the rest of the gun. I've yet to install the pieces since it's still drying, though I'm fairly excited;)


Luke

[Knief]

It looks good, but I'd like to see it outside in some greenery (it's going to have to be pine trees this time of year). I mean, of course it blends in well against the newspaper on which you painted it. If it didn't, somebody would have to kick your ass. How does it blend in to the environment in which you'll be playing?

[luke213]

Well where I live there are few pine tree's(or any trees, here I would be further ahead with desert camo, lots of sand pits and plains). On the other hand where I normally play is heavily wooded with brush and hardwoods with some patches of pine but primarily hardwoods. From what I can tell it should blend in fairly well though I will have to wait and see.

As far as placing the gun elsewhere I will be posting a pic tomorrow when I get around to throwing it back together(and when it's not so dark) and we'll see how it looks on natural lighting.

Luke

EDIT: Added some more pictures to the first post of the gun off the paper and reassembled.

[Rogue1]

Nice job on that one Luke! I've always been partial to Tiger Stripes and I may have to try that on one of my HK's, maybe the SD-51 since it is my only "custom" replica and with the SD barrel , it has more area to paint. Very cool!

[Knief]

Hmm, it seems to blend in will with linoleum, dirt and cat as well.

[luke213]

If it blends well with the cat then I must have got the tiger stripe dead on:)

Thanks for the compliment rogue it really wansn't to hard but by the minute I'm more pleased with the results. Unfortunatly it's going to be a while before I can test it in the real working enviorment. Though I'm fairly convinced that it will work well.

As soon as I get a chance I will post some more pics hopefully with a little better terrain:)


Luke

[destrukto]

I hope your cat doesn't have a nice base coat of OD green though EDIT: damned dialup

Does this mean I'm still going to have to drive halfway across the country to get some airsofting in?

[luke213]

Well I'm sure the cat had some overspray:) Sarah wasn't too pleased that the house still smells slightly like spray paint some 24 hours after.

As far as the airsoft yes it does mean your going to have to make *a* trip though it's still up in the air how far that will be depending on people here and area's to play. Damn do I hate not having land near where I live, makes me miss living in the woods.

Luke

[MayhemXXXFrosty (AndrewMp5k)]

Love it even more assembled Luke.

Very well done. Only one question;

Can you do that to mine?

[King]

Is it just me or is your cat completely black except for the single spot on it's tail?

[Knife]

That does look very good Luke. I would think it would go well in the Summer to Fall rather then spring when everything seems to be the most vibrant green out. Did you do the battery box the same as the rest of the gun? I notice the little wire sticking out there.

King, I noticed that too.

[Toothbrush]

Not to mirror everyone else, but very nice job luke. I am confident it will work well once we get some more foliage around these parts.

[luke213]

Your correct the cat is all black bar the end of the tail, my other cat is basically the oposite, white with a little black.

I really appreciate the comments, I think it wil work well but we'll see:)

As far as doing it, well you never know maybe I would paint some guns but it's really not to hard to do.

Luke