Hi Gang,
I thought I’d do a quick write up on blinging out my XDm .40 after I saw the thread on using crayons and china pencils to fill in the engraving. Very cool idea, so I thought I’d take it a step further and let some of you know how I did it.
Above: Here is the starting point; the XDm .40 and the Powder River decal grip kit. VERY nice kit that is laser cut pretty much exactly like the grip textures and shapes.
Above: The adhesive is thick and seems to be quite strong. Grip parts that cover a wide area are almost impossible to move once they’re down. Portions of the grips that are skinny, like on the forward strap, can be moved since they don’t cover a wide area.
Above: I put down the larger finger grips first, since I didn’t want to start with a large, intricate piece and screw it up. You can see where I didn’t get it lined up exactly the way I wanted it. I could have lived with putting it a bit further forward to snug up against the trigger pin. You can see the back and top where it butts up against the indentation of the recess. I ended up taking these off and using the smaller finger dots that fit the smaller recess. This time, I put down a little glass cleaner so I could position the piece and push it into the recess with proper position.
The glass cleaner acts as a lubricant, so you have a short period of time before it evaporates. Once the piece is where you want it, use your finger to burnish it into the recess being careful not to let it move. Once each piece of the kit dries some, you can continue burnishing with your finger to set the piece better and anchor it down.
Above: The side grip piece in place. Kind of. I wasn’t using the glass cleaner to position the pieces yet, so both of these were just a little off. They’re hard to line up with the XD cutouts on the grip - but not impossible.
Above: Shots of the finger pieces, the trigger guard piece, and the front strap. The second shot shows how the channels work. Notice I don’t have them all lined up perfectly yet. These can be moved and burnished down to an extent. The finished product here looks really good. I don’t have a photo of the front as it curves over to the side - but if you don’t line the up perrrrrrfectly - some part of it will be off. I started on one side and worked my way over to the other side. I think starting in the middle - on the front strap - is a much better way to go on this. That way, each side towards the rear will line up properly. Using glass cleaner to lube the piece up and move it would be a good idea.
Another note on this part... I had three channels that ridged up on me. No matter how hard I burnished it with a dental tool body, they would not lay down. I used a new razor blade to slice the ridges and relieve the space. Now I could burnish them down and it looked perfect.
That’s about it for the grip decals. They are one low-drag, high-speed piece of kit. I can’t tell you how great they allow me to grip the gun - and it was already good to begin with. I’ve let a few others shoot it at the range - and they marvel at it. Two thumbs up.
I ordered another grip kit to go back and redo a few pieces. This is where the grip story morphs into the Bling Story...
You guys inspired me to colorize the engravings on my XD.
Got to look good, right? Right. I bought some sparkly-green, black, and red nail polish. As the girl at the CVS rang me up and giggled a little, I told her it would look great on my toes. (She was cute...) “Actually, this works great for filling in engraving since it’s lacquer.” Really.
I made sure the gun was unloaded, and removed the slide. After cleaning it and the engraving, I mixed up some green and black to darken it up. I didn’t want bright green to throw the look off, I wanted something to match the OD of the frame.
Above: I took a moment to wonder just how bad I was going to mess up my new XDm... Then I got over it and brushed on the nail polish. I tried to let it get down into the engravings, but there are a few places that are pretty shallow - notably the smaller “M.” The engraving on the top of the slide is also shallow, but it took enough polish in it the first time. It looked good. These first shots shows how little polish I applied - I was being gentle so to speak. That would all change.
After one try, I didn’t let the polish dry very much. (Below) I used a paper towel doubled over and wet the tip with some nail polish remover. I didn’t want to try MEK or paint thinner, since I didn’t know how it would effect the finish of the slide. (probably wouldn't.) This technique worked very well - just be patient and use three or four different areas on the paper towel, each dipped in remover, as you go. Each engraving took about three or four swabs to clean up. However, I did notice that some of the more shallow engravings were pretty thin on color.
Above: Close up of the top engraving and how well it turned out. This is after the first coat.
Below are some more photos that show the somewhat finished product. I've put three coats on it to get to this point. The last coat, I literally slobbed a large amount of polish on and let it dry over an hour. Then I used my polish remover and paper towel technique to work back down to the engravings. It worked really well.
Here is where I went terribly wrong... I tried to fill in the XDm on the grip with the red nail polish - but I had already put on the grip piece and the grip and indentations didn't line up perfectly. I used a super small hobby brush to try and fill it in, but this technique wasn’t very good. I ended up ripping up the side grip pieces to be able to get at it without anything in the way.
What I should have done was do this part before installing any of the grip pieces. An even better technique would be to tape over the area with masking tape, and then cut out the “XDm” with a new Xacto knife. I would have primed it first in gray with an airbrush, then airbrushed the red over that. It would have been the same amount of time in prep and painting than it took me repeatedly adding more red via my small hobby brush. The finish would have been much more flat and uniform, too. My lesson cost you nothing!
I’m not unhappy with the finish or look of the red, but I can strip it and redo it before the next grip kit arrives. I’m pretty sure I’ll do this so it looks perfect. I do like how understated the green is on the slide, and how the red XDm makes it pop. Once that is all done, I'll put on new side grip pieces.
Let me know what you think...
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