How to Cut and Plasti Dip Foam for Your Hand Gun (Custom Case)

Alright, today we're gonna look at customizing foam inserts for a pistol case. I've got an example down here of a Nanuk 910. I was looking for a case. I am not getting paid by Nanuk but their case really did flip the bill or fit the bill rather for a couple of pistols. Four-inch pistols, Smith and Wesson.

I have a 356 686 P, actually at the top one is a 686 P and then I have the 22 617 and I wanted a case that would fit both pistols and I found that. We're gonna go ahead and take these out now to show you how I customized.

And let's do a safety check here; nothing in that 617. Nothing in there as well and let's just set these to the side. They kind of tip-up that case as you can see where I took an Exacto knife and traced well.

First, I traced around the pistol and then court cut it out rather with an Exacto knife. You can really see the curves, I mean with that round wooden grip. The whole grip just really cut out well. It's very pleased getting both pistols in there. I thought it wouldn't work but it actually worked out really well. So there is an example there.

What I'm gonna show you how to do is put these pistols back and re-seat them. These are for a couple of rugger. My wife put these labels on for me with their silhouette so kind of a nice little touch. you don't need to do that. But I already showed you what I want to do today.

This is gonna be our example here. You can see the egg crate up there. I've got an LCP 380 and Smith or excuse me a Ruger SP 101. This is a 38 three-inch 1989, so that was the first pistol I ever bought. And that was the year SP 101 came out. I want to get it in 357 eventually but very pleased with both of these pistols and their performance.

Because the pistols are smaller, there's room to do magazine and also a speed loader that's the five star. So let's again clear this out and make sure you can see there is nothing in there. There is also nothing in the SP 101, that's clear as well. Out the speed loader to the side.

As I said, it comes with the egg crate. It comes with this half-inch piece and if you pull this out, this is a 2-inch foam. This is like I said, the pluck and pull. You can see that as I pull it. But I am not really pleased with how that picks the lace. It doesn't really do what I wanted to do.

So what we'll gonna do is eventually, well that will be the bottom piece. This will be traced and cut out and then the guns will seat in there like the other two examples I showed you. And then you will have, not only a functional case but the one that presents well.

So let's get to it. Alright, so I already placed the two pistols where I want them. I've started to trace the first pistol just taking a sharpie and gone around. You may notice that these are reversed, the way I add it inside the case. That way I can flip it over and that tracing is not gonna show. Now, I'm done the SP 101. I'm going ahead now and do the 380.

 

Try not to move it like I just did, should be alright though. And now I gonna do that magazine. I left mine with the rounds in there because I plan to keep that magazine loaded. And the speed loader is a little more annoying. You don't want the turn knob because that's gonna sit on top but do go around.

Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and remove. You can see the outline of the pistols and magazine. I'm just gonna go ahead I couldn't really get under there so I'm going to connect those up.

Again, the knot will not be cut out because it's higher than the actual speed loader.

And now we're gonna take an Exacto knife, go ahead and cut through there. Now I want to cut on the inside fact, I'm not only gonna cut on the inside, but I may also even have just a little bit of space.

When you outline it, it's too far over so I don't want it too big but I'm gonna go ahead and poke that through and I just place, replace that blade so it's very sharp.

I just kinda cut up and down, got my middle finger behind it just to hold in place and being careful not to jab myself. My seven year old will love that, there's a little that came out one piece. So now you can see we're gonna start over and do it again with the 380.

So now I got all the pieces cut out and like I said, you can see where I tried to come very conservatively inside that marker that I made, just to make sure that it's not over cut.   

This is the reverse, I've got the case. And you can see I'm just gonna turn that around, kind of fit it in. Let's see how these fit. Right there, if they wanted that Ruger and willing to stick out.

Now that one I see that it's kinda seated a little bit higher than I imagined. So I actually am, I think I'm gonna go ahead and cut that out. I don't like it down that way. So you know, sometimes you don't know until you do it. You could probably leave it that way but now I'm gonna go ahead and turn it back over and retrace that.

As you can see I went ahead and took out a little bit of that so that it will fit a little better. As you can see, it's not sticking down. It's more flush. And it will put those pistols in.

Now looking at it, it maybe just a little bit larger than I want it but not really. I mean it fits pretty well and I think when once you put that plastic dip on it, you're gonna also see some stuff in there and it's gonna be really good.  

Now I'm gonna go ahead and glue this top piece to the bottom piece. As you can see that it's cut pretty well. Let me take those out and take another look at those, pretty straight. You can see the round curve of that pistol grip and the corners of the 380 and where the extension on that magazine is pretty well. And that fits pretty well in that too. Not too much movement.

Spray the Adhesive on the Foam

What I'm gonna do, I've got some Elmer's spray adhesive. I mean it's just the cheapest thing I found, it'll work. You can shake that up really good. There are all kinds of brands. I'm gonna turn this over and I know besides, I want to spray as you can see the markers. Again I could probably go in just a little bit even further to make it a tighter fit but it's pretty good.

And there is that extra piece that I lined out. The trick, of course, is getting this lined up. We wanna spray but we don't wanna overspray but let's see what we could do here. I'm gonna take this piece here laying on the cardboard. Flip this over. Just doing my best to kind of eyeball center it.

I think that's pretty good, fortunately. Now I'm gonna get a book or something and just lay it on there. You can see it's already adhering.

So we're gonna turn off the camera, get a book and just want to lay some weight on that and let it dry for a couple of hours.

I've got a large encyclopedia. I'm sure it's good for something else but we're gonna use it right there. I'm gonna get a toolbox or something and put a little more weight on there.

Spray PlastiDip on the Foam

Alright here's a PlastiDip we're going to go ahead and spray on this. It's gonna make it in nice and black color. It's also gonna make it a lot more dirt durable. Less or no resistance to tearing. Just spray evenly, you can see where it's already taken the color. And you wanna do several coats. I mean, I'm gonna use this whole can.

Alright, you can see that it's starting to take that black. I'm gonna paint it on that side. This stuff is just gonna really soak in so you just be very liberal with it.

I don't necessarily spray the underside, it can. I just want to definitely get into the inside of where I've traced and cut. This stuff is really foul-smelling so you don't want to ever think of doing it inside.

Alright, we have the case here and the foam inserts have been placed back in it. The plastidip has dried and you'll notice that they're secured pretty well. That plastidip is a rubber seal and it also makes it look very well presented.

I took tip that up and you can notice they are not gonna move also pulling out the pistol just a good solid fit and feel.

And to let you know that it can be done in another case, this is a smaller Nanuk 904. Cal Tech pistol that I've placed in there with the magazine. I did exactly the same thing, cut them out, PlastiDip time and then replace them in.

So if you have any question, you wanna comment, you want to subscribe make sure that you do so.

Thank you so much!

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