Hey man. Here are as promised, some pointers of how to proceed with painting your Mac:

When I painted my 6500, I used 2 different shades of blue, both spray-paint special made to be used on hard plastics (can probably be found in any good paint-store).

First, I removed all the plastic covers from my computer (all the white, hard plastics). You probably know best how to do that on your computer. But I can tell you, on a 6500 it can be a bit tricky if you haven't done it before and have nothing to guide you. Just be patient, and don't use force! Atleast not too much... Remember how it all comes back together again! To make sure the paint will stick, sand the surfaces lightly using fine-grit sandpaper before washing it! Then start by thoroughly cleaning the parts which you intend to paint, using soap and water.

Get some tape, tack, or whatever can be used to cover holes (like the infra-red, the headphone-socket, apple- /PPC-logo etc which you don't want to be covered with paint. Also, remember to cover the little hole for emergency-ejecting the CD-ROM.) I reccomend using tack for this, as it's very easy to fit in holes, cover logos etc with.

Now, fetch plenty of newspapers, and place them on the floor, or whatever surface you're planning to do the painting on. Double layers are prefferedas the spray-paint tend to "crawl" in under the newspapers!

Place the computer covers on the newspapers, prepare the spray-paint (shake it etc), and give it a first coating. Remember to hold the bottle about an armlenght away from the surface, or you might get a "dripping-problem", which is very annoying, and could be hard to fix. (I know it's tempting to hold it close to the surface to get a good, thick layer, but trust me, it ain't worth the trouble afterwards!) Give it atleast 2 layers of paint, preferably 3 and let the paint dry between the layers before adding the next one. Ofcourse, you can use a regular brush for this aswell, but I strongly reccomend using spray-paint since it doesn't leave any brush-lines. It's also good to have somekind of cover for your mouth and nose, since the fumes are likely to be toxic (ask the person who sold the paint about this). If you like, you can use a piece of crumpled paper etc, to make a nice pattern by gently dipping it into paint of a different shade than the background, and then stick the paint to the surface using the paper.

CD-ROM drive: It looks much better if you paint the front of the CD-ROM drive aswell. First, remove the CD-ROM drive and pull off the facings. Partially open the drive using a paper-clip (inseter into the little little hole next to the eject-button), then remove the tray facing. Next, remove the front facing by pressing the releases and pulling. Finally, paint the facings and let them dry:)

Now, leave the paint to dry for atleast 24 hours in a well-ventilated room, which shouldn't be too warm. Normal room-temperature would work best! Then, reassemble the whole thing, and enjoy your new, blue/green/red/purple/etc computer!

[I didn't have the guts to paint my monitor, and I don't reccomend anyone else to try it either, since it's charged with tens of thousands of volts, even if it's been unplugged for several days!]

//André

Hey Once again, I forget something when sending you an e-mail:)

You asked if I'd had any problems of the paint flaking off. My answer to that is. no. The only problem thatmight occur is then you scratch the surface, whicy ofcourse will leave a mark. Also, I should mention theat the surfaces are more sensitive to scratches during the 1-2 days after it's been painted. The only part where I've lost some paint, is at the front left side (about 0.5 cm x 0.2 cm, so it's nothing really), where I have to crank the front up using a screwdriver when I want to open the computer.

//André