This one was a fun, albeit extremely intricate and, at times, maddening project! The customer came to us with a sticker he found of a cartoon AK variant that looked like it was made of ice cream and melting. He wanted to Cerakote his AK to look exactly the same. Definitely a challenge, but we’re always up for it!
Creating the Ice Cream AK look
The first thing we do on a job like this is lay out the design on the gun. We snap a photo of it or pull one from the internet so we can mock up where designs will go, what colors will go where, and how exactly we’re going to pull this off. The fact that it was an AK complicated things right off the bat, as these guns are riveted together and can’t be disassembled the way an AR can. So, we had all sorts of obstructions to work around.
The next issue was figuring out how to actually make it resemble the sticker. You’ll notice there are black lines on the edges of each color, giving it a cartoonish look. This cel-shading cartoon style has become hugely popular as of late, but we actually did this one back in 2023, before we had ever tried that style. Figuring out how to make it happen was a task in itself. We ended up making it work but have since refined our technique for this style.
And, of course, the Hershey magazine and ice cream grip—these were extremely tricky. First, getting the mag to resemble a Hershey bar at all took several attempts, but I think this one works. And the grip: we use a 3D printer around the shop for all sorts of things—jigs, plugs, mounts, the list goes on and on. (Read more about it here.) So, we designed this grip in a 3D modeling program. After several attempts, it turned out great, although it’s definitely not the most comfortable grip we’ve ever used!
Overall, this project came together great! And, of course, photos by Ballistic Imagery always help. Cerakote recently noticed this project and posted it on their social accounts, so we figured it was time for its own post here as well.
Comment and let us know what you think of this Cerakoted Ice Cream AK below, and share it around. Check out more of our projects in the Gallery. Thanks!
~Sam
