Question on painting the Sig 552
 

http://buyairsoft.ca/catalog/images/Sig552.jpg

Please be gentle here guys.

So this may sound like the absolute stupidest question, but what precisely should I remove from the gun if I wish to paint the clear receiver? Does the entire gearbox need to come out?

Also, anyone who's done some work on this clear ABS plastic, your opinions would be very welcome. I'm looking for a smokey gray colour. What kind of Krylon would give me this effect? And should I use any primer?

Thanks!

depends- if you mask things you dont need to take anything apart. Myself these days I take the gun apart and just paint what I need.

Krylon likely has a decent grey (they have a camo line but I dont recall if they have a grey in that line). Watch out though as multiple layers of spray paint on Krylon tends to produce a 'crackle effect' into the paint giving it a texture.

I have plenty of clear guns and JG guns to compare: in terms of plastic my clear G3/R72 holds up just as well as my nonclear JG ones and the non-clear PulseR72s.

For myself, I prefer to disassemble everything and paint in and out (except the mags). It helps me a lot.

I remember few years back when I bought a clear springer P99 from cancan tire, I used a plastic primer and put 3 very small coats of black krylon. Coating hasn't shown a crack until the slide broke up and trashed it ( 3 years of light use as a backup silent pistol :P )

Don't hide yourself, more time goes on and more clear guns will enter the market

take out the magazine for starters, (you probably no that), the only thing you have to remove is the rear sight, otherwise you can just use painter's tape to protect the rest of the gun. I would also highly suggest using a spray on clearcoat, it gets rid of some of the stickiness and protects the paint.

Yup- I got a clear Crosman springer as my first backup. Clear Crosman G3 too and they paint up great (and work even better with a proper mechbox in em).

To be honest for paintjob projects I prefer clear guns (and why ruin a black plastic receiver with paint anyway lol).

I am likely going to look at one of those clear Nonblowback propane pistols as a paint project later this year. $60 is a bargain for a clear gas pistol (the Co2 ones are usually $80)

Bit off topic but those clear spring pistols are great for only $25 or so. Springers are fairly useful here in CQB (quiet too) and now I have a black UHC spring revolver as well as that crosman pistol. Though springer pistols work fine they dont have the range of the CO2 and gas pistols so it became my 'mercy killer' option (in that instead of a risky 'mercy' call I just shoot them with my 200fps springers ;) )

Good tips. I figured I could just use painters tape to cover most of it (the stock and entire front are a nice black).

I'm not particularly comfortable taking the entire gun apart even though this would be the optimal way to paint a specific area.

Thanks for the suggestion on using the protective clear acrylic. I wish Krylon made a plastic camo grey but oh well.

But they do have this textured shimmer line. Looks interesting.

Wouldn't that paint look weird on a gun? I mean, it has an weird texture, and it doesn't seem flat. I suggest you to use the ultra-flat one.

To paint it, you should remove handguard, pistol grip, stock, and mags, or mask them.
And also, when you paint, do it in little coat, wait the first coat dry, then go for another.

Check canadian tire, where i got my (camo black) paint they had grey, tan, black, green, and a darker brown. 2 light coats few hours apart, no primer let sit for 7 days to harden. used for 2 clear plastic pistols turned out really nice.

Ya I'm actually looking for something with alittle grainy texture to it, but I suspect that paint might be alittle too rough.

If its easy enough I'd prefer to remove all the parts I don't want to paint but I don't wanna break or loose anything either so I might end up just taping/covering it.

Sand with fine-grip sand paper

Rub down with isopropyl Alcohol (Wear latex gloves after this step)

A shot of krylon fusion

Let it dry for 1 week without touching it (the paint will bond to the plastic)

Ideally, painting a clear plastic receiver involves painting the inside and outside surfaces so if it scratches it doesn't show through anywhere near as bad. But if you are uncomfortable disassembling the gun then don't, don't want to mess it up.