Neopolitan iBook

A while back--after seeing a red iBook mod posted on my college's forum actually--I started doing some research into how it was done. Though I'm not precisely sure what the redBook gentleman did (I've since not been able to relocate the post), I found a wealth of information online regarding the clear-plastic-paint-from-the-inside mods. This pink iBook in particular was done so well I just about cried with envy. So with about a month still left on my warranty, I bit the bullet and dug in.

this guy. I found what I thought was a winning combination: Brown Krylon SpraypaintKrylon Acrylic Crystal Clear. Each were under $4 a can.

The main issues I had in doing this mod were:
[list]
[*] Getting the color to be even under all lighting conditions
[*] Getting the texture to be smooth and non-spray paintish

I began by performing a series of light coats, hoping that this would ensure a uniformness to the color when I was done. It did not. And it took me four coats of spray paint to determine this.

So I figured that perhaps the Acrylic Crystal Clear would even things out, make the color a little more normalized. A few light coats of it later and I realized that it would work--or at least that it had the capability of overriding the non-homogeny of the brown. The only thing was, this Acrylic clear stuff sometimes shot random pseudo-solid fuzz nonsense out of it, so the case I was beginning to acquire random bumps in places where the application had been unavoidably not smooth. The other problem I experienced with this product had to do with its inconsistancies as a finish. When applied lightly, it seemed to do nothing, drying instantly, perhaps evaporating on contact. When applied heavily, it produced the desired effect, with the random fuzz ejections and all, but all the areas adjacent to the patch of heavily treated area experiences a strange dust-like coating that was rough and could be wiped off gently with a hand. When wiped off too vigorously, the textual malformity/discoloring resulted. Ultimately the best solution I found was to DRENCH the cases in the acrylic finish. This worked well on the upper case, but the lower case did not fare so well. A gnat landed in the middle of it, killing itself and ruining a 1 cm x 1 cm portion of the bottom. This couldn't be avoided as I know of no bug free places with adequate ventilation.

This picture best showcases the shortcomings of the Acrylic Crystal Clear. In retrospect I would have tried a different product, but at the time, it seemed like the ideal product on the Krylon line (a company I hitherto had trusted), to seal in the paint and simulate real an authentic iBook texture.

Interestingly enough, when I went to paint and clear the battery case, the Acrylic Clear worked much better. I do not remember the brand of paint I used on the battery, but it was obscure and definitely not Krylon. Perhaps mixing brands actually paid off in this instance. This in the middle of painting it:

Then for the pink Apple logo, I used some light pink scrap book paper, $99 a sheet, that I purchased from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I doubled them over 4 times to achieve the desired tint:

All that was left to do then was snap it back up, reinsert the screws and enjoy a damn cool looking iBook. Not perfect, but having seen modded iBooks, I could no longer live with a white one.

And one last word to anyone who has a pre-solid white polycarbonate iBook: to not hack it is a crime against imagination. God had bestowed upon you a glorious gift, and I can't understand the mindset that goes into squandering that opportunity by leaving it together, unmodded and uncreatively bleak in spirit and in color.