Paintball

[Menace]

Gang,

My first-ever mag wasn't much to look at when I first got her. Plenty of abuse, horrible neglect (an airsmith friend near me saw it out of the box and said he'd never in his life witnessed anything so foul), but a champ at heart.

She looked like this on her first outing (after a quick cleanup, of course):





So I got bored, and decided to give her a little TLC. This is my first attempt at jeweling on a mag, and I'm actually fairly pleased with most of it. And for those of you with trained or perfectionist eyes, relax. It's freehand, hence unruly.









I tried to follow the curvature of the porting at the end of the barrel, and some of it at least came out fairly decently. You have to look at it the right angle, as otherwise it gives a sort of flame-licked/olive branch look, as in the first pic above.

She's still a long way from where I want her to be, but if you could have seen what she looked like the first day, well. A world of difference, indeed.

Cheers.

[BenoitOWN]

picture doesn't work

[Seymour]

^this.

[Neurotic Hapi Snak]

So, about those AAs?

(Pictures don't work)

[Menace]

Everybody's a critic. You guys are too fast for me!

[Seymour]

Yes. Its pretty.

[Neurotic Hapi Snak]

Looking good. Need to clean up that airline, though. Didn't look too bad to begin with, looks like someone tried to polish it with a brillo pad, but maybe your pics don't do the damage justice.

[Menace]

Originally Posted by Neurotic Hapi Snak

Looking good. Need to clean up that airline, though. Didn't look too bad to begin with, looks like someone tried to polish it with a brillo pad, but maybe your pics don't do the damage justice.

No, the first pics are after it had been quick-shined and totally cleaned up. Should have gotten some pics of the initial damage, but was too livid at the time.

As for the airline, it's a reminder of where she came from, and hence, I've left it for the time being.

Again, this is only a partial makeover.

[freebird]

thats excellent for freehand.
What type of brush did you use to jewel it?

[Menace]

Originally Posted by freebird

thats excellent for freehand.
What type of brush did you use to jewel it?

Thank you, sir.

This isn't done with a brush, though I've seen some work done with them. Very hard to control, and usually uneven, but they can be used with decent results in certain narrow applications.

Typically the very best jeweling/burnishing/damascening (call it what you will) makes use of proprietary bits. Spider! uses them, and his work is superb, and speaks for itself. I also use these same proprietary bits for some things, and use custom-made bits for other things, depending on surface shape, texture, and finish. The proprietary bits deliver absolutely perfect and consistent results if done properly, but they have a more limited working and finish range. What I wanted here was outside that range, so this one is done with the custom bit.