I was absolutely determined not to paint certain parts of my blaster this time: can, optic and rear BUIS. Why? Well I was attempting to find some kind of balance between painted and non-painted. After painting a number of optics in situ, I aways find them to be a massive pain in the arse. Plus, there’s the troublesome issue of commonality. I may need to put the optic on my backup, for instance. How’s it going to look with a clashing paint job?
After the in-game pics came in, I caved on leaving stuff unpainted. I then wondered to myself, would it have been easier just to go balls deep and paint the whole thing in one go like I’ve done before?
The answer is yes.
And no.
Let’s take the example of the optic. Painting it on the blaster, you can achieve excellent tone and pattern continuity. But, given the techniques I employ, an in situ optic can skew the pattern on the gun’s mid-section and make it look a bit shit. It’s because most optics are irregularly shaped. EoTechs are actually really easy to paint in situ, but I guess most people have traded theirs in for refund cheques by now.
Off the gun, it’s easier to get the pattern right on the optic, but the opportunity cost is that greater effort is needed on tone and pattern continuity.
All that being said, I planned for a change in heart between painted and non-painted. I designed the technique for the new paint job with modularity in mind. First proof of concept was painting my new HK Slimline Stock. It arrived after I’d finished painting the blaster.
There’s no way I would paint a stock as an individual item, normally. I’d do it with the rest of the gun. I didn’t have that luxury (I had a game coming up and wanted the gun ready). It’s more work to do stuff individually, but it worked out fine.
The Reptile House 