[Koralatov]

Skulking on eBay, looking covetously at the clamshells (specifically, the Key Lime), I came across this auction: Custom Color Apple Clamshell iBook on eBay Apple iBook, Apple Laptops, Notebooks, Apple, Macintosh Computers, Computers Networking (item 190143620968 end time 26-Aug-07 04:30:14 BST)

The idea intrigues me. I'm not sure what the seller used to customise their clamshell, but I'm going to email and ask. Anyone have any ideas for how to do this? I'm seriously tempted to undertake this as part of the Extensive Clamshell Upgrade Crusade of 2007.

[Moonray]

Looks to me like it simply got painted. All translucency gone. Poor clamshell. I’m not intrigued at all.

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[shifuimam]

That one was very likely painted with Krylon Fusion or something similar - you can see light reflecting on the colored parts. The actual clamshells use rubberized material for the colored parts - I'd agree with Moonray on this one. It's been painted. There's no way paint will indefinitely bond to that textured rubber material - I personally wouldn't try to do it. I saw pics of a pink clamshell on eBay once, and it didn't look quite that shiny - but my guess is that it was painted. It would extremely difficult to remove the colored rubber on those things and replace it with another material, so painting would be your only option.

If you want to give it a shot, I'd recommend buying just the plastics on eBay and messing around with them. If you like the results, you can do the same job on your functioning clamshell iBook.

[Koralatov]

Thanks for the input, both of you. I was worried that it might have been painted, and I'm not willing to paint my clamshell because I just know it would turn out horribly. Also, the fact that it might chip and/or flake totally puts me off. Bleh.

Oh well, I might just actually have to pay for a Limeshell after all...

[Moonray]

For the record:
Nobody wanted it for a starting bid of US $322.00 and shipping costs of $45.00.

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[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by Moonray 

For the record:
Nobody wanted it for a starting bid of US $322.00 and shipping costs of $45.00.

Thank God for that. Paying upward of $360 for what's basically a pretty low-spec clamshell with a paint job is a pretty stupid move. I got my top of the line graphite clamshell for the equivalent of $200 at today's exchange rates. The seller is, however, convinced that a fool is out there waiting to be parted from their cash; the clamshell's been relisted, with the same start price and a buy-it-now of $350. They're optimistic, I'll give them that.

[bund]

You can combine the different housing parts of the five original colors: Blueberry, Tangerine, Key lime, Graphite and Indigo and build a multicolored Clamshell.
The only thing that differs is the bottom case for the firewire models, but you can still put a Blueberry or Tangerine top case on it..

[shifuimam]

Or dremel out a firewire hole.

The plastics on the 366Mhz and 466Mhz firewire models are solid "ice" white, while the plastics on the 300Mhz USB-only models are translucent with a silvery shielding visible through the plastic. It would be an odd combination overall.

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by bund 

You can combine the different housing parts of the five original colors: Blueberry, Tangerine, Key lime, Graphite and Indigo and build a multicolored Clamshell.
The only thing that differs is the bottom case for the firewire models, but you can still put a Blueberry or Tangerine top case on it..

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'm with shifuimam on this one though: it would be a very odd combination. Personally, if I don't manage to track down a key lime, I may just follow her example and dremel out a hole for the firewire from a tangerine one. Tangerine is the second best iBook colour, in my opinion.