Batboard

So I was talking with a friend about clear radio cases and I mentioned Jurassic Park. I couldn't remember if the Sabers were clear or white.

10 minutes later- the screen captures were done.

They looked like the coolest radio ever. They still look good today, enjoy.

-Mike

In addition to whatever electronic gimmickry was used to
internally jazz up the radios, I've always thought that what they did
to the cases was to paint them that off-white color.

Also, are the cases the very old ones that had no
RAT buttons?

In any event, having these photos in one place for everyone to
finally get a good look at is pretty slick, IMHO.

This actually has been brought up a few times:

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=2381
http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=1374
http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=6461

(links stolen from another thread)

I'd normally close the discussion, however, you provided some pretty good photos/images of the actual radios, which I don't think people have posted before, so go forth, discuss your thoughts on spray painting cases

-Alex

I saw them, but didn't want to get caught up in the "Radio in Movies"

Srry about that

Nice, very sporty. Like Tom said probably painted, after all they went thru the trouble to trick them so the transmit light and display are on all the time, why not give them a painting while they're at it. Anythings possible in Hollywood.

I'm gonna go get a can of Krylon Fusion and try it out on a spare M2 5000 case.

So, what color?

I'm thinkin Jurassic White.

Check out the chick, in both pictures she's in she's got a radio in both hands in true BatLabs fashion.

I'm going to give it a try also if Fusion is available as widely as seems to be on their site. (Wal-Mart, Ace, Tru Value, AutoZone.....) have a few HT1000 cases to mess with and I never did find the part # for the HT1000 yellow housing. Yeah, I know, I carry mine in the woods at times and it would be a heck of a lot easier to find.

WalMart had it ! 3.97 a can, the spraying starts tomorrow.

you know what that color scheme reminds me of? The Sony Outback series boom boxes, CD players and Walkmans that were popular in the late 80's and early 90's...my money says the Hollywood boys were trying to imitate that then familiar rugged look of those high end Sony consumer electronics...which added to the ambiance of the film.

They look cool but I think I'll keep my newly acquired Saber III VHF (thanks Tom in DC) and UHF SS3 (thanks Rod Farva) as they are...

if the krylon dont work so good hit up the local Autobody supply house

Tom in D.C. wrote:Also, are the cases the very old ones that had no
RAT buttons?

Sure looks that way from the gang charger.

I happen to have a broken (unprogrammable) Saber 3 that was pre-RAT. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I can't quite tell how they handle paint on the side (the non-PTT side), as part of the front remains black.

What's up with the backlighting? It's the right 'color,' but yet it doesn't look right. Too bright, and too white?

Edit: the top couple photos show a black dot on the side of the radio above the monitor button, on the little section that juts out. Looks like there's one on the opposite side of the radio, too. Any idea what gives?

Posted the larger version. I've got full-size pics on request.

Looks like screws or something metal at the top on both sides?

Those are excellent pics, but I'm a little confused.

You were talking to a friend and THE screen captures were done? Screen captures from where? Were you expecting them?

How did you get those photos ?

I was talking to a friend (over aim to be specific) He noticed a clear motorola case for sale. Already off the market now

We got to talking about diff case colors and what not. I remembered seeing the sabers in Jurassic park so I popped the DVD in my Apple and hit play. The Apple DVD player app. disables screen printing/snapshots due to © issues, but there's a way around it...

For you mac owners:

• 1. Open up the dvd player
  2. Find the image you want to capture
  3. Open Up "terminal"
  4. Type "screencapture -i file.pdf" to make a pdf file. Or "screencapture -c" to copy the frame of video to the clipboard
  5. Hit enter, and voila! A nice high-rez dvd screenshot.
  6. If you used the "-c" command, you'll need to open an image editor to crop the image.

Now I need to scan thru Die Hard, and every other movie I own with radios in it.

-Mike

I bet they did just use screws to keep the thing together after modding it and gutting it.

BTW, I'm thinking that glossy apliance enamel paint may work. That :o sticks to anything and is hard as diamonds.

Twisted_Pear wrote:Looks like screws or something metal at the top on both sides?

I thought they made color kits where you can boil (or bake?) the plastic in this concoction and it dyes the plastic a new, desired, color.

That way the paint doesn't wear from severe use.

One department I worked for issued me an 800Mhz MTS2000 that I semi-ruined.

I got dragged down a hallway, getting white paint all over the face of my radio.

SO, thinking I could clean it up, I got some goo gone and tried to clean the case. It got the paint off, but it acted like it sucked the black right out of the case.

Made it easy for me to tell which radio was mine, maybe you guys could try that, it would prolly last longer than just painting it.

ah.


Now that the pics have come up (dialup rocks, doesn't it? keeps me humble) I also agree that those are painted.

I am thinking the displays were made by printing a green rectangle with semi-appropriate legends on a color transparency, cutting them out, gluing them into the case, putting a piece of white lexan behind that and then using an incandescent bulb to backlight them.

-Shawn

-Shawn

High_order1 wrote:I am thinking the displays were made by printing a green rectangle with semi-appropriate legends on a color transparency, cutting them out, gluing them into the case, putting a piece of white lexan behind that and then using an incandescent bulb to backlight them.

Looking at them again, I can definitely see support for this theory. That would also explain how they kept the LED on full-time: the 'radio' probably didn't have radio parts at all, just a hard-wired LED and a bulb for the 'display.'

So I took a beat up M2 case I and gave it a "Maaco" Paint job...here are the results.

If it holds up, I'll do an other one (and actually mask it off better)

Before



1st Coat (areas that look oversprayed are just smooth dents in the plastic)


Finished product

Next - you need to change the LED's in the keypad to be blue.

Wow, that's insane!

Looks like I've got a new project. I have probably close to 30 or so Jedi cases kicking around, it wouldn't hurt to practice!

A dark blue Astro Saber. Oh yes, it shall happen.

Edit:



It shall be done.

I can see now that it's only a matter of time before that "Baby Phat" Pink XTS actually exists...

HAHAHAHA- I should do it!

I'll have the Storm Trooper radio, and Bellersley can have C3PO's radio.

alex wrote:Next - you need to change the LED's in the keypad to be blue.

Good idea Alex, I'll "pimp out" a M2 keyborad for Mike. I have a lot of iDEN units with LEDs wanting to go to a real radio anyway.

Jim

excellent

I'd do the neon pink 5k in a heartbeat

sglass wrote:excellent

I'd do the neon pink 5k in a heartbeat

n7maq wrote:

alex wrote:Next - you need to change the LED's in the keypad to be blue.

Good idea Alex, I'll "pimp out" a M2 keyborad for Mike. I have a lot of iDEN units with LEDs wanting to go to a real radio anyway.

Jim

People have been saying for ages that they have wanted to do these sort of mods for sh!ts and grins. It would be great to see it done. I personally don't have the soldering skills needed for the task.

I think I could find one of the cell phone stores around NYC who do mods to probably do the keypad... wouldn't be that hard. I just know I'd fry the flex...

-Alex

Nice Mike, mine didn't turn out as well, I tried to make a couple of SP50 housings safety yellow but came out blotchy and then the nozzle was spitting a bit which made it worse. You do any surf prep. prior to spraying ?

from photo number two, looks like you used that screwdriver to pry of the case!

RadioSouth wrote:Nice Mike, mine didn't turn out as well, I tried to make a couple of SP50 housings safety yellow but came out blotchy and then the nozzle was spitting a bit which made it worse. You do any surf prep. prior to spraying ?

I did 4 VERY THIN coats of paint. I bought the satin white. The gloss might be a thicker mix.

It was my first case crack. I've never had a problem opening em that way. The case was beat to hell, so I didn't go easy on it.

A thought might be to sand blast it first?

http://www.krylon.com/main/product_temp ... ct_details#

I wonder how this would look:



It looks like that stuff that changes colour depending on the angle you view it from.

I have a bunch of busted Saber III cases.

Only problem is the fairly deep "POLICE" engraving on the front I'd have to fill in.

Does anyone have an Astro Saber model 2 or one case they'd be willing to part with, for a fee of course. Thanks! I really want to bling up a radio.. It would be a great hamfest radio!

You guys will look like a bunch of experimental crack monkeys, running around Dayton with your chrome radio's and "spinner" mics attached.

SG

the 'radio' probably didn't have radio parts at all, just a hard-wired LED and a bulb for the 'display.'

Oops. Left that part out. Generally, big-budget productions don't like unnecessary transmitting, as it not only interferes with wireless mikes, it can bother remote - controlled fx, and the remote lens focus puller on the cameras.

Yeah, I think they were empty saving a 9 volt and some model railroad lighting and wiring....

Those paint jobs turned out *much* better than I was envisioning. I see large prices on eBay for some sellers shortly : eBay auction34567890 STORMTROOPER RADIO - REAL! lol

I am trying to resist the urge for making my own "Stormtrooper" radio. But I am not being so successful.

1 issue though. Are you worried about "clogging" the grille for the speaker at all?

there has to be somewhere you can send it to have the plastic chrome sprayed on it.

HLA wrote:there has to be somewhere you can send it to have the plastic chrome sprayed on it.

There is an actual plating process for plastic, and it looks almost as good as chrome on a metal product.

SG

Try to picture this! A bunch of XTS5000s in various colors, sent to the depot for service. How long will the Mexicans look for the part #'s for all the different housings?

DJP126 wrote:Try to picture this! A bunch of XTS5000s in various colors, sent to the depot for service. How long will the Mexicans look for the part #'s for all the different housings?

¿Amigo, cuál es el número de pieza para una caja blanca? Gringos de mierda

JAYMZ wrote:1 issue though. Are you worried about "clogging" the grille for the speaker at all?

I removed the actual screen behind the grille- as well as the ring for the speaker. Glue should help hold it in place again.

Several LIGHT coats of paint were used to avoid clogging the grille. The "fake" holes were a bit of a challenge, but overall it turned out okay. I'm going to re-spray the PTT side of the radio.

I masked off the whole button module to add some contrast to the paint scheme. I'm going to mask off the buttons only and keep the whole thing white. Between the buttons, antenna labels and batt, there's enough black on there.

-Mike

DJP126 wrote:Try to picture this! A bunch of XTS5000s in various colors, sent to the depot for service. How long will the Mexicans look for the part #'s for all the different housings?

That picture is my mad photoshopping skills at work.

It was my avatar on hamsexy for a while

I so want to chrome my saber

if you get it chromed it'll go faster. what's next, rhino lining to make it bulletproof?

HLA wrote:what's next, rhino lining to make it bulletproof?

Hmmm Line X is across the street......sounds like next weeks project!!