painting plastic

[noah]

i keep seeing these lovely little keyboard and mouse combos by sav row and alienware wishing i had one...so i thought i'd paint mine. its a microsoft wireless one that comes apart nice and easy, only trouble is i dont know how to go about painting it? or what paint to use.

ive got good experience with an airbrush on paper so basic skill isnt a problem, but does anyone know what kinda paint i need to use to stick to the plastic and quite how they get them that shiny? is it like doing metals where you need to sand it>prime it>paint it>sand it>paint it??? or is it all different?

thanks

[Shogun]

If you just want to kinda like stain the plastic so it's not shiny but keeps the texture of it then you want vinyl dye. If you want a shiny finish you will want primer, colour (i normally use acrylic paint), and then a good coat of laquer to make it all shiny. I wouldn't sand plastic normally, I would just give it a good soak in some soapy hot water to get all the dirt off, I would then let it dry until it was 100% dry and then start to paint.

[noah]

thanks shogun i'll give that a go and see how shiny i can make it!

[Shogun]

Just make sure to do it in a dry dust free environment and make sure the plastic is 100% dry or it will bubble. Have you got any stuff you can test on first?

[Daymonkey]

I painted some plastic over the weekend do a slight sand, then prime it, the paint it then liquer it.

[noah]

Have you got any stuff you can test on first?

yeah, i'm sure i can find some scraps to have a go on, old keyboard of similar will do. should look nice, gonna go black with a couple of silver flames if all goes to plan, may take a whie tho as im quite busy at the mo

[Shogun]

yeah, i'm sure i can find some scraps to have a go on, old keyboard of similar will do. should look nice, gonna go black with a couple of silver flames if all goes to plan, may take a whie tho as im quite busy at the mo

Masking tape + newspaper = your friend