Spray-painting a case advice?

[Marco]

Lo all, I've been considering spray-painting an A1200 case in order to avoid the yellow worm from infecting it but I don't want to lose too much of the 'grain' of the plastic; I'd like the computer to still look like it has imperfections in the surface. A lot of painted up A1200s I've seen look very tacky, I'm hoping it's simply that the owners drenched them in thick layers of paint that obscure the surface. Is there anyone who's achieved decent results spraying their Amiga cases? If so how should I go about doing it?

In particular I'm thinking of black since then if I can find a CDTV keyboard it has proper black keycaps with white labels that I can salvage for the 1200. Though would I need to get a foreign language keyboard that has the extra 2 keys and the short left shift and small return key or will the standard ones sit fine over the 1200's layout?

If I have to use the small left shift and return keys it might mean scavenging 2 CDTV keyboards rather than one and I'd prefer not to cause a shortage of such a rare item. (No offense but I don't want umlauts or those funky scandinavian slashed letters all over my keyboard, useful as they might be for writing heavy metal band names like Mötley Crüe).

[icbrkr]

When I painted my Amiga 3000's yellowed case, I used Krylon's "plastic" paint - a paint that supposedly bonds to plastic.  I didn't have the normal problems I'd use with standard spraypaint and it held to the plastic considerably better than normal paint too.

[leirbag28]

@ Marco

Hey Marco.............I would say Leave the CDTV keyboards alone!  they are rare!

Instead paint the keys like I did..then I purchased Key Sickers that they ususally sell to help people type in another  language.......in my case.its English/Korean keyboard letters........rather Cool I think! :-)

Although the job is not complete, as it still needs some Matte finish Clear coat..here is how it looks:

http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=1423


 I recommend a semi Flat paint..........never use Glossy Black!

and forget that grainylook you want...it wont happen as the paint needs to coat enough so that it wont peel.............however, if you use the proper Matte finish clearcoat.it can bring that look back :-)


the jo

[metalman]

icbrkr wrote:
When I painted my Amiga 3000's yellowed case, I used Krylon's "plastic" paint - a paint that supposedly bonds to plastic.  I didn't have the normal problems I'd use with standard spraypaint and it held to the plastic considerably better than normal paint too.

The Krylon "plastic paint" works very well, wipe case clean with alcohol before painting.

You can use an "Automotive type" paint if you use a fine steel wool on the surface of the case first, then a coat of primer, so the paint will bond.

[Marco]

Cool, thanks for the help guys, though, no offense leirbag but your keyboard kinda lets down the pretty awesome job you did painting the case (looks in the pictures almost like the visual effect of plastic is still present). Plus you can't get A stickers for the Amiga keys can you? If I find a CDTV black keyboard, I don't know if I'd resist, afterall the keys wont be damaged, merely transplanted and if I ever sell my stuff the new owner could reconstitute the CDTV keyboard should they wish.

Anyway as I said it depends on if the keys fit - the CDTV uses the big return and shift keys doesn't it - will these keycaps sit on the 1200's keyboard and function properly? I can see from your A600 that it has the older big keys as opposed to the shortened keys the 600 normally has so I'm guessing they must work right?

[leirbag28]

@Marco


The piantjob is not finished........thats why the keys stand out a little as shinier..........as soon as I put the Matte finish Clear coat, all will be even.............nevertheless, in real life the machine looks nice.   Its got an internal CD/DVD combo drive that pops out the back.........click on my name here and look at the rest of the pictures.

It even plays MP3's of the M
As for the A1200, yes the kets are probably identical to the CDTV except for the RETURN key......which if you get the UK version of the CDTV keyboard, it then will be the same........I have a CDTV keyboard right here.......They are not like the A600 keys. most oare, except for Shift and Space bar and a few others.

[metalman]

leirbag28 wrote:

The piantjob is not finished........thats why the keys stand out a little as shinier..........as soon as I put the Matte finish Clear coat, all will be even.............nevertheless, in real life the machine looks nice.  

I think it looks great as it is!

You can make some A-A key logos with some sign vinyl from a sign shop, an X-acto knife knife and a steady hand

[Marco]

leirbag28 wrote:
@Marco


The piantjob is not finished........thats why the keys stand out a little as shinier..........as soon as I put the Matte finish Clear coat, all will be even.............nevertheless, in real life the machine looks nice.   Its got an internal CD/DVD combo drive that pops out the back.........click on my name here and look at the rest of the pictures.

It even plays MP3's of the M

The pics of your machine are basically the 'good' example that I'd hope to end up with if I try this, just the stickers on the keys really stand out in the photo, maybe it's less pronounced in real life. I'm not actually intending to do this to my real A1200, that's not really in 'mint' condition anyway (it came from ebay with a couple of minor chips broken off of the plastic, only noticeable one is around the floppy drive so it's not too bad).

I intend to get an A1200 case and mod it to hold a m-ITX board, with a flexible riser cable so I can lay a graphics card 'flat' inside next to the mobo and use that keyboard adapter to hook the 1200's internal keyboard up to one of the m-ITX's USB ports. Then add a 3.5" floppy in the usual place, a 2.5" HDD in the middle and a laptop-slimline DVD-RW/etc, etc... in the back. And then run AROS and some version of Linux (prolly Ubuntu) on it.

leirbag28 wrote:
As for the A1200, yes the kets are probably identical to the CDTV except for the RETURN key......which if you get the UK version of the CDTV keyboard, it then will be the same........I have a CDTV keyboard right here.......They are not like the A600 keys. most oare, except for Shift and Space bar and a few others.

I don't quite follow you here, ALL A1200s have the 'foreign' layout keyboard because Commodore could save money by only producing one layout - they did this again with the A4000T models, thus the UK and US models have the 2 blank keys and a shorter left-shit and smaller return key compared to older Amigas. As far as I am aware, the A600 also suffered from the penny pinching at Commodore and got the blank keys and smaller left-shift and return keys - as can be seen here: http://amiga-hardware.com/download_photos/amiga600_big.jpg

Yet your 600 clearly has the original layout with the full size left-shift and return keys, thus I assumed that you took them from a different Amiga model (500/500+, later 2000, 3000 or 4000) and that they will 'fit' on a 600 keyboard template despite overrunning the 'pad' or whatever those things are called, for the blank keys. If this is so I'd be perfectly able to take the long shift and return keys from the CDTV keyboard and plonk them on a 1200 layout without worry.