Project intelMac G3 mod

[Rikintosh]

I am modifying an old imac that I bought for a very low price, because it is aesthetically ugly, and its motherboard is not very good. I live in Brazil, and this computer was in Rio de Janeiro. In the river, temperatures are very high most of the year, and due to the imac being close to some window during its life, it ended up turning brown.

I tried the retrobright technique, but it didn't work in any way. I believe that retrobright works only on ABS plastic, the imac is made of some plastic similar to acrylic. The poor mac has burned so badly that even the plastics inside are brown. Because of this, I decided to paint it, I thought for a long time which color scheme I would use, and everything I could imagine, it seemed to me that it would have a bad result, just like in the early 2000s when some people just did casemod painting your beige computer black with spray. I wanted something more subtle, with an appearance that made one think that it came from the factory, so I was inspired by the design of my 2009 iMac Aluminum.

Unfortunately I did not find a paint that faithfully reproduced the appearance of anodized aluminum, I also came across the impasse that I could not get a matte varnish (too expensive) to give this appearance, so I chose to do something inspired, but not the same, and the result was this:

It's not over yet, I'm doing it in my spare time.

When I finish painting, I'm thinking of removing the original 1998 motherboard, modifying the monitor's video connector, and installing a laptop that has a broken display, so I will have a really cool hackintosh

 

[1042686]

My imacg3 has a bad sun burn on one side as well and as such have contemplated refinishing it. As this is for my 3yr old son, I thought a minion-ish refin or wall-e refin would be cool.

Keep us updated

 

[Amethyst1]

As this is for my 3yr old son, I thought a minion-ish refin or wall-e refin would be cool.

What about a Hot Wheels treatment, is that still a thing these days?

 

[z970]

@RhianB If I was an iMac, I'd rather deal with the sunburn than spend the rest of my life as a minion.

Keep in mind that he won't always be 3.

 

[arn]

yeah, would love to see it complete

 

[Rikintosh]

@RhianB If you are skilled with "wraping", you can wrap it. I thought about doing it in mine, but I live in Brazil, and here good quality adhesives are not produced here.

An imac with this chameleon appearance would be very interesting

 

[Rikintosh]

Post update.

 

[1042686]

That looks great.

@z970mp stop anthropomorphizing my computers I might also build a service tray aka R2D2 in ROTJ on Jabba’s party barge for this iMac.

That would be even more cool.

 

[1042686]

What about a Hot Wheels treatment, is that still a thing these days?

Yanno he does love little hot wheels & matchbox cars too. That could be a fun treatment a la‘

I did think about a wrap too like what you’d put on a vehicle but I haven’t seen one for a computer. This would be an elegant Solution that would retain the macs original looks ( which are reminiscent of Two-Face.

Lastly he has a little bro, so this intro to keyboard mashing toddler machine will get continued use for quite a while.

 

[Rikintosh]

Post update

I put the pieces to dry on my roof, as my cats would end up spreading hair in the fresh paint if the pieces were at a height when they could jump. At night I will set everything up and post more photos

 

[Rikintosh]

Yanno he does love little hot wheels & matchbox cars too. That could be a fun treatment a la‘

I did think about a wrap too like what you’d put on a vehicle but I haven’t seen one for a computer. This would be an elegant Solution that would retain the macs original looks ( which are reminiscent of Two-Face.

Lastly he has a little bro, so this intro to keyboard mashing toddler machine will get continued use for quite a while.

I say, go ahead, do something cool and different! I am tired of seeing people who always do the same things, all imacs become aquariums, cat beds, or lamps... it's time to innovate! I always wanted to have the hotwheels computer when I was a kid. I also remember that there was a version for girls with a baribe theme.


If you want a little inspiration on what to do with your imac, a good starting point is to see a picture of Jonathan Ive's office, he looked for references in several things, so when you look at the Imac g3 do you find any familiarity with something else that you’re not sure what it is. One of the things that surprised me was that there was a picture of a VW Beetle, and some lines of that car are present in the iMac. So a promising idea would be to turn an iMac into a beetle.

 

[Rikintosh]

 

[alectrona6400]

View attachment 943528

it really do be drivin tho

 

[Rikintosh]

update: