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TRS-80 Model III restoration questions

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meineliebe

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Aug 30, 2011
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I got myself a full working TRS-80 Model III, but the wrist rest of the keyboard is pretty much all worn out and the Radio Shack badge is yellowed badly. Anyone knows what would be the best type of paint to touch up the case and what would be a good way to restore the Radio Shack badge? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Well, the colour of the Models I, II & III is battleship grey, however, the entire paint-job would have changed colour slightly over the years and your best bet would be to take the actual unit to a paint store that makes up spray cans and have them analyse the current colour.

If you were to find the tint instructions for battleship grey from the 1970s, it wouldn't match your computer at all after 30 some-odd years.
 
I was thinking on the badge, if you are talking about the black badge with the TRS-80 id, you could mask the black, maybe with vasoline (we did this in the navy), clean off the raised flat surface carefully, go over it lightly with an emery paper, then go over it with some silver paint, with a small roller, or an ink stamp pad.

If you are talking about the memory size badge (like the one in my avatar), I would leave that, though one of those headlight cover refinishers might work.

If you aren't sure, I would leave it.

Good luck! B)
 
OK, upon rereading my post, let me point out we need no jokes about vasoline use in the Navy. Really, we did use it as a masker for painting.

Peace!

dracos said:
I was thinking on the badge, if you are talking about the black badge with the TRS-80 id, you could mask the black, maybe with vasoline (we did this in the navy), clean off the raised flat surface carefully, go over it lightly with an emery paper, then go over it with some silver paint, with a small roller, or an ink stamp pad.

If you are talking about the memory size badge (like the one in my avatar), I would leave that, though one of those headlight cover refinishers might work.

If you aren't sure, I would leave it.

Good luck! B)
Click to expand...
 
dracos said:
OK, upon rereading my post, let me point out we need no jokes about vasoline use in the Navy. Really, we did use it as a masker for painting.

Peace!
Click to expand...

Don't worry, masking stuff with petroleum jelly is still done today for labels and other badges and emblems that would be difficult to remove without opening the unit.

Back when I worked for Radio Shack, I used to have a pretty lucrative side-line business repainting Tandy equipment in Candy Apple colours (the most popular being Candy Apple Gold) and, on some, after the last thinned coat of tinted lacquer (so it would dry slower), I would spray the unit with a CO2 extinguisher to give it a crinkle-coat finish.

Looked pretty damn good in any of the Candy Apple or Metallic finishes.
 
billdeg said:
I would love to see pictures of painted model 1's.
Click to expand...

I'd like to have them to show you, but, I never thought to actually take any since it wasn't a Radio Shack authorized modification, but, since I was the manager of the regional computer repair center, I didn't make a big deal about it :)

Since most of the models had convection cooling vents, it most cases they had to be disassembled so as not to get paint on the innards but, seeing as I did that all day long, it wasn't a great hardship.

The toughest ones were the business machines like the Model II/12/16s/6K because the companies that wanted them custom painted usually wanted them done in the company colours with the company logo on it. Much more time consuming than an "all-over" paintjob and the units were usually only available on the weekend. They were also damn heavy LOL
 
meineliebe said:
I got myself a full working TRS-80 Model III, but the wrist rest of the keyboard is pretty much all worn out and the Radio Shack badge is yellowed badly. Anyone knows what would be the best type of paint to touch up the case and what would be a good way to restore the Radio Shack badge? Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

This old magazine article says "Krylon Dull Aluminum 1403"
http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n1/332_TRS80_strings.php

Before discovering that article, I myself have found "Dupli-Color Bumper Coating FB108 Medium Silver" to be very very close. The fine grainy look is just about perfect, maybe ever so slightly larger grain, but the biggest difference is the finish is slightly less glossy than the original. From 2 feet away you can't tell the difference.

That Krylon is still available, so I have ordered a can. I'll try to remember to update here when I finally try it. The article also suggests a clear coat, but Krylon themselves said they don't recommend any clear coat. The finish is probably already about the same shininess as the original, and clear coat would just make it glossier, but they were probably more concerned with protecting the high wear spots from wearing off again.
 
I found that a fine abrasive on a soft cloth (I used Meguiar's "PlastX" plastic polish, for car headlights and the like, available at a good proportion of car accessory shops) did remove a lot of the surface haze and yellowing from the 48k and TRS-80 badges on mine- beware though that with the badge between the drives it's difficult to get it without polishing the paint unless you mask it first.

It's not as good as it was originally and is still noticeably yellowed but it's a lot better than it was. The yellowing on mine seems to be pretty deep into the surface, however the 48k badge came up crystal clear. They appear to be made from slightly different plastics.

--Phil
 
bkw said:
This old magazine article says "Krylon Dull Aluminum 1403"
http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n1/332_TRS80_strings.php

Before discovering that article, I myself have found "Dupli-Color Bumper Coating FB108 Medium Silver" to be very very close. The fine grainy look is just about perfect, maybe ever so slightly larger grain, but the biggest difference is the finish is slightly less glossy than the original. From 2 feet away you can't tell the difference.

That Krylon is still available, so I have ordered a can. I'll try to remember to update here when I finally try it. The article also suggests a clear coat, but Krylon themselves said they don't recommend any clear coat. The finish is probably already about the same shininess as the original, and clear coat would just make it glossier, but they were probably more concerned with protecting the high wear spots from wearing off again.
Click to expand...

Well that Krylon is not even close. It's almost close for the logo, but not even slightly close for the rest of the case like the palm wear spots.

The bumper coating I found on the shelf at PepBoys is much closer.

20150513_220018.jpg20150513_215839.jpg20150513_220018.jpg
 
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