Paint plastic with a camo pattern? Yes.
See, some stuff takes on character when it gets mangled. Plastic isn’t one of them.
In fact, plastic often shows up with no character or cool. It bothers me. The older and more faded, the more I wish it looked like something else.
Coolers, toolboxes, tackle boxes, dirt bike fenders…They’re typically plastic, PVC or resin and end up looking like they could belong to anybody—or look like like I don’t want them to belong to me. That’s why when I see it faded and lame, the easy answer is to update the look and paint plastic.
From the beach cooler to my dirt bike fenders to our all-black rolling tool chests, we love it when our gear looks awesome. And looks like its ours. From branding to bashing through the woods, cool counts. And painting a camo pattern is an easy way to make a boring cooler or other plastic item into a signature possession.
Bring another layer of awesome and add your mark camo style. The fastest way: Get camo patterns, paint that’ll stick and the know-how you need from Krylon. The paint company offers tons of advice and how-to help on painting every type of surface.
Making the camo magic happen when you paint plastic isn’t tough, even for a beginner painter. Just go slow, apply light dusting coats, and you’ll know how to paint the camo paint pattern like an expert with just a little practice.
Watch how to paint a camouflage pattern on a plastic cooler:
Gotcha–Hey buddy. My guess is that the plastic heated up a little and expanded, which cracked the paint. More box–but the same amount of paint. You can try a light sand and re-coat.
Zach–You can totally paint fabric with spray paint. Will it look like store-bought camo? I don’t know, but you can try it. You can totally come up with some cool designs to customize your gear. Thanks for writing!
I painted my clear plastic tackle box blue and it looks like it cracked. Like a spider web.
I used Rust-o-lume paint. I didn’t sand first. I did sand the spider looking areas but it got worse.
Any hints?
This looks like a really fun project to do. Do you know how well it would work on clothes or anything else other than a cooler? My family and I have a camping trip coming up and it would be nice to paint some of our coolers and other items. I don’t know if it will make it hard for animals to see, but it would also just be something that could mark your camp gear so nobody takes it.
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