Painting PVC

[jor2daje]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I have just built a pretty nice gun that I think is worthy of a paint job. I have an airbrush, and was thinking of doing some cool flame effects. I am wondering what sort of airbrush paint I could use on ABS, or what sort of primer I should use.

[starman]

Wash it well with dish detergent to get the oils and grime off of it. It should have a squeaky clean feel to it.

Lightly rough up the surface with some medium to fine sand paper. Don't go overboard with it...just take the shine off of the ABS surface. Now would be a good time to either clean off the ABS factory markings with pvc cleaner or sand them off.

Now use some white Fusion plastic paint to lightly coat the entire surface you want to paint. Let sit for an hour and apply a second coat and let dry for a couple of days. Now you can choose just about any paint you want to paint on top of the white...yes, air brush stuff...

[inonickname]

For the reference, PVC cleaner works well. As far as I know it's acetone (nail polish remover) and brings up a nice smooth surface for paint to adhere to. Like starman stated, sandpaper but I prefer a fine grit for a nicer finish with fewer coats.

And again, the fusion (krylon?) works great for PVC, that's even something that it's listed to be used on! It brings up a good finish.

Check it..

For masking, instead of masking tape I'd recommend to try find a plastic kind of tape (not the papery normal masking tape, bleeds to much). Either that, or another ideal thing to use is contact for covering school books. No residue, cheap, easy to get et cetera. Good luck, some pics would be good when it's done!

[jor2daje]

Ok thanks, Ill definetly get some krylon fusion, one more question, I cut out some skull stencils, which one do you think would look the coolest on a gun.
Id probably do some flames in the background, but the skull would be the main piece. Oh and what color should the skull be?

[maverik94]

i dont know, they all look really cool, I kinda like the first one though.

[colty-bear]

second skull is really sweet
and for colors go black skull with red tribal flames in background
http://www.chuckbauman.com/tribal-flame ... bauman.jpg

[sssssbooom]

Wash it well with dish detergent to get the oils and grime off of it. It should have a squeaky clean feel to it.

Lightly rough up the surface with some medium to fine sand paper. Don't go overboard with it...just take the shine off of the ABS surface. Now would be a good time to either clean off the ABS factory markings with pvc cleaner or sand them off.

Now use some white Fusion plastic paint to lightly coat the entire surface you want to paint. Let sit for an hour and apply a second coat and let dry for a couple of days. Now you can choose just about any paint you want to paint on top of the white...yes, air brush stuff...

wow thanks I was just about to ask how. as for the skulls I really like the first one.

[jimmy101]

Wash it well with dish detergent to get the oils and grime off of it. It should have a squeaky clean feel to it.

Lightly rough up the surface with some medium to fine sand paper. Don't go overboard with it...just take the shine off of the ABS surface. Now would be a good time to either clean off the ABS factory markings with pvc cleaner or sand them off.

Now use some white Fusion plastic paint to lightly coat the entire surface you want to paint. Let sit for an hour and apply a second coat and let dry for a couple of days. Now you can choose just about any paint you want to paint on top of the white...yes, air brush stuff...

You can wash and sand at the same time. Just use soapy water with waterproof sand paper or a green scrub bright pad. Scrub bright pads work extremely well.

A bit'o warning, paints tend to take a very long time to fully cure on PVC and I suspect ABS is similar. Fusion paint says something like a week for full cure. Regardless of the paint used I would figure that the paint really isn't fully cured for at least a week after painting.

What you really need for the artwork is a spud-skull