Clay
05-01-2012, 11:33
Disclaimer before disclaimer: Our Scout plt. was tasked with teaching a few classes/ lanes at our battalion ftx and I chose the subject of gear painting as I had just underwent painting a lot of guys kit in my team. What started out as a serious handout somehow turned into a pretty humorous handout. It really made some of the guys smile after a few days of being awake( not too bad, we are NG ;)), so I figured I'd give it a shot here. If it needs to be deleted or moved, just let me know guys. Back to :lifter
Disclaimer:This is all opinion. I'm just an Infantry Scout. Our main mission is reconissance and supporting the sniper teams. As such, all our kit, from d-rings to water bottles needs to blend in somewhat. I am by no means a RangerSEALSFCAGCIATier1SniperNightstalkerAstronaut (there really is an astronaut skill badge, and my leadership was equally impressed that I knew this, and pissed at getting a school request from an 11B :D). If you don't agree with anything during the lane, please wait until the end of the presentation with your ideas/opinions/anything else and we'll address them. Thank you.
1. Just buy fucking Multicam, because
A. With the pattern already in large circulation as uniforms and TA-50 with OCP Crye is probably going to win the Army camo selection with Multicam being the transitional pattern, and
B. Painting gear is a huge pain in ass. If you don't want to or can't get Multicam for whatever reason then consider this. Ranger Green, Sand, and Coyote (colors explained below) are pretty decent colors to go solid with. Just keep this in mind:
A. Coyote is kind of hard to paint, and in some environments turns super dark before finally lightening up with use. Sand takes paint well being so light to start with, but turns almost white with use.
B. Ranger Green is my personal favorite. I've only worn OG107( I think that's them) once, but have heard a lot of older guys talking about how you could roll around in the dirt and they would instantly take on a pretty close hue to the AO. I understand this with wearing Ranger Green kit. Desert or savannah type enviroment, it'll lighten up considerably. Georgia red clay will do just the opposite. Woodland areas tend to keep it dark. So being the lazy fuck I am, I like to buy OD stuff. You can always find it cheap in surplus stores, and it says fucking Ranger in the name, so you know it's cool. Beside's, everyone else buys Coyote, and Multicam is issued. You want to blend in with your environments, not your team, right? Rule number one guys, always look cool, and if everyone has it, it ain't cool.
2. That being said, I haven't seen a Nalgene or climbing rated d-ring in Multicam or Ranger, and black doesn't blend in with shitall. The snakeskin pattern that I use looks pretty fucking sweet in my opinion, and has an actual purpose. Not to mention that multicam does have a few places where it doesn't blend, and rattle cans come into play there.
3. Ok, actual points now. Starting with paint choice. I used cheap, multisurface, Rustoleum camo paint.
Colors:
Sand (light tan)
Coyote (Dark tan/light brown. Think Marines TA-50)
Foilage Green (light green, UCP green almost)
Ranger Green (the newest cool guy name for standard olive drab)
Red Brown (think dry red clay).
4. Reasons I chose these: At walmart, cheap, lots of it around. Also dries fast and has no glare/gloss, reflection.
5. When painting weapons, use high temp resistant paint. At least do a few base coats then you can paint over it in your patterns with regular paint.
6. Get professional!!! : (See following points)
7. Paint will stick to a clean, coarse surface better than a smooth or dirty one. Takes experimentation to find the right grit sandpaper for some things, but soap and water cleans about everything I know.Your stuff is going to chip no matter what, but using the right paint and prepping the surface will help sustain a little longer. I haven't experimented with that paint with the built in texture, (which is amazing tech by the way), but that would be another element that could work in some places.
8. I do all my painting on sunny, no wind, warm days if possible. The problem with wind is obvious so I'll go straight to heat. Let everything warm up. There's some celllular or molecular level science going on there, but sort of the same thing as baking a lube onto your gun or firing clay. Helps it bond with the surface I think. Sunlight or artificial lighting augments are also critical.
9. Just like really good photography you want excellent lighting. When you get into some of the colors that are darker any variation in light will fuck up your view of wet paint. Not a huge deal, but something worth doing is worth doing right.
10. Sun also helps it dry faster, and since you're going to want to do several coats (get professional!) and probably don't want to be out there huffing paint fumes it helps a lot.
11. Be aware how how porous the object is. Cordura, plastic, wood, everything accepts it differently. Also a note on this, don't paint your damn velcro. At least not heavily. It'll dick it up.
12. Counterpoint for get professional; any field expedient painting. Ex. Going from heavy woodlands, to grassy savannahs, to sandy deserts, to snowy tundras. Unless I'm stationed in Antartica I'm not going to prep and do a heavy coat of white for a 72 hour lp/op. Call me lazy, but like I said, it's a pain in the ass to do this. And I don't know the long term effects of layer after layer of paint on gear.
13. Don't wear flip-flops, or anything that you don't mind getting dusted. Common sense I know, but that shit is getting rare. No, I did not paint half my left foot Ranger Green. (But I'd lie if I did.) As an aside, my flip-flops are tactical as shit for high speed mall trips and Zaxbys runs.
14. Dusting is an alternative to direct painting, and is actually easier to do on a very windy day. Done right, it can actually change the way an entire piece looks with out actually changing it. That's about the best way to explain it I can come up with. All it is is letting the wind carry miniscule amounts of paint onto the object. Just like when your favorite tshirt is now super tactical looking on the front and still bright orange on the back. (Screw you and your common sense, you ain't better'n me!)
Disclaimer:This is all opinion. I'm just an Infantry Scout. Our main mission is reconissance and supporting the sniper teams. As such, all our kit, from d-rings to water bottles needs to blend in somewhat. I am by no means a RangerSEALSFCAGCIATier1SniperNightstalkerAstronaut (there really is an astronaut skill badge, and my leadership was equally impressed that I knew this, and pissed at getting a school request from an 11B :D). If you don't agree with anything during the lane, please wait until the end of the presentation with your ideas/opinions/anything else and we'll address them. Thank you.
1. Just buy fucking Multicam, because
A. With the pattern already in large circulation as uniforms and TA-50 with OCP Crye is probably going to win the Army camo selection with Multicam being the transitional pattern, and
B. Painting gear is a huge pain in ass. If you don't want to or can't get Multicam for whatever reason then consider this. Ranger Green, Sand, and Coyote (colors explained below) are pretty decent colors to go solid with. Just keep this in mind:
A. Coyote is kind of hard to paint, and in some environments turns super dark before finally lightening up with use. Sand takes paint well being so light to start with, but turns almost white with use.
B. Ranger Green is my personal favorite. I've only worn OG107( I think that's them) once, but have heard a lot of older guys talking about how you could roll around in the dirt and they would instantly take on a pretty close hue to the AO. I understand this with wearing Ranger Green kit. Desert or savannah type enviroment, it'll lighten up considerably. Georgia red clay will do just the opposite. Woodland areas tend to keep it dark. So being the lazy fuck I am, I like to buy OD stuff. You can always find it cheap in surplus stores, and it says fucking Ranger in the name, so you know it's cool. Beside's, everyone else buys Coyote, and Multicam is issued. You want to blend in with your environments, not your team, right? Rule number one guys, always look cool, and if everyone has it, it ain't cool.
2. That being said, I haven't seen a Nalgene or climbing rated d-ring in Multicam or Ranger, and black doesn't blend in with shitall. The snakeskin pattern that I use looks pretty fucking sweet in my opinion, and has an actual purpose. Not to mention that multicam does have a few places where it doesn't blend, and rattle cans come into play there.
3. Ok, actual points now. Starting with paint choice. I used cheap, multisurface, Rustoleum camo paint.
Colors:
Sand (light tan)
Coyote (Dark tan/light brown. Think Marines TA-50)
Foilage Green (light green, UCP green almost)
Ranger Green (the newest cool guy name for standard olive drab)
Red Brown (think dry red clay).
4. Reasons I chose these: At walmart, cheap, lots of it around. Also dries fast and has no glare/gloss, reflection.
5. When painting weapons, use high temp resistant paint. At least do a few base coats then you can paint over it in your patterns with regular paint.
6. Get professional!!! : (See following points)
7. Paint will stick to a clean, coarse surface better than a smooth or dirty one. Takes experimentation to find the right grit sandpaper for some things, but soap and water cleans about everything I know.Your stuff is going to chip no matter what, but using the right paint and prepping the surface will help sustain a little longer. I haven't experimented with that paint with the built in texture, (which is amazing tech by the way), but that would be another element that could work in some places.
8. I do all my painting on sunny, no wind, warm days if possible. The problem with wind is obvious so I'll go straight to heat. Let everything warm up. There's some celllular or molecular level science going on there, but sort of the same thing as baking a lube onto your gun or firing clay. Helps it bond with the surface I think. Sunlight or artificial lighting augments are also critical.
9. Just like really good photography you want excellent lighting. When you get into some of the colors that are darker any variation in light will fuck up your view of wet paint. Not a huge deal, but something worth doing is worth doing right.
10. Sun also helps it dry faster, and since you're going to want to do several coats (get professional!) and probably don't want to be out there huffing paint fumes it helps a lot.
11. Be aware how how porous the object is. Cordura, plastic, wood, everything accepts it differently. Also a note on this, don't paint your damn velcro. At least not heavily. It'll dick it up.
12. Counterpoint for get professional; any field expedient painting. Ex. Going from heavy woodlands, to grassy savannahs, to sandy deserts, to snowy tundras. Unless I'm stationed in Antartica I'm not going to prep and do a heavy coat of white for a 72 hour lp/op. Call me lazy, but like I said, it's a pain in the ass to do this. And I don't know the long term effects of layer after layer of paint on gear.
13. Don't wear flip-flops, or anything that you don't mind getting dusted. Common sense I know, but that shit is getting rare. No, I did not paint half my left foot Ranger Green. (But I'd lie if I did.) As an aside, my flip-flops are tactical as shit for high speed mall trips and Zaxbys runs.
14. Dusting is an alternative to direct painting, and is actually easier to do on a very windy day. Done right, it can actually change the way an entire piece looks with out actually changing it. That's about the best way to explain it I can come up with. All it is is letting the wind carry miniscule amounts of paint onto the object. Just like when your favorite tshirt is now super tactical looking on the front and still bright orange on the back. (Screw you and your common sense, you ain't better'n me!)