Well, I have project ADHD right now, so I decided to start on my M4 Racegun project.
So, what makes a gun a good racegun? Wild colors, untactical general look, but flawless functionality.
My plan is this:
Gearbox, inner barrel, outer barrel, motor, stock buffer tube and crane stock from TSD/SRC M4 Sportline.
Metal body, handguard, pistol grip from DBoys SPR Mod0
The finish is what the really fun part will be, so I'll only do the partial reveal of it now.
This project started by stripping all the paint off of the SPR handguard and receiver. The first owner of this gun thought it would be a good idea to paint this gun bright red, with some kind of magical paint that turns into super glue when dried. Not good. I painted over it in a tan/black finish long ago, to cover the sad state of affairs of the accursed red rifle. This is how it looked after my repaint, but before the stripping:
Not bad, but not a race gun. Too practical, too tactical.
The guts of the gun will be out of this:
Basically, the idea will be an M4 length barrel, short style gas block, hidden by the handguard, SPR handguard coming almost up to the muzzle end, SPR grip, metal body, and crane stock. No iron sights, reflex sight only. I'm ditching the SPR top spine rail, and will only have the M4 flat top rail for optics. Flashhider is up in the air, but I'm thinking one of the sexy Madbull ones would be a good investment.
So the disassembly process began quite violently. This red paint he used seriously hardened into epoxy, and practically welded the rail assembly to the receiver. It took some coaxing with a hammer and chisel to seperate them, leaving me with this:
Yuk. This paint has me seeing red! Zing!
The lower receiver was much easier, and is now entirely disassembled, ready for stripping:
So the stripping begins. I used this:
Word of caution. This stuff WILL seep through the microscopic pores of normal latex gloves. It hurts, burns, and could maim, so get propper stripping gloves. Use it outdoors, with good ventilation, and wear a mask for safety, as well as goggles. You don't want this on your skin, lungs, eyes, etc...
So, basically, you take EVERYTHING that is plastic, rubber, etc off the gun. ONLY SPRAY THIS ON METAL OR IT WILL MELT THE PLASTIC!!!
With that out of the way, I sprayed it on the gun and watched the show!
Watch that paint crinkle! After about 30 seconds it starts seperating the paint layers. I let it sit for 10 minutes, and then used a specially treated plastic brush to remove the loosened paint. The handguard stripped pretty well, only taking two coats of stripper to remove pretty much all the paint.
The lower receiver is another story. The first coating of stripper took off the tan AND the red devil coat, but left 99% of the factory DBoys black receiver paint intact. Odd. People piss and moan about the crappy DBoys paint job, but I'll be damned if this stuff doesn't strip off. It took me 3 coats,with 10 minute wait times to get it to this point:
Hate. This DBoys paint is a tough adversary.
I decided to do it the easy way and sprayed a coating of stripper on the reciever and put it in a ziploc bag, inside of another bag to let it soak overnight. That should teach that damn paint to be so resilliant!
The upper receiver will be next, but I'm having an issue. You see, the front sight attachment screws (it uses dual allen head screws on the gas block, not pins) are stripped, so I cannot remove the gas block and tube, meaning I cannot unscrew the delta ring and the barrel, leaving the receiver attached to the handguard. I'm doing a thorough job, and I won't be reusing the gas tube, so I'm just taking a hacksaw to it tomorrow, which will free the front end to be unscrewed.
The pistol grip, selector switch, mag release and crane stock are receiveing a textured black/grey/white finish, courtesy of Rustoleum textured multicolored paint.
Thusfar, the grip, selector and mag release have been painted, leaving me this:
Very comfy, very nice finish. I love this paint. My race pistol grips will be getting a matching paintjob.
So, what's the mystery finish going to be? Ponder this:
Later...
First few sanding jobs, up to 400 grit so far...
By the way, I never want to do this again. The stripping sucked, the sanding sucked, and I'm not even halfway where I want it to be yet.
Polished metal guns = fun idea on paper, worst idea in execution.
It still needs a few more runs with the sandpaper, as there is still some paint I missed, plus it needs to be shinier. More parts got painted, and the general look of this thing is building.
My hands hurt, my fingers hurt, and my body is sore from the odd positions I was in today, and I only did 3 hours on this thing today. Blah...
Even later...
Big leap forward today. Hit everything with 1000g and 2000g, then two jobbies with Mothers "Mag" polish. This thing is beautiful, there's no other way to describe it. Since the body is pretty much where I want it, I decided to put it together. The outer barrel needed the RIS mounting tabs cut off to fit the new delta ring, and the upper receiver needed a touch of sanding to fit the outer barrel.
Well, on to the pics:
It's much shinier than the pics suggest. Almost chrome, but still kinda matte. Just how I want it. Everything black has been hit with the multicolored textured paint, including the stock.
I still need to dremel out the back of the lower receiver to allow the wires to go into the buffer tube, and I need to put the motor in, etc...
I still need to order the flashhider, or think of something custom. It also needs its reflex sight, which will get a matching coat of textured paint as soon as I get it.
So far, I haven't had to purchase one single item, except for paint/polish/etc, so I guess tossing $30 on a sick flashhider and sight wouldn't be a bad idea.
Enjoy the progress!
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