I have this old Mac 512K that was upgraded to a Plus. I want to paint it, probably royal or navy blue with gold accents. My plans are to have what was light beige blue and dark beige gold. The system includes the Mac, a mouse, a keyboard, an external hard drive, an external floppy, and an external CD-ROM as well as an ImageWriter II.
Should I prime the computer before I paint it? And what sort of primer and spray paint would I need? Also, is it true that things have to be sanded? There is a nick on one part of the case that I want to fill as well.
For the keys and mouse button, is any special prep necessary? I want the key names to be somewhat visible but if that's not an option I guess I'll find a way to get them on?
Also, has anyone else out there ever done an ImageWriter?
If the keys would be too tough, would blue and brown look decent together?
I can handle the stuff inside the Mac--this one in fact needs some stuff swapped to be functional. I've worked inside computers for over a decade and know about dangerous CRTs and whatnot, but I can't say I've ever done a mod.
I want to give the computer a vintage casual luxury look.
sounds like a cool mod.
Your going to want to take it completely apart if you can. Just the plastics away from the electronics. You'll want to use a very fine sand paper and either use that fusion paint or do a very good job with priming and painting(multiple coats with sanding between) There was a very good painting tutorial somewhere but I cant seem to find it. Also, tape off anything where stuff has to connect like screw holes etc. On the keyboard i would take it apart and not paint the keys, it gets all over the board below it, unless you can get the keys off. It would be muchh easier to just leave the keys unpainted. I've painted a few machines, one thing I've learned is that prepping it is very key to the result.
if you can get the keys off, you can use lightbulb paint to paint them (a paint used to color lightbulbs, it should be avalalbe in your local hardware stor or Home Deopt/Lowes, etc...). It's parally transparent, so it'll color the keys, but you will still be able to see the lettering underneath.