Painting Advice


Just the normal stuff: Properly clean it first, then aplly many THIN layers of (spray) paint.
 
I thought you wanted to do a painting of your GP2X. I would have suggested acrylic+watercolour. :(

- Alex
 
Providing you don't spray it on too thick you won't get any runs. It will look great for a couple of months.

Anything you don't want coloured, remove and put in a draw somewhere in another room (spray gets everywhere), masking with tape always seems like a good idea but either the spray gets underneath or you leave it on and it lifts the paint along the edge when you lift it. If you do use tape remove the tape as soon as you can after the paint has settled, without getting finger prints on the case. I got mine as a present so I don't know if the screen comes off easily but I would definitely want this removed if I was going to paint it, maybe a screen saver would work but you may end up rubbing paint off the screen and that won't be good.

In order to get the surface correct for the paint to go on you may need to key the surface, this will involve giving it a light sand with a very, very fine sandpaper and then a wash with soapy water and a rinse with clean water and possibly a dry with a paper towel (making sure no bits of the paper dust land on the case, yellow dusters leave bits all over the plastic)

Wear rubber gloves or the latex doctors disposable gloves if you can get them to avoid getting greasy finger prints on the casing (this saves you getting sprayback on your hands too). Check the can of spray paint, it might recommend giving the surface a wipe with a bit of white spirit to remove grease.

If you are using car paint check if you want to use a primer coat first, it all adds to the cost but they make it for a reason, not all paints will need a primer, some hobby acrylics don't.

Spray paint goes everywhere, do it in a garage if you can and cover EVERYTHING with tarp, put paper down. Don't do it in a living room, even if you are renting (sorry Jim) Don't spray outside, even on a still day you will get dust and bugs sticking into the paint as it dries. Don't spray if it is too humid or looks like it is going to rain before the paint will get a chance to dry, the paint may 'bloom', you don't want that.

You can make a spray booth out of a cardboard box, as big as you can get it, (big TV size if you can, small boxes will allow the paint to bounce back off the sides onto the piece) this will cut out some of the dust, which is pretty much inevitable if you are doing this at home, it will also save the furniture and anything else in the local area. Just put it on one of it's ends so the opening is on the side, the only draw back is you have to move the piece as you can't spray from all directions unless you get a turntable/lazy susan (I picked up a couple from Poundland, can't remember how much I paid for them but they were cheap)

You will probably get a bit of dust, this isn't so noticeable on something big like a car but will be pretty annoying on a small thing like the GP2X, you can lightly sand any dust that sticks when the paint is dry, spraying over it probably won't work and you will have to sand down more layers to remove it in the long run, You will probably be sanding down between coats anyway so this won't be anything new, remember you are just roughing up the surface so that the next lot of paint will stick better, not trying to remove it.

Spray lightly from all sides, start the spraying off the case so that any splatter doesn't land on the case and spray right across the piece in one smooth motion finishing by going past the case , don't try to cover the whole surface in one go, make a series of passes. Turn the piece or move around the case and spray again.

Hold the can away from piece at the distance they mention on the can, wait the length of time they tell you to before respraying, you will want to do it all in one day or rush the primer to get to the final colour, don't, it will probably take a week if you use a coat or 2 of primer, 2 or 3 of colour and 3 or so coats of varnish so don't be in a rush.

Practice first on something else, a toy car, a plastic cup anything with curved surfaces, get the hang of keeping the can the same distance from the case throughout the whole pass, make your mistakes where it doesn't matter.

And after all that it will start to rub off at the corners if you aren't careful, you will never be able to shove it in your pocket if you are in a hurry, you will always have to put it in a soft protective cover. If you paint the buttons then expect to have to repaint them frequently.

I did my mobile phone to match my car, did a good job too but it doesn't last forever, even with 3 coats of varnish on top of the 2 coats of paint it won't last forever, the paint wore and eventually chipped along the edges and needed a respray. I also sprayed the inside of the car, where my hand rested on the paint it slowly wore down to the plastic over the course of a year, and that was from only light use.

Not trying to put you off or anything (unless you want to try and use chrome paint, never had any luck with that) just so you know that after 4 months or so it won't look as good as it did when you first did it.

Enjoy if you decide to go ahead, I thought about it but having tried this sort of thing before I have decided that it isn't worth the hassle, it's not that there are hundreds around that all look the same, not around here anyway, if you do paint it show us a picture and then update us after 5 months or so with a new one so we can see if it wears off.

All the best

Mark
 
thanx man thats very helpfull, i fink ill test it out on ma gba i 1st (as i never use it)


if i do decide to go through with it il post pics


thanx again for the advice
 
ninjak : July 22, so that was about 4 months ago, hows the paint job holding up? do you use it much? Keep it in a soft case? any scratches/touch up jobs? Still got the skin ?

I was thinking a Union Flag (UK) with the skin change would look good.

norm : And don't practice on the GBA even if you don't use it you will still find it easier to sell if it hasn't got a bad paint job on it. Practice on something else. Something really cheap.

ninjak, ever use UV lamps to harden the paint? the only lamps I had were for my plants so i didn't even bother trying.

Have fun
 
personally i dont recomend painting it, i painted my gp32 and all is good and it still looks great, i just miss the old white look to it, and dont like how it feels in my hands (tbh it just feels like a cheaply painted device).... if you want to paint it, go for it, but do it right, and add some clear coat to it to keep it nice and shiny
 
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