Feeling Blue?

I'm back and somewhat rested after my milestone weekend, and among the many projects I tackled this weekend, I set out to finally distinguish my AlphaSmart Pro from the other two Pros we have kicking around the house. You might remember it from a post not that long ago:



You can see that I put a sticker on mine to keep it sorted out. Despite their age, the Pros see some use in our house, especially my son's. He needs a distraction-free place to type up essays and reports, and given the temptations of a wireless Internet household, the AS fits the bill.

Screwdrivers in hand, I set to disassembly. My digital camera ate a few pictures I had taken of the guts sitting on the table, but this is the one that matters: the three parts of the case with all electronics taken out and all stickers (and rubber feet) removed. (Tip: a hairdryer is great for softening up sticker glue.)



All shelled with the electronics set aside, it was time to take paint in hand and try it out. But first, a message of positivity from the AlphaSmart builders of yore:



Yes, let's hope so! I used a product called "Krylon Fusion" this time instead of the fabric/vinyl dye I used from my typewriter spray-job. I'm unsure about the Krylon. It certainly does stick to plastic as advertised, without priming or any prep beyond just cleaning. And the color choice is much broader. I went with blue: my favorite color, and one that would hopefully look good against the light grey keys of the Pro and the charcoal background. Things looked good as it dried in the garage...



...and still better after drying overnight.



Mercifully, I didn't zap anything when I had it apart, and the Pro started up like a champ, even retaining all my files (which I had backed up first, naturally.) I like the color, and now I've got a temptingly empty rectangular space on the bottom where the old sticker used to be that calls out for decoration... perhaps my free souvenir bumper sticker from the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot. I still think the vinyl dye went on thinner and feels less "painted plastic" to me when held, although it's possible that I just laid on a thicker coat of paint this time. My wife's already looking to get hers customized, so I'm sure I'll get more practice soon.

I'm pleased with the results, especially with the ease that everything came apart and went back together. It's like the AlphaSmart was made to be customized.

What kind of artsy stuff have you been up to?

I Feel the Need

...the need to paint. Must be the sudden burst of Spring in the air, but I'm looking for another victim-typewriter to doll up, after seeing Duffy's marvelous job on his big honkin' Royal and seeing the "Twolympia" (an SM9-in-a-SM3 body) on the Portable Typewriters group. I spotted a modern Royal Safari III the other day featuring the same yellowed-with-age plastic body style as the Pimpwriter. I passed it up, but I'm starting to think that maybe I need to take spray-can in hand and do another one up...

Also, I'm itching to try the "sheep dip" method of cleaning out a typewriter, namely, dunking/flushing the whole thing in warm soapy water and then drying it out, versus all the meticulous brushing and digging and picking that I normally do for machines. I think I'd like to try it on a beater first, before soaking a more vintage machine.

Hmmm. And it had a thick felt typing pad and everything... hmmmm!

Post-Thrift Update:

Or maybe not. I gave the Royal a hands-on try, and a more careful looking-over. Mechanically, it was fine, but the ribbon cover panel was completely MIA, so... not worth it. Although it did jog my memory about the Remington Premier that I have around:



This one could certainly use a deep-cleaning, and it's that all-plastic body that loves to be painted. I'm looking into paint color choices now.

To Dye For

UPDATE: a collage of shots of the pimping-in-progress.

Oh Brother, I'm Gonna Dye

I passed on this one at first, but after very little convincing, it came home in the end, as I'm sure you knew it would. But now, there's a twist.

Inspired by Alpha-Smartie Vance Fry, I'm going to try my hand at giving this old Brother a makeover. You can sort of tell from my photo: some of that yellow is the color scheme and some... well, some is not. It could be tobacco, or age, or a combination of both.

I considered trying my hand at mixing up a batch of Retr0Bright to bleach the colors back into newness, but honestly, I have no desire to do this. That yellow... that brown... it's time for it to go.

There's not a lot of color choices available in off-the-shelf vinyl dyes -- I could also choose black, beige, or a buffed silver -- but looking at those red keys got me thinking that this little machine wants more than a life of blah. So, red it shall be. Take a good long look, because that color scheme is going to dye.

• My discussion topic on flickr's AlphaSmart group