Kaianuanu
08-10-2012, 01:37 PM
Just finished re doing the paint job on my 270 axis. FYI, this paint job is a grassy style that is kinda like duck hunting camo, i find waterfowling camo to be the most versatile here in Florida and i wear it for just about everything except hunting from tree stands. I first did it with some satin tan paint i had laying around and it came out tacky so i stripped it down w/ lacquer thinner and bought the proper Rustoleum camo paint and redid it. (BTW, I have always had better results w/ Rustoleum over Krylon) Here are the basic supplies.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/de84792e.jpg
Krylon Camo in "Khaki"(FDE) & "Deep Forest Green"(OD), a proper respirator (strongly recommended as you will be spraying a A LOT of paint), and foliage to use as stencils, I chose some small, fine palm fronds from the palms in my yard pictured below. I also forgot to include 400 grit sandpaper & rubbing alcohol.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/a85fe125.jpg
WARNING: Follow manufacturers mixing/shaking directions! I have learned this the hard way.
Alright first, remove swivel studs and recoil pad from stock and lightly sand all surfaces to be painted with ultrafine 400 grit sandpaper. Then wipe down with rubbing alcohol(i recommend doing this step twice to be sure all dust from sanding is gone). Use common sense to mask the inside of your stock and whatever areas you don't want paint in. Then, with your respirator on, do an extremely light base coat of FDE/Khaki, if you can still see the black plastic through this, coat, that means you did it right. Let it dry, which is nice about the camo paints because to make them less glossy, they have less solvent which makes them dry extremely fast. Waiting ten minutes for coats to dry is usually much more than enough time. Then, then repeat this step twice but making these 2 coats slightly thicker than the first coat.This should result in a nice moderately thick base coat that will have less of a tendency to peel in chunks, than one thick one. Now give a good 20 minutes to let these base coats set, this is really just a precaution. Now, put your trigger guard and magazine floorplate into the stock, a dab of hot glue around the rear screw hole will temporarily hold the trigger guard in the stock for painting the pattern. Now take your Palm fronds and kinda bunch them up and hold it in your hand like this.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/b2a47411.jpg
Now hold it against the stock and spray OD over the area. Don't spray the OD real thick. Slightly vary the angle you hold the fronds and their thickness for a more natural look.
WARNING: do not slide the foliage against the stock while painting and use a new frond after spraying over it twice. Not doing these things will cause you to rub off the OD you just sprayed and glob on wet OD paint that accumulated on the frond. This will cause your new paint job to look severely scratched up and crappy. This also happened to me on my first attempt
Your final product should look something like this.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/cd013695.jpg
The Ultra flat camo colors will have an almost rough feel, I like this on my hands but not on my cheek, however i keep an ammo sleeve on my axis so this is not an issue for me. If you want yours to feel just a bit smoother, use a matte clear coat over it, this will be a bit smoother to the touch but may give a more tacky feel(BAD!!!), another option would be duracoat clear over it, which would give the best durability. I'm about to do some more items like this, i'll post pics of them later as well as my axis when i get the bipod, sling and ammo sleeve on it.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/de84792e.jpg
Krylon Camo in "Khaki"(FDE) & "Deep Forest Green"(OD), a proper respirator (strongly recommended as you will be spraying a A LOT of paint), and foliage to use as stencils, I chose some small, fine palm fronds from the palms in my yard pictured below. I also forgot to include 400 grit sandpaper & rubbing alcohol.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/a85fe125.jpg
WARNING: Follow manufacturers mixing/shaking directions! I have learned this the hard way.
Alright first, remove swivel studs and recoil pad from stock and lightly sand all surfaces to be painted with ultrafine 400 grit sandpaper. Then wipe down with rubbing alcohol(i recommend doing this step twice to be sure all dust from sanding is gone). Use common sense to mask the inside of your stock and whatever areas you don't want paint in. Then, with your respirator on, do an extremely light base coat of FDE/Khaki, if you can still see the black plastic through this, coat, that means you did it right. Let it dry, which is nice about the camo paints because to make them less glossy, they have less solvent which makes them dry extremely fast. Waiting ten minutes for coats to dry is usually much more than enough time. Then, then repeat this step twice but making these 2 coats slightly thicker than the first coat.This should result in a nice moderately thick base coat that will have less of a tendency to peel in chunks, than one thick one. Now give a good 20 minutes to let these base coats set, this is really just a precaution. Now, put your trigger guard and magazine floorplate into the stock, a dab of hot glue around the rear screw hole will temporarily hold the trigger guard in the stock for painting the pattern. Now take your Palm fronds and kinda bunch them up and hold it in your hand like this.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/b2a47411.jpg
Now hold it against the stock and spray OD over the area. Don't spray the OD real thick. Slightly vary the angle you hold the fronds and their thickness for a more natural look.
WARNING: do not slide the foliage against the stock while painting and use a new frond after spraying over it twice. Not doing these things will cause you to rub off the OD you just sprayed and glob on wet OD paint that accumulated on the frond. This will cause your new paint job to look severely scratched up and crappy. This also happened to me on my first attempt
Your final product should look something like this.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/kaianuanu/cd013695.jpg
The Ultra flat camo colors will have an almost rough feel, I like this on my hands but not on my cheek, however i keep an ammo sleeve on my axis so this is not an issue for me. If you want yours to feel just a bit smoother, use a matte clear coat over it, this will be a bit smoother to the touch but may give a more tacky feel(BAD!!!), another option would be duracoat clear over it, which would give the best durability. I'm about to do some more items like this, i'll post pics of them later as well as my axis when i get the bipod, sling and ammo sleeve on it.