How to Prep an Object for Camo Paint

Prepping an object for camouflage paint is fairly close to painting an object for regular paint, but there are some important differences.

First of all, What Kind of Camo?

First you must select the type of camo you want, be it military camo or hunting camo. One thing to notice about most military camo like woodland camo, urban camo, desert camo, and all the digital camo patterns – they are comprised of a minimum of three colors and sometimes up to six colors depending on the color scheme. What does this mean to you? Read on.

Prepping for Multiple Colors

The problem with a multiple color job is that there are certain assumptions that need to be made:

1. You will have to mask

2. Each coat and color will need to dry before putting another color or coat on

This is a huge deal, and the way you prep will directly affect how your camo will come out. Think about it for a moment – you will be applying masking tape onto painted surfaces, always dicey since the tape could lift the previous color…which means you have to do an excellent job of prepping and you have to let the coats dry properly.

Step 1- Prep the Surface Right

If you want to make sure that the paint won’t lift you have to ensure the paint has the maximum bond with the surface – which has to occur in two separate ways. First, you need to dewax the surface. All surfaces, be they cars, PVC pipe, plastics, etc, have some sort of wax in them. Acetone is perfect for wiping down and removing waxes, which naturally repel paints. After the surface is dewaxed, only then can you sand. Sand in progressive grits from coarser grits (the smaller the number, the coarser the grit), to finer grits. Your goal here is to scuff the surface and make it evenly dull but not dig in. After this, the surface is ready.

Step 2- Primer

You may want to consider using a primer especially if your camo pattern is complex and requires lots of masking. The primer goes on just like paint – spray – and helps bond the paint to the surface better.

Following these simple steps will make your paint job easier and more durable. Taking the time to prep the surface before hand is essential in complicated patterns like digital camo, multicam, and woodland camo.

We also sell stencils to paint all these patterns. If you’re looking for authentic patterns, use our stencils and save yourself the headache of figuring it out – we stock stencil patterns for all popular military camo and hunting camo.

Top Quality Camouflage Stencils, that you can paint with yourself quickly and easily, check out some awesome Camouflage painting Stencils below: