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Case restoration dilemma: to paint or not to paint

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First post, by kwyjibo

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Hello all,

I am in the following situation.

I have retrobrighted a PowerMac 9600 case. I have removed all the yellow shading but I think I went too far with the bleaching. If I am not wrong this case should match a tone between Pantone 420 C and Pantone 421 C but to the naked eye I think it is too white. Also the process has left some uneven results (only in small parts). (I will post some pictures later).

Now that I have all the pieces apart it would be really easy to paint it with the correct color (or a close match).

What would be the pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Close color match
  • Even finish

Cons:

  • Losing the genuine "PowerMac" front label.
  • I will not be able to remove the paint in the future
  • A think finish can be easily scratched
  • A think finish can hide the case "texture"

Yes, I know, maybe there is no correct answer, but I would like to hear your thoughts.

Reply 2 of 6, by badmojo

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I have painted plastic before and was usually happy with the result, but painting is always harder than I think it should be. If you can accept that the texture will be different and that the colour will probably turn out a little off (exact matching is almost impossible), then prepare it with a good clean and plastic primer, and then only paint in the right conditions. I.e. not too hot or too cold, and in a location that isn't dusty / windy.

I can't really speak to the durability - I had a media center in a C64 case that I painted and that help up OK in the lounge room with kids bashing on it.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 3 of 6, by Unknown_K

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Vinyl dye will sink into the plastics if you are worrying about scratches.

You can silkscreen Powermac on after painting.

Leave it be and hope it yellows a little with time so it won't be too white.

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software

Reply 5 of 6, by derSammler

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Unknown_K wrote:

Vinyl dye will sink into the plastics if you are worrying about scratches.

Vinyl dye is great, I'm using it often, too. However, there's a catch: vinyl dye is only available in a very limited selection of colors. I don't think they make one that matches the PowerMac even roughly.

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