For the Republic - A SWTOR Mod

OKANG

2[H]4U
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theoldrepubliclogo.jpg



INTRODUCTION:
After four years of production work, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be released on December 20th. To celebrate this milestone, I am building a case mod dedicated to SWTOR. I will be playing the Republic side, so the mod is named "For The Republic".

SUMMARY OF PLANS:
The base case will be inexpensive and the only visable part of it will be the bezel. The rest of the case will be covered in carved foam, then skinned in epoxy fiberglass for strength. A cosmetic skin of scored, sheet stryene will probably be the last layer. The forms and colors are a mix of game concept art, beta images, and some other random Star Wars stuff. There will also be a little kit bashing involved. Most of this mod is cosmetic, but at the same time there will be functional improvements. The left side will gain 20-25mm of clearance for larger CPU coolers. The right side will gain 25-30mm of space for cable management behind the motherboard tray. The top fan will move 20-25mm away from the motherboard for CPU cooler clearance as well.

ROUGH SKETCHES:
(easier for me as it would be a nightmare to render)...


Left Side
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This is the top of the case. I'm not happy with the top vents. I'll probably do something different.
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The right side will have a painted Galactic Republic logo.
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THE STOCK CASE:
A Rosewill Challenger will be used as the base for this mod. Like I said, it isn't an expensive case. In some ways, it kind of fits in with the Republic theme. More than that, I have never tried some of these techniques before and I'm not sure if this will work out at all. Oh yeah, I'm also cheap. Lol.

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As you can see, there isn't much room for cable management. I'll take care of that.
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LET THE MODDING BEGIN:
The first step was to scuff the stock finish and disassemble the bezel. For some reason, I actually like this better than stock.

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Marked and ready to Dremel
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After making my first cut on the left side, I discovered two things. First, the metal is thinner than the Coolermaster cases I am used to. Second, there is really no benefit to cutting any more out of the left side. So, I am leaving it like this with the extra metal offering extra strength.
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The right side is a different story. I really had to cut away all of the metal that I could.
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I'm currently cutting out steel guides for my hot wire foam cutter. Confused? Check back next week ;)
 
UPDATE:
As promised, here is a little more information about foam cutting and how I will be using it in this case mod.

First, I created some templates out of cardboard. For those who are curious, they are part of a frozen pizza box (did I mention I'm cheap?). They are the shape of the new shell's profile from every side.
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Those templates were then traced onto a piece of 22ga. sheetmetal from Home Depot.
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Ready to cut.
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After cutting these guides from the sheetmetal with a Dremel, they were deburred and sanded until very smooth (you'll see why in a moment). Then, each guide was drilled with two holes each. Corresponding holes were drilled through pieces of 3/4" angle aluminum. I will refer to these as retainers. The retainers were also shaped in places to fit the guides.
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That allows the guides and retainers to attach with screws and nuts.
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All of this works together with a hot wire foam cutter I made. Here are two of my cutters. The larger one is made from two yard sticks from Home Depot, string, nuts/bolts, wire, guitar string, and an extension cord. It has a cutting surface of about 2 feet. The smaller cutter is made from 3/4" PVC pipe, a couple of eye hooks, nuts, guitar string, and another extension cord. It has a cutting surface of about 5".
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These plug into the power source. It's a 12V 2A transformer, Radio Shack project box, dimmer switch, 60mm grill, and a couple of extension cords.
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But what does it do? Well, here is a quick mock-up. A guide and retainer go on either side of some layered 1/2" foam. The hot wire foam cutter follows the guides and you end up with a piece of foam in that shape. This is why I sanded the guides until they were very smooth. If the wire hangs on the guides, it creates a jagged piece of foam.
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Of course, when I cut the actual foam pieces, it will be on a larger scale. The larger cutter will be used. The retainers will be clamped to a piece of MDF and not to each other. Still, you get the idea. Btw, it's not necessary to cut the foam perfectly. I can sand the foam if necessary and dips can be corrected with body filler after fiberglassing. However, cutting it right in the first place is a lot easier. Next week you should see a bunch of cut foam glued to the case :)
 
Ha, I love the mini hotwire! I used to use mfg. version at a place I worked that does interactives for zoos and museums and such. They are so much fun! Rasps and hotwire make the foamy world go round. :)
 
UPDATE:
Foam party!

1/2" sheet foam was cut about 1" bigger in each dimension, then glued together with Super77. I cut some scrap 3/4" MDF 2" wider in one dimension. This serves as a platform when cutting the foam and gives me something to clamp the guides onto. A different board was cut for use with the top.

Here is one stack of foam for a side, ready to cut.
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After the first cut. This looks messy because it is.
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The Super77 melted as the foam cutter passed through it. That goo latched onto the cutting wire, so I ended up dragging it over the foam. Less than optimal is putting it nicely, lol. I tried cutting another stack using only weights on top of the foam and no glue. It just didn't work. The foam wants to move, lift, and warp if it isn't glued. I guess I'll be using these pieces and cleaning them up.
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Ready for the second cut. The socket set is only there as weight to help prevent the foam from moving.
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After the second cut.
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The pieces needed to be cleaned up and some of the sharp edges needed to be rounded, so I hit them with some 220 grit sandpaper. Here is one side sanded and one unsanded. I am mostly happy with the results.
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There is some work that went on that I didn't photograph. Basically, it was hand-carving the corners of the top piece to match the sides. I used an exacto knife to cut a couple of chunks and just sanded the rest.

Here are all of the foam pieces attached to the case with spray adhesive. The blue painter's tape is protecting small areas on the top and sides where I sanded to bare metal. This is where the fiberglass will attach to the case. I'm not sure how this will work out. Hopefully, it will be enough to keep everything from falling apart. The inside of the seams will also be reinforced with "kitty hair" when possible.
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The back of the case.
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This weekend, I am going to try filling some of the imperfections with plaster of paris and give it one last round of sanding before I start fiberglassing. Epoxy resin and fiberglass cloth is in route! Next week you should see pictures of the plastered case...or one big sad face.
 
Subbed. This is going to be awesome. I was in the SWTOR Beta and I will be playing, I'm just excited to see what comes of this.

One thing I have a question is, are you going to reinforce that foam somehow? It would seem awfully prone to accidental damage if the outer layer was just foam.
 
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Subbed. This is going to be awesome. I was in the SWTOR Beta and I will be playing, I'm just excited to see what comes of this.

One thing I have a question is, are you going to reinforce that foam somehow? It would seem awfully prone to accidental damage if the outer layer was just foam.
Lucky you! I haven't been invited to the beta...yet. They continue to have beta weekends where masses of people are invited, so my fingers are crossed.

Having a foam case would result in some very realistic battle damage. :p Yes, the foam will be covered with 5-6 layers of 6 oz. fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin. It won't be bulletproof by any means, but fairly strong. If everything goes as planned, a thin layer of sheet styrene will on top of that. It won't be structural though and will exist mostly for cosmetic purposes.

Thanks for the interest!
 
Oh nice, an old school modder has returned.

I'm looking forward to see the result of this project.
I'll try not to disappoint ;)

Good to see you're still active on the forums. I am a long-time fan of your work. The resin work in Anemone and carbon fiber in Oenone still inspires me today!
 
UPDATE:
Time to get plastered!

After cutting the foam, it was obvious that there were some gaps and gouges. Based on my research, plaster seemed like a good solution, but I have never worked with it before.

Here is the case with a coat of plaster. I wasn't sure how much to use, so I mixed 2 pounds. That turned out to be a lot more than I needed. It's cheap, so no harm done.
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Sanding the plaster was very easy and only took about two hours. That may seem like a long time, but it would have taken much longer to sand body filler. Hopefuly, this work will save time after fiberglassing. I also cut off the painter's tape and threw the bezel on to see how everything looks. I think I may end up tweaking the bezel a bit, but that will come much later.
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Back of the case.
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The front, back, and bottom were all masked off. Everything is ready for fiberglass and my supplies from US Composites have arrived.
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I should be able to start fiberglassing this weekend, though a couple of space heaters may be required in the garage!
 
UPDATE:
"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." Henry J. Kaiser

I actually started fiberglassing on Sunday, just as a cold front hit the area where I live. That drop in temperature, combined with a resin mixing error, caused me some major headaches. I actually had to pull all of the fiberglass off the case and start over. Luckily, I was only two layers into the process and it hadn't cured (after three days!).

Yesterday, I laid two layers successfully and let it cure overnight.
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Today, I laid another two layers.
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The work has been going well since the initial difficulties, but there are a couple of issues. This is one of the better corners.
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This is one of the problem corners. The radius is very difficult to form the cloth over, even after cutting and tucking. I will probably have to grind down these areas and reinforce them with kitty hair.
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I have one more layer left and then it will be time for body filler and cleanup. Until next week, happy modding!
 
Absolutely amazing.
Thanks!

You should have gone for the t-shirt + epoxy combination instead. Much easier to use across double bend corners. Sure, not as strong as fibre glass but strong enough unless you are going to dissolve the foam behind.
I will be dissolving the foam behind the entire right panel and about half of the left panel. The fleece/t-shirt method may have worked though. I think it would have taken quite a bit of reinforcement. I'll have to play around with that method sometime and see what the limitations are. Thanks for the advice :)

the modding force is strong in you ;)
I am but a young padawan.
 
UPDATE:
My fill of filler...

I have been hard at work on the case this week. It was mostly body filler and LOTS of sanding.

I decided to stop at 4 layers of mat because it seemed very strong. After it cured properly, the next step was to start trimming it down with the Dremel.
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After I got it as close as I could with the Dremel, I block sanded it up to the edge of the metal panels. In this picture, you can also see where I ground out those nasty corners. On a couple of the corners, I had to go all the way down to foam. I unmasked the case because it was getting in the way and I don't really need it anymore.
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The edges were coated with Duraglass, which is a fiberglass-reinforced body filler.
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The Duraglass is very strong and TOUGH to sand, but worth the extra effort.
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Here is one of the corners, filled and sanded.
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The rest of the case was a little bumpy. No big surprise there. So, this is where my case turns into a cake, complete with yellow frosting (Rage Gold lightweight filler).
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Hours of sanding later, the case is much smoother. It's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be. There will be a sheet of styrene on top of it. We'll see how that works out later.
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You can see I will need to do a little work to the bezel, but that's okay. I wanted to tweak it anyway.
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Next step is to cut the side panels from the top panel. That has me a little concerned. Things could go horribly wrong. After that, I will cut the holes in the top/side panel and reinforce everything. Until next week, happy modding!
 
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This is looking really good, man. I love/hate working with fiberglass. Such a great finish, but damn I always end up itching like crazy afterwards. Reminds me of my RC boat making days. :)

Keep up the very fine work!
 
Congrats on being today's [H] Case Mod of the Day! Looking good.. am taking notes! Will show to my 16 year old when you get it done.. hopefully you will by the time The Old Republic comes out. My son was part of the beta testing weekend a few weekends ago.. been waiting for SW: TOR Online since it was announced.. he use to play Star Wars: Galaxies for years until people stopped playing it. Bet he will LOVE your case! Continued good luck with your build! BTW.. thinking of getting that SW: TOR keyboard & mouse to use with this?
 
Thanks, Steve, for making this case mod of the day on 11/11/11. It's an honor. Now, the pressure is on to complete this thing ;) The styrene is on the way! It will be interesting to see how that works out. Will I be able to form it to the case? Will the panel lines look like complete rubbish? Exciting stuff, lol.

This is looking really good, man. I love/hate working with fiberglass. Such a great finish, but damn I always end up itching like crazy afterwards. Reminds me of my RC boat making days. :)

Keep up the very fine work!
Thanks for the compliment. Yeah, fiberglass work is messy, for sure. I dust my arms and hands with baby powder beforehand to avoid the fibers embedding in my skin. I also wear a 3M respirator and gloves. It works pretty well, but there is always a little itchiness involved.

Congrats on being today's [H] Case Mod of the Day! Looking good.. am taking notes! Will show to my 16 year old when you get it done.. hopefully you will by the time The Old Republic comes out. My son was part of the beta testing weekend a few weekends ago.. been waiting for SW: TOR Online since it was announced.. he use to play Star Wars: Galaxies for years until people stopped playing it. Bet he will LOVE your case! Continued good luck with your build! BTW.. thinking of getting that SW: TOR keyboard & mouse to use with this?
Thanks :) I have seen the Razer keyboard and mouse, but I don't think I would use them. Also, they are sure to be overpriced like a lot of Razer's other stuff ($60 for a mousepad? Seriously?). I may end up modding my own. I'm not sure yet.
 
UPDATE:
Break and dissolve.

It has been a busy week and I have a lot of pictures, so bear with me.

I have been worried about cutting the side panels free from the case. I thought there was a real chance the whole thing would just fall apart. The first step was to mask the line.
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Cut very carefully with a Dremel.
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Run the hot wire foam cutter down the gap to cut the foam, then carefully pry the panel free. This was actually pretty tough and took me 10-15 minutes per panel. Some resin had made its way between the panel and chassis. Ugh!
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Now, there was a new problem: exposed foam.
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So, I taped everything up and used some acetone to eat away a little pocket in the foam. You can see some fiberglass mat in this pic. I actually tried it and decided it was too much trouble. I left a layer of resin on the foam though.
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After the resin was cured, I added some Duraglass and left it to dry. The next day, I removed the tape and did a little cleanup work.
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With a little reinforcement in the side panels, I was ready to get rid of some foam. Here is the right panel.
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This is the carnage created by some acetone. I kind of wanted to leave it this way. Looks pretty narly.
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After a bunch of scraping, I was able to get it pretty clean.
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The left and top panels were a little different. I only needed to remove a section of foam, so I outlined it with my foam cutting wand.
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Added a little acetone...
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And scraped out the goo.
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The original piece that was cut out will go back in that spot later. The same goes for the top panel.
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The styrene should be here tomorrow. I have been thinking about this a lot and I don't think there's any way I can shape the styrene without vacuum-forming it. Luckily, I have a little extra time this weekend to give it a shot. I have zero experience with vacuum-forming, so that could be interesting. I will also have to drill out rivets and pop off the top panel. That could end up being a disaster. So, yeah, more exciting stuff. Until next week, happy modding!
 
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UPDATE:
This sucks - the making of a vacuum former

As I said in the last update, I am going to try vacuum-forming. It's something I have been interested in for a long time. There are hundreds of web pages out there with instructions on how to make a vacuum-form machine and most of them are different. Mine is a combination of several, with a twist or two.

First, I needed to make the forming surface, or platen. Since this is going to be a 24x24 surface, I couldn't use a cookie sheet or baking pan. I decided to use 3/4" MDF. It won't be as durable, but should last for many pulls.

Here are the parts. The drilled platen (1,444 holes!!), backplate, spacers, flange, PVC adapter for the vacuum hose, and some screws.
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Here are the spacers glued to the platen. I put a bead of silicone around the inside edges to seal it.
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Here, the backplate is glued and the whole thing is held together with 1-1/2" screws. the flange is also screwed to the backplate and sealed with silicone.
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Here is the top of the assembled piece. The outside edge is sealed with silicone and the edges of the platen are sanded round (I don't have a router - ugh).
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Okay, this is where it gets a little wonky. Here is my heater box. I didn't want to mess with nichrome wire, ceramic posts, hardyboard, etc. So, I bought a couple of really cheap griddles and built a box out of 1/4" MDF. The whole thing is lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. It is 6" tall (3" taller than the griddles). I have no idea if this will work, lol.
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Next, I had to make a frame to hold the plastic. A lot of people use window screen frames, but this is a little big for that method. I tried to make a frame out of aluminum C-channel and it was a disaster. I decided to make one out of 3/4" MDF. It's not as strong as I'd like, but hopefully it will work. The black strips are anti-skid material like you'd put on steps. It is to help grip the plastic and keep it from moving around. The upper part of the frame has it too.
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In order to form the top panel, I need to remove it from the case. Also, I have decided to paint the interior of the case as well. I initially wanted to leave it black, but I think it will look better grey. There were some anxious moments drilling out the rivets, especially for the top. If I wrecked that panel, I might as well throw the whole case in the trash. It all worked out though. However...
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If a relative buys you some drill bits from WalMart for Christmas, take them back! They are terrible. This damn thing almost resulted in an injury.
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I still have plenty of work to do and SWTOR comes out in less than a month! I need to paint the inside of the case, vacuum-form the outside panels, re-assemble the case, scribe the panel lines, modify the front bezel, cut the fan holes in the top and side panels, mount the fan panels, do some kit bashing, paint the outside of the case, and several little things as well.
 
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Awesome, now you can drill around corners. :D

How long did it take to drill all those holes in the vacuum former?
Yeah! Lol.

It took about 3-4 hours. Honestly, that is way more holes than I needed. Once I started drilling I realized this, but didn't want to start over. My grid was 38x38. A 20x20 grid would have been plenty. Oh well, it doesn't hurt anything.
 
UPDATE:
Good news and bad news.

I finally got around to vacuum-forming. For the first piece, I decided to try the top panel.
vacuumform9so.jpg


I pre-heated the heat box using a lid made from scrap wood. After about 10 minutes, I put the frame on the box with a piece of styrene loaded. Once the entire piece began to sag, I turned on my little canister vac and here is what happened.
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Wow, that's cool, right? Well, shortly after the styrene formed, I heard a noise. Part of the sheet actually broke, causing the table to lose suction. I knew there were risks to using something this shape as a mold with no riser, but I didn't expect a break.
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If it weren't for the break and loss of suction, I think it would have been a nice pull with very little webbing. I trimmed up the piece and was able to get it off the panel without too much trouble.
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Awesome. Kind of looks like a piece of storm trooper armor :) Unfortunately, this isn't going to work for me. I think it's too thin. I am using .040" styrene, which would crumble into a ball if I started carving or cutting on it. I need .080" or thicker to even begin doing what I want to do. Also, the lines would have to be perfectly straight. If there was a mistake, it would be very difficult to correct.

So, I am abandoning the styrene. I am going to try creating the same effect with spray paint. To mask the panel lines, I am going to try some automotive pinstriping. I think it will still look good, just not AS good. Oh well, I still learned a little about the limitations of the material and now I can use vacuum-formed parts on later projects :cool:
 
You'll be surprised by styrene if you give it a chance. If anything you could step it up to 1.5mm(.060)
 
You'll be surprised by styrene if you give it a chance. If anything you could step it up to 1.5mm(.060)
I think I could go up to .080 or even .125 without too much trouble. I may need a stronger vacuum source though. The main issue for me is being able to produce many perfectly-straight lines without sanding or any kind of correction over curved surfaces. It probably could be done, but it would take a lot more time than I am willing to dedicate to this project. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of another month.
 
UPDATE:
It's been a while!

I normally update every week and it has been over two weeks since the last post. Sorry about that, but I HAVE been working on the case. So, there are a lot of pictures and quite a bit has been done.

The first thing I did was clean up the chassis and paint it. The color is flat white and I don't have any pictures to post of it...yet. I probably won't until it's back together because, well, there isn't much to see. It's a different color. Use your imagination. Lol.

Next, I did a bunch of work to the shell of the case. I made up some templates for the cutouts in the top and left panel. After some measuring, I traced the outline of the cutouts.
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Here are both panels, ready to cut. I lost my black Sharpie and had to use silver. Ugh.
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After making the cuts, I did a little dry-fitment of the fan panels and noticed that the surface wasn't as flat as I'd like. Also, the fiberglass wasn't really thick enough to create the look I wanted. To provide the flatter surface and a deeper recess, I made some plexi spacers.
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They are just cut to roughly the same shape and you'll see why in a moment.
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The spacers are held in place by Duraglass. I initally intended for the duraglass to only be a filler, but it's holding everything together very well. I may not need mechanical fasteners.
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I ground the cutouts until there was about 1/32" to 1/16" left. It still looks very nasty.
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But after sanding, I think it looks decent. If I had tried to cut these pieces to the same exact size and put them together, it wouldn't look nearly as good.
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Here is the finished cutout for the top panel. I don't have a pic of the left panel, but it's the same idea.
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Here you can see the effect of the spacer. It makes the panel look a little more interesting and substantial. It reinforces the edge as well. In this pic, the fan panel isn't attached. It's just sitting in place.
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I am wanting to do some kit bashing on the left panel, but to do that I need a solid surface. The stock case has a bunch of extra holes around the fans. Here you can see I traced the outline of the fans, as well as where the cutout will hit the fan panel.
shellcutout10so.jpg


To fix this, I made a little cover out of sheet styrene. It isn't attached in this pic, but you get the idea.
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I wanted to see if I had enough pieces for the kit bashing, so I played around with them a little. Even if I used the plastic sprues, I don't think it would be enough. I ended up buying a tank to go with my two battleships. I think it will look good when I'm finished.
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I had to do a bunch of cleanup on the panels to get them ready for paint. This included reinforcing some of the edges with JB Weld so I could get a durable, crisp edge. Here are the panels before primer.
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Since I'm not going to use a styrene cover for the shell, I'm going to simulate panel lines using paint. My original idea was to use pinstriping, but the narrowest I could find was 1/8". I did a test piece (left) and didn't like the results. I found some 3M fine line masking tape that is 1/16" wide and did another test piece (right). I think it's going to work out just fine. We will see.
shellcutout16so.jpg


I am beginning to primer and paint the shell, but no pics of that yet. It's going to be a little complicated, but I think I can pull it off. It WILL NOT be ready for the official launch date on December 20th, but I have made the decision to take my time. I want this to be a quality mod and there are a few finishing touches that will make it a lot nicer. I think I can get it done before the end of January, maybe much sooner!

Thanks for reading and happy modding!
 
Looks pretty awesome...a lot of work is going into this! I see the side panels and can't but to wonder why you didn't just start with a 500r...lol. In for the finished product!
 
Star Wars, Foam, Resin casting, Vacuum formed Styrene, this is definately my kind of build !!!! Great work and sub'd for sure man !!
 
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This is BA, can't wait for some updates!
The case will be on hold for about a week, due to the holidays. I will have some updates soon!

looking pretty cool. love the DIY vacuum form table you made.
Thanks :) I have some ideas for the vacuum former, but it might not be for this case.

Looks pretty awesome...a lot of work is going into this! I see the side panels and can't but to wonder why you didn't just start with a 500r...lol. In for the finished product!
I'm glad you like it! Yes, there are some similarities to the 500r and a bunch of other cases as well. Honestly, most cases look similar in some way. I can say for sure that this case won't look like anything else when it's finished. I do these projects to learn as well. If I took the easy way out, I wouldn't learn nearly as much.

Star Wars, Foam, Resin casting, Vacuum formed Styrene, this is definately my kind of build !!!! Great work and sub'd for sure man !!
Thanks for the interest! I like to experiment with new techniques and try not to repeat myself :)
 
BACK
The case lives!

It has been a long time since my last update. The case went dormant for over a year, sitting in pieces in a closet. The good news it everything has survived and I'm making progress again. The bad news is SWTOR turned out to be a huge flop of a game. I played it for about 2-3 months, but that's it. So, this is going to be a generic Star Wars case. Most of the original design will remain, with a few tweaks.

Here is a sneak peek. I should have some more pictures soon!

reborn1s.jpg
 
Welcome back, hope you get this finished soon. Looks really good so far.
 
ProgresS:

I have been hard at work on the case, as time allows. If the pictures look a little different, it's because my trusty old Canon bit the dust. The replacement Panasonic doesn't take great shots.

Here is the full version of the teaser pic I posted a couple of weeks ago. I finished body work on the main panels, followed by a coat of black, masking, and coats of grey. I used 1/16" masking tape. It's still a little thick for the effect I'm trying to create, but I'm rolling with it.
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If you remember, I told you the bezel would need a little work, partly because of this:
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Here is the bezel after filling and sanding. The white areas are epoxy putty used for high build. The yellow is lightweight body filler for blending (something I learned the putty isn't good for). In some areas, I actually sanded all the way through the bezel, so putty was used to fill the holes. It doesn't look like much, but the bezel took several hours to get right.
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Here is my first try at kit bashing. It isn't great. I probably need a few more pieces, but I'm calling it good. It WILL be painted grey. Don't worry.
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Here are the bezel inserts. I used paint stripper to get rid of all the glossy stock paint. The weird 5-1/4 is for a Rheosmart 6. The mesh is a pretty good match.
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Still on the list of things to finish:
  • Mask and paint the kit bashing grey.
  • Paint the bezel grey.
  • Paint the bezel inserts flat black.
  • Create custom case feet. This will be done by sculpting a master and casting them in resin (another first for me).
  • Reassemble a few small bits on the case.
 
How many hours you got into this. im loving it. Wish i had this kind of talent.
 
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