thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH

I got a silver Game Boy Pocket. Not super rare but not super common either.
I've always wanted one of those rare Grey Boy Pockets for myself but I always end up selling them.
Well, under every one of these rare-ish Game Boys that are painted is a plastic of a similar color.
For example, under a silver Pocket is a nice light grey color.
So, I took some fine grain sand paper and went to town.
Here is my final product:

You will notice there is a fair amount of the silver paint left.
The corners of each indent are very difficult to get to with sand paper so I just decided to leave some silver accent tones.
I would have used some sort of paint stripper but I feared it would also melt the plastic.
I used a brand new razor blade to scrape off the harder angles like on the backside of the shell.
You have to be very careful with this though to not leave deep gouges of any sort.
I'm pretty happy with this though!

It only took me about an hour to sand, scrape and clean the shell but I think it was well worth my time!

You can do this with other models that are painted.
Here's my short list of Game Boys that have factory paint jobs and what color is beneath:
Metallic blue Pocket = baby blue
Gold Pocket= light tan
Silver/Gold Pokemon Color = Light grey
I'm sure this is the same for silver and gold Game Boy Lights and the Gold Pokemon Advance but I can't confirm this!

I'm sure there are more and please feel free to comment and I can add them to this list.

I think this is a great way to give new life to rare consoles that are beat beyond repair!

Last edited by thursdaycustoms (Oct 17, 2012 2:20 am)

smiletron
Offline
Nashville, Tennessee

wait, silver pockets are rare? i have like three

thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH
smiletron wrote:

wait, silver pockets are rare? i have like three

Well I did say they're not super rare but not super common either.
They're less common than your standard colors. But still easy enough to come by.

Last edited by thursdaycustoms (Oct 17, 2012 2:47 am)

craphazzard
Offline
Babylon, NY

Looks really cool!

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind
craphazzard wrote:

Looks really cool!

for sure

thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH

Thanks smile

VCMG
Offline
California

Hm, would doing this help get rid of minor scuffs and scratches? I have a Pocket that has lots of scuff marks from its previous owner.

ashimoke
Offline
Czech republic

I always wanted grey pocket! Might try this instead of geting the DMG style pocket.

Retrogamer09
Offline

Hi,

What type of sandpaper do you recommend to do this? Specifications, etc?

Looks very nice! May be Purple a b buttons and a mirror frame screen lens would make it look real nice, what do you think?

TeddyBearCedenski
Offline
Tempe, AZ
Retrogamer09 wrote:

Hi,

What type of sandpaper do you recommend to do this? Specifications, etc?

Looks very nice! May be Purple a b buttons and a mirror frame screen lens would make it look real nice, what do you think?

I'm curios alsos

4mat
Offline

film pitch: Fred Savage is teleported back to 1989 to buy a Gameboy after the chipscene has modded the last existing one with prosound.

egr
Offline
Abandoned on Fire

@justin -- my gblight could use a facelift, do you have any advice on removing the thick lens-like screen cover it has without ruining it?

thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH
VCMG wrote:

Hm, would doing this help get rid of minor scuffs and scratches? I have a Pocket that has lots of scuff marks from its previous owner.

Maybe light scratches but not gouges. This grey one still has some deep gouges in it.
What color pocket? Is it painted or no? If it's not painted(or especially if it is) you may need to sand the whole thing because it will dull the finish.


Retrogamer09 wrote:

Hi,

What type of sandpaper do you recommend to do this? Specifications, etc?

Looks very nice! May be Purple a b buttons and a mirror frame screen lens would make it look real nice, what do you think?

I would go with something around 200 grit then if it's still rough you can finish it off with something like 300 grit.
That would look kinda cool. I thought about a mirror frame to match the highlights.
I think I'm pretty set on getting a teal backlight and yellow buttons though!

egr wrote:

@justin -- my gblight could use a facelift, do you have any advice on removing the thick lens-like screen cover it has without ruining it?

Well you could pry it out with a razor blade or something like this if you're very careful.
But if you take the thing apart then you can just push it out from the inside.

VCMG
Offline
California

It's also a silver pocket. And yeah, I was thinking of sanding the whole thing anyways, since the scuff marks really are kinda all over the whole thing.

Last edited by VCMG (Oct 18, 2012 12:53 am)

thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH

Okay in that case it would definitely help. There will be less of a contrast with the colors and if you clean the gouges out they should blend in.

I should add that you could clear coat the whole shell after wards to give it a nice finish and this would hide the gouges even more.