How would you paint a vintage television?
 

Hey forumites, some of you may be morally opposed to what I'm suggesting, but I want to paint my vintage Mitsubishi TV green. I have been trying to collect several green vintage TV's for an art project and as some of you may know, green TV's from the 50s-80s are few and far between.

Here's a photo of the TV I want to paint:
http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x338/wavvvvves/TV/MagnavoxTV_zps58802b7c.jpg



I will be spray painting which should make things easier. I want to paint over the silver front as well as the yellow sides, and I will be leaving the black trim there. I don't think it's possible to take the front part off and paint that separately...right? There's only 2 screws on the entire TV and those are on the back. I've never actually painted anything before....ever....so if you have any pointers for how to go about doing this, I would appreciate it!

Take it to an auto paint shop. They'll mask it properly, primer it, and won't have
runs and overspray everywhere.:yes:

-Steve D.

Hey Steve, what do you think that'll run me?

See if you can sweeten things for the shop - if they are going to be spraying a green car, see if you can get in on that spraying. I've seen bike frames and fenders get painted that way for cheap.

Andy Warhol is dead as are Timothy Leary and even Lou Reed, so no hope in a Factory revival, but it's cool to keep the dream alive. Just please don't paint any 40s or 50s sets. They are special being from the pioneering days of TV. You can make a rainbow out of any and all of the Japanese stuff.

And for an art expo, I wouldn't put the money that you are going to spend at a professional paint shop into a $5 TV. Stick with the spray cans. Powder coat might make it interesting.....

Which sets are special depends on who you ask. With most collectors going after sets from the 40s and 50s, they'll be the most common in the years to come, so common that many probably won't care if you take a spray can to them. However, if anyone wants to paint an extremely cheap, mass-produced later-model portable, I couldn't object to it. As for my Japanese-built Electrohome, anyone who tried to make a rainbow out of that would be sorry.

I called several body shops today about painting this TV. 3 said they don't do custom objects. The other 4 quoted me at $75, $60, $50-$70, and $100. It's literally just a few inches of painting surface, how can it be so expensive!?

I paid $10 for this TV. Looks like I'm be doing the spray painting myself. Am I supposed to sand the plastic before painting, or will that scratch the plastic and leave marks?

It's expensive because even mixing up a small amount of primer and paint costs a fortune these days.

When I painted my 57 Hotpoint it cost me $50 or $60 just for the pint of custom mixed Pink paint, plus some stock White, that doesn't even count the aerosol sprayer or sandpaper etc, and that was at least 15 years ago.

I bought a can of Krylon green spray paint with primer for $4. Did I just buy really crappy paint?

That Hotpoint paint job looks great!

Krylon will probably do a satisfactory job on plastic, it will tend to melt and bond with it, you might want to do a test in a non critical location to make sure it doesn't react too badly.

Start by placing newspaper on the area you are going to paint on. I would start with a very light sanding of the finish w/the lightest grit sand paper. Clean away any dust from the sanding. CAREFULLY mask the areas NOT to be painted. Use 3M blue masking tape for a clean line. In a well ventilated area, use a gray primer as a base for the final green coat. Shake the can well, you'll hear the ball rattle inside. Shake the can often during painting both the primer and green finish coat. Krylon is an ok spray paint. However, you might check w/a local hobby shop and see if they have spray paint used to paint plastic model cars in the shade of green you need. Always follow the instructions on the paint can.

If you can, remove the back, and if possible, the chassis, picture tube and the front control knobs. Doing this might reveal that the front can also be removed.

Good luck w/ your project and pls. post the results.
-Steve D.

Another really good paint is Dupli Color automotive touch up paint. It's sold at most parts houses and it really smooth and durable. The colors are somewhat limited though and vary from store to store.

http://www.autozone.com/paint-and-bo...n-and-touch-up

Ok guys, before I paint this thing, I need to make sure I can actually use it. I thought UHF or VHF inputs have the two screws so you can secure a matching transformer underneath. But this TV has a hole for the UHF input. For the VHF input there is a fork-type wire coming out of the hole. No screws. See this photo:

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/...pseab33606.jpg

What's that all about?

Not the holes or wire, but rather the red and black plastic knobs (hand screws) to the left of that are the inputs. The wire connects to the built in telescoping antenna.

Ah, thanks!!