Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats A Simple Pictorial of DIY Camo Stock Painting

Someone asked me in another thread to take some pictures of stencils that one uses for camo stock painting. It's really easy, takes little skill, and a bit of time and patience. I wish I had just photographed an entire stock paint, but instead, I ran through the process on a sheet of paper.

I prep everything by cleaning surfaces with alcohol, and taping everthing you don't want painted.

I take a wooden block and wrap waxed paper around it so that I have a surface to cut on. I then place strips of painters tape, just overlapping, onto that waxed paper to create my stencils. (There are some really good pre-cut vinyl kits that work fine. I've done many with those. But the homemade decals are a cinch and almost free.)



I free handed a pattern onto this one for illustration purposes. It's not necessary. Using an x-acto knife, cut the stencil. Note the waxed backing..it peels right off and none of the adhesion is lost.



Attach the stencil to the surface you will be painting. For this high-tech presentation, I've chosen a carbon-impregnated, UV neutral, water-proof, insulated piece of plain 8.5x11 typing paper.



Paint away. For this demonstration, I didn't paint the entire piece of paper, but logically, you would paint the entire gunstock (or anyhting else) this first color and every color after. Remember, under that decal it's white. Kinda gotta think in reverse. Let everything dry really well.



Next, just repeat the process. Note the new stencil over the painted stencil. Typically, I think overlapping the stencils is the coolest looking approach as it creates the greatest contrast of touching colors. You'll see what I mean in just a minute. Remember to let the top coat dry before placing any more decals on.



Repeat with your next color....


[img]http://i264.photobucket.com/al...5-00000905156206D1_zps8708ef4c.jpg[/img]

You'll repeat this as many times as desired to apply as many layers of color as you want. This is a simple 3-color camo pattern.

Finally, paint everything your final color. Take note the everything that is not stenciled after this step will be this top color. For my demonstration...black.

[img]http://i264.photobucket.com/al...5-000009052A5926C3_zps86285221.jpg[/img]

Here comes the fun part..seriously. After everything is bone dry, remove the top layer of decals.



And then the next...



And then the last.



Presto. Give it a shot. It's really easy. Here are a couple of sticks that I've painted.

Good job, I will be doing this very thing hopefully this week.
The wax paper idea is great, I'm glad I read this because I was trying to figure a way to create a stencil with the blue painters tape and then remove it from whatever surface I taped it too.
Thanks

You make fine job Grasshoppa! Looks nice!

Very cool tutorial. Your Vias example is your best yet! I'd buy that stock.

Eric

The Vias camo looks incredible. Nice work man!

Tanner

SWEET!
I see a pink camo stock in my daughter's future
Thanks!

Easily one of my favorite threads on here right now. No bickering, and a nice DIY photo thread. Nice work.

It don't make sense putting down a stencil first then painting, unless you want the color that is under the stencil.


Let's take the GAP stock. You would first paint the stock what?

Gonna have to save this.

Great thread.

Correct. Your first layer of stencils will be the color they cover. So Gap camo stock would go like this.... paint the entire stock tan. Stencils applied, paint entire stock black. Stencils applied, paint entire stock olive. Remove stencils.

It was when I saw you use 3 stencils for a simple 3 color camo pattern that didn't register, that would be for a 4 color camo stock.

Thanks for the post.

Was looking for someone that was doing the hydro camo dipping of the KUIU Vias camo. Couldn't find anyone doing it.

The KUIU Super Light Custom rifle uses a smaller pattern and is not nearly as sharp as your "home job". The larger pattern doesn't blend to one color at a distance as the tighter pattern.

Nice work for sure!

http://blog.kuiu.com/2013/01/28/boswell-custom-rifle-kuiu-slr-edition/#sthash.bXC0SL7S.paeoqaoD.dpbs

Nice job.

I liked the tutorial but I think I learned more when you came and painted that stock for the gun I built for TLS. If you want to further my education I have another stock you could come paint

thanks for the tutorial

Great tutorial, thanks for posting this.

BD

Yup, I have a stock that's just been waiting for this tutorial, thanks.

Excellent! Thanks for taking the time.

Did you use any special kind of paint or clear coat?

I did not. Just Krylon and Rustoleum rattle-can and Krylon matte clear-coat. Seems that this combination stands up to bumps and dings so-so, but some solvents will ruin it in a flash.

MS, any tips for how to get the wax paper separated from the tape so you can peel them apart? I made up a few and they are hard to get separated.

I used my x-acto to carefully start separation at a point where the blue tape overlapped. It was a bit frustrating. But at those "joints" in the tape, there seemed to be a bit of separation already. The waxed paper looks lighter at those seams.

Ahh, got it, thanks.

Hmm, not sure if I got bad wax paper or bad tape, but they won't separate. Seems like stores hardly stock wax paper any more, I went to two stores and only found one kind, it was an off brand.

Are both sides of the paper "waxed"?

Yup, I couldn't see any difference.

Just toured the house to find what I used. I used Reynolds brand waxed paper and 3M #2090 Medium Adhesion tape. Hope this helps.

Thanks. I have neither of those, I'll re-load and try again. Got some good practice cutting stencils yesterday though.....

MS, thanks for taking the time and posting. Where can one get the stencils if not DIY?

http://www.stevensonenterprise.com/bulldogarms/

This is what I've used with dandy results.

Thank you.

tag

I'm no artist but I had to give the Vias a shot. I learned that cheap tape is no good for clean lines, but it is a hunting gun and not a showpiece. Its one of those much maligned T3s (picked it up cheap from a divorce sale) in 300wm. It shoots bugholes so I will keep beating on it. Thanks MShuntfish for the tutorial.



The tan is a bit darker than the actual Vias, but I had it on hand already.

Looks better than my attempt at Vais.

Smoke used Saran Wrap Duh....

Thats a slick job. I am ever warming to the Gap camo. Have some Barbie colors from the kids stocks I am going to treat little ones Chipmunk too.. Will post..

Thanks for taking the time...

W

Great, thanks for taking the time to post this!

Nice work.

Tag for future reference.

tag

Tag