• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

To paint or not to paint a generic 386...

cbmeeks

cbmeeks

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2018
Messages
25
I found a Pentium 4 at a local thrift store for $6.99. Nothing special other than it had one of those generic "90's beige PC tower" cases. No turbo button but the kind of case your local PC shop used a million times back then.

So I thought what better case to put a 386 in!

I've managed to clean the case up pretty good but there are tons of blue ink and scratches that I can't seem to get off. I could use some baking soda but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. Now, call me crazy but I actually like the beige, boring PC cases of the 80's and 90's. But, is this a good candidate for painting? Nothing too crazy. I'm a preservationist at heart so it's hard for me to change the overall look of a vintage PC but I'm not sure if this qualifies. :)

What do you think? If I paint, what color would you recommend?
 
Is it an AT case or ATX case? Or maybe an early case that can be either?
 
If you put a 386 into an ATX case originally housing a P4, it does not really matter. Paint it.

I would choose a color that clearly shows that it is painted. It will also be an eye-catcher then. Issue is, of course, if you use anything but beige or black, disk drive etc. are hard to match, unless you paint their bezels, too.
 
It's an ATX case. And yeah, I would paint the bezels too. As you can see from the pic, it's nothing fancy. :)
 

Attachments

  • Photo Oct 10 2022, 1 18 36 PM.jpg
    Photo Oct 10 2022, 1 18 36 PM.jpg
    830 KB · Views: 16
You might try Magic Eraser first, it's pretty good at cleaning up scuffs.
 
I wouldn’t paint the plastics. It almost never looks good, in my opinion. If the metal is rusted or scratched, I’d consider that.
 
jafir said:
I wouldn’t paint the plastics. It almost never looks good, in my opinion. If the metal is rusted or scratched, I’d consider that.
Click to expand...
Just a matter of using the correct paint. For plastics, that would be Vinyl Dye. It will make the plastics not looking painted at all.
 
Salmon might be an interesting choice:
IBM%20System%20360%20mainframe.jpg
 
I've had a couple of unused rattle cans of metallic flake deep blue sitting on my paint shelf for perhaps 35 years. Perhaps I should use it on something....
 
At one point I recall we were considering offering "budget" versions of our systems. Simply giving them a different model number wasn't going to gain any traction, so a number of samples were run up using different colors (from the "string" color) of the originals. I recall a horrible orange version, as well as yellow and blue.
What I found interesting was that the bright colors in the first few years of the 80s were considered to look "cheaper" than the beige of the premium line. Probably a hangover from the excesses of the 60s and 70s.

I recall that when we purchased our house, the owner had done it in wall-to-wall shag orange carpet. I replaced the carpet with hardwood--the filth that accumulated under the carpet was incredible.
 
I painted an old 8088 because the faceplate was very yellowed and the metal case was scratched and rusty (got it that way). Turned out ok.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Salmon might be an interesting choice:
IBM%20System%20360%20mainframe.jpg
Click to expand...
I want my bedroom to look like that. If not, at least my office. :)

OK, so update. Unfortunately, the plan has been aborted. When I bought that PC case (and computer), I knew the ATX to AT would be a problem. But for some reason, I was convinced I could get that old 386 in that case. And, I did. I drilled some holes for new standoffs, etc. Then I just gave up on converting the power switch over. I have an ATX to AT adapter (with the big resistor) and that worked. However, the big snafu was getting the slots to align correctly in that case. Plus, most of the holes in the motherboard floated over large holes in the ATX back panel. Once I got it in there, it was slanted way too much and I couldn't get cards in easily. So I packed it up and will be on the lookout for a legit AT case. :-(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top