I did my letters on my AR in red for fire and white for safe (like H&K) and I highlighted my G23's letters with a dull silver. I think it looks great!

For those of you wondering about the AR red/white deal -- well, I have taken a few people shooting and it seems like they never know safe from fire. Now it will at least stand out.

cool, how'd ya do it?

I have used "paint sticks" in the past..looks like you got it down!

First time:

I used oil pastel "crayon" type things. I got mine from Micheal's. It is a huge crafts store. I just "filled in the blanks" and then used GOO OFF (from Wal-Mart) to remove the overcoloring. Then, a few light strokes over the area and then press on the letters to pull out the extra. It took a little bit of time, but it was well worth it. IMHO, it looks great -- especially on the Glock.

Sweet!

Very nice!

That looks great.  What exactly did you use? Brand name, etc., and how easily does it rub off after drying?  

I have done similar projects with touchup auto paint, but it is too messy to use on a gun.

Thanks
SB

hmmm maybe I'll paint my snake green

Quoted: hmmm maybe I'll paint my snake green

You will be a hit in the locker room.

Quoted: Quoted: hmmm maybe I'll paint my snake green You will be a hit in the locker room.

As I hit "submit"  I thought about the consquense of what I wrote, but figured, what the hell...Flame on!!

Absolutely beautiful

Nice...I think I will give this a try

medcop

Any good way of easily doing this permantly?

Cheers,
Chris

Quoted: Any good way of easily doing this permantly? Cheers, Chris

From what I can say, this is pretty damn permanent.

The stuff is labeled "Oil Pastels" made by LOEW CORNELL.  If you will read in my post above, I mention where to get this stuff.  

As far as ease of removal, well, when I applied it in a circular motion, I tried initial removal with finger nail polish remover and that had no such luck.  Then, I used the GOO OFF and that took the extra off.  

Now that it is on/in there, it seems like it will stay for a long time.  Since it is oil based paint, it takes some working to get it off.  i.e. terpentine.  

Hope this helps.

All I see is the dreaded RED X!!

I get the dreaded "X" also!!

Strange.... It was working last night!

Thanks USMCsilver!

I wouldn't have thought it was that tough of a substance. I'll have to give it a try. I also want to white the markings on my M1.

Cheers,
Chris

Man that looks nice.. I am going to have to do that.

But why didn't you paint the auto label?

You can also use model car paints from any discount store. Works good putting it on with a toothpick.

Quoted: You can also use model car paints from any discount store. Works good putting it on with a toothpick.

Some of the stampings are too small to use the paint and toothpick trick though. I've tried it on a couple of things (suppressors) and it just doesn't work. The paint blobs out of the letters and runs to the next one. I might go pick up some of this stuff tomorrow and try it out, if I can find it.

I gotta admit that does look pretty good. You misspelled "SEF" though.

I painted the selector positions on my ARs today.
Here is how I did it, they came out great.

1) Clean the area with a degreaser, I used Acetone because I had it and neded it for a later step.

2) Warm the area to touch with a blow dryer. Not sure if this is necessary but I figured it might help the paint bond to the metal.

3) Cover the area to be painted with the color of paint that you selected.  I used Testor's enamel in a tube with an applicator that looks like a magic marker. Just cover the whole area and don't try to just get it in the engraving.

4) Have a beer and watch a couple football games, you want the paint to be 99% dry.

5) Take a flat razorblade (the kind you would use to scrape stickers off of windows) and scrape off the excess paint.

6) take a cotton ball that is just damp with acetone, or paint thinner and lightly rub off any remaining paint around the engraving.  I tried doing this with a terry cloth rag and the results were not acceptable.

7) Take another cottonball soaked with Break Free and apply to the area that you degreased.

The results look great. The paint was $3 each for the tubes but you could do the same with those little bottles of model paint.  I have enough paint left to do about 1000 rifles.  Better get to the gun store!!!

Hey dmuldrew how about showing us YOUR pics.  I would like to try your method, but I want to see how it looks.  I'm thinking it doesn't look as bright as the other method. So, show us what you got . . .

Hey baby....Wanna come upstairs and see my etchings.....hee hee

I've had excellent results with red & white acrylic paint, applied with either a toothpick or a very fine brush.  Any excess can easily be removed with another toothpick or careful use of an Xacto knife.

Quoted: hmmm maybe I'll paint my snake green

Good idea. Everyone knows green snakes are harmless. That should give you the drop on the womenz as their guard will be dowm.