I've been collecting parts for this for a while, almost done with the lower.  Sorry for the crappy pics, I don't have my camera with me right now.  I'll take better pictures tomorrow.

Upper, charging handle, mag button, and maybe this trigger guard came from boywonder777, one of my bolt catches came from the EE, and another one came from Megaro but that will be used to finish another project.  (I should have pics of that tomorrow as well)  Forward assist came from a WTB ad I had on the EE.  I have a 1/9 twist barrel that came with the parts kits a few years ago but someone painted it tan and used it with a clamp on gas block.  I have a nice GM style FSB and I need to contact John Thomas about assembling and parking the barrel.  I gambled on the upper as it was covered in thick black paint, aircraft stripper revealed nice gold underneath. I couldn't find a "real" slip ring so I had two slip rings and two buffer tubes refinished by Victor at US Anodizing.  The lower is a PWA with some interesting forging and manufacture flaws in it, I had Victor do the "black over gold" anodizing to it too.  I bought the grip off a lower at a local show for $5, it is the very fat style found with some recent GM partial parts kits and has the number "25" rack number sticker inside the grip.  I put my 22LR upper on as a stand-in while I wear the lower.  For this one I just rubbed it with a dusty rag for a while but it really only takes the black off on the edges and most prominent corners.  Next I hit it with a rag that already had Mothers wheel polish in it, rub lightly because you can always take more off later.  Places like around the mag button, bolt catch, and deep areas around the trigger I putt a very small amount of compound on a tooth brush to remove some finish from the low spots.  (a certain amount should be removed from every external surface.  I put the longest trigger / hammer pins I have in the lower so they will leave a nice wear shadow, I might switch out with some more worn looking pins later.






ETA: typos / edits

Great pics !  That is one of the most unusual purple colors I have seen on an upper.  I also think the uppers look
pretty good on the PWA lower.

That's one purple plum ya got there!

I have always wanted to collect purple parts for a purple peashooter!

I would like to get my hands on a PWA lower one of these days.

good thing is there are some postban ones.  they don't come up often and with the depressed AR market, hopefully you can get one cheap.  might have to buy the complete rifle for it though.

Update, did some more rubbing but it is still darker than the upper.  There is a lot more texture in the PWA receiver than I realized and I don't think it will ever appear as light as the upper I have it paired with.  My 1st upper matches the PWA really well as far as amount of black dye left, but the gold color match between it and the NDS lower is much closer so that is where it stays.  In the following 2 pictures you will see my new build based on a PWA lower at left, my old build based on a NDS lower center, and my friend's build based on a Senda lower at right.  Left rifle has a 1/9 twist barrel that came from a GunThings kit a few years ago and refinished slip ring, center rifle has a pieced together upper with a "MP C" barrel and refinished slip ring, and the right rifle has a "MP C" barreled upper that came with the bright gold slip ring.  




If you look close you can see the row(s) of 6 square fixture marks in the back of the charging handles, all charging handles came from boywonder777




I tried to get a shot showing the bolt catches but we couldn't pile them up so they will all show in a picture, worn bolt catch in my NDS lower came from Megaro




My friend's rifle I helped piece together, he found a GM style bolt carrier at a local show, My two have Colt BCGs from recent kits.




Here is the grip I found at a local show, I kept the sticker inside and when looking through my stocks last night was surprised to find a match for it.



ETA: correction

now thats some gm porn. they look awesome

Those look great. Really look like they have BTDT.

I wouldn't change a damn thing somebob, those are looking perfect! Wish I was local to you guys, I'd throw my gold GM on the pile for good measure.

Outstanding work man.

It hurts my eyes to look so hard at things that pretty.

Damn it, now I want a GM clone.

Here are a few more pictures, in some the black dye gets a purple tint from the tungsten lights.

Top NDS, center PWA, bottom Sendra




Lower receiver and buffer tube chunks, the buffer tube end on the left has a wear shadow, gray on top, black anodizing dye beneath, gold anodizing under the black.  (It doesn't look gold because the thin coat of black dye has a purple tint to it)  Buffer tube ring on the right is bright gold.  All pieces came from boywonder777, all but the lone buffer tube end were said to come from Hydra-Matic rifles.  (Correct me if I am wrong about this)  Buffer tube end on left came later, I'm not sure what it came from.  




The PWA lower had more texture than I realized and it isn't exactly what I was expecting.  It might grow on me more.  If anyone out there is thinking of doing something like this I would recommend against using one of the older lower receivers.  I have only contacted Victor at US Anodizing via email, maybe I should have called him.  After he received the lowers he warned me they were not heat treated the same as the upper receiver (or a NDS / real Colt / Hydra-Matic) receiver and it could be difficult to get the gold color.  I went ahead and did it.  I would recommend using a NDS lower or a 80% receiver.  Victor had me ask NDS to not bead blast the lower (because the gold upper was very smooth) and they obliged.  Mike did warn me that there could be flaws in the anodizing but that kind of thing doesn't really bother me and you wouldn't really notice it on a project like this.  I had buffer tubes anodized black over gold like the original crushed ones but the gold didn't come out as bright as the sample pieces.



One more pic, I think some people out there like this kind of lineup.

Link to zoomable full size copy.

ETA: One more pic, clarification

i believe most of those pieces were hydramatic.  they were mixed in with colt and a few h&r.

Yeah, I can see the sets of six dots in that last pic.  - Nice.

GM fever is an acute form of RBR. Cough cough