Mustard Plug - Philips 503 Portable Record Player

Philips 503 - Pic from mudah.my

Recently, by ad hoping at mudah.my, I have acquired myself with this old school portable record player. At a very reasonable price (post bargain ), this rig is a nice catch, not to mention it's age (circa 70's). Brought it home, tested the speed and all, everything seems to work perfectly well. If only the cosmetic could be improvised, I thought to myself.

Taking my chances, as I'm not really a good painter nor have any technician/graffiti artiste certificate, but with determination plus a full spoon of passion, I tried my best to make this rig as handsome as it can get. Suits the title, the color mustard has been chosen to fulfill the player.

Here's some of the results:


Front (Old)

Front (New)


Back (Old)

Back (New)


Back Close-up (Old)

Back Close-up (New - With rubber feet and chrome trim on handle bar)


In Action (Old - David Gilmour)

In Action (New - Beatles)


Briefcase Mode (Old)

Briefcase Mode (New)

I know, it is far from perfect, not that great or any good either. But I think this minimalist cosmetic makeover worth to share with all of you guys here.

Apologies in advance though I’m all ears for any comments, opinions or constructive ideas. Thanks!

Hi Forever, it looks nice! very funky. Hope to able to do the same when I retire.. havent got the time yet..

Wont look out of place if Austin Power is groovy with it

Hi adrian4454,

Thanks for the comment. Due to my heavy schedule, it took me 3 days (1 day to unscrew the parts, 1 day to repaint the case & let it dry, 1 day to do the final touch & re-assemble it back) to complete this project. It was a bliss. You can't go wrong with Austin Powers - Groovy Baby!

FD

Just a tip, if you like to have a meticulous paint finish (afterall you may only do it once and for all), do it as slowooooly as possible, let each coat dry for as long as possible. For unfinished, smoothened out or prepared surfaces, spray a coat of grey surface primer, this spray can easily gotten from your friendly well stocked hardware store, then a couple of coats of this will ensure you have a more durable and better paint build with whatever top coat you apply afterwards. As I said, take your time and do all this like you've all the time in the world. This applies to own DIY and its all worth it.

As with many things in DIY, slowly does it, rushing may incur more mistakes.

cmboy,

Thanks for sharing the very informative tip. Perhaps I can try it for my next project in the future. Sometimes, passion means no patience I guess.

FD

Yes, next project. We all learn things and do it better with patience, practice and further knowledge. Thing is, one should also have some degree of inherent DIY skill to close the gap to a professional result. Not just passion does it all the time.

OK, I've done numerous restoration jobs and learned things the hard way and some trade skills acquired especially my past days in a huge company manufacturing knocked down furniture from a felled tree to the production chair and table.

Wish you luck in your next job. Of course you can find countless subjects on restoration and refinishing projects and techniques. Detail!, eye for detail is also very neccessary.

BTW, I do look up at the sky to sense the weather if its a good day to do a spray paint job. Not all these days are good you know?

My refurbished LP12 wood plinth is my MASTERPEICE to date! I dare to say its far better than the original. Just plain lacquer coat, nothing else.

I second that cmboy. The weather also gets jealous sometimes.
Look forward to see your masterpiece!

FD

Yes, its all fun to DIY and be proud of your own sweat and tears.

My restoration jobs extends to many pieces of furniture that are either from family heirloom to some that people discarded and now given a new lease of life. Ain't life fun and joy, if you know how to make it productive, rather than NBTD, read newspapers and eat kuaci all day long.

If wanting to venture into higher level of restoration works, there's also acrylic paints and even powder coating that can be considered for restoring or modding hifi equipment. As for acrylic paints, you can actually buy some custom color concentrate mix from some specialist car paint shops, (mind you, its not exactly cheap) and also exist some shops doing powder coating in numerous and fancy colors. Gone are the days where powder coating is only in black. I saw this at LowYat.net where there was someone advertising their services and numerous examples of automotive components in various finish. I was quite facinated by it all. Even wanted considering to powder coat my Rega tonearm tube as part of advanced mods. Restoration does depend on how much you may like to spend on this. As for acrylic paints, one need the skill, air compressor with dryer equipment and a quality spray gun for a start. Then the danger all begins.

Ok..me seldom do this, just too hazardous.