D.I.Y. Magazine Painting

Another D.I.Y. project brought to you courtesy of Oatmeal! This one will be quick and dirty.

So you have some old magazines laying around that are in bad cosmetic shape (either scratched up/marred or starting to corrode due to the factory Teflon wearing out), or you bought some used ones for way more than they are worth (given the current situation) and they are in heavily used condition. For about $7.00 you can refinish them and give them a new lease on life! I happened to be at Autozone and came across this camo paint made by Krylon;

Now I have some aluminum magazines that are corroding and one that was having fitment issues that I had to grind down to fit (this is the one pictured as I wanted to cover up the bare aluminum). Do not expect to just toss the magazines on a piece of cardboard, spray the crap out of them, and they come out looking great. You will need to spend a little bit of time preparing them to be painted.

First, Disassemble the magazine and set the floor plate, spring, and follower to the side as they will not be painted. If you want to you can paint the floor plate but I chose not to.

Second, prep the magazine. This requires a thorough cleaning and degreasing (I used mass airflow meter cleaning spray for this). I then stuffed paper towels into the ends of the magazine to avoid getting over spray into the magazine body which could chip off and foul the action during shooting.

Third, set up your painting space in good ventilation and begin painting! I used three light coats to get full coverage instead of one heavy coat as this reduces runs and "hot-spots" where there is an overabundance of paint in one spot. Make sure you shake the can vigorously and take all necessary precautions when working with spray paint.

After this just let it/them dry and then reassemble the magazine!

Here is how mine came out after two coats (notice my grinding on the front face of the magazine for fitment);

And finished next to a PMAG for color comparison. It is no where near a perfect match to Magpul's FDE but it does seem to bridge the gap between FDE and Foliage Green.

So there you have it! Try it out with other colors if you want or even try using an etching primer first (promotes adhesion). I feel that had I used a primer The color would have come out with less of green hue to it.