I have a BMP and LPB-2 kits coming my way. I need to figure out how to make them look pretty, so should I:

- Design a sticker to apply to the enclosure - possibly clear coat it.
- Paint with watermark decals or whatevs ... then clear coat it.
- Full hand-painting (done by a painter friend, I is not so good with visual arts) then clear coating.

The method will influence my design so ... yeah.

Depends on how much work you want to do and how much you want to spend to get the things purty.

The moast pro-looking effect for a DIYer seems to be the sticker or transfer decal + clearcoat (or epoxy) technique. I have never done it, because i would have to get setup for printing decals to do so first.

Spraypaint has a pretty limited lifespan before it starts looking "relic'd"

If you know doods who are good artfolks and comfortable working in small formats then that can work out really well. Just be sure to test very carefully on a scrap piece with the paint/ink/whatever the artist uses and whatever clearcoat you are going to use. Some clearcoats will totally fuck up whatever paint surface they are applied to. This is especially true of a lot of spraycan paints and clears. Always test on scrap first.

One other thing i have done, as seen on this jobber:


Is sort of the ghetto alternative to using decals. Basically that is just regular paper straight from the printer. After printing, the paper needs to be treated with clear/fixatif and the back painted white so that it appears correctly. Then i just used some of that Super 77 spray adhesive shit to apply it to the reclaimed PC power supply. Then a whole fucklot of clearcoat to seal it all up nicely.

It does not appear quite as nice as a properly applied decal, but it can look nicer than trying to label things by hand with a sharpie for instance. One limitation is that the color of the box is somewhat limited, dictated by the fact that unlike a decal, the paper remains opaque, and if you wish to "hide" the edges, you may wish to end up using a black (as above) or white base to make things easier on yourself.



All of that said, these days i hardly do anything but label the controls ghettoquick with a Dymo. I build too many things and i am too impatient to take a working pedal apart to finish the box, oh about 85% of the time.

little trippy sharpie drawings

I decided to hand paint these bitches.

The kits came in yesterday, and me and my buddy were pondering over possible paint jobs.

While ing, I told him that I was building a clone of a "Big Muff Pi," which he confused for "Blueberry Pie," so I decided to mock this very-rough-draft up on MSPAINT.





That would be a 1590BB enclosure, and I used the uggo font because I figger'd it was about as close to my hand-painted cursive that the computer will allow.

I can't decide if it is to cheesy/lame or not.

Within the realm of pedal naming/decoration, there is no such thing as "too cheesy/lame". I mean, think of the name of the pedal that you are cloning, man. Anything else pretty much *has* to be a step up from there, practically by default.

If you are going to paint by hand, then i would say just rough it up, as you have, and go to town. I have had limited luck hand finishing pedals, because i don't seem to like to work on that scale. If i build something more along the size of an A4 piece of paper or bigger, i would probably give it another shot though.

It is easy as fuck to strip the box back down to bare metal if your arting ends in sadness. Just jump in and attack it, i say.

You make valid points.

I think I may go pick up some modeling paints and clear coat spray finish when I gets paid. (insert gangsta smilie)



Also, I think I am going to call the Clean Boost, "The Loudness Monster," and sponge paint this on it:

Yeah, i like that. I am a fan of Nessy.

Also, leave your self a space somewhere on the LPB for a potential later addition of a switch to shift the input cap to a smaller value. You *may* find the stock value to be a bit brutish on the low end, particularly with a fender style map. Build it stock first though, and see how you feel.

Point taken.

I will probably try to line Nessy's eye up with the LED for a light.

Also, I want a purple LED for the Blueberry Pie.

And I got the 1590BB for the Pie so it will have room for mods (like a mid boost knob).

Which just made me think of a mod idea I might try on that.