My wife has been telling me for a long time that she wished she could find a set of grips for her 45 that had flames on them like an old hotrod. I looked high and low boy and let me tell you… The options are pretty limited. The ones I found were just crumby so it turned out to be a do-it-myself project.
Ingredients:
1 set of black checkered grips from a Springfield Armory Mil-Spec
1 fine model paint brush
1 flat white testors model paint (primer)
1 Testors Cherry Red
1 Testors Yellow
1 Testors engine block Orange
I did it free hand with only mental images of hotrods from childhood. Once all the paint was on, I cooked it for about 30 seconds at 850 degrees with a heat gun, then I hosed them down with armorall and wiped them off. I've used this process on other plastics and the paint wore like iron.
I think it looks just "ok". My wife thinks it looks incredible though and that's all that matters to me. She got really excited when I showed them to her. Moroso than when I bought her a new car. Go figure. :/
One thing I learned from this was that painting a checkered surface is HARD. Smooth grips would've been much easier.
Gary
I am scared of empty guns and keep mine loaded at all times. The family knows the guns are loaded and treats them with respect. Loaded guns cause few accidents; empty guns kill people every year. -Elmer Keith. 1961
But even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
