The finish on it reminds me of a 1990 Saturn that the clear coat wore off of. The plain cheap grips on it also do not accent this horrible finish as well. So I asked myself how to make this look better?
DURACOAT!
I watched a few videos and read a few reviews on the Duracoat product. Everyone had nothing but grand things to say about it. So why not give it a shot? The Lauer Weaponry website made things very easy for me to order the color I wanted (Colt Gray) along with all the other necessary tools and products I would need to complete the job.
The entire process is actually quite easy. First off you need to strip down all the items you plan on painting down to the bare minimum. Once that is achieved you have to prep the surfaces of the items. Some cleaner / de-greaser (provided in the kit) and a 3M Scotch Bright pad is all you need for that. Soak down the parts with the cleaner and buff them with the scotch bright pad. Afterwards wipe them off with a clean dry towel. Next its time to mix the paint. Duracoat requires you to add a hardener to the paint. The ratio is 12 parts paint to 1 part hardener. After the paint and hardener have been mixed you can add them to your air brush (also provided in kit). Now its time to paint away! After you have applied a few coats leave the items to dry. It states that it will take 24 hours for the paint to cure and harden before you can re-assemble your firearm. I myself am going to give it an extra day to be on the safe side. Either way it was a pretty smooth process and the final product came out looking awesome!
The only other thing that I may do once I put this back together is look for a nice Hogue grip for it to top it off. Well that does it for now. Time to put this sucker back together. More updates and projects to come soon! 