Spray Paint - Color matching the Atari 5200?

[- Ω -]

If one had a 5200 that was a little "worse for wear", and one wanted to restore it to an "almost new" appearance, is there a specific brand of spray paint and color known by the community that makes the best color match?  

Edited September 28, 2021 by - Ω -

[RickR]

I'm not sure there is any such paint.  The 5200 plastic has a bit of translucence to it (you can see this easiest by holding the controller cubby cover up to a light.  It's a smokey charcoal color. 

[Justin]

1 hour ago, - Ω - said:

If one had a 5200 that was a little "worse for wear", and one wanted to restore it to an "almost new" appearance, is there a specific brand of spray paint and color known by the community that makes the best color match?  

 

Regan Cheng once told me that when he designed the Atari 5200 they used a color mix for the plastic that was 80% Black 20% Brown if that's helpful to you.

However I do not recommend spray painting video game systems for this purpose. I once restored an Atari Video System X (prototype Atari 5200) that had some moderate scuffing and scratches. I did this with a friend using increasingly fine wet sanding and a rubbing compound. It was a lot of work but the results were fantastic.

[CrossBow]

As I told you in PMs the case color is more of a chocolate brown. Not just the plastics for the storage door and port cover section but the entire case shell is a dark chocolate brown. It is very easy to see this when you have it under a bright light. First time I saw it I was kinda surprised because I had thought it was black with silver trim, but nope... it is brown. 

I even included a pic of another 5200 I did not long ago that shows this. In fact if you look at the 5200 cartridges stuck under it to prop it up for the pic, you can see that the cartridge shells are a darker color than the 5200 case shell is. So even the cartridges weren't done in the same color as the 5200 plastic.

Also remember that yours is a 2 port and uses the textured plastic, so that is harder to get a good even coat of any kind of paint over it. If you do paint that, as was stated, it is actually translucent, so you need to make out a small dot for the power light indicator to still shine through.

I'm surprised that someone by now hasn't designed a replacement that can be done from a resin printer or something by now? Heck, it might even be worth it to have new injection molds made for just the controller storage cover and front top plastic sections. Seems there are move of them out there with cracked/broken ones than fully intact and people might be willing to pay for replacements to make having new molds be worth it?

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by CrossBow

[- Ω -]

Well, since I'm into this thing quite a bit, I'd be interested in a replacement top.  I'd even be interest in a top from a non-working unit... as long as it looks good!

[CrossBow]

A 5200 I did about year and half ago? Maybe 2 years now. Wasn't packed very well at all and it arrived pretty much shattered. I was able to find a replacement 5200 locally to swap the main board into, but that replacement was pretty beat up looking. But at least it was still intact. 

Best bet honestly, is to try and find a deal on a parts only 5200 on the bay that still has intact plastics. Course the risk there, is that if they are selling it for parts only, they might not ship is very well and or it already has some broken plastics that can't be seen in the pics.

Even the junker I bought locally for that other client, still set me and the client back just over $40 for it.

This is why I strongly encourage my clients to remove the top cover shell before shipping it to me. It is only 7 phillips screws and the entire cover and controller storage cover will come right up and off. Use some masking tape or painters tape to hold the main board down inside and around the bottom case shell and it is MUCH more likely to arrive fully intact this way. Saves a bit on shipping as it weighs less, and can use a shorter height box at that point.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by CrossBow

[- Ω -]

1 hour ago, CrossBow said:

This is why I strongly encourage my clients to remove the top cover shell before shipping it to me. It is only 7 phillips screws and the entire cover and controller storage cover will come right up and off. Use some masking tape or painters tape to hold the main board down inside and around the bottom case shell and it is MUCH more likely to arrive fully intact this way. Saves a bit on shipping as it weighs less, and can use a shorter height box at that point.

 

An average person learns from their mistakes.  A smart person learns from other people's mistakes.  Be smart, listen to the man.

[CrossBow]

BTW...there is packing material inside your controller storage section. That is another tip is to fill that up with something so that top pressure on the casing isn't as likely to crack the controller storage door in the middle. Without something there to provide support, it could easily crack in the middle.

another tip is to make sure the box you are sending it in, isn't the exact same size around the edges as the console. - Ω - 's box has this issue and so any drop on the corners or banging around and it is likely to make closer contact with the plastic on the corners. Best to use a bigger box with about an inch all the way around. Having said this, I've placed additional bubble wrap material at the corners to cushion this more since I did reuse the same box.

[- Ω -]

I'll try to "test" (excuse for the word play) the unit this evening if I can find the time.  I'm still waiting on the S-Video to HDMI converter, but dang the component input is so much better than RF.  This makes the 5200 in my mind a "VIABLE" gaming option now.

[CrossBow]

15 minutes ago, - Ω - said:

I'll try to "test" (excuse for the word play) the unit this evening if I can find the time.  I'm still waiting on the S-Video to HDMI converter, but dang the component input is so much better than RF.  This makes the 5200 in my mind a "VIABLE" gaming option now.

You mean composite... no component output on that 5200. And you still saw what a difference the s-video makes on my AV setup over composite. So it might still be worth it in the end to get something that lets you use s-video.

Even a Tink2x Mini would be excellent in this case and from what I've been told, once the Tink2x products are sold out, they aren't likely to come back with all the focus now being on the Tink5x device.

 

[- Ω -]

4 hours ago, CrossBow said:

So it might still be worth it in the end to get something that lets you use s-video.

I ordered this one a couple of days ago...

[CrossBow]

I haven't tried that one but I'm sure it is similar to the one I had that was just a square box so I had to run separate cables to the box and then HDMI output to the TV. But mine also required an extermal power supply and it looks like this one you posted does as well on the side. Likely microUSB. Do you have gender changers for the RCA plugs as this cable harness on this adapter only provides a male s-video. The RCAs are female like what is already on your console.

 

[- Ω -]

3 hours ago, CrossBow said:

I haven't tried that one but I'm sure it is similar to the one I had that was just a square box so I had to run separate cables to the box and then HDMI output to the TV. But mine also required an external power supply and it looks like this one you posted does as well on the side. Likely microUSB. Do you have gender changers for the RCA plugs as this cable harness on this adapter only provides a male s-video. The RCAs are female like what is already on your console.

When I get it I plan to use the S-Video out on the 5200, but yes, I have more gender changers and RCA cables in the shed than an old Radio Shack!