Camo Dip Kit

[trippledigitss]

Hey guys - have any of you heard of or tried one of these new home hydrographing dip kits? I just got one of these camo dip kits from mydipkit.com and it is pretty cool. The stuff is a little tempermental and it took me a few practice dips to figure it out to make things look better but I think I'm getting it now. I just dipped this little Bushnell 3-9x40 scope and it turned out pretty nice. I still want to put a couple more clear coats on it so there is still tape over the zoom dial and lenses and rubber rings around the eye peice - cuz of course I didnt want to get paint or camo on them - so thats why it looks bad in those areas

The kit was $100 and comes with ALOT of film, it says 1 sq meter, but its a roll about 24" wide and 12 or so feet long. I think I'll run out of activator long before I run out film. Basically you prime & paint your part, put the film on top of water, like in a plastic bin, then spray the film with this activator stuff then dip your part, let it dry then clear coat it. Seems pretty durable too. I have tried to scratch it off with a finger nail and it wont scratch thru the clear coat very easy at all - you really have to try hard to scratch it. You can check out videos on camodipkit.com, mydipkit.com or on YouTube.

 I think the scope looks good but these pics dont really do it justice. Anyway, whatever its worth...

[trippledigitss]

more pics

[trippledigitss]

last two pics

[400out]

Looks awesome 

[quadrafire]

Cool
I'll send you a couple of scopes to do
Can you do a gun barrel, gun stock?

[seth30]

Can you do barrels as well?     Nice job on that scope, when you twist the turrents does it mess it up?

[trippledigitss]

Thanks for the compliments. I was really pumped when I saw how it came out. I love it, its sitting here on my desk at work and I keep staring at it and ooooh-in & ahhh-in it!  

Yep, you can do barrels and stocks too - basically anything that can get painted and wet can be dipped. They recommend a self etching primer for barrels and metals, I got some at Home Depot for like $5.

Check out those websites and they will list alot of the things you can dip and there is also videos on you tube. The guy who does the video on camodipkit.com - bowhunter4e or something like that - has some good vids on you tube. I even dipped my stream thermometer without prime/paint and it stuck to the plastic just fine. I am going to do the barrel of my Edge .243 after I dip another scope and a few more things and get the nerve up to paint the barrel and dip it!

I was a little nervous on the scope especially after getting less than perfect results on other things. But it is my son's cheap little Bushnell so I wasnt too worried about it!   It took a few things before I got it down. It is really tempermental so the 1st things were less than stellar. Be prepared to mess a few things up before you get good results, part of the learning curve I guess. I've found that the water temp and the amount of activator you use really affect the results.

It didnt mess up at all when I took the turret caps off, they came off with no problems at all and were perfectly clean underneath then I screwed them back on and the pattern matched up peferctly. I had already taken them off before I took these pics. I want to put more clear coat on before I pull the tape off of the zoom ring, should have it all done tomorrow and I'll let you know how it came out.

[FC]

Looks really good man, what does your boy have to say?

[trippledigitss]

It looks waaaay better than the other stuff I dipped doesnt it?!!? 

He likes it - he wants me to dip his whole 10/22 - then he asked me to trade him my Sig 522 for his 10/22 instead!  

[FC]

It looks waaaay better than the other stuff I dipped doesnt it?!!? 

He likes it - he wants me to dip his whole 10/22 - then he asked me to trade him my Sig 522 for his 10/22 instead!  

Hahahahahhhahahaaha! I'll be he would like that! It really does look like you got a lot better at using that kit.

[quadrafire]

I just watched those videos. AMAZING. I gotta try this sometime.

[ser300wsm]

Looks pretty cool to me, might just have to try it out... 

[dirty24d]

hmm I'm marking this one to come back and check later. looks cool !! I would wanna use it for my 870 express. things rusts when you breath on it!!   

Good job on the dip!!

[huntergreg]

D.I.Y. Camo Dipping a.k.a. hydrographing: Part 1

D.I.Y. Camo Dipping a.k.a. Hydrographing: Part 2

[quadrafire]

I was just wondering.

Metal parts ie. gun barrels/recievers would still rust under this product would they not?
Or would the primer/prep be a barrier?

[huntergreg]

I think the primer would protect to barrel.

[huntandjeep]

looks sweet let us know how it holds up.

[carpsniperg2]

Looks very nice.

[trippledigitss]

I was just wondering.

Metal parts ie. gun barrels/recievers would still rust under this product would they not?
Or would the primer/prep be a barrier?

I would think it would be very well protected under the primer, paint, dip coat, and top clear coat. Seems like it would be very tough to rust under that but of course anything is possible I guess.

And that guy in the video is really helpful. I emailed him with questions and he got back to me the next day and gave me great tips.

I pulled the tape off last night after two more clear coats and it worked dang near perfect. The varible ring came out really nice and turns with no trouble at all and without messing up the dip. I learned two things I could have done differently - #1 wait a few days until the clear coat is totally dry, then the egdes will come off cleaner. #2, I spun the eye bezel & lock ring all the way out and taped the threads to protect them when I should have left it in the focused postition and then dipped it. When I broke the 'seam' between the locking ring and bezel the edge bunged up a tiny bit. I think that was also due to the last coat only being 2 hrs old, should have let it dry more. But it is so, so minor I dont think you could tell if I didnt say anything and you surely cant see it at arms length. I also did one of my AR mags too - I'll try & post pics later today or tomorrow.

[quadrafire]

There is one of those videos on U-Tube that had some skulls dipped. Cool. They had a beaver skull in red and black carbon fiber, and a european deer with the skull camoed.
When I get some time to look at them again, I will try to find that vid and post it up.

[trippledigitss]

Finally took some pics of the finish products. Everything turned out well on the scope. Like I said before I should have dipped it with the focus adjusted, instead I backed the ring & eye bell all the way out to cover the threads and then opened it up before it was completely dry so it bunged up that seam a tiny bit. On the mag I wanted to stop the camo at the top so it didnt go into the mag well and I messed that up and went to far on that too. Then I coated them both with crystal clear enamel instead of satin so I scuffed them with a pad after I took the pics to get some of the shine off. One side of the mag is not perfect but overall I like the way they turned out though.

[carpsniperg2]

That looks great! Love the mag dip  I hate the black ones for my camo rifle, that might be just the trick for me.

[trippledigitss]

That looks great! Love the mag dip  I hate the black ones for my camo rifle, that might be just the trick for me.

Thanks. Yeah I had it wrapped with camo tape so I figured what the heck, might as well try the dip. I usually will use my 10rd mag if I am hunting for yotes but sometimes I take the 30. Before I dipped it I sprayed it with camo tan base coat and it looked kind of like the MOE Earth color the new MP15 comes in, I really liked that and almost left it the way it was! But I didnt like the 1st dip so I re-painted it with an eggshell sort of base coat and dipped again and that's why it came out a bit lighter than the scope.

[carpsniperg2]

I run a 9rd clip in my 223 when calling and a 20-30 when hunting at night. Lots of crazy stuff can happen at night in my 7mm-08 the clips are way bigger and stick out a ton. So that is something i would love to do. Thanks for the idea.

[PolarBear]

Looks good but can you do it without the shine of the clear coat?  There are clear matte finishes available but they still produce a ton of glare.  To me camo is useless if it is shiny.  Just wondering.

[trippledigitss]

Yeah the kit came with a satin clear coat and it is a lot less shiny, more of a matte clear. I was trying to save that can and used the enamel - mistake. The shine/glare came off quite a bit and really easy after hitting it with a scrub pad really quick. I'm gonna use the satin from now on. But you got to put some sort of protectant coat over the dip or it may scratch pretty easy. These two dips were actually pretty hard & durable feeling but I wouldnt expect them to last long without at least a light clear coat over it.

I think the flash makes the clear coat glare a little more than it actually looks but I guess the sun could do that too....

[meathunter]

How long did it take to receive the dip kit?

[trippledigitss]

Oh I dont know exactly but it wasnt long. I had it within 4-5days of placing the order, maybe sooner? You can order them from a few places, cheaphuntgear.com, mydipkit.com, camodipkit.com. And I found some on eBay too. There is a guy on there selling some other brand kits, maybe his own, and he sells a 'half' kit with a 1/2 sq meter of film for $60. I think I'm gonna try that one and get a digital camo pattern. Halfway thinking about dipping my S&W MP40c in digital but I just cant bring myself to do it!

[PolarBear]

The more that I watch the videos the more I want to order a kit.  I just wish he had better camo patterns but I think that I can fudge on it with different color primer.

[trippledigitss]

Yes the base coat can make a bid difference on the outcome. I have some that came out really dark green using a dark tan base coat and some that came out really light using an off-white base. I want more of a brown color so I am going to try a brown base.

[PolarBear]

Can you use regular automotive primer or does it have to be thier stuff?

[trippledigitss]

I think you can use pretty much anything. You use a primer then a base coat. They do recommend that if you use your paint you use a good automotive base paint and self etching primer for metals and or a CPO primer for plastics or other surfaces. CPO primer is basically an adhesion promoter. I used the stuff they sent on a few things. Then I used a grey self-etching primer & high heat paint that I got from Home Depot on my scope & mag. I also used the home depot primer and a camo tan as my base coat (top coat right below dip)

[TheHunt]

Got a question:
I am will know in three weeks if I get a 40 year old drift boat for dirt cheap.  I was wondering if I could use this to put a strip of camo on the boat?  I think it would look pretty cool on such an old aluminum drift boat.

[trippledigitss]

I dont see how you would, you need to dip whatever you want to camo in the film. I have seen some camo strips for trucks & boats, atv's & stuff. I think the place was called camo4u or something like that. Yeah it was, check this website out, probably better stuff for what you want to do. http://www.camo4u.com/index.htm