[WIP] Recycled Joystick: Base Paint is Complete.

(Previous WIP post to this project can be found here)

Too many hours spent body-making and sanding. Too many.


The bottom panel is done. The wall filler used previously did not work out. It held its shape, but it separated from the wood too easily. Any experience filler users would've known that. This time I used Bondo Putty by 3M. Stuff works great. Haven't had as much trouble as Poly-Filla, but it too struggled with small chips here and there. The Grazing & Spot Putty by 3M was recommended but I didn't bring enough money to Canadian Tire.

After the second afternoon, I finally decided to stop because I could've been reworking the edges until I literally had no putty left. I have a perfectionist in me that does nothing but eat up five extra work hours than expected on any project, and with other things I need and want to do, I could not afford any more time spent on crafting perfectly smooth edges. Fortunately the dark gray paint can hide most of the surface changes from an untrained eye.

Next step is to masking off the surface for the white stripe, just like the orange stick:

Now comes the next dilemma: One red button or two?

It was never mentioned, but the colour arrangement between the white and red buttons came solely from Nismo, a car tuning company:

 

That said, having two red buttons sports a consistent look, whereas a single red button puts a great deal of emphasis on the button alone, but almost feels overpowered by the white buttons. I think 2 buttons may having the longer lasting appeal, though a single gives off one hell of a rebellious statement. The buttons by the way are Sanwa Denshi OBSF-30. I took a long bus-ride along with biking in the rain to arrive at the store I've been told that sells these. I would've liked OBSN-30 parts because those are screw-on chambers rather than snap-on. The latter is quick and less of a hassle, but more troublesome if the panel it's being installed in isn't thin like sheet metal. Prior to painting, the buttons can stay put in the 1/8" thick MDF. It's just that if someone wanted to they could simply pry it out, but who would do that when the controller's on my lap?


To sidetrack a bit, in between waiting time for paint to dry, I tried out a spray bottle of Turtle Wax I found in the garage. Needless to say, it leaves one immaculate shine compared to the two other polishing paste and compound I bought two weeks ago:

 From left to right: Turtle Wax Polishing Compound (and scratch remover), Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, Turtle Wax Protectant.

I sampled this on the side of plastic tire wedges.

Left: Turtle Wax Compound. Right: Turtle Wax Spray.

Left: Meguiar's Polish. Right: Turtle Wax Spray.

Here's a short video to help you visualize the amount of gloss on the spray.

The Turtle Wax spray definitely gives the surface a clean shine. I can see myself using this for photos. Will certainly apply some onto the case before presentation photos. I'm sure I'm not using the compound and polish correctly, or maybe I'm expecting something it's not capable of doing. Will need to do research.


More progress/content to come soon, 4 or 5 layers of clear coat later that is.