Project: Chroma Flux

[Ben83red]

Alright, well I've decided to paint my dell vostro laptop (1400) and have voided every warentee in the book already Anyhow. I decided to paint it because the dull black was very boring, I picked up some mirage color changing paint from the auto parts store, its hard to tell but the color shifts from red to blue atleast thats what the package says, the lid shifts from a dark blue to a purple red with other colors too, ill try to get a video sometime of it.

I'm also going to end up replacing the wireless card (broadcomm (2 inputs) with a intel 3 input card, and have an external jack for a high gain antenna.

Excuse the crappy photos, camera phone, my actual digi cam is at home and im in the dorms.

Here's the paint

Here's the laptop cover after masking and removing plastic bits/dell symbol

I tried using automotive stripper to remove the paint but it wouldn't even dent the paint even after i sanded it with 100 grit sand paper O.O So I said screw that, and am just gonna sand the paint and paint it.

After initial 100 grit sand and 80 grit rough up on the dell symbol area:

This is what I put in the center if ANYONE can guess what that is/from props to you, well it's on the coin so... (So props if you like what it comes from!):

Hey: Bondo!!

First pass of bondo, using a CD to make the curve even. Going to sand it soon (waiting for it to dry as I write this up), and do it again then wet/dry sand all of it down to about 800 grit to 1000 grit:

Nuther post later tonight, hope to get the base coat on tonight and give it a full day to dry.

Update: Alright, after 2nd time (sanding):

After 3rd time: (before sanding):

Here's the best pic I could show on how much the coin sticks out from the case (and the gradient I put in with the bondo):

 

[sed8em]

Lookin good so far, but no clue where the coin is from.
That would be cool if you could do some cutting on the coin itself and make it glow from behind from the backlight, like the apple symbol does on the overpriced aluminum laptops.

 

[GigantoR]

So are you going to leave the Naruto coin as is? Or sand it flat?

 

[Ben83red]

leave it as is, it will stick up a bit form the top but I don't really care, i like the design. And the bondo came out really smooth (at 800 grit will probably stop at 800 as its getting super smooth)

Sprtn: I would LOVE to cut it and backlight it, but my dremel skills are t3h suck. So no backlight.

Update:
After 3rd sanding:

More sanding:

220 grit:

My hand after wet sanding 220:

After 440 wet sand:

After 800 dry sand:

After 800 wet sand letting air dry:

Must, get, real, camera...

 

[Ben83red]

Alright began spraying the base coat:

Here's the plate masked off

Here's me in my blurry glory

I got one of those trigger sprayers it actually helps quite a bit with spray control.

And first light coat:

I'm going to wet sand at 1000 grit once I get a few more coats on. Though the only coat I'll sand is going to be the base coat.

Update: last base coat is on, but it seems that the sanding still missed some scratches I'll go over it with 600 and 1000 grit wet sand hopefully that will help smooth it out

 

[jackknife]

uh, you are NOT spraying indoors near your guitar and clothes and whatnot?
You´ll get a fine mist of spray EVERYWHERE! Trust me, I had to scrub the whole furniture and PVC floor of my kitchen after doing stuff like this. Now I always cover everything or go outside for painting. It really only becomes obvious when you move something after you finished spraying, you´ll see what I mean at the spots where the object covered the floor/wall/whatever from the spray mist. Got a lovely round shape on one table from a CD, still visible after scrubbing for hours.

 

[Ben83red]

There's no way for the mist to settle on the walls or guitar or anywhere near the spray surface, as the way i have the room setup, there is a constant STRONG breeze when the door is open, i tested it with a bit of smoke (shhh). The air is evacuated within 5 seconds from window to door. Oh and about my guitar, I dont care, I'm planning on blowing it up during this 4th of July, (its a cheapie walmart guitar I want a nice one.)

 

[mrweasel]

that thing on the coin looks like the blade from Krull.

 

[Ben83red]

Not exactly sure what that is... Edit: just googled it, yeah it kinda does, though it has an extra arm.

Update:
After wet sanding the base paint/primer:

And now after 1st coat of color laquer:

And after 2nd with a flash light to help on the color, still can't see it well.

Getting my camera tonight so I can get better pics (Yay!)

 

[veritas7]

Even with phone pictures, still looks nice.

Looking forward to better pics!

 

[Ben83red]

Alright after resanding (because there were a lot of scratches that I didn't catch the first time >< ) and re bondoing and re sanding again, and priming, sanding down to 1000 grit, and finally applying the coats and clear coat (one more before I go to bed), we get to this:

and this:

There's a bit of scuffing in the upper left of the lid, but I was done sanding priming and sanding again. I have no fingerprints left....

I'll get better pics up soon I promise!!! I went home to grab the camera but it was no where to be found, so I'll have to call my parents...



Edit- this is what my trashcan looked like after rebondo and re sanding, that reaches about 6 inches into the can, reason why there's so much is because the sandpaper kept clogging, I ran through two packs of 400 grit and close to two of 800.