Spray painting!

[Dr. Kamolly]

Thank you, bought it for about 9 £, or about 5$

[Crimson Sky]

Hey it's our pleasure. For painting a mouse, get yourself a can of Adhesion Promoter . Clean the mouse off very well if it's used to get skin oils off of it. Denatured or rubbing alcohol, anything that will cut the oils. Just dont use strong solvents, or you'll melt the plastic.

Mask off the areas you dont want to paint, or if you're doing up the whole mouse take the sucker apart. There should be little phillips screws under those teflon glide pads on the botom. Don't loose those, or destry them when removing. Lift them gently with a small flat screwdriver. Mask off the underside of the mouse shell if you want. Clean the dust from the shell with a tack cloth

Apply the adhesion promoter (no need to sand the mouse) in back and forth motion about 12" from the mouse shell. Apply two coats, waiting for the first to dry, about 15 mins. This promotor stuff grabs onto the plastic, helping the color layer to become durable.

Next, apply your first color coat. Don't try to cover in a heavy coat. apply a second and third coat, waiting 15 mins in between. After about 4 coats, it should be covered 100%. The last coat can be slightly heavier than the previous. Go away, leave the room, don't even LOOK at the darn thing. Let it dry overnight indoors.

If you have any specs or dimples in the color coat, use a small amount of liquid rubbing compound on a soft cotton cloth in a circular motion to buff it smooth. Remove all the compound residue. Don't worry when color comes off on the cloth. If you get down to the original plastic color, no worries, give it another color coat and let it dry....overnight. Patience, young learner.


If the paint dried nicely and the finish is good, break out the clear paint and repeat the same steps you did for the color coats, remembering to tack cloth it clean. Now go away and let it dry!

After the clear is cured for a few days, start buffing lightly with the compound and your finger wrapepd in the cotton cloth. Gently. You won't see any color this time on the cloth. Now its time for some NXT TechWax. Just folow the directions on the bottle for a great mirror shine.

assemble that puppy back together and put the little teflon feet back. Use a dab of rubber cement with a toothpick on them if they lost their stickyness.

Have fun and ask the folks for help where ya get stuck!

[Crimson Sky]

Enamel or acrylic, doesnt matter really. The durabilty of your mouse and the paint finish will be determined by the quality of your clear coats. They both shine up like a mirror when done right.

[Dr. Kamolly]

Thanks a lot guys! I'll try to look for equivalents though, I'm not sure the chemicals you mentioned are present in the same brand names.

Will keep you posted, and will take pictures.

[Drew]

The boy's a bit good.

Cracking advice.

[Crimson Sky]

Are either one of them easier or harder to work with than the other, or is just simply the type of paint they are, face-value, that's it..?

just wondering, as if there is a significant difference in price, but not finished product, then I will go with the cheaper (duhhh of course lol)

-Jai

It's more about what colors may be available for both kinds. Enamel is always more durable. Price is about the same. Remember that mice are subject to oils from the skin, and other crap that may be on your hand. DONT quote me or make any stupid jokes here. You know what I mean after eating a bag of chips. Unless you clear coat the mouse regularly depending on use, the paint will be worn away over time at the thumb and buttons.

[Crimson Sky]

Its no prob, we all have our weak areas with modding. Hmm..for heavy usage liek that, to keep the paint looking good I'd give it a clear coat or two every 5 months or so.

[Commando]

Awesome advice. I totally missed the train on this post. This post should be featured. It's a great guide for painting.

I just have to add that the primer coat is critical for durability. It's not a step you want to skip.

Also critical are the coating instructions for the paint your using. Look on the can for times between coats. Take these seriously. You'll get some crazy weird wrinkling problems and stuff if you don't follow those instructions.

Also don't panic if you mess up. It's nothing some sandpaper and some elbow grease can't remedy. We've all butchered our share of paintjobs. Gee, it's funny how we only post the good ones.

[Crimson Sky]

Yeah brand wont be an issue once the paint is cured (several weeks) and all the solvents have evaporated at the microscopic level. Even if you've used enamel paints you can come back and put acrylic clear over it to freshen it up.

Just dont ever put enamel clear over an acrylic color (or clear) coat at any stage of cure.

[Crimson Sky]

Awesome advice. I totally missed the train on this post. This post should be featured. It's a great guide for painting.

I just have to add that the primer coat is critical for durability. It's not a step you want to skip.

The adhesion promoter is basically a primer, but its more agressive and used only on plastics--you should put your color base coat right on top and skip the gray primer. But you're 100% right, a good color (base) coat is only as good as the primer coat! Listen to Commando, he does paint right.