My MZ-R500 And My Plans For It

Hello everyone!

I'm a (proud) owner of a little MZ-R500 minidisc walkman. Anyone else on here who owns it? I haven't seen any threads about it so far.

This small blue rectangle served a lot and well, which is clearly visible by how it looks like:
Run down and ... run down.

By the way, I already modded it successfully.

As some of you may or may not know, there is a small trick in how to enable more features for it, which also applies for other minidisc walkmans, by entering service mode and changing some hex numbers. Note that this model has a reversed dot matrix, the right side is the left side and vice versa, for anyone who wishes to follow a tutorial on how to do it. I can post a link with a tutorial or post a small step by step I've written for myself to comprehend it better, if anyone's interested.

It's a nice one since it has a long battery runtime, the sound is ok (not overwhelming), it is also a recorder, has unlockable features and it got a cute design.


I really hold it dear and there's a few things I'd still wish to do to it.

1. It suffers from the infamous reading issue by now, which could also be problematic if you want to record.
So it gets stuck reading and needs some time to get back up. I assume this is due to its age and the mechanism the lens moves on likely got too dry, so the resistance is too big when it tries to move in certain positions and certain temperatures. Skipping to the last title also makes increasingly unhealthy sounding noises, so I concluded that must be it.

• Does anyone have a recommendation with how to go about fixing it? Which grease to use for example and how to avoid getting the lens dirty. If you happen to know a video tutorial, that would be greatly appreciated as well!

2. A new paintjob.
I mean, come on, it deserves better, doesn't it? While this run down look may have its own charme, I'm considering to restore it to its former glory. I already did a small test on the Sony letters. The first time they got off, I tried it with a waterproof and tough silver marker. Looks ok, but I'm sure I could do better. I'll have to reapply it anyway once the whole case gets a nice repaint.

• Any idea where to get quality spraypaint with a metallic blue look or how to go best about repainting it? Does it need any sealing spray on top of it then?

3. Fixing the play button.
Don't worry, on the tech side all's fine with it. It's just a bit loose and I wondered if anyone knows a way how to fix a button.

• Is it even possible or would I need a new button/case? I'd actually rather keep this one together, sentimental value and such.

4. Case mod?
Any ideas? I was thinking of some nice personal touch, but I lack ideas as of yet. Of course I was also thinking about restoration, but I don't think I can restore the red writing for the buttons as easily as I'd wish to. I'm an artist, so I've been thinking of painting something on it.

• Do you have any inspiration for designs that could be painted on it?

 

I love Minidiscs (players/recorders). Have several of them in different style and colors
Can you please share your ideas of how to add more features to minidisc players by entering service mode?? Is it something reversible??
regarding the idea of repainting your device< since the buttons and trim around LCD is in Silver blue color ( I prefer light blue) will match better.
My favorite color for minidisc players are Orange, light green, yellow, red, ... but these colors wont match the silver trim.
Read the following topic of how amazing job @buzbox did on a Toshiba Walkman

http://www.stereo2go.com/forums/threads/my-first-toshiba-kt-as10.1944/

 

Oh, thanks! I'm reading it right now as I'm typing this.
I'll likely keep it some kind of metallic blue as it also matches my headphones (Sennheiser MX365 in silver and blue, used to have other, in my opinion better Sennheisers but they got discontinued and unfortunately broke in an accident).

It is reversible, but you could theoretically wreck your walkman if you input the wrong values, so it has to be done with care. It works with MZ-R500 and 700, G750, N707, 505 and 710. A (rather messy) step by step list can be found here. If you want to give it a go, make sure to write down original values.
All of this is only possible thanks to mass production.
I didn't find this little exploit myself, but I tried it and it works like a breeze when you take your sweet time having a list in front of you so you don't mess up.

I can post my own step by step for the MZ-R500 if anyone's interested since the tutorial on that site requires some rethinking for the R500. In that case I'd likely open a new thread for everyone to find easily.

 

Thanks for the recommendation!

I haven't been thinking about green, I think the overall shape might be a bit too early 2000s for it to work. If it was one of the models with rounder buttons or a simple square display, I'd have probably gone with it. Red could work as well, but somehow that'd feel wrong for this model. I can't quite put my hands on why though. Maybe I've just gotten used to seeing blue on it.

Does anyone know a reliable brand of spraypaint with a pretty/authentic metallic look though? I'm pretty new to this, so that'll be... interesting.
As far as I know I need to get the original paint off the entire casing, then reapply the colour I want and finally seal it with some gloss paint, is that correct?

buzbox did a real great job on the Toshiba. Unfortunately I don't have access to printers of that kind, so I guess I might have to sacrifice any other writing (that's already gone anyway) on my case.

 

Looking at Minidisc.org, the original colours seem to be the following:
Blue, black (2 versions), silver, red, yellow and some really funky very bright blue(?).
Interestingly I've never seen the black one with silver around the display, I only know the black one with the yellow display. Neither have I seen the bright blue one before, perhaps those two were some sort of limited/special edition.
From what I could see on ebay every now and then, blue, silver and black are fairly common ones, especially blue. Something to keep in mind would I decide to go for some obvious individuality.

@Mister X you definitely proposed a unique colour there. I'll have to think about it.
Things I can disqualify so far are definitely white or a bright silver (or this weird light blue). I want some contrast to the buttons and the Sony font, so perhaps I might take a darker colour for it or a slightly darker metallic blue than the original, so it still reminds me of the original while having its own (subtle) touch.

Perhaps I'll try a quick photoshop to see which design would look best with it and post some ideas on here the next days. That would be a safe (and cheap) way to test it out before going to purchase spray paint that I wouldn't end up using.

 

Small update as I had some time off around new years and as I have drawn my MZ-R500 for a small new years gif anyway, so I used that as a base for further experimentation to try some other colours and an experimental "decal" on the case. Could probably go about it with some tape if I were to spray it that way.

The things I've drawn/tested can be seen over here:

@Mister X the colour you proposed would be like the one in 4, right? Well, it certainly does look way more interesting than I thought at first.

I've summarized my thoughts on it in the spoilers, but I'd be eager to hear some input from other users before reading my little brainfart.

Spoiler

I'm particularily fond of 1, going with a deep blue with a decal, or a lighter blue like in 2.
Maybe I'll go with something in between after all as was the case with the original colour. I think blue designs would be easiest to pull off as the underlying plastic seems to be a dark blue, so anything on top of that could have a slight blue tint anyway.
Since I have barely any chances to restore the original writing, I decided to try some red framing around the record button to distinguish it from others.

3 is… okay. But it doesn't really look exciting.

4 is, as stated above, rather interesting. Though I feel as if something is lacking yet. Some sort of accent.

5 might have a similar look to the yellow version, but overall it works better with the silver than expected. With some black elements it could have a nice construction site look.

6 was more or less just an experiment.

 

Long time no update, but I didn't forget about my minidisc walkman! In the end I settled for design #1, which I will likely make in various steps.
First comes the base paint sometime this month (right now weather's not great and I need to do this outdoors).

Current state:
Purchased:

• metallic blue spraypaint close to the original colour but with more saturation (pretty much as in design #1), for any surface, outdoor and friction/scratch proof with no need for translucent paint to seal it off
  
• silver spray paint (for plastic use)

Missing:

• black paint for the stripe (and maybe also the yellow/gold one for the arrow if I decide to go for it, depends on how it will look like in real life)

The base paint is no problem, but the Sony writing's paintjob is. I was proposed to do one of the three things:

• Carefully drip candle wax on top of it and then rub it off until there's just a slim layer of wax on the case but not the writing anymore.
  
• Put vaseline around it and then wipe it off after spraying silver paint on it.
• Tape everything around it and carefully cut it out with a knife.

I admit, either of the first two options sound critical to me.
Vaseline contains lots of fat and might affect how well the silver paint might stick to it if just a little bit ends up on the writing.
The wax method sounds better, but hot wax might damage the plastic case if I'm not careful.
The tape cutout with the knife sounds like a tedious job and might leave unpleasant traces on the case if I'm not careful or if I'm out of luck it could even leave traces on the paint itself...


So my question to all of you:
Are there better alternatives to tackle 3D cutouts (in this case both the Sony and the Walkman logo/writing) so that I can isolate it from the rest when spraypainting it?

 

Forget Silver paint, it won't be able to fake brushed aluminum finish of the embossed SONY logo!

When customizing Sony D-90 for my own use, and then making a few more for my (then) customers, I painted lids with scratch-resistant "engine" enamel. Was not worried about the original color, but scratch-resistance is a MUST, IMHO, for portable players:


Within a few minutes after each spray-coat I used cotton swab whetted with Acetone (or Lacquer thinner) to wipe off paint from embossed letters

The end result was very-very nice:

 

Jorge's technique is an excellent one and would work very well, but I think that it would be more difficult for the Walkman logo (which, if I recall correctly, is debossed instead of embossed). I have not tried it with spray paint but there's stuff for watercolor called masking fluid, which is something like liquid rubber. Paint it on using a brush, then peel it off later on.

 

Thanks for the quick tips to both of you! I'll try them on a test object one of these days.
In the meantime I've also gotten the tip to try out a layer of toothpaste to seal off anything that shouldn't get the paint as an alternative to masking fluid based on what @stuck-in-time proposed. It looks like people indeed use masking fluid with spray paint as well, apparently a lot in model building and cosplay.

@Jorge the blue paint I purchased is pretty solid I was told, to the point that you'd have to act quick to remove it if something went wrong, which is why I'll go for test sprays first. Was the underlying colour of your D-90 silver? I've been wondering how you've wiped the red paint off with acetone and still have the silver left there or did it merely carry off the colour from the spray paint? The original silver of the Sony writing is (unfortunately) long since gone from my device and there's just the blue plastic colour left. What you can see in my first post is just a temporary provisoric paint layer I've literally written on it so it doesn't look like absolute worn and run down sh...!

 

Well, I described an "easy way" of doing this, but it works only for Metal cases with Embossed logo...

For the plastic shells with de-bossed writing it will be much more difficult to do. There are a few different tricks you can try to paint the letters: "dry-brushing" silver, or painting silver then sealing with a protective clearcoat then painting blue and removing blue layer until the clearcoat with silver underneath revealed. If letters are de-bossed then some mod of "wash technique" (check "how-to" at any modellers site) may be attempted.
Masking liquid would be my last resort, my only advice here is not to be cheap. You are going to spend HOURS trying to make it factory-fresh, saving $10 by using vaseline or toothpaste or wax will just add more hours and extra frustrations. The worst commercial Masking Liquid is Maskol by Humbrol (check any modellers forum for confirmation), the one which (sometimes) worked for me is MicroMask by MicroScale. However, do not blame me for wasting ten bucks on the masking liquid: at least in my hands it never worked as expected.

 

Thanks again everyone. I'll try to get a hold of some masking liquid the following days and report back once I've done some test on cardboard or some junk. Perhaps it will be of interest to some other users who came across a similar or the same issue as I did so I'll likely post photos of that.

@Jorge since I forgot to comment on your D-90, a small PS:
It looks like a fantastic and smooth paintjob like straight out of the factory. Did you by any chance keep track of the process of your device anywhere on Stereo2Go? I couldn't find anything but maybe I'm looking for the wrong things. Restorations and repaints are always interesting to look at. I hope the paint still sticks and that I'll be able to achieve similar results. Was it your first attempt at doing that or did you already have experience painting cases?

 

To make fresh paint "stick" you airbrush lacquer thinner onto the shell first. Lacquer Thinner (or Acetone) dries out instantly but it "softens" old paint so that your fresh paint can "bite" into it. After that it is just a question of how scratch-resistant the paint you are using. And how much drying time it gets, some need MONTHS to get rock-hard!

Yet another nifty technique was published 15-20 years ago in Fine Scale Modeler. First you apply a layer of automotive varnish diluted with slow-drying lacquer thinner. 5-10min later, when varnish almost dry but yet tacky you spray metallic powder over the surface, then polish lightly. You get a layer of microscopic metallic particles "glued" to the surface. That was the most realistic natural-metal finish I have ever seen!

 

UPDATE!

Thanks for all the tips.
I proceeded to work on it throughout the week, so this is a long post/update.
For all the steps up to the present, open the spoiler.

Spoiler

Unfortunately, there's bad news: When I opened it, I literally saw the process of a cable breaking - which in turn broke my heart...
It seems the pressure of the cover left the flat cable which leads to the recording part and it began lifting itself like a snake and then I watched how it cracked...
I guess it was damaged before and the lack of a case cover was all it needed:

Apart from this device looking insanely stunning without a case, this function is probably dead for good. It's barely 1mm in width, you need a magnifying glass to even see how the cables broke in that stripe, connecting them seems impossible.
It's also worth mentioning there's another crack behind that one you see there...

Anyway, here's my work in progress:

Step 1:
Taping it and wiping all the old paint off (not done yet at this point). Also never forget to tape the backside of a window (didn't do that on that photo, luckily remembered before I started).


Step 2:
I attempted to do the following: Spraypaint in silver, masking liquid into the Walkman writing, taping the sony writing.

The result of the silver coating was more than satisfying. Actually, I was tempted to leave it at that.

Step 3:
After applying the masking liquid in the walkman writing and logo, I taped Sony and spraypainted it in blue:

Of course there were two tiny suicidal flies around and despite spraying below a cardboard, they took a bath on two spots (as you can probably see there). I fished them out and tried to even it out somehow.
Overall the blue paint layer looked ok enough to me.

However, the writings... Only semi-satisfying unfortunately, because the tape was (apparently) of lesser quality. The blue paint managed to get through (how the hell is this even possible?), ruining the silver below. And so I could scratch off all of it at that spot and I redid the spraypaint in the sony corner. We'll see how that will turn out, I was being (admittedly) too lazy to restart everything after all those hassles. This might be a huge mistake or not. We'll see.

The good news: Masking liquid rocks for such spots as the Walkman writing. Provided you applied it evenly and wiped off everything from the top so that only the gaps are filled, you can take a cutter knife, insert it in the gaps, and carefully lift off the dried, rubber-like liquid (I lied, it actually takes some more fiddling around, but once you lift it, you can just wipe your thumb a couple of times over the writing and it comes out by itself).

----

More photos to come once my correction dried (hopefully with satisfying visuals... I mean, I guess it can't be worse than it was before, right? So... eh...).

Any new ideas for how to go about the SONY font? A friend suggested spraying silver in a plastic cup and then using a brush to paint it with. Honestly, I'm out of ideas and this is probably what I'll revert to if nobody's got a better idea.


Oh and I collected some tips for others if anyone cares:
Beginner mistakes I made:

• Buy quality equipment (of all the things I used, of course the tape wasn't)!
• Level your device (note how a hinge tilts the case when it rests on the table)! Otherwise the paint will be uneven (never forget it's still a liquid, even in thin layers).
  
• Masking liquid sucks for tiny stamped out writings like SONY (I tried, it went everywhere but the damned writing). Taping is really really difficult because of the negative space of the S, O and Y. At a certain scale, better come up with another idea (and be it brushing it) or at least have solid tape you can cut with ease. However, masking liquid ROCKS hard for cavities.
  
• Make sure there are no flies before you spray and expect that there will be flies exactly in the moment you spray...... Be quick and use some box to instantly cover your stuff with right after the moment you stop spraying.
• (and bring tissues. I really wondered what to do when I had to sneeze.)

Other small (obvious) notes:

• Avoid dusty places.
  
• Avoid pollen.
• Wear headwear so you won't accidentally drop a hair on your fresh paint.
• Expect that you might be sweating, be it from stress or heat.
  
• Wear old clothes and protection. You're guaranteed to smell it and you're guaranteed to stand in a cloud of paint.
  
• Cover up your device after removing its case. Exposing electronics and displays without any kind of glass or cover isn't wise.
• Cuss a lot if things go wrong and take a break. Really, it helps.

 

The case looks great ! Don't know if mentioned before , a method to paint the "SONY" logo is to use the rubber stamp method , using a plain piece of rubber with silver paint applied on one side and then pushing it carefully and vertically against the logo . If you experiment in another piece to configure how much the paint should be diluted to avoid any flow this may do the trick.
I think you need this part for the broken band cable unfortunately it seems isn't anywhere available.

 

Thanks @Machaneus both for the compliment and the link! I believe I should be able to salvage it from a broken unit, I checked and it seems you can easily remove that part from the unit. Well, salvage it provided it's just the circuit board that's defect... so it might be some gambling. The advantage I'd get from this would be an own unit for spare parts, something I'm seriously considering. Maybe I'll try to get a hold of one with a really crappy looking case to give my (by now improved) spraypainting abilities another try.

I've been considering something like that, but I wasn't sure what kind of material to use and whether you just stamp it on something and lift it off or actually wipe it off. I'd likely (roughly) tape everything around the Sony if I'd go about doing that, though I won't bother with the gaps. Once and never more.
Your rubber trick might be just what I've been looking for, though I have no idea what to test it on. I'd need to find an object with some sort of heights and scale similar to what the Sony writing is.
Maybe I'll check some of those chocolate cardboard packagings that have embossed logos...


Another small update!
See spoiler below (I don't want to stuff too many pictures into this thread without any spoilers otherwise some people might have to load this thread forever).

Spoiler

This is how the Sony writing looks like now.

The bad news is: Being lazy leaves traces, but only if the light is just about right (set up a lamp and light from window in an angle that puts emphasis on the dents on the second picture). So if anyone's eager to be just as stupid "brave" as I was... Good luck, it might even somewhat work but don't expect it to be clean.

The good news is: Once the silver's in place, that should easily distract from it (especially because of the contrast in brightness).
Surprisingly the Walkman writing looks pretty shitty on photos, it looks pretty neat in real life actually. (EDIT: Found out it were tiny blobs of masking liquid which casted a shadow on photos but aren't visibile under normal circumstances. I removed them.)
Personally I'm also very fond of the tiny little scratches here and there that became visible with that blue paint layer. It adds that "device with a long history of use"-touch to it. Even the small dents of the paintjob. People might actually think it's metal now.

If all goes well, I might try sealing everything with some sort of translucent car finish spray or whatever I might find to be suitable. I heard people like to use translucent car coating to seal off metallic looking things.

Pretty sure someone's got a good laugh at how much I'm failing here, but hey, it's my first crappy paintjob of this scale ever, it's going to be unique at least.

PS: Tempted to buy metallic black or very dark grey paint, tape a stripe and lightly add it like on my concept #1 because that should be by far the easiest of all things I've done so far.

 

A simple rubber eraser can be used .

An old ... boombox or something similar often has embossed ID tag for testing , (then it can easily be wiped off )