Painting Your Potato Launcher

Put some Paint on that Spud Gun!

Without some paint, your spud gun will look like a piece of plumbing, plain and simple. What you need to do to paint that cannon, and fast.

It is In The Prep

If your first instinct was to grab a spray bomb and start hosing it down – wrong – step away from the spray can. First things first, you need to properly prepare the surface so that the job looks good when done. PVC and ABS pipe are both manufactured similarly and the process used sometimes leaves the surface of the pipe feeling slightly waxy, and usually shiny. Paint won’t stick to this well, which is why you need to do a couple things to prep that surface:

Wash First

When dealing with waxy surfaces the thing to do is wash before you sand. If you sand before you wash, all you’re doing is rubbing that was deeper into the plastic, which will cause the paint to bead. What you want to do is to take a rag slightly dampened with acetone, and wipe the spud gun down. Don’t use too much acetone and don’t stay in one spot too long as it will start eating the pipe.

Sand Next

120 grit sandpaper or finer is just fine for sanding. You want to sand the entire surface so the luster is gone, it’s slightly dull, and there are no shiny spots left. Sand evenly and lightly. This is also a great time to take a razor blade and trim away any excess glue from the joints and make your job look pro.

Tee Up The Paint

Okay, now it’s time to paint. We love Krylon Fusion because it works amazingly well on plastics like PVC and ABS, and it’s durable. Krylon also comes in a host of military type colors like Khaki, Woodland Green, Olive Green, Flat Black, and several more that are exact replicas of military colors.

Before you paint make sure and suspend the potato gun using coat hangers or wire so you can paint around the surface and not touch it. Paint in a well ventilated area!

The painting itself is simple. Spray in even strokes in one direction only, about 12 inches away from the surface. Do a test piece first, since each type of paint comes with different nozzles that may need to be sprayed closer or further away depending on what type of nozzle it has. Put on light coats, cover the surface and call it a day. You put the second coat on when the first one has fully passed the dry times listed on the can! Take your time with this!

Painting Tips

If you see runs, leave them alone. When the paint cures, you’ll have a chance to sand and retouch. Spray lightly and far enough away so you don’t have runs in the first place! And let the paint properly dry so it bonds with the PVC. You’ll know you rushed the job when the paint comes off in your hand as you hold the gun!

Be Sure to check out all of our Camouflage Painting stencils starting with our Winter Camo Stencils, White Camo Stencils, Snow Camo Stencils.

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