Refinishing Saiga 12

[macaholic 5]

If you prep right and abrasive blast w/ 70 grit aluminum oxide and wash down with MEK, spray with MollyResin (Norrell's)- it's a hard finish to beat in it's price range. Bake at 300-350 and it's tough as nails. Over park is one step better yet.

 

 

I agree that spraying over park is the best medium for optimum adhearance,Not really true but often repeated on the internet but I don't want to go into parkerizing the entire gun. I like Molly and KG guncoat, but as I said before, I have seen these two products scratch very easily when sprayed over bare metal. If not prepped or applied right they will all do this.If this new product K- Phos will will act as a primer base for better adheasion, I will probably go with KG gun coat or Molly resin. I have a very strong back ground in automotive refinishing and I am knowledgable with many name brand paint systems in the industry. Normally, any given paint product will give detailed instructions on how to use their product on the can. So far, no one has been able to give me any of the instructions if any, given by Dura coat, listed in their liturature. I would like some detailed info concerning mixing ratios of this product,12:1 start there. If you want more gloss go to 14:1 less go 10:1. as well as air pressure and spray eqipment. Air Pressure @ 40psi. HVLP or air brush with a 5mm needle. I have used an air brush in the past for the application of Molly and Gun coat, and would probably do the same if I were to go with Dura coat. I like my finish to look like that the dull flat non-reflective produced in parkerizing and would like to kwow how to acheive this finish with Dura coat, in the event that I choose to go with this particular paint system. I saw a touch up gun at Horbor Freight that that looks like an HVLP but it's not. It's a very small gravity feed gun with a lavender colored frame. I saw this same gun pictured in another post on this site, and would like some info on the perfomance ot this particular spray gun. I would like the gun I use to produce a very fine mist like that of an air brush. Does this gun I speak of do that? Give me some more info brothers, I think we are making progress.Get the 40.00 HVLP gun and you'll be just fine

 

If using an HVLP no reduction is needed. Air brush, reduce it 10-20%. Buy their reducer or use MEK. Clean your equipment with MEK. Heat cure @ 200* for 2 hrs.

 

I've used them all. I dont think one is really any better than another but DuraCoate is in my experience the easiest to use.

Your BBQ works great if it wont fit in your oven

 

Thanks for the technical info Rockmup, I did get to talk to someone at Duracoat yesterday and he gave the same numbers on the mixing ratios and such. He is going to send me a product manual as well. I'm still undecided as to what system I will ultimately use though. It will most likely be KG or Molly resin but I still have some time to make up my mind befor my gun gets back from CGW. In regards to my spray equipment, I have a Craftsman 1.5 HP air compressor with a 12 gal tank. I want to buy a new gun for this particular project, although I do have an assortment of spray guns ranging from the old Binks model 7's, as well as a couple HVLP's and more. I no longer have my air brush and thats why I want to get a new gun. I kind of like this one I saw at Harbor Freight that has a lavender frame and gravety fed. It has a much smaller tip than a traditianal touch up gun and it looks like it may produce the fine mist much like that of an air brush. I also like that it holds more material in the cup, so I will not have to replenish paint material so often. Thanks again for your help.

Edited December 24, 2010 by macaholic

[macaholic 5]

We sandblast and spray the whole thing.

 

Also regarding the welds it's not a penetration issue, but with tig you can use less heat. I know quite a few guys that have filled the holes using mig, but keep a wet rag handy and quench often.

 

 

Thanks Bob, I'm pretty much stuck using the MIG anyway because I have no access to a TIG and no trigger time on one. It's Okay though, I'll just have to go through the usual filing and grinding untill everything is square and flat. WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited December 24, 2010 by macaholic

[macaholic 5]

After all has been said and done, I decided to forget about Molly, Guncoat or Dura Coat, and sprayed the reciever in flat black laquer from Ace hardware. I can't believe how well this paint matches the original finish. It's damned near perfect in color and texture. I went this route for now, because I may send this gun to CGW to get the barrel cut to 16" like the one Tom is working on presently. I will wait untill the gun comes back from CGW and if all is well, I will do the stock and pistol grip conversion and maybe refinish them both in Dura Coat. Or, I may simply stay with the Laquer in flat black. I don't think they finish these guns in anything more than some kind of air dried spray finish, because if it were a catalized finish, it would not break down under any solvent such as; laquer thinner, acitone, MEK etc. I wanted to leave as much of the factory finish on the reciever as possible for adheassion purposes. I used a black laquer primer by Rustoleum for the bare metal where the welds were, before I sprayed the laquer finish in flat black. I did spray the upper reciever cover and the selector as well. Talk about user friendly and easy as 1 2 3. I am very pleased so far. Now if I can only get my first Saiga-12 back from CGW to start the conversion on my Saiga-12 K. I will post pix very soon, sinse I got my girlfriend her new digital camera a couple days ago.

Edited March 13, 2011 by macaholic

[csmw 98]

Never tried GunKote, but as was posted earlier, the Norell's Moly-Resin is indesctructable!

 

When I refinsh guns, glass-bead, manganese parkerize, then HK/black Molyresin. I am excessivly rough on my personal guns, and the finish stays on beyond belief. Tough as nails!

[scalilou 2]

my gun is dura coated, tomorrow im doing the rails ultra flat tactical black. Its easy to use, but prep is the key.

 

All surfaces MUST be free of any grease or oil what so ever. I stripped my gun down to the receiver and sprayed all parts seperately using duracoat combat black. I think the ultra flat rails will make a nice contrast.

 

If you spend most of your time degreasing and cleaning the parts, you will get the best results. And spray in even, LIGHT coats, duracoat will run if you load it up all at once.

 

Soak parts over night in a degreaser if you can. I do that now just to make sure all oils are gone.

[jsunn 3]

Hi,

I realize you may not want to blast and park but it really is the only way forward if you want your finish to be any stronger than spray paint. The finish needs the proper surface prep for the best adhesion. Layer (duracoat) claims that blasting is not required but, I've seen pretty much ever finish type turn to flaking when overspraying. Regardless of how its been degreased ahead of time. If youend up blasting, you may as well park too while you are at it. I've found that those two steps combined with Combat Black duracoat work well and look the most like the factory color.

good luck!

[KYSaiga12 1]

Has anyone got their S12 Teflon coated? It looks a lot like the black duracoat finish, and its tough as hell. One of our local gunsmiths does it in flat black and semi-gloss black. I just gave my S12 to him yesterday to get it done in flat black. It was $125 to have it coated.