Painting

On a typical case, the side and top panels are made of metal while the bezel and drives faces are plastic. So you will need paint that is good for both materials, spray paint. There must be thousand of paint brands out there so don't ask me witch one is the best. Any place that sells paint should have qualified staff that will be able to answer your questions. First and foremost, don't even think about using a brush to apply the paint. This will give you the worst results you can imagine.

The paint I've decided to use is metal paint. They don't specify if it's good or not for plastic on the bottle so I asked the clerk where I bought it. He told me it would be fine and it was indeed. But don't assume that any metal paint is good for plastic. Some of it is too toxic for plastic and could burn it, just like pouring acid on your skin. So again, ask someone who knows what he is talking about before buying.

The metal and plastic parts require different preparation before painting. I recommend starting with the metal parts fist. Side and top panels are usually flat and this makes them easier to paint. It will also give you some practice before painting the more difficult parts, the bezel and drive covers.

For the metal parts, I decided to take all the beige paint off before applying my new shiny black paint to accomplish this I used an electric sander. It took me about one and a half hours and 5 sheets of sandpaper to do only the top plate. And if you have read part one of this article, you know there is almost nothing left to sand. Here is a picture of my top panel after making a window in it:

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