Has anyone here tried to whiten a Famicom?

[gcfernandez]

I used vinyl dye on mine the Retr0brite helped but not as much as I wanted it works much better on SFC /SNES's than famicom

but either way make sure you remove he front label it will get ruined like with my first famicom I ended ordering a new shell from senseiman just to get the label the retr0brighting/Peroxiding did a number on the gold.
 
its not difficult to remove just careful when you first try to pry up the corner as it can flake off and show the gold foil

use a thin hobby knife and go around the whole decal gentle like before trying to pull it up with your hands this will loosen the glue  its a foil label and will show bends and creases very easy   

The foil decal is decently tough I believe its like 4 or 5  layers a black plastic base with a gold foil overlayed with red then 2 clear overlays (the last layer of clear can be removed)

If you want I can post a picture of my old front label that went through retr0briting it removes all the gold its still readable just no shininess to the gold.

I removed the adhesive back of the label completely and used some of that 3m spray adhesive that they sell at automotive stores.   

can you post a pic of your vinyl dyed famicom?

i've wonder if the front label is sturdy enough to survive a heat gun on low heat to soften the adhesive and hopefully making it easier to pry off without damage?

[Rosser]

This is what happens when you retr0brite with label still attached


The dye is really great on plastic I use it on fight sticks often  and they take way more physical abuse that a console.



if you really want to get the details perfect you can dye then use 2000-3000 grit sandpaper and completly smooth the sides of the famicom then polish to get a crazy mirror shine I did it on another famicom body and looks great but its a lot of work and you have to be carefuller since the famicom has hard edges  with normal sanding you can end up removing the dyed plastic around the edges so you have finger sand

but just dying it is fine the sides are not quite as shiny as pervious but it looks a million times better than a yellow console

I would not worry with magic erasers you will loose the famicom texture if you do too much you might as well use  sandpaper same thing

Also I don't recommend a heat gun unless you have a super nice one with more than 3 settings  because the stuff used is like a thick double sided tape is not like a regular decal that has sticky on only one side  the hobby knife is good because its super thin to go around the whole thing but if it gets  stuck is one spot when going around remove the knife and switch to  another location to come around from the side to get that problem spot you don't want to force it just take your time.
Post Merge: December 11, 2012, 03:07:13 pm
Also that crease you see in the label happen after I removed it not during the removal process

[Pemdawg]

That thing looks gorgeous! Nice work there!

[P]

Yeah it really does! Wow!!

[Rosser]

I should have done a before picture to see the contrast with before and after

the external port is still yellow but I'm too lazy to mess with that