Exams done...now what?

So, my exams are finally done. So i now have a 3 month vacation (SCHWEET XD ).

So this is what I've been doing in my off time till thus far.

- Finished the Tavor repaint

Notes: Had too simplify the design as the paint kept running (even if i masked it off correctly). But happy with the overall result. Next up the fire control system. Here is the painting process: link

- Worked on some weapons for an up and coming project:

Anyhow, any new projects and events I'll keep you posted.

Pressured 'speed' paint

So yesterday, woke up reaaaally early...couldn't sleep. So instead of wasting anytime further trying to catch a few extra z's, i decided to try my hand at digital painting/sketching/making pretty pictures thing.

Started of with no plan, just started sketching...ended up with this.

anyhow, I have an interesting project brewing on my side (other than finishing the tavor paint job). I'll keep you guys (and gals) posted once I advance far enough to share a decent amount of Inf with you guys.

Tavor repaint project: Day 3

SOOOooooo...today was a more exciting day in the tavor repaint, you'll see later why.

I began again taping off everything that was not to become orange (leaving the previous tape on...cause that stays black)

Again, 2 light coats, this time Orange (still using Rust_oleum)

And finally, once dried, I removed all the tape (and here comes the exciting part). Boy am I pleasantly surprised at the results.

The plan

Current state

Next steps are cleanup, finer detail and finaly sealing it with a matte finish lacquer. After which I'll install a burst mosfet (I'll make a post about it later) and other electronics.

Anyhow, the next update should be the final one for the paint, so stay tuned to see this baby finished.

Tavor repaint project: Day 2

Soo...day 2 of the tavor build
Not much was done. Mainly stripped out all the internals and covered everything that was not to be painted with painters tape.

I then gave the gun 2 light coats of Rust-oleum white (about 10 min per coat)

Next step will be to tape off anything that will not be orange and do those coats, and then finally some clean up, finer detail and a matte lacquer seal to finish the job.

Sorry for the short up-date, not much to talk about in this step.

Tavor repaint project: Day 1

Ok, so I decided to start repainting my boring looking Tavor (looks similar to this)

to look like this

Now some of my airsoft buddies are like, "But Jacques, that stands out. Don't make your gun stand out"and I see their point. In field/long range games, camo (or even black) is better than white and orange to blend into the environment, making it harder for your opponent to spot you (unless you are playing in a white and orange environment, that'll show them). But this is my cqb weapon, camo is not going to help much when max range is about 7 meters. So, with that thought, why not make it look a cool as possible...hence the repaint project.

So day one consisted of getting my hands on some Rust-oleum paint (no Krylon, because it seems that you can't find that in South Africa) and some painters tape. I decided to start of with the magazine, as it is a nice simple area to test the paint and masking techniques.

1. Masked of everything that was not to receive a layer of paint.
   
2. Proceeded to spray the white as a base and primer. Did 2 light coats, waiting 15min between coats.
   
3. Next I masked of anything that was not to be the second colour (ie orange) and sprayed 2 coats of the second colour onto the mag (again waiting 15min between coats).
   
4. Finally after letting it dry for about an hour, proceeded to remove all the masking.
   

From a distance it look pretty good, on closer inspection the edges of the white are a tad untidy. Unfortunately, seeing that I used a spray paint that bonds with the plastic, scraping the excess paint of is not an viable option (I'll play around with a few other ways of trying to clean it up, like paint thinners, etc.).

Still to-do on the mag is to finish the cross and tidy up, then I'll do the other one before moving onto the next mag.

Stay tuned for updates on this project (and yes there will be updates. Unlike the other ones *cough cough* I already spent money on this project...I'm not willing to see it go to waste).