The weather has finally gotten warmer and I've been able to do some painting tests.
It turned out that the bakelite under that old paint was pretty rough so painting is really the only option. That's fine with me - I'd like a white one anyway.
I used the old, cracked cabinet to test out some different products. I had a few disasters like using Watco clear gloss lacquer over Rustoleum specialty lacquer. The white lacquer immediately puckered and split
I used two light coats of plastic primer, four light coats of white lacquer, applied the decal and three light coats of clear lacquer. (That's not where the decal really goes - this is just a test)
There's some orange peel, but I think some wet sanding between coats will take care of that.
Now it's finally time to try it out on the undamaged cabinet
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