Save money on decoys

Don't feel like spending more money on decoys? Here are a couple of tips to save a few bucks and find a use for old decoys laying around.
A friend called me asking if I wanted to go halfs on some black duck decoys. Since I can't justify buying new deeks (my wife won't let me buy more) I decided to find another way. I had some old "hot buy" mallards collecting dust in my garage. I used a dozen hens because they have better feather detail and you won't have to put as much paint on the heads since Black ducks have light tan heads. I used krylon ultra flat camo paint in dark brown for the bodies. I taped off the heads and wraped a towel around the keels to hold them upright while I paint. Make sure you scuff up the old paint and use a good primer before applying the top coat of dark brown. Next I unwraped the heads and used the dark brown to touch up the heads with a paint brush to give them a little depth. I used model paint for the bills. Testors "flat olive, olive mat" for the hens and "zinc chrome" for the drakes. It's a good idea to mix a little olive in with the zinc chrome for the drake bills to get a dark mustard color. I like to put a white dot on the eyes for a realistic glare spot. Finally I used a little purple model paint for the wing feathers. Total cost to make Black duck decoys: under $20 in paint.