There are a fair amount of kids toys that outlast their owner's interest. Some will be passed on from kid to kid and still be ready for more. The only problem is that their looks can fade and be less appealing. With a fresh coat of paint, however, it's easy to breath new life into an old toy and prepare it for some new adventures.
The amount of time this project takes depends on how complicated the toy is and how fancy you want to get, but a straightforward paint job like this one only took about an hour. Here's how to do it.
This Instructable was brought to you by Krylon
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There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, but if this is product placement or an overt ad a bit of honesty and disclosure could only make this instructable better. For example: "This instructable is sponsored by Krylon...blah blah blah"
Sorry I probably should have elaborated in my original comment. This comment is intended to be constructive. Have a wonderful day!
"Spraypaint is essential to many DIY projects. That's why we teamed up with Krylon to show off some cool uses of spraypaint in a series of Instructables. Try them out!"
currently 5 instructables by Fungus Amungus, including the 'new' (not sure) Bottle Jack-o-lanterns...
i felt the same way, when i read "This Instructable was brought to you by Krylon"... so yeah, krylon ad all the way lol
Spray paint is such an easy way to give new life to old toys. I've actually had problems where the neighborhood brats.....i mean ......kids have made fun of my kids toys when they look bad. a litte paint and some bling and they shut up.
couple things I recommend. For better adhesion you should really wash the surface with soap and water. use a degreaser like Dawn dishwashing soap. I also recommend going over the surface lightly with sand paper or fine steel wool so you get better adhesion. sand off rough edges where the plastic has been scratched. those will be the first places where the paint will fail so eliminating rough edges will prevent that. hit it with a tack cloth or a hose to get off the dust. for your project the surface was so worn and faided that i'm sure you got great adhesion without any problems. this is more a problem when the plastic is still shiny. spray paint needs a mat surface to really stick.
for something like this you can tie a rope to the steering wheel and hang it from a tree so that you can paint the bottom at the same time without having a paint seam.
I find it easier to remove the wheels so you can get a nice even coverage.
for a little added protection give it a few coats of clear. let the color coat dry at least overnight before applying the clear.
make sure you use a high quality paint mask. don't get use a crappy dust mask. spend the $30 for a good respirator. spray paint is wonderful stuff but you dont' want it in your lungs.