My first customized Game Boy - Guide inside

[ninjainspandex]

It took me a few hours to get all those games from an old lady i've met in the market... She was buying bananas, and not for eating...

[muhanad]

Nice job man! I've been meaning to do a custom gameboy as well but have no experience. Would it be easy for a beginner to take apart and paint?

[Broodstar]

Nice job man! I've been meaning to do a custom gameboy as well but have no experience. Would it be easy for a beginner to take apart and paint?

Yes it’s quite easy, let me describe you all the steps.
I was thinking to make a little guide with pictures, but I want to paint two or three more game boys to get more experience.
I have to admit that looking back at this Trax console I know I could have made it better, but being the first one I was also impatience to get it done.

Part one, taking the console apart:
Before starting, you need a tri-wing screwdriver, a cross screwdriver and three small boxes to keep the screws and buttons in order.
1. Use the tri-wing screw driver to open up the six screws that hold the two main parts of the console together. Put those screws in one of the designated boxes.
2. When those 6 are unscrewed, you need to unplug the cable that connects the two main boards of the console. Gently pull it from the socket. After unplugging the cable, you have two halves: front and back.
3. Remove the circuit board from the back half of the console by unscrewing all 4 screws (2 are holding the audio jack). Remove the metal sheets that connect the batteries forcing them out with a slim screwdriver and remove the metal sheet that protects the game cartridge. Put all the screws in the second box.
4. Remove the circuit board from the front half of the console by unscrewing all screws (there are many, about 8-10 screws). Put those screws in the second box with the ones from the previous step. Now gently pull the circuit board up. You can meet some resistance because the edges of the screen are stuck to the front case with a double sided duck tape. Take your time and don’t force it too much.
5. When you are done removing the circuit board from the front case, gather the buttons (plastic and rubber parts) and put them in the third box. Watch out for the on-of button, don’t loose it
6. Now you have the front and the back parts of the case, all plastic and no buttons, circuits or anything else attached to them.

Part two, painting:
You need:
- A base paint spray. White is the best because can be covered easy, but other colors may be used. I used green for Trax.
- Acrylics. At least a few colors, you can obtain more by mixing them up: black, white, yellow, blue, red… anything you want. You can also get neon colors, metallic colors...
- Paint brushes. You need at least two sizes: a 0 and a 2. I got paint brushes used for manicure from the cosmetics store; they are the smallest paint brushes I’ve found. The nr 2 paint brush is used to cover more area with paint if needed. You can also get other sizes or style paint brushes and experiment with them.
- A small cup to keep the water used for painting.
- A plastic plate to mix the paint.
- Varnish spray. This is used to fix and protect the acrylic when all the work is finished.
- Crayons and eraser.
1. Clean the front and back parts of the case with water and detergent. If they are very dirty or have stains that don’t come off easy, you can let them stay in water and detergent one night. Use an old teeth brush or something similar to clean them good. Let them dry.
2. Now we are preparing the parts for base paint. Use paper tape (or duct tape) to protect the parts that you don’t want to be covered with base paint, like the screen. Another solution is to take the screen off by heating it with a hairdryer and gently pushing it off. Later you can glue the protective screen back to the front case. With Trax I just leaved the screen there and put some paper tape over it.
3. Put the front case on a paper and spray it with base paint. The tricky part is to try not to spray twice in the same place, keep a 20 cm distance and don’t take the finger off the spray button or you will sprinkle with paint and get an unwanted effect. Leave the case 10 or more minutes to dry. Don’t worry if you have small areas that are not covered, they can be painted later. You can exercise spraying on something else before spraying the front case.
4. Use a crayon and eraser to draw a sketch of what you want to paint.
5. Paint. Don’t worry if your lines are not perfect, or if the paint will not perfectly cover the area you are painting, you can always paint over what you did. For example you made a red ball and now you think it can be made bigger and silver? Don’t worry, make it bigger and silver, the acrylics are covering any color that is under them. And if they don’t cover the first time, let the paint dry and paint again over and over. I have painted each tank from the Trax game boy at least three times.
6. When all the painting is done, let it dry. Then put the front case on a paper and using the same technique as for base spraying, give it a varnish. The thing with varnish is that if you spray too much, the details (like the text on/off, phones or small painted effects) won’t be as visible as you want them to be. Let the varnish dry and you are done with the front case.
7. Repeat for the back case, or don’t if you only want the front of the console to be painted, put it back together and enjoy.

[muhanad]

Thanks for the guide, youre really helpful! I appreciate it! I was thinking of using spray paint, would that work too?

[Broodstar]

Thanks for the guide, youre really helpful! I appreciate it! I was thinking of using spray paint, would that work too?

Use base coat paint only, not any paint spray if you plan painting your console.

If you just want to give it another color, use normal paint spray. I don't have experience with those so i don't know what to advise you...

[Broodstar]

Here is a sketch of my next work:


You can observe the base coat paint. I made the drawing in crayon and only painted the main lines with black.
The final work will be totally different because of the added color and details, but the idea is here.
On the black area i plan to paint a metallic gate or even glue something that will resemble a gate.

[SNKnicotine]

so, you slept with this lady and she "gifted" you the games.
Please correct me if I misunderstood.

[Broodstar]

so, you slept with this lady and she "gifted" you the games.
Please correct me if I misunderstood.

I knew a should have edited those posts
It was a sarcastic joke, oxymoron was repeating his question.