Vintage Console and Handhelds restoration Projects

[kurdt_the_goat]

I thought about it, but don't think i could do a cleaner job than what's been done already so i'd rather not botch it up further

[kup]

Bought an SNES from this lady in South Australia. She forgot to include the power adapter and said she would ship it on Friday. On Monday she randomly said that she had actually sent it that day. It's now Thursday and the post man has come and gone.

I hate having an SNES at home that I can't check its working condition. It's a restoration project as I need to de-yellow some of it but I rather not pull it apart before I know it's current working state. The wait is killing me as I don't know if the SNES is a dud or not.

[kup]

Latest restoration Project: Game Boy pocket - Silver

Unlike the previous Gameboys, this Pocket is fully operational and although the screen has some scratches, it is still pretty decent. Nothing some clear plastic polish can't largely remedy.

Unfortunately the 'Silver leaf' paint is very faded at the front and scratched up all over. I can deal with the faded paint as it uses fairly generic silver paint color but the button labels are far more tricky.

'A & B' button labels practically don't exist any more and 'Select & Start'' is partially faded, the latter more so. If I spray paint on to restore the color, I loose the labels.
Does anyone know of any possible way I can 'paint stamp' labels onto the surface after spray painting? The only other choice is to use printed clear back stickers but that will not look that well.

As a last resort, I could always re-shell the unit into another color but It would be a shame to loose the silver as this version is fairly nice with it's shiny chrome frame.

[kurdt_the_goat]

I thought that was a rare Gameboy "Light" model at first! That'd be a nice one to have.

That repair hut site you linked to earlier has replacement buttons... but in a bundle of replacement everything... you've probably seen it.
Fairly cheap though so maybe you could just use the buttons and keep the rest of the pieces for potential later restores.

[Hursticon]

Ooh! - Ooh! - I'll be looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Kup, as I mentioned before; looks like it presents some interesting challenges too.

[gamblor916]

You should look into dry transfers. They don't have any film around them and looks like tampo printing when applied nicely.

[Tfiguy]

This is awesome Kup! I found my old Gba the other day, it definitely is in need of a new screen protector.

[kup]

I thought that was a rare Gameboy "Light" model at first! That'd be a nice one to have.

That repair hut site you linked to earlier has replacement buttons... but in a bundle of replacement everything... you've probably seen it.
Fairly cheap though so maybe you could just use the buttons and keep the rest of the pieces for potential later restores.

I need the printed paint labels not buttons. The buttons and everything else aside from plastic surface on this thing is great.

[kup]

You should look into dry transfers. They don't have any film around them and looks like tampo printing when applied nicely.

Thanks but I am not sure about how cost effective it will be.

Edit:

Nevermind, I know what Dry Transfer is now. It is certainly an option but very fiddly as I would have to spell the word 'Select & Start' with small letters and keep it straight. The letters also have to be the right size. Is there a way to custom print?

[kurdt_the_goat]

I need the printed paint labels not buttons. The buttons and everything else aside from plastic surface on this thing is great.

Ah sorry about that, i was thinking the buttons were those that have etched letters and that somehow they'd been worn out! Makes more sense that the printing underneath wore out instead!