Coming in at 425 votes, 61 votes ahead of 2nd place, the winner of Unique-ARs 2017 Cerakote-OFF is 7 of 10 Brandon Haas, owner of Applied Arsenal Finishes, in Waterman, IL. Brandon wins the bragging rights of the very first gun coating challenge Unique-ARs sponsored. All of the proceeds from the hand guard “7 of 10 Koi fish” sold on Unique-ARs auction page, will be donated to Pets for Patriots a Veteran Charity chosen by the talented winner.
Only 10 of these hand guards were cut and will ever be cut. This limited edition Koi fish design was an extremely challenging canvas for competitors because of the design and cut details. The majority of the cut was a negative space so the applicators that painted these beauties had very little surface area to work with. All 10 hand guards are numbered 1 through 10 and turned out very different from one another in the application performance finish. Each hand guard was auctioned off and a portion of each hand guards proceeds will be donated to the artist choice of a Veteran charity.
Brandon Haas and his wife Paige run Applied Arsenal Finishes in Waterman. A brick and mortar location has been officially open since summer of 2015. They have been Cerakote Certified since September of 2015. Paige has more than 15 years of Cake Decorating experience and has always had a natural knack for artistic design so this comes easier to her.
Firearm modification started for Brandon as a hobby. He found himself modifying many of his firearms to his liking and found Cerakote shortly after. His AR pistol build was the reason he got into Cerakote years ago. He wanted to color match his entire AR pistol in Magpul FDE and sent it out for coating. 5 months later, he finally received it back and it still wasn’t right so he did it himself and enjoyed it. The obsession began. As he started working on his style and craft, he found many friends to compete with and push the creative envelope.
“This industry is full of creative people that work hard every day and we are just appreciative of the opportunity to do what we love to do for our customers. Its a dream come true.” said Brandon Haas. Brandon used several different Cerakote colors to create his final master piece. You can find Applied Arsenal Finishes on FB @appliedarsenalfinishes.
Watch all 10 hand guards on the Koi Fish Youtube video.
The Applicator Competitors are as follows:
- 1 of 10 Melodie Yarbrough, Cerakote Chick, Midland, TX
- 2 of 10 Steve Franks, Pinstriping by Rat, Exeter, CA
- 3 of 10 Shawn Dixon, Kickback Coatings
- 4 of 10 Chad Waldow, Killer Coatings, Cornelius, OR
- 5 of 10 Adam Coe, Coe Customs Firearms, Virginia Beach, VA
- 6 of 10 Keebler Rockwell, Warlock Custom, Woodlawn, TN
- 7 of 10 Brandon Haas, Applied Arsenal Finishes, Waterman, IL
- 8 of 10 Jonathan DeVries, Koted Arms, Mesa, AZ
- 9 of 10 Johnny Rebel, Dark Alliance Firearms, Las Vegas, NV
- 10 of 10 Robb Harris, Unique-ARs, McCall, ID
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