Didn't have much to do and got the urge to do some painting. Base coat is Krylon khaki, pine needles applied and then striped with OD and brown krylon.

AR10 detachable carry handle...actually the CH base coat is norrell's tan FWIW...





Surefire G2...






Harris bipod...

Originally Posted By stretch415: very nice. Is it going on that same rifle right? I am going to take the plunge one of these days here and do the needlework over my duracoat FDE How big of needles are these? I was thinking we had them around here but they are all evergreens

Correct, all going on my AR10.

The needles I'm using are 4"-6" long.

Originally Posted By LonghunterCO: That looks good. You should do a pictorial of the process!

BIG +1

Originally Posted By bjwar10: Originally Posted By LonghunterCO: That looks good. You should do a pictorial of the process! As soon as I can catch on off day and find something else to paint, I'll do that.

I wouldnt mind seeing your process either. How about a pic of the complete rifle with all your new stuff?

As requested here is a brief tutorial with a few pics. I found an old flashlight that I thought could use some camo. Unfortunately, I did not have any "coyote" type color to use as a base coat so I had to use krylon khaki. I degreased with a bit of brake cleaner and applied the base coat.


I got my well-used pine needles and put them on the flashlight. No real technique to this. I do try to have the majority of them running perpendicular to the flashlight but that is totally personal preference. For this side of the light, I chose to make the needles rather thick so that very little paint would transfer through...yes, there is a flashlight under there.


I waited about 5 minutes before removing the pine needles. You will notice the "dots" of paint that got through causing the lines to be a little blurred. I was holdong the can 6"-8" from the pine needles. The good news is that if you use too many needles and you want more color, you can put some needles back on and add a little more color if you want. Personally, I've found that I prefer about half that many needles.


I flipped the flashlight over and got ready to do the other side. This time I only used about half the needles that I used before. I also held the can a little closer to the flashlight...about 3"-4".


After three stripes of each color...notice the sharper lines and more color transfer.


Here is part of my rifle where I was able to use a darker base coat (Norrell's tan) and then applied three colors over it (khaki, OD, brown).



I don't have pics of them, but I made a few practice runs on cardboard using OD as a base coat with khaki and coyote over it and it looked pretty cool but too dark for central AL. I also tried using #57 stone instead of pine needles. I laid the rocks in a stripe pattern of sorts. This gave a flectarn-type look. Pretty neat but again, not exactly what I wanted. Of all the advice I could give, I would say the best thing to do is cut out some cardboard in the shape of your rifle (or whatever it is you want to paint) and practice. Try some different patterns. Place the templates in the woods and on the ground and see how well they blend, etc. Also be creative...I tried laundry bags, gutter guards, leaves and sticks, combos of all the above and all gave neat patterns. I just ended up liking the pinestraw the best.

Thanks for posting.

Good info.

Sweet !!!! Thank's for sharing your technique !!!

Originally Posted By PVFD304: Good job. Looks like a new project in my future. Off topic, but what scope are you running?

Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x24

Very nice. Will have to try something like that one of these days.

My Form 4 finally came back so I had to get my pine needles back out one more time...

bjwar, thanks for taking the time to share your method. That is a great looking camo - especially on the last one!

that makes a terrific camo pattern

those are seriously some of the coolest paint jobs I have ever seen.
thanks for sharing!