Here is a how to on a very simple yet effective paint-job called snake skin. This is a great alternative to other camo patterns because you do not have to cut out stencils.
Stuff you might want:
Spray Paint (I used rustoleum camouflage series)
Colors I used: Khaki, forest green, earth brown, and black
Netting (this can be tough to find, I used the netting from a dump bag, which you can probably find in the camping aisle of Wal-Mart)
sand paper
primer
OK the first thing you should do is sand down and parts of the gun you are painting. After you do that lay down the primer on any metal parts and let dry.
After the primer is dry lay down your base coat, whatever the basecoat is is what color will appear in the lines that criss cross the gun. I recommend tan.
After the base coat is dry drape the netting over the part of the gun you are painting. Get the
netting as tight as possible for the best lines.
When you have the netting as tight against the gun as you think is humanly possible spray on the color of you choice. I decided to spray in stripes. I'm sure it would work just as well if you decided to spray in blotches though.
Keep adding colors until it is fully colored to your liking. You don't have to leave any tan blotches because the lines that will be left will show enough of the tan coat.
Well thats basically how you do it. There are some problems that I ran into along the way so heres a list of problems and how to fix them.
Netting not tight enough
This happened to me in a couple places and left big blotches of paint with no lines. My advice would be to meticulously check over the netting to make sure it is SUPER tight before laying down any paint. Tape the netting to the table or just paint sections of the gun instead of the whole thing. You really just have to learn as you go.
Netting the barrel
Figuring out how to net the barrel tightly was a little hard to figure out. What I ended up doing was putting the thread part of the barrel in a clamp so the barrel was horizontal. Then I draped the netting over the barrel and put a smaller clamp on to hold the two sides together and let gravity take care of the rest. The only disadvantage to this is that you can only paint one side of the barrel at a time, but its better than having a crappy paint job.
Paint not fully dry
This is pretty much a no brainer, but seriously, let the paint dry before handling. Especially the primer.
I hope this helped all of you guys that want to do a DIY paint job but don't really know how to go about deciding what pattern you want. This is a great alternative to other patterns if you don't want to take the time to cut out stencils with a knife and all that jazz. Also as a side note you don't have to use camo colors. In fact I was going to paint my Trracer with a base coat of red that fades into blue, net it and then do a black over coat. I know very Spiderman but I don't care, it would look awesome.
Oh almost forgot here's the finished product
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