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Duracoat Magpul Dark Earth Paint Review


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This is a very simple review of Duarcoat's Magpul Flat Dark Earth.

Duracoat is available directly from the Manufacturer HERE.

 

What you'll need

Duracoat and hardener

Duracoat Reducer

Airbrush

Air source.

Good ventilation

 

Be sure to clean all parts and follow the manufacturers instructions to the letter if you want this product to work.

 

DSC_0012.jpg

This is the starting point. I have placed a Tango Down Pistol Grip next to a Magpul PTS PMAG for colour comparison. As you can see the TD grip is much yellower than the Magazine. I have had to manipulate the picture slightly to compensate for un-calibrated monitors.

 

DSC_0009-2.jpg

 

Here you can see the painted grip again next to the same PMAG. This is about 2 hours after painting and is dry to the touch. As you can see it is closer in colour to the PMAG but is not a dead on match.

 

DSC_0013.jpg

 

Overall:

I like this product for its ease of use and colours available. I found the product very easy to use. I thinned it down about 5% with the reducer to get a nice even spray with no spatters. It is quite powerful smelling so spray in a well ventilated area and wear a mask.

 

Colour Match:

It was not as close as I had hoped as it does dry quite a bit lighter than in the bottle. That said you can mix in darker Duracoat if you wish to alter the colour. For me though it's close enough and should match the rest of the Magpul accessories on my gun well enough.

 

Durability:

I have no idea at this point. If the manufacturers claims hold true this will last quite a long time. I will update this review after having used this for awhile.

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It's not that bad a match. Although from what I have been told the VLTOR FDE duracoat is a closer match to the Magpul FDE products.

 

I sent some of my bits away to a guy in the UK with a Magpul MOE grip for a sample colour and he colour matched it and sprayed a crane stock for me. It came out really well, The colour match was not spot on but it was close enough that you had to really study the two bits to tell the difference.

 

The finish on the Duracoat is great, nice and hard wearing.

 

I'll see if I can find some pics.

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I have had similar results (please forgive the whackiness of that configuration...it was a transitional stage) to the OP with the Duracoat MagPul FDE color. In the link/picture you can see that standard Duracoat MagPul FDE is too light and needs the slightest hint of orange to match properly. Close, but no cigar.

 

I have Duracoated quite a few things (actually over 5 guns and a lot of random bits-n-bobs) and I have found that it doesn't so much chip off like conventional paints as "wear off". I mean it can chip, but usually that isn't the case. It fades/thins to slowly reveal what is under it. I sprayed a VFG with it and that is exactly what happened. Over the course of a year and a half it just sort of thinned out around the back until it looked terrible and I recoated it. I maybe should have stripped it first, but I just decided to spray over. It worked ok. Still holding up. I need to shoot some shots of that for reference on something that is worn in.

 

I have personally found that a 4ish-to-1 (I eyeball it) mixture of "Tactical Woodland Tan" and "Tactical Woodland Brown" (colors T7 and T9 respectively on the Duracoat color mating chart) makes an almost exact match to actual MagPul FDE tactical items. Some people report success mixing varying quantities of the standard paint colors "Desert Warrior Dark Earth" and "Desert Warrior Tan" (colors 70 and 89 on the DCMC), but I have yet to buy those colors.

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  • 7 months later...

I'm really curious how well the Duracoat holds up, especially on a high wear part like a pistol grip. I personally swear by Brownells Alumahyde II Coyote Paint as the closest match to Magpul FDE. Though I don't know if you can get it in the UK.

 

That is exactly what I use as well USCM. It is nearly perfectly, only off by maybe 1 shade and you can only tell in the right lighting conditions.

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I'm really curious how well the Duracoat holds up, especially on a high wear part like a pistol grip. I personally swear by Brownells Alumahyde II Coyote Paint as the closest match to Magpul FDE. Though I don't know if you can get it in the UK.

 

 

That is exactly what I use as well USCM. It is nearly perfectly, only off by maybe 1 shade and you can only tell in the right lighting conditions.

 

I tried Coyote Alumahyde and was not very happy with the color. Later I found this thread and painted my CASV with Earth Brown Alumahyde:

 

IMG_20100619_130050.jpgIMG_20100619_130037.jpg

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