In-between doing up the BC-779/SP-200 I worked on an old HQ-129X that I had picked up as-is a few years back. The front panel was worn through in a number of places, but it worked FB. It had been recapped by a previous owner, and someone had taken a can opener to the top of the can on the right side (looking at it) but it worked anyhow. I then acquired a new front panel from Dennis WTFO, who mentioned it when I was talking to him about some parts for the other Hammer Land project. Thanks Dennis!!
The panel came in ok, fb. But it looked like it was a single coat of grey paint and then silk screened. I wanted to avoid the "rub out" that had happened over time on the original panel. So I experimented with a few different spray cans of satin clear. Most s****d for this use. Finally lowly Krylon was tested, and it came out flat, smooth and with a nice satin result. A coat of wax would bring it up some, but I did not do it (yet, anyhow).
I sprayed the bezel after stripping it, with a semi-gloss black, I think it was semi-gloss. Not the wrinkle that was stock. Looks nice though, not perfect but nice.
Also re-did the knobs. These get cleaned first with Mean Green, then buffed with a small cotton wheel + white compound. Then the white stripes get carefully scraped clean and white acrylic paint is applied double coat, dry between coats. then the stripe is buffed with "Color Back" car polish to clean up the edges. This photo is
before I re-did the knobs, they "pop" much more now. Also took the dopey "pillow" shaped tuning knobs off and put the fluted knobs that are also on the SP-100/200/400 series. All buffed up nicely.
One could use an off white, if you want to get a "vintage" look. I went for the bright white.
The acrylic stuff comes in formulations that dry flat or dries glossy. This one is fairly flat looking. Nice, looks like new knobs!
Hope you like the look!
Only thing left now is to strip and repaint the cabinet (looking for a good grey wrinkle paint anyone?). Don't want to have to deal with imperfections that might show up with standard paint - wrinkle hides stuff.