Disclaimer: Consult your Yamaha dealer concerning warranty issues before performing this modification.


Materials:
A. 2 cans each- Khaki & Brown Ultra Flat Camouflage spray paint. NOTE: If the vehicle you are going to paint does not have green as its base color (Green colored plastic). You will also need to buy 2 cans of Ultra Flat Green spray paint, and paint it solid green before doing the following steps.
B. 1 bag of 00 steel wool

C. 1 roll of masking tape. Painter’s tape will also, but get the 2” wide kind.
D. 1 roll of blanking paper
E. 2 old rags.
F. 2 brush pattern types. The kind that works best are the ones that will lay flat against surface being painted. The closer you can have the pattern to the surface being painted, the sharper your lines will be. (THIS IS IMPORTANT).
Here are the two types of patterns I used:

Procedure:
Before we get started, there are a couple of things to mention. I would set up a day sometime before you’re planning on doing your project to practice on cardboard or some other type surface to test how the two patterns you choose will look together. As well as how everything goes together. (How negative from the pattern looks when wet, how paint looks wet, how pattern looks when midway through, how everything looks complete, and paint dry).
The area you choose to practice on can be small. A box side will work. The main thing is to see how the brush or leaf patterns look together. (Up close and from a distance). I used a red ice chest as my test.

When choosing your patterns, be sure to choose a pattern for the Khaki paint or the 1st color shoot that will leave a much smaller “negative” line than the 2nd color “Brown” shoot. (i.e. long thin leaf pattern for 1st color shoot, shorter wider leaf pattern for 2nd color shoot.) Also, I would avoid large leaf patterns, as they are harder to do, and do not come out as good as smaller type leaf patterns.

1. Using the masking tape, tape off all areas that paint should not be getting on. (These should be: headlights, grill openings between headlights, Yamaha rhino 660 emblem on both sides of hood, 4x4 emblem on both sides of bed, tail lights, handles on tail gate, roll bars up to being even with hood and bed, dash, etc).

2. Once all areas are masked off, take your steel wool and rub all the plastic down. Remove all shine. Make sure you rub in one direction. Front to back is probably best. (Having taped off the emblems first now will leave these looking factory after you’ve painted. The plastic here will still be shiny).

3. Once prep has been done, using one of your rags, wipe all the excess steel wool off the hood or whatever area you’re about to paint. (The other rag will be used to wipe your leaf pattern after every other shoot. If you don’t do this, you will get blotches on your vehicle, so it is a necessity).
4. If your Vehicle IS NOT already Green, this step is where you would Paint the whole vehicle. Base color of Ultra Flat Green.
5. Once you’re done with the Green, Or if your vehicle is already Green: Using your first leaf pattern (longer, thinner leaf pattern) and the Khaki paint, hold the pattern in the same direction throughout process. In one hand, hold can about 6” from surface, and the other hand, hold leaf pattern against surface to be painted. (Remember: the closer you hold the pattern to the surface being painted, the sharper your lines will be.).

6. After every other pattern spraying, you will need to wipe the excess paint off the pattern. (Sequence: spray, move pattern over, spray, wife off excess, repeat) (Not doing this will leave large blotches of paint on the area your painting.) The cause is the paint gathering on top of the leaves, when you touch the pattern to the place you are painting, the paint on the leaves runs off onto the plastic.

7. Complete a whole area first, before doing the 2nd pattern shoot. (i.e. hood & front quarter panels, rear quarter panels, tail gate, etc.) I did my whole Rhino with the first color pattern, by the time I was finished, I was able to just grab the 2nd pattern, and the brown paint, and start where I started the first color, as it was already dry. I also used the same Leaf pattern/Stencil throughout.

8. Using the 2nd pattern, go over the vehicle again using the brown paint. Same methods apply here too: hold leaf pattern against surface, spray about 6” away from surface, (you’ll want to spray the outer edges of the broader leaf pattern),

9. Hold pattern in same directions throughout project, every other shooting wipe excess off leaf pattern. Also, try to center “the negative” part of the 2nd pattern over the green part “negative” of the Khaki Shoot. What this will insure is that you have 3-colored camouflage. You do not want to paint over the green using the brown! (THIS IS IMPORTANT!). You will undoubtedly spray over some green negative areas from the first shoot; just make a conscience effort of not covering the green with the brown whenever/where ever possible. See close up diagram below.

Once complete, take off all masking tape/paper locations, and admire your new camo paint job.

For more pictures of John's camo job see John's Riders page.

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