Ordering duracoat, what do i need?

[Jicko]

I want to get "Magpul FDE" and "Matte Black".... what do i need to order?
- reducer?
- hardener?
- degreaser?

I already have a compressor.

Should I get their airbrush? Or should I get a different airbrush somewhere else?

[JamesY]

Buy a cheap @ss harbor freight airbrush. From there, you just need the reducer and the paint (the paint usually comes with hardener). I hear acetone is a good degreaser and I also hear that LCW uses MEK as their degreaser. They just re-label it and charge more.

Might be a good idea to paint over park. I painted a piece of bare metal (fully degreased) and let the duracoat sit for over 3 weeks. The other day, I took my finger and scratched my nail on the surface to see how durable it is... FAIL! I had another piece I first parked and then duracoated. This case, the duracoat didn't scratch off.

Let us know how it turns out. I love the way my FAL looks with the HK blue/grey. I'm going to try the urban digital camo on a beat up 1911 soon. This is a new hobby in and of itself.

[FMJBT]

Laquer thinner works well with DuraCoat also, and is quite a bit cheaper than their proprietary reducer. Just to be safe though, I still use their reducer for thinning the paint (if needed), and the Laquer thinner for cleanup. The paint itself should come with a small bottle of hardener that should be enough to use up the entire bottle of paint.

+1 for the Harbor Freight airbrush. Just be sure not to get the version that comes with quick change paint cups/bottles. The bottles are made of a plastic that reducer/laquer thinner attacks aggressively. Their standard and "Deluxe" airbrush kits are not too bad though:

Standard:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47791

Deluxe:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95810

Crap (DO NOT USE):

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93506

For aluminum and stainless, a light scuffing with a scotch brite pad or some 400 grit sandpaper is normally all that is needed to allow the duracoat to get a good foothold. Bead blasting works even better. For plain steel and cromoly though, parking is a good idea as it will offer a bit more corrosion resistance. I've had a few projects develop light rust under the duracoat months or years later when the surface had only been bead blasted and degreased prior to painting.

For surface cleaning and degreasing, acetone is awesome. I normally follow up after acetone with a few passes from a propane torch to heat up the metal enough to evaporate any moisture from the pores in the surface. Not hot enough to affect heat treatment of metal, probably only up to about 200-250 degrees. Probably a good idea to add a word of cation here: Wait about 1/2 an hour after wiping with acetone before torching just to be sure all the acetone has evaporated off. Acetone is "more than a little" flamable.....

[jacques]

I just get the durabake. Much easier to deal with if you have an oven to bake it in.

[DREADNOUGHT78]

I use the Duracoat through a SATA spray gun and I haven't had to reduce it.But I am sure if were to run it through an airbrush it would require reduction I am sure any acetone or Laquer thinner will do the trick you could even buy the Testors model paint brand Laquer thinner its the smallest amount you can buy and would be more than enough for the amount you will use on a rifle! If you are doing it at home you can use water Ajax or Comet with a piece of scotch brite to prep your parts ( I also use a stainless bore brush to prep all of the small holes to prevent peeling from around the holes) then dry and degrease with and auto grade degreasor.Your local auto parts store will carry it or if you can make it to a Auto paint supply store try PPG DX330 its the best on the market!Good luck and remember if you run it just wipe it off and start over!

[joelukehart]

Try Norrell moly resin. No hardener or reducer needed

[DJBSR]

I'm working on a home defense shot gun and wanting to gun coat it, however I,m a little Leary of Harbor Freight spray guns.

[JamesY]

I have an Aztek airbrush that retails for $150. It has several different nozzles depending on how fine you want the paint...

Anyway, I hear the HF airbrushes work fine. Since they're so cheap, people use them for a couple items then discard them.

[arfan66]

I used a Badger 155. They're about $75-$120 for the deluxe kit. I bought it for a fine scale model project a couple of years ago and it worked great for the five firearm's & three paintball guns that i've DuraCoated. I subscribe to the philosophy that you should buy the best you can afford & garbage in/garbage out. YMMV