Liquid Yellow Acer Aspire 5024

[slaveofconvention]

What follows is the rather brief worklog of a 2 day mini-project designed to bring some life back into my old laptop. Last year I bought an Acer Aspire 6930 to replace my aging Acer Aspire 5024. I gave the 5024 to my mother who somehow managed to infect it over and over and over with Viruses to the point where she gave it back to me (apparently it was MY fault or the computers fault that it kept getting infected) and bought herself an LG Netbook.

I went to work on the 5024, replacing the battery and giving it a complete format and replaced XP with 7 Business, and it is, functionally, as good as new now so I'm keeping it as a spare. Problem with a spare computer in my house, is that if it isn't being used, it has to be messed with - right??

Excuse the stock photo, but I got the bug and went right to work without taking any pics.... I also apologise in advance for most of these photos - they were taken on my phone camera, in an in-use paint booth so there was a fair bit of paint etc in the air lol

The laptop as it was brand new (was pretty scratched and battered by the time I got it back from my mother)

So I went to work with a screwdriver and after a little sweat and foul language, got it stripped down - the only part I have a pic of in this state is of the main keyboard surround...

A liberal application of masking tape later...

You may wonder why I didn't remove the touchpad - well basically Acer have plastic welded it into place. While I COULD have ground all the welds off and reattached it afterwards, it would have taken a chunk of time I didn't have....

So we have the lid in gray plastic primer...

And the above keyboard plastic panel/hinge cover

And the first coat of yellow groundcoat goes on...

A couple of coats later, add the pearl midcoat

And then everything gets cleaned up, ready for clear

And with some clear on...

And finally some fully assembled shots

I have to confess that I didn't actually do all of the work myself this time - I'm so damned busy trying to catch up on all of my freelance work to clear my desk for CES, not to mention actually preparing FOR CES itself, I had a mate, Steve, do most of the actual paint - I stripped it down, did some of the prep, and did the reassembly - other than that, I just helped where I could - Steve laid all of the colour and clear down....

Still - it looks pretty sweet (other than a small imperfection or two caused by the rush - well - not caused BY it, just not fixed because of it) and I'm happy. It may well make the trip to CES with me so there'll be a spare laptop around in case it's needed by any of the team covering CES

[diluzio91]

Nice looking mod. you should put some gloss black on the mouse buttons!

[SXRguyinMA]

looks nice!

[msmrx57]

Very nice1 I like the color.

[blueonblack]

Very nice, hope to see it in Vegas!

[slaveofconvention]

At the moment that's 50/50 - I was originally planning on bringing it along because I was told neither you nor Curtis had laptops available but I've since learned that Curtis has acquired one, and along with the two Lenovos - we might be covered. If I do bring it, it'll probably sit pretty much unused however, I am kinda keen to show it off heh.

I'm bringing my laptop, and my netbook, plus an old netbook I'm passing on to CJ. Going to be a real pain in the airport as security makes you take your laptop and put it thru in a seperate tray - that means if I DO bring the yellow one (which I probably will lol) I'll need at least 6 trays - 4 laptops, the bag, then my coat etc lol

[slaveofconvention]

Actually got enough sunshine to get some new shots of the laptop - I was hoping it'd really pop in the sun - and it does BUT not so much in the photographs lol

Anyway I took the time to take 'em so you lot may as well see 'em

[biggoofy]

Brings new life to the laptop. I was wondering, I know you didn't do much of the painting, but what clear coat/laqueor did you use to get it all shiny. And I was also wondering if it's smooth to the touch and not a little bit sticky.
Thanks in advance.

[slaveofconvention]

It's all automotive gear - the clear on this is Lechler Macrofan 2k - super smooth