My Coleco ADAM Dyed.....

[doubledown]

.....oh wait, I mean is getting dyed. I decided that since "computer beige and brown" aren't really trendy anymore, my ADAM needed a cosmetic upgrade in addition to all of the audio and video mods I'm doing. Plus, 25 years of ultraviolet light and smoke (probably) haven't exactly helped the look of the original beige and brown colors, which was even more of a reason for the makeover. The color scheme I've decided on is ultra-modern and trendy, black and silver. All of the pieces that were originally beige will now be black, and all of the pieces that were brown will now be silver. I'm starting off with just the memory console for now, the keyboard is gonna be a bitch because I'll have to re-decal all of the keys. I got all of the "to be" silver pieces dyed today and I got the Digital Data Drives re-assembled. All I have left are the console halves (upper and lower) and the expansion slot cover which make up the majority of the black pieces. The only exception to the color scheme I changed was to make the DDD eject buttons black instead of silver as a contrast color since they are surrounded by silver. Here's a pic of one of the new drives side by side with an old brown one . The pics don't really do it justice. The new silver dye is a legitimate silver metallic flake and looks awesome. It looks more "grey" than silver in the pic, but I assure you, it's silver.

 

 

One real nice thing about the dye versus a paint is how thin it is, as it won't build up real thick causing interference problems with moving parts, and won't fill in raised lettering. Here's a close up of the word "eject" on top of the DDD as an example:

 

 

I should be able to get the black pieces done tomorrow, I hope.

[Inky]

Ohhh very nice

[monzamess]

Neat. What products are you using? What kind of prep?

[doubledown]

Everybody wants to know all of my secrets! I think I've given this one away before so here it is again. It's an automotive vinly/fabric dye from Dupli-Color available at most decent auto parts stores. Prep-work is minimal fortunately. All I did was completely disassemble the console, which sucks on the ADAM because of its 36 screws, cleaned all of the parts with a plastic/glass cleaner that I use, rinse off, let dry, and dye. This is the same dye I've been using for a while now on my custom controllers including my ColecoVision Super Action Control Pad, which after tons of play, shows no sign of color wear.

 

[doubledown]

I got the rest of the pieces dyed today. Here's a few side by side pics. I haven't decided what to do with the reset switches. I dyed the originals silver in case I decide to use them, if not I'll replace them with the ones I've used on previous ColecoVision mods. I also haven't re-applied the console overlay on the top behind the Digital Data Drives, because I'm not sure if I'll use the original or make a new one. The original one is black and was surrounded by beige so it stood out. With the console now being black it'll blend in too much I think, so I'm debating making a new one with the chrome silver paper I used for the front overlay on my Mini ColecoVision.

 

 

[Inky]

now that's sweet!