Hey everyone!

I've recently purchased a 1977 Sears Solid State B&W set.

(see photos below)

Currently, the color of the casing is an old cream/very light yellow-ish color.

I'm thinking of painting the casing a solid white. What do you think?

Is the case difficult to take off? Also, is there any danger in painting the case?

I've spoke w/ Harry Poster - who sais I should be fine painting the case, as long as I'm careful.

Also spoke w/ J Halphen - who is skeptical about painting the case. He also suggested if I were to paint it, maybe use spray paint.

What do you guys think?


http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/6659/img1388e.th.jpg (http://img546.imageshack.us/i/img1388e.jpg/)

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2633/img1389gv.th.jpg (http://img338.imageshack.us/i/img1389gv.jpg/)

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http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/7412/img1391sv.th.jpg (http://img820.imageshack.us/i/img1391sv.jpg/)

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5346/img1392ow.th.jpg (http://img440.imageshack.us/i/img1392ow.jpg/)

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4296/img1393jd.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/i/img1393jd.jpg/)

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If all of the white is one piece it should come apart pretty easy and not be real tough to deal with. Spray paint would be the only way to go; prep and clean it extremely well and spray it first with some sort of plastic prep for durability. Take your time when removing/installing the back. It is fairly foolproof but sometimes you can bend or break certain controls or hardware if you don't have everything lined up just right. The picture tube shouldn't be of any concern on a set like this. If you get the notion to paint the black on the front avoid spraying the part of the bezel that is right next to the glass. I did that once with a set and the little bit of paint that bridged the gap between the crt face and the bezel meant that it would give you one heck of a static shock anytime you touched the front of that TV.

I wonder if it was always yellowish or if it's turned color like so many white plastics?

Computer parts were especially prone to do that, because of the Fire retardants in the plastic.
There is a process to restore them to their original color again, I don't know what it is but it should be Googleable.
I don't know if it would apply to a TV either.

Krylon makes a spray paint just for plastic, I tried it and it goes on very smooth and glossy, you might want to give it a try, no primer needed.

Hi to All,

for EricH: here is the site i archived about the whitening process to renovate plastics turned cream (or worse) by aging.

It looks promising but i've not tried it myself.

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

If you are going to paint it, it would be worth the effort to disassemble the set completely. This includes removing the picture tube. Twelve inch black and white sets of this era are not very complex from an assembly standpoint so it should not be a difficult job.

Go for it!
I did this with a 1985 Quasar color portable which was PINK as found.... Painted it black(I see a red door...)
I used regular old Krylon flat black and the hardest part was keeping the paint from hardening over the ventilation slots of the back cab.
Still have it in 'long-term-storage' somewhere...

Like compucat said, a b/w set is a gift when tackling this kind of work...reassembly shouldn't be too tough because to reinstall the tube you skip right over the annoying convergence and purity procedures.
When i did mine this ate up more time than the actual painting...But then again this was circa 2004 and I was pretty much a novice.

And yeah, what's with those older computers turning totally yellow? I thought it was due to cigarette smokers but the flame-retardant additive makes more sense.
Have seen late eighties-early nineties PCs which were completely yellow.
Also. I have the SAMS for this exact set...if you need any info from it.

Go for it!
I did this with a 1985 Quasar color portable which was PINK as found.... Painted it black(I see a red door...)
I used regular old Krylon flat black and the hardest part was keeping the paint from hardening over the ventilation slots of the back cab.
Still have it in 'long-term-storage' somewhere...

Like compucat said, a b/w set is a gift when tackling this kind of work...reassembly shouldn't be too tough because to reinstall the tube you skip right over the annoying convergence and purity procedures.
When i did mine this ate up more time than the actual painting...But then again this was circa 2004 and I was pretty much a novice.

And yeah, what's with those older computers turning totally yellow? I thought it was due to cigarette smokers but the flame-retardant additive makes more sense.
Have seen late eighties-early nineties PCs which were completely yellow.
Also. I have the SAMS for this exact set...if you need any info from it.

The yellowing of eggshell white computer cases is caused by the Bromine that was added to the plastic to impart flame resistance reacting to ultraviolet light. Plastics in general tend to be broken down by UV exposure which is why a radio kept on a kitchen windowsill will fade over time. Painting is a good way to go because it protects the plastic. I have a CC Radio 2 which is painted a Titanium grey and the plastic underneath is just a medium grey color. The next time I get an old 12" black and white set i might try painting it.

Interesting thread.
I need to look into this whitening process a bit more.
Stashed in the garage is a 69 or 70 Zenith b/w portable set. As with 99+ % of these old Zenith b/w sets it still works ... but it is beyond dirty and it has yellowed ... the 2 reasons why it still hides in the garage ...

Thanks for that info, compucat. interesting stuff.
So, what's the verdict? Goin through with it?