NES Legend of Zelda Cart Restoring

[StephPlusPlus]

So, I finally got some plastic primer and gold spray paint from Lowe's yesterday. I had all of my supplies, so I decided to get started with stripping the carts, using Goo Gone.

Before: http://i51.tinypic.com/x4234h.jpg

After taking the cart apart and putting the good bits away, I tried to take off the labels. What stubborn, small stickers.
http://i52.tinypic.com/195wdz.jpg

Now, I put some Goo Gone in a small plastic cup I cut as a little place for me to dip my cloth. The cup kinda looked funny after that, and it looked creamy on the inside. In under 2 minutes, the cup was empty. I decided to use it as a place to put my trash. I looked in again, and the Goo Gone burnt a hole in the cup.
http://i52.tinypic.com/243155s.jpg

After some scrubbing, the paint was finally coming off. However, the Goo Gone was also slowly eroding the plastic. I was taking away some of the texture on the back, effectively. I decided to stop, clean off the carts, and see what I should do next.
http://i54.tinypic.com/vrzwye.jpg

Looks terrible. I see a few options.
- Keep going on with the Goo Gone, hope for the best.
- Paint over this, also hope for the best.
- Paint it black. (Don't think vinyl dye will work, but...) Then paint over it.
- Get a gray cart and paint that.

Suggestions?

[CRTGAMER]

The labels didn't look too bad, why didn't you just mask them off? Do you have replacement labels that look just like the originals?

Anyways good luck, hope the refurbish works out.

I wish more posters here would direct link pics like you did. Too many times having to slug thru a Photo sharing site just to view a blown up pic. THANKS!

[Hobie-wan]

Maybe just lightly sand at this point. Though even most sandpaper will start taking off texture too. The green side of a scrubby sponge will slowly scuff up the surface without going too quickly. Maybe make a test with that and see if it gets the gold off or roughs it up enough for paint to stick?

[StephPlusPlus]

The labels didn't look too bad, why didn't you just mask them off? Do you have replacement labels that look just like the originals?

Anyways good luck, hope the refurbish works out.

I wish more posters here would direct link pics like you did. Too many times having to slug thru a Photo sharing site just to view a blown up pic. THANKS!

The side of the front label really bothered me. Plus, I didn't want to mess with masking.

And thanks.

Maybe just lightly sand at this point. Though even most sandpaper will start taking off texture too. The green side of a scrubby sponge will slowly scuff up the surface without going too quickly. Maybe make a test with that and see if it gets the gold off or roughs it up enough for paint to stick?

Hm, the rough side of those sponges. That might be worth trying. Thanks.

[flamepanther]

I had a similar problem with Goo Gone destroying tghe casing of two Genesis games I was trying to clean

Best of luck

[Ziggy]

Goo Gone Extreme will destroy a cart pretty fast. I never had a problem with regular strength Goo Gone though, but I never leave it on carts for more than a few minutes.

You could always just spray the cart black and have your own custom Zelda cart. Krylon Fusion will create a super bond with plastic. If done right, you wont ever have to worry about it chipping. Black Satin looks great on carts, as seen in the pics Jeffro and I linked in the thread CRT posted a link to. Anything else I have to say about the finish I have already said in that other thread.

As far as the label goes, you pretty much have the Internet's most popular method. Get an inkjet/laser adhesive labels (I used Avery) and cover them with packing tape. The type of tape you use is very important though. I used this method for my earlier repros, and the labels kinda look fuzzy because the tape has many very small air pockets. The right tape though, and it'll look amazing. The tape really simulates an official label, and offers pretty good protection as well.

Currently, I use an adhesive backed gloss photo paper. Good luck finding some of that though. The labels look amazing and very clear, though you don't get the protection from the tape. And photo paper is pretty fragile. But any way you do it, the image will only be as good as your printer. My $30 Wal Mart printer is only capable of making pirate Chinese looking labels.