With oppressive heat awaiting me outside, I thought this afternoon an indoor project might be a good option. I've got plenty of slips to choose from the the Honey-Do jar, but I decided to do one I could complete in a weekend: Refinishing the top and bottom covers on my Kenwood TS-430S.
The bottom cover isn't really in bad shape. The top cover shows exposure to a damp environment, the paint just was breaking down terribly. Fortunately it didn't seem to effect the interior of the rig. The top cover looked just bad, plain and simple.
First I dry sanded the rough stuff off as best I could with some fine grit dry sandpaper. I removed the label for the VOX controls, the speaker grill cloth and the rubber feet on the side of the top cover and took it the cover to the sink for wet sanding. The 400 grit wet paper cuts very well, even when hand sanding. I washed it once I was done then let it dry in the dish rack.
The cover had a couple of boo-boos. A couple of the grill bars over the speaker were dented and one was bent sideways a tad, and then one of the louvers in the case at the rear of the top was dented. After the case was dry, I worked the dents out lightly with my old body hammer from my body shop days. I had to carefully straighten the grill bars over the speaker without bending the ones next to it. It came out looking much better than when I started (a personal goal of every project I start).
Because I sanded down to bare metal, I couldn't just repaint the cover without a primer. Because the bare metal had been wet, its important to treat it so it doesn't rust — something it can do even after you repaint it. A self-etching primer will prevent rust, and is ideal for situations where you wet sand down to bare metal.
All the primer I have on hand is red oxide stuff. Because the case is grey, its not a good idea to prime with red oxide. I drove to Advance Auto and picked up a can of the self-etching grey primer.
At this writing I've just applied the second coat of primer. Before I sprayed the second coat, the cover looks pretty darn good, even my bodywork on the dents. Unfortunately, primer tends to cover the flaws, so the real test will be the final finish. I don't want a high gloss finish on the cover, though I don't really know for certain the finish the spray paint I bought off eBay will have. It's the right color, but I want a satin or less-glossy finish (it will hide the dents and scratches better).
If necessary, I'll buy a can of satin finish clear to shoot the covers with. I think this will make the covers look more natural and not so “new” looking. Let's face it, the rig is pushing 25 years old, I want it to look nice, not shout “Hey! Freshly painted covers here!”
I'm not sure yet I'll even paint the bottom cover. It depends on how much difference there is between the two colors. The bottom cover will be fairly easy, since its in good shape to begin with.
I'm back to my lacquer fumes … more later.