Crosman F4 "in progress." The original finish on the stock was the raw black synthetic polypropylene blend. After a lot of prep-work, I decided to go with a more "natural" color, but with a twist.
Below is a picture of the top of the forend, followed by a picture of the opposite view from the bottom. Some may notice what has happened here.
Top:
Bottom:
Notice that the internal molded ribs of the stock are now covered in the bottom-view (both sides). Before I started this project, I wanted to stiffen up certain parts of it in different ways. On the forened, I wanted extra strength and rigidity, so I heated and buried two hardened steel rods down each side of the forend, then used a 2-part epoxy to cover and fill the hollow "boxed" features in this same area as well as the steel I added.
I also did a little glass-bedding in the bottom, and I added an additional 8-ounce counterweight to the rear of the stock to stabilize and balance out the assembled rig to my liking. This was all done pre-finish.
Closer look at the finish:
The base coat is actually two coats, with the final base coat being two different colors that I sprayed at the same time. Original base coat was a standard brown, and the final coat was Metallic Hammered Brown, layered with Ultracover Black Matte. All base coat sprays used were oil-based rattle-can enamels from Rust-oleum. The result was an odd finish that looks deeper than it actually is.
After 7 days of curing, I scuffed it all down and sealed it all with oil-based poly (semi-gloss). The white reflection you see above is distortion from the bright LED bulbs directly above me.
Beginning of original prep all the way to a comfortable cure on the poly took about 5-ish weeks in perfect conditions (72 degrees, almost zero humidity indoors and ventilated). I cannot stress enough how important prep-work before and during a process like this is on a synthetic stock. I am very happy however on the bonding between my paint and poly choices. It's not perfect but it was fun to do.
