How to respray cases

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Transwarp
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by Transwarp »

As another member has mentioned, having cases pro powder coated is the way to go. Given the materials required and effort to DIY it shouldn't be way much more to have them PC'd, however the personal satisfaction of doing them oneself will of course be lost if taking the PC'ing route.
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

Got to agree there if painting's not your thing and you don't have any mates that can give you a hand.

I'm going to try and get a slightly stippled finish so it's close to the original finish that they had. Powder coating will usually give an almost smooth finish, with just a hint of stippling. If the finish can be altered in any way I wouldn't know. Perhaps not heating it up as much would mean the powder doesn't melt as flat.

These particular ones had had the vinyl coating sprayed over badly in a gloss black spray paint and the insides were even more appalling with paint runs galore. Let's put it this way, no matter what they end up like, they can't look any worse than they did ;)
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

So... it was a little bit more windy than I'd have preferred and not as hot as I'd have ideally liked either, but as I'm used to spray cans and this paint shouldn't "bloom' like normal paint should I thought I'd get the cases finished today.

I've taken shots at every stage so they go from the dodgy, patchy (resprayed over vinyl) finish to being stripped, rubbed down with wet & dry abrasive paper, primed and then top coated, which is a stippled finish that's very similar to the original Cobra/SS one.

There are probably gazillions of Youtube videos that'll show you how to do this kind of thing to car panels etc, so it's basically the same with radio cases so I won't waffle on. I'm not doing a Youtube video as I hate the sound of my own voice and no one wants to see my ugly mug...plus the CIA might know where I'm at then too ;) :
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Re: How to respray cases

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...
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

... note the fly that decided to land in the wet paint lol. Don't worry, when dry, the fly will wipe off..well.. dead and in bits it will.
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Last edited by The Collector on 18 Mar 2022, 16:38, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

Finally... ta dah!!!
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by cb4ever104 »

Go away !! :lol: :lol:

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Re: How to respray cases

Post by Buick Mackane »

Brilliant paint work dave as always :thumbup:
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

Ta muchly ;)

Well I already had all the paints and abrasive paper, I just had to buy some paint stripper which cost me £8, but it'll last me for years as I don't use it very often. There's easily enough left for another half-a-dozen sets of cases.

Here's a shot of my ultra-professional paint spraying station. The cans are holding down the newspaper pieces because it was a bit breezy.

BTW - the casings are sat on upside-down plastic pots that we get from the Chinese takeaway with sweet & sour sauce in lol. Stops the lid edges sticking to the paper:
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by original45 »

Nice job Dave
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

original45 wrote: 18 Mar 2022, 21:19 Nice job Dave
Thanks mate, I'm hoping that it'll give Sammy the confidence to have a go at doing some. "DO IT, DO IT, DO IT..." everyone chants ;)

By the time these are fitted, they'll look 95% like the originals. I can put some silicone spray on them to add a touch more shine if I should want to and you probably wouldn't know the difference then from more than a couple of feet away then. I quickly blew over the insides first to smarten that side up too.

If I could spray indoors, with heating and proper gear, I could easily knock out a few sets a days, but I can't get involved with that kind of thing as you know. Even outside in the wind, I had 2 masks on.

I just wanted to show that it's not that hard, it's just having the knack. I've been spraying stuff with cans for 40+ years so I'm not too bad at it, but I'm not perfect and can get the occasional build-up or run. The wind definitely doesn't help matters!
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by original45 »

100% mate look great. I did some few years ago.didn't go right back to steel and after high build primer looked like it had covered scratches months latter appeared again.grrrr.
My favourite tool spraying was hair dryer to warm steel and surfaces.

Excellent job anyway my friend. Atvb
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by The Collector »

I do use a hot air gun on the odd occasion, usually to "skin" over the paint prior to adding a quick second coat.

It's ideal for Ham International case finishes where you need a satin base coat and a quick sprinkle over of gloss for that speckled effect.

If the satin coat was still wet, the gloss wpuld melt into it, losing the speckles. If the paint has hardened too much, the speckles won't stick as well and will be "raised" (and could possibly be picked or knocked off) so just warming the satin coat so it's tacky, means it bonds to the speckles nicely.

Warming the metal before painting with one can not only help the paint dry faster when it's applied, but it canalso help stop the paint from "blooming" (going misty) if the conditions are a bit too cool and damp.

Anyway, I won't bore you all any more .. zzzz.... ;)
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Re: How to respray cases

Post by GDog »

Good skills there Dave.

It's good practice to get out the rattle cans every now and again regardless of the result. My first real rattle can paint job, a Kawasaki Er500 was terrible, by the time I'd finished the frame, the panels and wheels etc I was almost competent.

A year or two later, and a few more paint experiments on other household items, I was competent enough to paint a fireplace white for the living room with radiator enamel!

Practice makes perfect. I still use the Wheely bins to paint stuff on so currently my grey bin has a green and blue lid. My black bin has white and black lid.

Every couple of years a thick layer of paint will fall off leaving a perfectly clean wheelybin lid.
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