Painting The Radio

[smlzalero]

Ok, so I decided to pop my radio apart and paint it. The face of the stereo is going to be the same red as the trim around it. I cleared the function buttons and am painting them transparent blue (they will look black or dark blue during the day and shine blue at night). The icons and numbers will be silver. I am also painting the display cover blue so the display will shine blue and I'm apinting the display cover in the gauge cluster blue as well. I don't know how else to make the digital numbers anything other than red or this nasty green.

[smlzalero]

These are the only pics so far, I'm actually going to paint tomorrow. I figure if I ferk it up, I can always get a new one :wacko:

The naked radio :P

http://img172.echo.cx/img172/8884/1radio0zo.jpg

Clear buttons.

http://img172.echo.cx/img172/944/1radio34iz.jpg

[Crolero]

should look great, if you dont fudge it up. :lol: gl girl

[smlzalero]

Thanks :) but I never eat while working. :thumb:

[Vtolds]

Originally posted by Crolero+May 12 2005, 03:17 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crolero @ May 12 2005, 03:17 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>should look great, if you dont fudge it up. :lol: gl girl
Quoted post
[/b]


<!--QuoteBegin-smlzalero@May 12 2005, 03:21 AM
Thanks :) but I never eat while working. :thumb:
Quoted post
[/quote]

:lol: :lol: you guys crack me up.

[Redog]

Should be an interseting job, crazy Sara

[Sno]

hmmmmm interesting smlzy... very interesting, should look really nice once its done :) good luck girl

[ptrudel]

hmm...interesting...sure is cheaper then buyin one with the colors you like...can't wait to see it done :thumb:

[Alerofan84]

gl on the project :)

[smlzalero]

Thanks for the good luck wishes :)

But it seems when it comes to planning I'm a complete dumbass. The radio and hvac controls are out of the car and now they're saying its supposed to rain the rest of the week into the weekend. Every time I start a project I fail to check things out and get stuck like this. Oh well, at least I can put the numbers on inside the house. :thumb:

[ptrudel]

are you spraying it?

[smlzalero]

Yeah, guess what? I f***ed it up already :P

[johny_boy32]

pictures....lol

[cherrington17]

wow... well good thing to know i'm not the only one who comes up with good ideas, gets the ambition then royally f***s things up. :lol: sounds like it would turn out nice though. it'd look slick w/ your nice interior....

[smlzalero]

^Nope, you're not alone. That's the story of my life. :P

I'll have to see how it dried when I get home. I might put up a pic if it's not too embarassing, lol.

[Youngblood77]

Sarah, come on....you know DAMN well you'll post a pic no matter HOW bad it turns out :lol: sounds like a sweet project though...Kudos for the origionality of it. :thumb:

[smlzalero]

^Ok, you win..

I've only done the buttons and the plastic piece, but the face will be metallic red. The electrical tape is only to hold the knobs and plastic piece in for these pics, and I accidentally set the buttons on the left in the opposite knobs, so they look funky. Everything's just kinda set in place right now.

http://img209.echo.cx/img209/2167/1radio42ne.jpg

http://img222.echo.cx/img222/3523/1radio57iz.jpg

http://img222.echo.cx/img222/5810/1radio64am.jpg

[Youngblood77]

:blink: I think you should leave it like that, and not paint the face.... I'm diggin the cleared buttons all by themselves. :thumb:

[johny_boy32]

its different but the blue looks cool

[ryanthefizz]

how do you clear the buttons and where do you get transparent paint?

[smlzalero]

^I just scraped the paint off the fronts of the buttons since it was flaking off anyway. And the paint is Testor's from any Hobby Store.


Eric, it does look neat like this, but it doesn't match my trim. :grin:

[cherrington17]

nice job. at least you can butcher things nicely.

[smlzalero]

lol, thanks :)

[Crolero]

yea smlz, if you call that f'ed up then i dont think i should start any projects. :)

looking great, btw. :thumb:

[smlzalero]

:blush: thanks... I'm doing the face red right now.

[-Alero-]

what did you use to scrape all the button stuff off with? i know one of my buttons was flaking away so i did what you did, but only on one button, and i used a exacto knife, made it look a little fuzzy looking :(

[Oldsmopimp]

that is very cool Sara!!! Im still rockin the stk head unit and stereo.....ant the look of that would be great in my car. I wanna do it!!

[smlzalero]

Originally posted by -Alero-@May 13 2005, 05:05 PM
what did you use to scrape all the button stuff off with? i know one of my buttons was flaking away so i did what you did, but only on one button, and i used a exacto knife, made it look a little fuzzy looking :(
Quoted post

Yup, exacto knife :) It does rough up the surface of the button, but when you stick a transparent color over it it clears right up. If you're not gonna paint it another color, you can always just hit it with a clear coat. :thumb:

[smlzalero]

Here's it so far.. but a bird dropped birdseed all over it! :angry:

http://img129.echo.cx/img129/4152/1radio86ru.jpg

http://img130.echo.cx/img130/5128/1radio78jy.jpg

http://img129.echo.cx/img129/5438/1radio97yp.jpg

[noodle]

Looks great saraH!!!!

[smlzalero]

Thanks :)

There's a bit of orange-peel on the buttons and lens, so i'll have to sand them, etc. And I'll have to touch up the face where the birdseed hit before I finish any clear coats.

[smlzalero]

w00t!! It's done.. for now, lol. :)

Lemme know what yall think :grin:

http://img214.echo.cx/img214/2713/1radio146jo.jpg

http://img143.echo.cx/img143/4793/1radio133ib.jpg

http://img143.echo.cx/img143/5272/1radio103vg.jpg

http://img143.echo.cx/img143/1858/1radio154ks.jpg

You can see the difference between the original green and the blue I put on in this pic if you look at the AC button that I cleared.
http://img143.echo.cx/img143/274/1radio114yw.jpg

[Kurt Zee]

wow....looks great!! has a very classy and sporty look at the same time!! great job!! :thumb: :thumb:

[smlzalero]

:) Thanks!

[RAVAGE214]

As bad of an idea as this sounded like that came out really really well. props man

[doubleN0alero]

Good job...my only ? is now how the hell do you know what's what now? Good luck when somebody else jumps in your car and goes to change the station....they'll be like WTF

[sparkey]

Hey, that looks awsome!

[natedawg9640]

that does look quite nice... i might try a little something like that but in stead of painting the face i think i'll lay sheet vinyl over it instead... that way it'll be shiny and really smooth... plus if i ever want to change it all i'll have to do is peel it off... i think an A8 high performance blank stock of the stuff will bend around all the curves perfectly

[Redog]

Damn looks good

[smlzalero]

Thanks guys :)

Brad, lol, I know I haven't labeled the buttons yet, but I'm getting there, I just haven't decided on how to do it. Probably just a stencil cutout of vynil and voila!

[Sno]

Nice Touch Sarah!

[smlzalero]

:thumb: Thanks Snowy.

[cherrington17]

looks good. good thing your screw up wasn't that bad... :lol:

[smlzalero]

LOL! Yeah, but yesterday I couldn't figure which button switched to CD, lol. I just kept punching buttons till it went :lol:

[-Alero-]

i like how you put that silver border around the red.

also, how do you know what button to press?

[smlzalero]

^ See my last post... lol

[boarder211]

I must say, that's a damn incredible look there! Great job on it!

[knowfear]

that is nice. i would even think of trying something like that if i still had my OEM radio.
excellent job.

[cherrington17]

are you just going to draw the labels on w/ a marker, or paint them on somehow?

maybe if you typed them out, cut out the words, painted them on and re-clearcoated?

[Monster189lb56]

wow that turned out nice

[smlzalero]

Thanks guys :)
Originally posted by cherrington17@May 24 2005, 08:24 PM
are you just going to draw the labels on w/ a marker, or paint them on somehow?

maybe if you typed them out, cut out the words, painted them on and re-clearcoated?
Quoted post

mmmmmm.... no.... lol
They're gonna be silver so They're visible during the day and ant night with the light from behind them. My first thought was to paint them on by hand in a specific font (not chosen yet), but I also thought about using a stencil I'd cut for each button. The only symbol is the eject one, everything else is lettering, so it wouldn't be too bad by hand.

[Rubered00]

Looks good...if i still had my stock stereo i would definatley try something like this. Good idea.

[Spook]

props :thumb:

[smlzalero]

Thanks :) someday I'll paint the damn buttons and put more pics up.

[pimpnalero99]

Yea. i'd also like to know where u got them clear buttons

[smlzalero]

I scraped the paint off them.

[pimpnalero99]

i read it now. for some reason the page wouldnt load at work. lol. nice work by the way.