Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

[krazy_horse]

Hi folks,

I plan to make a start on my first proper Airsoft-related project. I recently purchased an M4 from here that the previous owner had sprayed OD, now this is not ideally to my taste, so was hoping to restore it to it's original(ish) condition.

I plan to strip all the remaining OD paint as well as the original black "factory" coating, via sand blasting, then engrave all the trades (as they are only painted on), then re-paint the whole thing.

The advice/help i would like is as follows:

- Does anyone know which font is used for trades on an M4 ie, safe, semi, auto etc.
- Does anyone know what the original paint/coating would have been from the original manufacturer, ie paint/powder coat/anodised?
- If i don't get it powder coated/anodised, can anyone recommend a good-hard wearing paint that will last as long as the original?

Most of the work, grit blasting, engraving etc will be done by me where i work as we have pretty good facilities, however i just don't have any experience in coatings etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Here is the receiver when i got it, and after i started removing some of the paint with a little acetone:







Cheers,

JB

[ste887]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

strip it to bare metal with nitromorse, then take the lower reciever to a jewler and et something you like engraved on the blank side, then spray over with flat black enamel paint, then before it dries wipe the trades with a cottonbud soaked in acetone so the engraved traes show through, then paint round the trades with a thin brush to cover the rest of the bare metal, its what i did to weather my ak, stripped to bare metal, wiped with acetone then sprayed, the acetone stopped the paint sticking in places and gave a nice weathered finish to my weapon,
hope this helps
-ste

[krazy_horse]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

Thanks for the reply Ste.

I won't be using nitromorse, i will just wet-grit blast the whole thing at work as the metal work has already been scratched, plus i would like a slightly gritty-matt surface finish you get with G&P receivers.

See here:



As stated i will be engraving the receiver at work on the CNC router, so no worries about that. The only thing i need advice on is the Font used and the paint/coating.

The OD pain that was already on the gun was Humbrol enamel paint that has rubbed off in the past and is coming off pretty easily with just my nail, so at the moment i'm not convinced by this type of paint.

I want to find a company who will chemically "black" the whole thing, just as the majority of airsoft parts, from silencers to Acogs etc. I think it is anodising, but have yet to find out exactly.

More research is needed...

JB

[hapi]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

the original coating is called phosphating which is a spray on finish to a negatively charge part this can only be done by a speacalist really

[krazy_horse]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

Thanks hapi, however phosphating can only be performed on ferrous alloys, my receiver is an aluminium alloy

I might have found a guy online on another forum i go on that might be able to sort me out for powder coatin, but we will see...

Cheers,

JB

[Recon Victor]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

I'm a graphic designer with specialism in typography, looking at the picture you supplied this could be a number of typefaces and the fact that its engraved makes identifying it even Trickier!

I think there are a combination of letterforms being used here (notice the 'R' in 'firearms' has a straight stroke whilst the "R" in 'property' is slightly curved.) Also the kerning (letter spacing) is all over the place
(P R O P E R T Y / DIVISION)! This is probably due to the method being used to stamp these trades on the gun.

A good compromise that would still be legible once engraved(or stamped) might be "Bryant", "Calibri" or "Proxima Sans" all of these would cost you £ but good old "Arial Rounded" would probably suffice.... and its free.

Hope this has helped (despite being extremely geeky )

[Caveira]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

As far as the size of the font is concerned, if you're using CNC kit at work, you should have access to decent measuring equipment too, so scale the stampings on the picture above and then transfer these (in scale) to your receiver. You may be a fraction off, but with care and good equipment, you'll be so close that nobody notices.

As another suggestion, how about making up your own custom trades?

[westywesty84]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

Ha yeah like KHA (Krazy Horse Armalite)!
im sure a powdercoat finish would get the gritiness your after mate.
Hope your going to provide pics when its done! lol

[krazy_horse]

Re: Paint Stripping, Engraving, and Re-painting a Metal Receiver

Yeah i have been looking into powder coating, but still not found a place just yet.

Plus i don't really want black, i would prefer a really dark grey like you get with G&P receivers, my search continues.

Oh and don't worry i will put up pics of each stage as i go along.

JB