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ProcTech Sol-20 case color - matching paint?

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bobstek

Experienced Member
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Jul 21, 2003
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Has anyone tried re-painting the metal case on a Sol-20? Do you have a recommendation for a matching color from a particular company? Any tips on repainting? I actually want to paint an old Cipher 'floppy tape' case - I removed the tape drive and can fit 2 HH 5.25" drives in there, and I'd like it to match my Sol if possible.

Any links to general info on re-painting these old metal cases would also be appreciated. Beside a little solvent on tape residue and a quick wash in the dishwasher and a thorough drying, I figure sanding is my next step. Since the case is the universal light 'beige' I thought I might get away without a primer - thoughts? And since I'm not married and am living alone, I have no problem 'baking' it in my kitchen oven if that's recommended!
 
I would recommend the small cans of auto touch up spray paint by Holts Duplicolor. These are generally available at auto shops and they have a good number of shades of each color to get something close to your original color. It would be a matter of looking at them. A while back all the tops on these small spray cans were painted with the actual paint, so it was easy to color match, later they went to plastic tops and the color sometimes doesn't exactly match what is in the tin.

These are quick drying automotive style lacquers and give a very good finish. They also make primers and clear lacquers. Their silver gives a very natural fine metallic look and is good for vintage equipment restorations. Baking it is not really required for this paint as the solvent is very volatile and it dries to a good hardness fairly quickly.It tends to form a fairly thin layer unless you over do it, so if a surface has a texture it still can be seen through the paint. It is actually perfect for plastics restorations too because it partially dissolves and etches into the surface and becomes one with the plastic, and therefore does not flake off even when scratched.

The best enamel spray is VHT, which can be baked in the oven, but the color range is more limited than the Holts duplicolor.

Holts have quite a few versions of blue:

http://paintcolorselector.com/dupli-color-paint-chart-pdf/
 
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Read my posting I did in the past about repainting a Sol-20 and my Helios, it's involved. Without the right equipment and technique it will not come out well. Most of those period cases have some sort of spatter pattern or texture in the paint to hide imperfections and when you look at something simply sanded down and repainted even with a good automotive paint it will just look "wrong". Companies like Apple and IBM even put texture and splatter into their non-painted plastic cases as it was just the way things looked back then.

The good of the splatter patterns is that if you have a minor nick or scratch you can fill it in with paint and then artificially create the small spatter in the area using some skill and toothpicks and you'll almost never notice if you do it right.
 
Corey986 said:
Read my posting I did in the past about repainting a Sol-20 and my Helios, it's involved. Without the right equipment and technique it will not come out well. Most of those period cases have some sort of spatter pattern or texture in the paint to hide imperfections and when you look at something simply sanded down and repainted even with a good automotive paint it will just look "wrong". Companies like Apple and IBM even put texture and splatter into their non-painted plastic cases as it was just the way things looked back then.

The good of the splatter patterns is that if you have a minor nick or scratch you can fill it in with paint and then artificially create the small spatter in the area using some skill and toothpicks and you'll almost never notice if you do it right.
Click to expand...

I agree the Sol paint does have a splatter texture. If that is basically intact in most places though, the Holts spray, if it is a thin coat, still allows that underlying pattern to be seen which is helpful (it wont work with enamel), I spoke about this property of this paint on another thread for plastic restorations as the textures and surface markings are not obscured by it making it perfect for re-surfacing yellowed monitor housings, rather than bleaching them. If the item gets sanded down though, that pattern will be lost.

There are some Hammertone paints available to give a textured surface, however, they won't exactly match the fine pattern on the Sol which seems fairly unique.

One thing that can help mask defects in a surface is to use satin or flat/matt paint, the defects are less noticeable that way.
 
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