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XD-M .45 Cerakote in Desert MARPAT

RickAnderson

RickAnderson

Custom
Finished Cerakoting tonight....
20221230_223430.jpg

Desert MARPAT pattern and colors...
Tomorrow will be re-assembly...
 
I got a girly-girl, arts and crafts "Cricut" machine, and used the software to take a Graphic of the pattern I got online to make the patterns and cut them out of Vinyl adhesive sheets....
20221231_093501.jpg

I see that people sell these patterns they make on their own cutting machines on eBay, they have MARPAT patterns....

I had to use H-Series Cerakote, that can be flashed and stenciled, the tougher E-Series (Elite) has limited color choices and can not be layered/multiple coats over previous coats.

I simply coated everything with the smallest area color first, flashed it (cured 15 minutes at low temp) for it to partially cure, applied stencils for that color...
20221222_092718.jpg

Repeat for the remaining colors....
You actually need 3 sets of stencils, cause the last color simply cover the remaining area unstenciled, which by this time, there are so many stencils that last color looks just as stenciled as the rest....

Real MARPAT has little EGA's with USMC in the pattern, this represents the limits of the cheap cricut machine. I had to increase the size (I choice .45" wide) and can only get a rough edged pattern, the little USMC under it was just too fine and difficult, so I punted on the USMC..
20221230_222746.jpg

You can see some of the adhesive goo left over from the stencils, I scrubbed it with denatured alcohol to remove it....

I tried my best to pick colors matching them off photos on the internet...
When the Cerakote was delivered, they looked to dark, at least the color of it liquid in the bottle, they sometimes lighten up when sprayed and cured...
I elected to lighten and dull the colors slightly by mixing a little of the grey into the other colors, the grey itself, I mixed a little flat dark earth into it (not much of change, maybe dulled it a little) and the Bernoulli Sand was way to yellow, I should have went with Desert Sand, I mixed a little grey and flat dark earth into it, and now I'm very happy with the colors....
 
ddeuce22 said:
That looks amazing. How long did that take you?
Click to expand...
If I worked constantly, probably a couple of days, but I kinda of did it on the side a little bit at a time over months....
The one aspect I might regret, I took a lot of time between coats...
Layed down the brown first, then bad weather (I blast and spray outside) and holiday visits, it sat a week with the first coat, then did two more coats and ran out of daylight and had to do the last coat the next day...

I didn't find anything about a time limit with coats/stencils for Cerakote, Duracoat states to do all the coats within 24 hours for the coats to meld together as a single thick coat as it cures. But Duracoat is an air dried coating, and I'm using the heat cured Cerakote.....

When I did my AR in Woodland MARPAT, I cut the stencils myself using an exacto knife, it took weeks to make the stencils. This time I invested $95 in cricut machine, and it took me hours to make all the stencils....
 
RickAnderson said:
I got a girly-girl, arts and crafts "Cricut" machine, and used the software to take a Graphic of the pattern I got online to make the patterns and cut them out of Vinyl adhesive sheets....
View attachment 34364
I see that people sell these patterns they make on their own cutting machines on eBay, they have MARPAT patterns....

I had to use H-Series Cerakote, that can be flashed and stenciled, the tougher E-Series (Elite) has limited color choices and can not be layered/multiple coats over previous coats.

I simply coated everything with the smallest area color first, flashed it (cured 15 minutes at low temp) for it to partially cure, applied stencils for that color...
View attachment 34365
Repeat for the remaining colors....
You actually need 3 sets of stencils, cause the last color simply cover the remaining area unstenciled, which by this time, there are so many stencils that last color looks just as stenciled as the rest....

Real MARPAT has little EGA's with USMC in the pattern, this represents the limits of the cheap cricut machine. I had to increase the size (I choice .45" wide) and can only get a rough edged pattern, the little USMC under it was just too fine and difficult, so I punted on the USMC..
View attachment 34366
You can see some of the adhesive goo left over from the stencils, I scrubbed it with denatured alcohol to remove it....

I tried my best to pick colors matching them off photos on the internet...
When the Cerakote was delivered, they looked to dark, at least the color of it liquid in the bottle, they sometimes lighten up when sprayed and cured...
I elected to lighten and dull the colors slightly by mixing a little of the grey into the other colors, the grey itself, I mixed a little flat dark earth into it (not much of change, maybe dulled it a little) and the Bernoulli Sand was way to yellow, I should have went with Desert Sand, I mixed a little grey and flat dark earth into it, and now I'm very happy with the colors....
Click to expand...
Lol, now you’re not hinting that you like doing girly-girl stuff now are you? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

BTW very nice!
 
Annihilator said:
Lol, now you’re not hinting that you like doing girly-girl stuff now are you? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

BTW very nice!
Click to expand...
:ROFLMAO: If anyone sees it on my desk, I quickly point out, Ahem, I use it to cut patterns to coat my firearms in camouflage and that's all.....

I actually got my eldest daughter to make the stencils for me with her really nice and big cricut (she's a pro) to do this with my Double Stack 1911....

20221017_001237.jpg


But she is a 7 hour drive away, so I figured for this bigger project I needed to get my own Cricut machine....

So, my youngest daughter visits for Christmas, I show her my circut machine and tell her after I finish my project she could have it to do all the arts and crafts stuff like her big sister.... ....she says, "Naw, I don't get into that stuff, to girly"... :mad: oh my wounded pride....
 
Re-Assembled.....
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I wasted a couple of hour because I mixed up the Magazine Catch Pin with the Loaded Chamber Indicator Pin, I drove the longer pin into the slide and didn't realize I had the wrong one until I was flush on one side, only to see it sticking a 1/4" out of the other side of the slide... ....there must be a slight difference in diameter, because it took forever to drive it out, broke 2 punches....

My customization, I cerakoted the safety indicators red....
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I also installed the Powder River Trigger Kit, it is nice, it reduces trigger travel and pull weight, I need to get them for my other XD-M's....
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