Should I Paint It?
 

About 10 years ago I retrobrited the base of my Avante. It was yellowing badly and the process made it look nearly back to normal. However, it didn't last more than a year and over the past several years that followed, it went back to what it was before the process.

What I want to do is look into painting it, but I want to do it right. I know the paint used on the set was Imperial White lacquer, so I'm looking at that color. What is the best way to prep and paint it so it is resistant to scuffs, scratches and chipping?

I've attached before and after pics of the retrobrite process. I just wish it had lasted.

This is a plastic base?

Yes, quite strong, I might add. I know it's texture will be different after painting, but this yellowing draws your eyes to it and detracts from the beauty of the set itself.

If you want to paint it, you'll have to scuff up the surface with a grey scour pad.

You should buy paint specifically formulated to spray onto plastic. Your local automotive paint specialty shop can recommend a good formula, and they should be able to match the paint of your set by scanning it into their computer.

They generally go by "body shop supply" store or something like that.

You definitely want to go on youtube first and watch a bunch of videos on painting plastic parts first. Don't go by just one of them. Watch a bunch and get the general idea of what would be best for your part.

My biggest fear is I'll get it wrong and it'll be painted, but not look good. I'm aiming to make it look like it came that way, but I'll only get one shot at it.

you can knock back the paint and start over if you have to, but you probably won't want to.

If you have a significant amount of UV light in the room such as fluorescent lighting, 80s or older windows without UV light filters built in (the light from the window feeling warm/warming the places it shines on), etc that UV light could be the source of the accelerated yellowing and doing something to stop it could make retrobright effective long term.

Just a thought.

Thing is, it's in a room with UV blocking film, blinds are closed most of the year and artificial lighting is minimum. I watched a video or two on what I am experiencing and it seems quite common. One guy did it and put the item away in storage, sealed container, and it was back to what it was before with no UV. Seems either some plastic will keep going no matter what, while others will never yellow in the first place. I have 3 Milton Bradley Starbirds from 1978 and one has yellowed extensively on the body, but the detachable capsule hasn't yellowed at all. The other 2 have slight signs of yellowing. Go figure.

It's actually been found that some plastics will yellow even in the absence of light (still in the package) just from the fire retardant chemicals used in their processing.

People will open up vintage computers that have been stuffed into a box for 40 years and find them just as brown as something that's been out on a desk

It's unclear as to whether or not it requires UV to start the reaction that results in the yellowing, and the vintage electronics community is still trying to understand why some things stay retro brighted and others do not

I recently painted the base of mine. I went with a different color than white to help mask some of the nasty cracks I had to repair with epoxy.

If you do end up using a rattle can solution, you will require a clear coat to get that "plastic sheen"back even with gloss paints. As previously mentioned, I concur with talking to an automotive paint shop and see if they can sell you an aerosol can of the matched paint and ask about a clear coat solution.

Best of luck!

For now, I've made a small riser for it and put medium orange carpet on it. So now the base looks like it's tinted from the reflection of the carpet. Temporary solution, but it also solves the issue I have with it being just a bit too low to the floor.