Batboard

Had some time to play around in the garage. Had some safety orange Krylon spray paint laying around so I decided to paint my XTS 5000 m2 case. I removed all parts, included stickers and let the paint cure for a week. So now I have a factory looking finish with no masking lines. May put a Black bezel around the screen. Constructive criticism is welcomed!

Painted with Acrylic Model paint. This method is a lot nicer and is holding up a lot better.

Reminds me of an EF Johnson 5100.

Marv:

Krylon? If not, then what brand?

Nice job.

Regards,

Yes Tom,

Krylon Fusion for plastic. Went on pretty good and cured very well. Looks straight from factory!

Nice work! I agree with the black bezel!

Yes! Well done, sir!

looks good

Was just going to post up a similar thread since the existence of my "rare canadian blue XTS5000" was leaked out to the world. Since it was also requested I post the process, I've been waiting for a second housing to cure though so it might be another day or two.

Orange is an interesting color, yes reminds me of an EFJ radio!

--Will

Orange looks amazing.

I am going to a hobby store tomorrow to try out some hobby paint on one. There is more variety of colors to try instead of just the krylon fusion!

You could use that as a talking jack'olantern come holloween.

Hey That console looks familiar.... HAHA I held it in my hands feels natural now we have to a do a fire test make sure it doesn't melt.

I also have a Fire Engine one curing as we speak. I'll bring it next day we work.

Added pic of the Red housing!

Marv,

Are you finding the model paint to be more durable? I wasn't thinking of painting an entire radio but rather putting some stripes on some MTS2000 radios and batteries that sometimes get loaned out to facilitate ID and return.

Have you looked at SEM paints? There's a place -- http://www.vinylprosem.com/ -- that will do custom matches if you don't like the stock SEM colors. When I wanted a speaker to "disappear" in my car, I had some custom mixed to match the factory console. It is very close and makes the speaker looks like it came with the car. Now, I should probably get spare plastic for one of my portables and paint it to match!

With SEM you need to make sure that you are getting the right paint as they make a line for flexible vinyl -- such as car seats -- and a separate one for rigid plastic.

Fred

The model is is far more durable. I've dropped the radio a few times and have nothing chip. Just got to make sure you let it cure for a good time. I've let mine cure for a week before touching it

What are you doing about the plastic display cover on the housing? Are you taping over it or are you removing it from the rest of the case?

Just masking the screen. The screen is probably the hardest part to get off of the case so I just mask it.

Didn't want to start a new thread with the same thing going on, but as requested, here's a few photos showing the completed blue XTS5000 as well as the work in progress red XTS2500 coming back to life from painted shell to complete housing assembly.

Photos were taken with my iPhone so they're not the best, but the detail really shines through on the blue 5k. For some reason the red overpowers the camera, still you can see the process for those who were interested.

http://imgur.com/a/NnEcw#CaFd2

--Will

Wow, excellent job ! Those radios look factory !

All they are missing is some FDNY knobs lol

I switched mine out when I got my XTS5000 (a friend of mine recommend me try one), and let me tell you, WHAT a difference ! Those smaller stock volume knobs suck compared to the larger ones.

Sorry, didn't mean to throw that in your thread, but figured I'd throw my .02 in about the knobs

Again, excellent work on the paint job !

Awesome work Will! I'm thinking about doing something similar with an HT1000... We shall see...

Now there's an idea to make the ultra-rare White Saber a reality. I'll head down to the True Value after work and get some of the Fusion in white.

I still wanna see a chrome one, I know they can chrome plastic