Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

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Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

OK so I got a hold of an early raised power button Apple II keyboard and I started looking though my spare cases to mount it. Well it turns out I have an Apple II case in really bad condition, nicked and scratched plastic top and a bottom plate with some rust spots I need to refinish (bottom plate will be easy, mask the serial number sticker before or carefully remove and replace before/after painting black). Ok the cover doesn't have a logo plate anymore, but they do come up on eBay every so often.

For the plastic part of the case. It will need to be repainted. Not a heavy respray, but a light spray (so you can still see the splatter finish) but filing/covering up the nicks and small scratches.

I could computer match the paint and use an air sprayer, but I think it will be easier to use a can of spray paint. So two questions...

Has anyone found a close color to what it should be painted(since all colors will really be wrong compared to 35 years of aged paint) and also should I put a light coat of primer or simply lightly sand the surface for it to adhere the paint.

Also which is better, mask the serial number sticker or remove and reattach. And if remove and reattach, what is the best way to do that? Since the serial number sticker on a II is shiny, I think the light hold painters tape won't damage it unlike the paper II plus serial number stickers.

I'm hoping that I am not the first to do this in all this time and figure I might as well leverage others experience.

Thanks,
Corey

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Re: Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

Wouldn't Retr0bright work for what you are describing?

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com

If not check out Krylon Fusion paints made especially for plastics. I had a lot of luck with them.

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Re: Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

RetrObright works only poorly on the Apple II plastics and if start at very yellow the result may be marble-alike ...
Try only oxyclean for the cleaning process, perhaps a few hours UV, denatured alcohol to remove rubber marks, remove the rust spots with Nevr-Dull (http://www.nevrdull.com) and let the rest in original used condition.

Refilled scratches and dents will ever be visible dur to the leak of the strukture until you made a "dummy" structure out of silicone like this:
http://hbc-system.blogspot.de/2012/01/dashboard-repair.html

If you want spray plastics, you need to degrease it with alcohol, spray it with plastic primer twice and than use air dry enamelcolor.
I dont now the color type but i think its a sort of light beige

I had a very bad IIe and i changed the color in "Green Apple" Smile

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Re: Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

Well there are no dents only some scratches and nicks. I guess I could build them up a little with primer on a toothpick and then spray.

Any advise on the bottom plate and the serial number sticker? The bottom has some rust spots and isn't textured so I figure I can clean up the rust and respray it but I do need to preserve the sticker.

Thanks,
Corey

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Re: Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

but I do need to preserve the sticker.

My advice is to cover the sticker with Fix-O-Gum, a flexible removable rubber cement.
After painting and fully drying carve the shape with a sharp blade and remove the rubber.

Andre

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Re: Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

Corey,
check out this page: http://www.apple2.org/images/Interface_Cards/Interesting_Things/index.html
It has a picture of a can of the Apple II paint. I have early cases that were painted but this is the closest I've come to locating the paint. If you have any luck in locating it please let me know.
Laurie

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Re: Spray Paint color for an Apple II (not plus) case

I actually got a quart of oil based enamel made up to match the case. Which is good because I have a small area on my Rev 0 to touch up also.

I thin it with 20% mineral spirits and bought a professional HVLP sprayer. Comes out perfect. I can even do the splatter pattern so I can repair the case first if there are any deep scratches. Also I will need to paint the top of my Sol-20 it has a giant scratch so I will get some use out of the sprayer.

Anyway, I'd actually be done already except when my case was drying, my 6 year old put a hand print in it. So I've been waiting for the paint to harden up enough to wet sand it out and then paint and splatter pattern it again.

There are a few tricks to getting the splatter pattern right and apple did change the pattern over time. The newer the case the smaller the splatter drops.

Then you obviously have to cut them down with a 1000-1500 grit wet sanding block to look perfect.

Cheers,
Corey.

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