Vinyl dye for old consoles and cabs.

[Colin]

Has anyone ever attempted fixing up an old console/cab, or any kind of plastics with this stuff? Found info about it in a thread where a guy was doing a resto on his cab, he took it from this:



To this:



I've found it for sale at this website:

http://www.vinyldye.co.uk/

And i'm very tempted to use it on some bits of my own cab, though I think i'll go for a test run on something less important first! The plastics on my cab have yellowed slightly, and that irritating need for perfection is starting to niggle. I've read a few articles on this method now and they have all been positive.

[kernow]

The plastic on those super neos always yellows, I can't see your pics, but why don't you try making some retrobrite up?

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

[Colin]

I'm a lazy git Kern and like the idea of a (reasonably) quick to apply solution, not setting up a little chemistry set in the kitchen! This stuff doesn't sit on the plastic, it seeps in to it and dye's it to whatever colour you choose. All the before and afters i've been able to find have been pretty impressive. I'm going up to Scotland nect week and should have some crappy condition PCE white joypads kicking around, i'm going to try it out on one of them.

[kernow]

lols ok, but don't cock it up because the last thing you want is something looking out of place compared to the rest of it. I'd personally do the retrobrite thing first before any dying. At least with that you're returning it to its original colour, with dying you're changing it.

[dosucol]

Wet sanding,but it will take a bit of elbow grease.

[nem]

Yellowing usually goes deeper than just the surface, so wet sanding doesn't really help.

+1 retrobright

[kernow]

*rocks out*

[Colin]

Just a little update on this. Just gave it a little trial on an old average condition PC-Engine pad. Masked it off half and half so that I could judge the results:



Finish feels pretty nice and it looks spot on. Think i'm going to go ahead and do my cab surround.

Hard to get a good pic to show the difference properly, this is a little better. The plastic still feels as it should, and all the textures are still perfect, with no 'gloops' in the tiny lettering or in the screw recesses. So it does genuinely seem to seep in to the plastic.



So this is the "before" pic of my cab, with discoloured bezel and marquee surround. Spraying it tomorrow, so we'll see how it turns out.............

[Colin]

This is just becoming a little blog for my own entertainment, but hey, it's keeping me busy!

Decided to suck it up and go for stage one of three, the bezel. Wanted to do this first as I had no idea how much of the dye it would use, and it would've been a nightmare getting half way through and running out. I'm chuffed to bits with the finish. It's a dramatic improvement in my opinion, and as with the PC-Engine pad I tested on, the feel is still great. Tomorrow i'm going to do the marquee, then the control panel on the weekend. I actually thought the CP wouldn't need doing, but now i've refitted the bezel the difference really sticks out.

So, after stage one:

[kernow]

Nice work!

[Colin]

Cheers Kern.

Was crappping myself when I started it today. Last thing I wanted to do was wreck my cab, big sigh of relief when I saw the finish on the bezel.

[J0e Musashi]

Must be right good if it can change an NC10 from black to white.

[Colin]

Must be right good if it can change an NC10 from black to white.

Yeah, masking off the letters on the keys was a killer though.

[Legendary Wolf]

Great job there Ikobo, looks great. I am considering doing the same with my Dreamcast as that has yellowed a bit. Not sure whether to restore it to white or go for black to match my stand and other equipment.

[Neil]

Nice result Col big improvement.