ECHO 1 BAR project

[newcomer]

Greetings WW2AA!

After successfully refinishing the ICS garand and m3 grease gun, and with the advent of the X-mas break, I decided to work on refinishing my ECHO 1 BAR to resemble a weapon of the period, rather than a modern sport rifle.

But before I start spray painting I had a few final questions in regards to the weapon. Most samples I've viewed online seem to have a blued steel finish, but my spray paint arsenal only has a dark grey much akin to fresh parkerization. Does anyone know of a good "paint" for bluing, or if parkerization was common on mid-late war variants?

As for the butt stock, I have settled on a black bakelite finish, but was wondering how to replicate the "shine" I've seen in photos. Would spraying the stock black, and coating it with linseed/tung oil give the desired effect? or would I be better off using traditional varnishes?

I will post pictures of this as I go, to serve as a future reference. I've already fully disassembled the weapon to the last screw, and need to fiddle with photobucket again.

[2nd Bat]

The bakelight black stock and handguard was actually a very dull black plastic. I would compare it to the handguard heat shields of an M16.

[newcomer]

Sorry for the long delay, I promised updates, but my camera met an untimely end, so I had to resort to borrowing a friend's camera till santa delivers a new one.

I had several WIP photos, but they are now gone; I can only show photos of the finished product, and describe the steps taken.

The disassembly, following vidoes on youtube, was tricky. Having disassembled the ICS garand, the echo 1 BAR, and the marushin M1 CO2 GBB, I still found this to be a bit of a challenge. There are a MULTITUDE of screws, springs, and small parts on this gun. This is especially so near the gearbox area. If you plan on going further than the spring change, have a large drop cloth, take lots of reference photos, and be very VERY careful.

That being said, it was mostly intuitive and surprisingly straightforward. Just make sure you have a lot of time before you get to work, and line things up carefully.

To paint the body, I used an automotive primer dark grey; the closest to parkerization that was available at the local hardware store.

The stock was spray painted black, then treated with tung oil to finish it off to give a bakelite plastic effect.

The handguard was mostly compatible, I had to do a small amount of dremmeling. Fairly straightforward once again. Just make sure to buy the original foregrip screw, as the default one is not compatible. The original lower foregrip screw is NOT compatible either; there is simply no room for it.

The magazine was reblued using birchwood casey products, with the paint stripped by citistrip, sandpaper, and steel wool.


The finished gun complete with body repaint, blued magazine, stock repaint, and original handguard.


A closeup of the bottom screw; there is no hole for it. Unsure what to do with the screw I bought now; perhaps just add a dummy hole for looks.


For the curious; the ohio ordnance trademarks are laser engraved. The spray painting obscures them greatly, but they are still somewhat readable as the photo demonstrates. They looked funny anyways, but I guess its nice to have them, considering the extra premium on the gun when compared to the ACM version.


Another beauty shot

That sums it all up; feel free to ask questions and leave comments, and sorry again for losing the WIP photos

[2nd Bat]

Wow! Your ECHO 1 looks great. I too painted all my metal bits in the automotive grey primer and feel its a great improvement in the looks. Ultimately I'd like to add the wood kit but for now simply did some cosmetic treatment to the plastic which I think looks better then the pseudo "wood" plastic that came with the gun. The bkelight stocks were fairly late to arrive on BARs although they were produced as early as 1943. Certainly by Normandy I'm sure rifles were sporting them.

[shiftysgarand]

The parkerizing job looks awesome! I've got spare Marushin M1 parts coming in including a receiver, so I may try that on my Garand. Excellent work!

[newcomer]

Thanks for the kind words!

@2nd Bat: My attempts to dress up the fake wood to look more "woody" failed miserably, and with an original wood handgrip on hand I was reluctant to purchase a wood kit. However, I will see if I can adapt a real wood stock down the road.

shifty: the spray paint worked better than I thought, just make sure to sand the paint below. It seemed to help the paint stick better, and when the paint fades the bare metal will show rather than the black paint.

[2nd Bat]

What I find works great for making the plastic look more convincing is to rough sand the plastic until all the shine is gone. Then sand it in one direction with a rougher paper so as to create a subte grain. Then overspray with a "wood" finish from a craft shop. These sprays are available in assorted shades and are best applied in multiple light coats until the desired look is achieved. Shades range from oak, cherry wood, to walnut. Once the final spray drys, protect it with a satin or dull coat clear acrylic spray. This finishes the effect and protects what you have created. This process works quite well. I have done hundreds of rifles using this approach and it looks quite good even close up.

[Sgt_Tom]

Nice job newcomer. Looks like the real deal now.

I will repaint my B.A.R at sometime. Will have to use the paint you suggested.

What I like to do for a fake-wood finish is sand the plastic down with heavy grit sandpaper(like 2nd bat suggested), then I put a base coat of tan or brown paint. Then I use gel stain, which is made for plastic and metal. The end result looks quite nice.

s252.photobucket.com/user/Fighten3rd/media/Kar98%20Conversion%20Pictures/DSC07422.jpg.html?sort=3&o=66

[2nd Bat]

You pseudo wood looks fabulous. Thanks for sharing.

[ScottCollins]

What kind of paint did you use for your base coat Tom? It looks fantastic!

[Sgt_Tom]

Jul 6, 2014 14:42:23 GMT -5 ScottCollins said:

What kind of paint did you use for your base coat Tom? It looks fantastic!

Thanks man. It was some kind of bright tan I think.

Jul 5, 2014 0:01:58 GMT -5 2nd Bat said:

You pseudo wood looks fabulous. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks 2nd Bat!