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M67 Grenade stenciling


hawkdriver
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Anyone got a way to properly spray sencil the markings of a M67 grenade onto a training grenade? I have come into a few good condition training grenades that I would like to sencil for display. The vinyl applique don't look right and the normal stencil cuts on a round grenade show way to much over spray. Anyone got a means to accomplish this?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Try this....paint the body yellow (or at least the band where the lettering will be. Apply your vinyl cut letters the way you want...overspray the entire thing with olive drab, let it dry for the most part, then carefully peel off your vinyl letters....result, well formed yellow letters...

 

Ordnance is actually marked using rubber printing set ups and ink....you can actually buy sets to do this yourself, but it gets expensive, so unless you are re-doing a lot of ordnance, its not really worth it.

 

The 3" shrapnel, 75mm shrapnel, and 57mm AP were all done this way....Oh, and the 60mm mortar round...

post-2803-0-04821000-1366937148.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks! The "roll print block" uses, again, vinyl lettering. I use 1/4" tall letters for the M-26 but it's more complicated than the M-18. I use three of each letter, one on top of the other, and arange them so the wording is reversed, as are the letters, on a curved plastic surface (Like the inside of a one-liter pop bottle) and glued in place with contact cement.
When dry, just spray on LIGHTLY or brush on LIGHTLY your yellow paint, press it aroundr the body, and it comes out looking like a .gov marking job....icon_smile_big.gif

 

From a different forum discussing the same subject

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hawkdriver

Perfect timing, i just bought a can of flat yellow paint last night. Think I will try booth methods and see which works the best.

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hawkdriver

OK, next problem. I can't seem to find 1/4" vinyl peel lettering. 3/4" is the smallest I can find, smaller than that are rub on lettering. Matt, where do you get your lettering?

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Try looking at an art store like Hyatt's....or a drafting supply place....one common brand is "Chartpak". Or even some place like Michaels...a big chain like Michaels might have a limited selection though...

 

You can also find it online if you aren't into instant gratification...

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hawkdriver

I've looked at the big chains, that is the closest I have come, but they are the ones that only have the rub on type. I've been cruising the web and the best I can find is peel .5" but nothing smaller.

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hawkdriver

Well, lettering came in today, so I decided to get this game rolling. The paint I selected for the yellow took some time to find, but ended up using traffic striping paint.

 

qoyluq.jpg

 

Running a rod through the body, the yellow paint was applied and allowed to dry for a couple days.

 

i6crk7.jpg

 

The lettering was applied, a hint here, have a reference line. Nothing worse than to work your way around the grenade to find you are off and have to go back and peel the lettering up and re-apply. Once applied, it was time to apply the paint. It took two thin coats to get it to cover completely. Once the paint was dried, I used a sewing needle to get the lettering to release and a pair of fine tweezers to peel it off.

 

2zpr22s.jpg

 

Final results

 

312jof4.jpg

 

2rmrqs7.jpg

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Looks great! You usually will get some pull off here and there, I sometimes go back with a very fine brush and touch up if necessary...its not perfect, but to me it looks better than trying to cut stencils, and then getting them to conform to the compound curved surfaces.

 

MattD's post is an interesting idea, it would use up a lot of letters fast...but I'd be interested in seeing the results.

 

Like I said the best way is to use something called Rib-set or Rib-type...they are rubber pieces of type...like the metal printing press type...and you sort of set it up in the same way, there is a "holder" that you set them into, then ink them, then roll the ordnance over them...say the Rib-set is 1" above the table surface...you get a couple of pieces of wood or something like that, that is just a tad more than an inch...set your rib-set holder in between, and lay your projectile on the wood, ink your rib-set type, and roll the projectile smoothly over the rib-set, voila, ink transfers to the projectile...

 

That's actually basically the way they do the ordnance in the factory. The big drawback is the expense...it would probably cost several hundreds of dollars to get a set up useful for doing various ordnance, a lot of it uses two or more letter sizes...and of course there are various sizes depending on what you are stenciling...20mm stamps are much smaller than that on 105's...

 

Another couple of things you can do Hawk...after its good and dry, you can gently but firmly roll it face down on a firm surface to help smash down the little ridges you tend to get...also spraying on a coat or two of Testors Dullcote spray paint (a flat clear paint) will help really "even" everything out and just generally make it look even better...

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hawkdriver

Thanks for the tips, I will try your ideas. If I was to go complete on all my displays, I would need 21 more of these. That gives me time to get the process down and try the other methods.

I would like to find smaller letters, but 1/4" are the smallest I could find. I would also like to find examples of the text starting from Vietnam to present to period correctly stencil them.

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hawkdriver

I was just cruising the internet and found this chunk of grenade remains, maybe the 1/4" lettering isn't so far off

 

ixh9vq.jpg

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Your rite! If you just move the second line of text down below the center seam it will be near perfect.

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hawkdriver

Well, will have to give it a try. I think my next venture is to find a small sand blaster (for other projects as well), this one has paint chips that I should have removed first.

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The Meatcan

looks pretty good Hawk!

you might have inadvertently gotten lucky by having to peel up your letters the first time and reset them. The adhesive on those vinyl letters can be strong enough to pull up the masked yellow paint underneath. By pulling up the letters and resetting them, you may have removed just enough of the adhesive to eliminate the potential paint peel up. Nice!

 

Maybe after doing a couple dozen more, you'll have your process down so well that you can start offering your work for sale here on the Forum!

 

thanks for posting your project.

Terry

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hawkdriver

If I end up going with the rubber stamp method, I may have to set up a cottage industry, my daughters college education still needs input! If I have to do the vinyl lettering method, I would have to charge quite a bit as it took almost two hours to get this done. Maybe with time, I will get quicker at it.

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May want to find a custom cycle painter in your area or a sign shop.They have computer controlled vinyl cutters.Painters use them as masks. I had a sign shop scan a Motorola radio box (name and logo) for a police motorcycle resto.Exact size and spacing. I had him cut it in vinyl and when lightly heated it settled into the wrinkle finish like a silk screened job.

A good shop should be able to cut you some stencils that would conform to the curves and you could airbrush the lettering.

Any way you go,it's a neat project!

Bob

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I use a wire wheel in a drill motor to clean off any rust/corrosion/old paint...then wipe it down with acetone...

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  • 4 weeks later...
hawkdriver

Well, idle hands are the devils work and the devil has been busy painting grenades for the displays. Here is the outcome so far.

 

2rnvjsx.jpg

 

xdcr3o.jpg

 

a1e0g.jpg

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hawkdriver

Thanks, adds a touch above simple green grenades. I found that the sand cast grenades don't stencil very will, you end up with paint leaking under the vinyl lettering and smearing the print.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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