wooden HG's, what did you use.

I have wooden HG's and would like to paint them black.
I want something real durable with a texture, and also for it to look like polymer Hg's.





btw:::: I dont care about resale value, it is mine forever

Just for the h of it, I took a flat built Romy, chopped off the front grip and painted everything with Duplicolor truck bed lining from Walmart.  Then I added one of those flimsy Tasco folding stocks and named it Goober.  It now rides my beater truck.

That truck bed stuff is interesting.  It has larger than normal particles and the solvent bubbles at room temp.  It leaves a lightly textured surface.  The problem is that it sprays out so fast and heavy that it is hard to get even.  If I moved fast, it was a decent match for plastic.  YMMV

After the Romy, I used it to do a top cover and a selector that would go on a Molyresin’d gun.  To do this, I diluted it 2 to 1 with lacquer thinner and applied it like I would Molyresin.  I was surprised by how close it matched.  It worked well except that the air brush kept clogging up.  I wont bother with that again.

The good news is that it is tough.  It can be baked in an oven and is resistant to solvents.  I found that a quick and easy way to bake it was to let it dry for an hour then wave a propane torch over it until it just starts to fume.  Then cool and do it again.  Three times will do it.  I measured the temp each time with a non-contact temperature gun.  The three steps were 350F, 425F and 500F.  That is obviously too hot for wood, but OK for metal.