Every time I've seen a picture on the interweb of some one's painted SNES, I always thought it looked bad. I guess a lot of people use a gloss paint, or just put it on thick, because they always look like they've clearly been painted (if you know what I mean). Then I saw this pic:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g295/ ... ainted.jpg
(http://www.8bitcollective.com/images/md ... ame+Boy+2/)
I thought it looked so good, it inspired me to get my ass in gear and take care of my horribly yellowed SNES. Here's some before shots of my SNES:
As you can see, the top and bottom shells have yellowed but the center part (around the cartridge slot) and the controller ports retained their original color. In the two pictures below, also note the chip in the corner near the power LED. It is most annoying because when the system is on, the light shines through the crack.
In this next picture, you can see a lot of dirt and grim that accumulated over the years. Also, since I had the system taken apart, I figured I'd break off the "region lock" tabs inside the cartridge slot.
The A/V and AC input didn't yellow, nor did the extension port cover on the bottom of the console. Weird how that happens...
Some materials used:
Krylon Fusion was highly recommended to me, and I can see why. It actually does what it claims: Bonds to plastic. I was going to try and match the original grey color, but then just decided to pick one that was available at the store I was in. Also, I figured the color I picked was close to the color of the pic I saw online, and since I liked the way that looked I figured it'd be OK.
I got some really fine sand paper (block, actually). I used Windex and paper towels to clean the console good, then gave it a very light sanding just to make sure every little bit of dirt and grim was taken care of.
The vinyl caulk was a multi purpose material, as I was also doing some fixes in a bathroom. I really, REALLY had to do something about that crack in the front corner. The idea I came up with was really spur of the moment type of thing, and little thought went in to it.
What I ended up doing, I squirted a blob of the caulk on the inside of the console (behind the dent) basically as a break away mold. Then, I used some Gorilla glue on the crack. I cut a piece of thick paper roughly to the size of the crack, and fixed it onto the console. Then I squirted some more Gorilla glue onto it. The glue really soaked into the paper, and it became hard as a rock. I let it dry, then reapplied some more glue as need. I tried to spread it all in the crack as best I could. After it all dried, I used an X-acto knife to trim it down. Here's a shot before I trimmed it:
It was looking really good, but unfortunately after it was painted it wasn't so smooth any more. Still, about a million times better then just have a hole there.
Here's another "during" shot, with my SNES in pieces:
At this point, the paint was dry but I wanted to give it some more time before I handled it a lot so I started peeling of the tape (which I just realized I forgot to mention). I taped all the stickers on the bottom of the console. I actually used black electrical tape, then cut it out with an X-acto knife. I did the same for the sticker on the back (the one with Mario holding a screw driver and the 800 number) but unfortunately when I peeled the tape off, the print on the sticker came off with it. The stickers on the bottom came out just fine though. Also, I tapped the four feet on the bottom.
OK, now here's the finished product....
Looks like the one in the picture I found on the net, right? lol.
