Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Part 3 - Lacquer

There is no way you can just leave the paint on - it must have some sort of lacquer. I touched it a few times gently and the blue wore onto my fingers. I recommend you do not touch the surface at all unless something small fell on it and wouldn't shift by the force of air ;-|

As I left mine overnight before I put the lacquer on (when 2 hours dying time in thoery is fine) I had quite a bit of dust settle on the surface. Blowing got most of it off, but sometimes I had to gently touch the surface with my finger to shift the odd bit. This is why it is recommended it is all done within a day.

The lacquer was easy to use, but it very quickly creates a smoky atmosphere so ventilation is neccessary.

The smoky atmosphere created by lots of lacquer usage

The lacquer I used was dry to touch in just a few minutes, five at the most unless I put a bit too much on (which happened in a few cases). It has a habit of making dust though. Make sure when you use it it is done in a very dust free area and well away from the other pieces that you are spraying.

I don't actually know how many coats I put on but in most cases it was more then four, three at the very least. After an hour this resulted in a very smooth and shiny surface. I used very small amount of polish and a duster to get all the dust off.

After I had finished applying the coats of lacquer, here is the result:

The finished parts after I brought them indoors and cleaned them up, notice I had also removed the masking tape off the front

Result so far

After a bit more time for the parts to dry to a hard enough state I couldn't wait to put them all back on my case and see what the result was like.

As it all came together, I couldn't help smile. I really did like the new look of my case and I immediately took some photos of the result.

Showing the nice front and the right side of the case

Looking at the top - the sun makes the metallic paint shine rather nicely

Front and left side of the case - without its window

Close up of the fan in place at the top

You can see the results are very good - especially for someone like me who has never sprayed before. I picked up the skills required to do the simple job however and I am very happy with the result. Only if you look closely can you see areas that are perhaps a little darker or lighter than others, but that happens and fortunately all the cans I was using are very forgiving like that.

If your seriously thinking about spraying your PC - give it a bit of thought, but I would recommend doing it if you don't mind spending the pounds/dollars/whatever on good car spray paint. My total cost for primer, two 400ml cans of metallic blue car paint and lacquer was a about £40. The irony is that my mates dad has a trade account at the shop I brought the paints from so I could have saved money there. But ultimately I wanted to respray that, what now seems, dull and boring silver colour at whatever cost it would take. It matches my room rather nicely :-)

Onto part 4...