Overlaying Designs for Dummies: Help with Stick Skinning

[Chun （中）]

So I have recently acquired a Tekken 5 stick.

I took it apart to find the buttons and the stick were pretty much stuck to the pad, which doesn't allow me to remove the buttons or screw off the ball top.

I've been thinking about ghetto skinning it by overlaying the Tekken 5 design with Melty Stuff (glossy paper), then putting some plastic film over it and tucking it into the grooves such that I'd get a nice stiff finish. However, what bothers me the most is that if I neglect the gaps between the buttons it looks like crap.

I've been thinking of some sort of chemical way to remove the printed gloss work on the plate of the stick before overlaying, which would allow me to see the buttons but at the same time remove the ugly start/select/li body design garbage around the edges; paint thinner, or something of that stature that I could rub off.

I have a razor edge which I can cut patters around the buttons, but in general it's going to be hard work for the plastic film afterward.

So my questions are this:

1) How can I remove the design for the Tekken stuff chemically?

2) Are the buttons truly stuck on in some controllers such that you can't detach them, or is this simply basic glue that I can cut away without wiring issues?

3) What other methods can you think of given I can't separate the plate from the buttonwork, or detach the compartments?

Any ideas appreciated, and even if it's a lot of trouble I'm up to try it.

~Chun

[Soniti]

IIRC, the tekken 5 stick has it's board soldered onto the case in quite a few places. It's a pain in the ass to mod.