M71 slow restoration/goldification

[Stretch]

I figured it would be nice to post a thread dedicated to the work I'll be doing on my M71 over the next couple months.

I finished stripping the box down tonight, which is both good and bad because now I have to actually start the restoration haha as the unit is of no use just sitting in pieces. The bulk of my work will take place next month as I'll have the funds then to send out some pieces for re-chroming. I plan to GOLDIFY! the buttons and speaker trim rings. I'm not sure yet if I should just have the speaker grills simply re-powdercoated black, or perhaps they would look good with the gold treatment too like the RC-M70GX. Or, should I use gold mesh and bend it like the GX does?
What do you guys think?

I also want to find a place that can colour-match the original champagne colour so I can re-spray the case after doing some bodywork to make it look like-new again.

Here's some pics. I cleaned up both speaker trim rings but don't have a a photo before I tore it apart. One pic shows the nice blue backs to the speakers, and the last pic shows a bare front case waiting to be worked on

 

[redbenjoe]

the black grills will look good with your new champagne paint
and the blue woofs

very worthy project

 

[blu_fuz]

Send those grills my way and I will glass blast them and powder coat them black . I do have MANY colors here and TONS of colors that I can get if you feel like getting funky with it

 

[Stretch]

Send those grills my way and I will glass blast them and powder coat them black . I do have MANY colors here and TONS of colors that I can get if you feel like getting funky with it

Haha oh man, getting funky with powdercoating is always awesome I know! But, for this box, I won't be doing anything too wild with this box unless the word starts with the letter gold, but a nice gloss black coat like new would be perfect. I looked at some pictures of the GX and normal M70s on the web, and I do find that gold grills detract from the look of the speakers. If anything i want to amplify those blue beauties, and a nicely applied gloss black seems to do it well.
eric

 

[blu_fuz]

I agree - there is nothing like a set of freshly powdercoated gloss black speaker grills on a boombox

 

[mmcodomino]

Cool!
I always wondered - do these grills just come off by removing the 4 hexagon screwn on the ring or do you have to open up the whole unit?

 

[blu_fuz]

There is glue holding the rings on the front. Usually you have to heat it up with a hairdryer from the front. No need to open the case.

 

[mmcodomino]

There is glue holding the rings on the front. Usually you have to heat it up with a hairdryer from the front. No need to open the case.

Very interesting
My speakers could use a dusting

 

[Stretch]

I'm having one hell of a time trying to remove that aluminum panel below the cassette deck. I tried soaking in water, i tried a hair dryer, I tried lighter fluid then hair dryer. All I managed to do is put a little kink in one side! :'-(
Any helpful tips? i want it off so I can properly prep/pain the unit without any metal pieces etc on it so I can get the best coverage/finish.
Let me know guys! That glue is damn strong and those flimsy metal pieces are never happy working with me .
eric

 

[blu_fuz]

Just leave it on there man - once you ruin it with wrinkles it will never be the same. Tape it off - there is no shame in that.......

 

[mmcodomino]

I'm having one hell of a time trying to remove that aluminum panel below the cassette deck. I tried soaking in water, i tried a hair dryer, I tried lighter fluid then hair dryer. All I managed to do is put a little kink in one side! :'-(
Any helpful tips? i want it off so I can properly prep/pain the unit without any metal pieces etc on it so I can get the best coverage/finish.
Let me know guys! That glue is damn strong and those flimsy metal pieces are never happy working with me .
eric

Try really warm soap water again and let it soak over night

Or just tape that area carefully before painting - that's how i would do it

 

[Stretch]

Finr! I'll tape it . I wish that would have just stuck in my mind before I tried removing it and put a tiny kink in it tho. Very hard to see, but at the right angle you can. Plus, I know it's there. Ah well
I'm going to call the chroming place tomorrow and find out if they can do gold chrome, or if they know someone local who can.
eric

 

[stormsven]

There is glue holding the rings on the front. Usually you have to heat it up with a hairdryer from the front. No need to open the case.

Very interesting
My speakers could use a dusting

On my M70 there was no glue on the rings. They came out when unscrewed .

 

[Scotty_M]

 

[Stretch]

You'll get some hopefully tomorrow. I left all my bondo supplies at the college as I was working on a model. I'm going there tonight tho, so I can get it and will be able to hopefully work on the body work tomorrow. To hold you over, here's 2 pictures of the finished model Designed/built by myself.
eric

 

[blu_fuz]

^ That ain't no boombox! IT'S FREAKING ROUND!

 

[mmcodomino]

You study car design?
Hey, i am studying airplane construction - atm we are still together with the car engineers for the first 3 semsters.
How do you like it?

Great model btw

 

[Stretch]

Thanks domino. Yes, I'm entering the final term of my 4 year Bachelor's degree of industrial design, but I chose to focus on automotive design. We receive the same label either way, but I thought building car models would be more fun
I find my course quite boring at times, as sketching isn't really my favourite part, although I'm not too bad at it, the model building part is my favourite! We hardly ever get to actually build them tho, so when it was time for me to build this one, I made damn sure it was done well.
It's a 1/5th scale model, normal size would be the footprint of a Kia Soul, but a bit higher due to the larger ground clearance. I called it the Panora, due to the panoramic view. The passenger cabin and rear box are suspended within the cage (tho not for the model, for the sake of construction etc) so you can easily change pieces due to damage or whatever. Although it's only 1/5th scale, the base is about 1.5 feet wide, so it's not small at all!

I hope to put my skills to use repairing the gnarled bottom corners of my M71. I've been calling all morning trying to locate a place that can do gold chrome or something like it, and no luck so far. Seems like only normal chrome at the moment.
eric

 

[Stretch]

I used Varsol to clean up the casing today. I was hoping it would strip the paint but all it did was clean it haha. It did take some paint off the JVC logo so I just took it all off, and it helped loosen the glue on the last front plate which i was just DYING to take off, so now it's off! Yes, it's not perfectly smooth anymore which pisses me off. Maybe I can have a plate made with some custom wording like 'Gold Edition' or something. It couldn't cost too much. I really just wish I could get the plate and electronics to make it an M75 as you can see those 4 holes for the M75's mic mixing knobs hiding under that front plate.
I'll update more once i fix some of the nicks with el bondo.
eric

 

[robster]

Nice!