HPR-4 Flame'D

[Defyant]

Started this a week or so back now, i'm a fair way into the mod but i'll try and catch yas up asap.

**I'll Keep this Spot for 1 most recent uptodate shot.****

Wanting a spell from HPR-3 MEGA ive decided to do some more [H]ard|core Case Modding.


All mods start somewhere, just most of mine seem to start with one of these!

The first thing to be done is to strip the case down.

Streight to cutting! the floppy area is cut away from the top panel and a 110mm hole is cut for the blow hole.

For all my blow holes i use PVC pipe, its thick walled and very strong, perfect for this type of mod.

It's marked as being 100mm but in actual fact its 110ISD wich is really perfect for the 120mm fan blow hole.

A bit more trimming is needed to make the hole larger and the cut section of pvc pipe is tightly fitted in.

 

[Defyant]

As you can see plenty of overhang is left to accomodate for the conture of the facia.

Rather than use bondo to secure the rear of the Blow hole, Qick Dry Aradite is used just for the ease of use

the joining surfaces are "ruffed" up to help the Glue adhear.

Dosn't look like a lot! i'll add more later.

The glue is given 20 mins go "go off" and it's time to flip the panel over and trim off that excess.

A qick going over with the sander tool

and a good old hand sand with some 200 grit.

 

[Defyant]

Looking almost done! a thin skim of bondo will be applied over night to finsih the blowhole.

Next is to cut a matching hole in the Chassis to allow the new blow hole to fit.This time ive taken the easy and less messy way out and cut my hole with the snips!

For this type of hole this method is fine and with a steading hand and baby steps you can get a pretty clean cut

For all those Jaggy sharp bits! you can use a Hammer and Dolly to flatten them out.

Time for a test run! Not too bad for a evenings work

 

[Defyant]

Ive always wanted to do a window flame mod! HP-4 is the excuse i needed

Before i start....

I want to give HUGE creds to MNPCTECH!.MNPCTECH supplies the templates for the flames ive used on this and many other mods ive done, MNPCTECH supplies these free of charge, and they part of just one of many awsome tutorials supplied over on the MNPCTECH website.

Cudos Bill TYVM mate

I ended up having to use more than 5 different dremal bits for this mod! as well as a stack load of 200G sandpaper.

The pattern is copied onto the side panel @ this stage its just a ruff trace.

I really had no idea of how messy and how much of a painstaking timeconsuming job this was going to be....i soon found out

Even @ this stage i'll bet your going hrrrrrm!

After a couple of hours, 2 beers, a coffee, lunch and a qick session of catch with the son the panel was actually starting to look promising!

Each and every flame is worked on individually until smooth.

A close up shows just how much work was needed to get each flame smooth.

 

[Defyant]

A lot later in the day the panel is ready for a "look see "

It really is good to be modding again

 

[atom]

Excellent return to the modding scene defiant. Ive never seen a plastic side panel before, thats pretty 1337. What else you got planned for this baby? What you thinking paint... i think it would look good in red and black!

 

[Borgschulze]

Holy shit! An electronic vernier scale?

 

[Billiam411]

a digital caliper...
nice work so far

 

[Borgschulze]

a digital caliper...

Sorry... "Vernier Caliper" is what the actual name is. But it's digital so it just shows you the result instead of reading the Vernier Scale.. don't be rude next time please.

 

[hitman_forhire]

Nice man, looking good!

 

[Dumass_Freakboy]

Yes - vernier very nice for machining waterblocks 2 - I was about to post myne... but I don't want to hijack

/me is waiting for more!

 

[Defyant]

Holy shit! An electronic vernier scale?

small things amuse ! ........

Damm you know your mods already in truble when ppl find simple tools more exciting. better up the modding eh ?

Defyant's Custom Embossed Base Flames


*******Sorry for the badly focused shots guys***************

The flames get "The chop"

Next is to clamp on into place on the base.

A bit of heat is applied and the front of the flame is bent into shape.
The wifey's pegs are always handy

 

[Defyant]

Next is to sand and prep the area where the flames will be glued to, using good old Araldite epoxy glue.

Holes are marked and drilled to where the flames will be glued to, these will help act as anchor points.

Plenty of glue is used! any extra araldite can be sanded later

The tips edges and excess glue is sanded away.

 

[Defyant]

Time to start the moulding process....i'm using spot/hand/glazeing putty... this is NOT the suggested method of going about this! and a proper skim of Bondo is a better idea then use your glaze sand spray putty sand paint.

An initial sand to knock the bulk of the putty off...these will now be left to sit over night.

 

[Defyant]

With some initial ruff sanding out of the way and a new camera for better pics you can see @ closeup just how ruff these are.

Theres still a lot of work before these flames look any where near convincing.

The hardest part is getting into the curved back of each flame, for this im using a small fine round sanding tip in the dremel.

Another soft going over with some finer sandpaper

 

[Defyant]

Then it's over for 3 really thick coats of spray putty.

The base was left to sit for 24 hours under heat lamps to help the putty cure.

As you can see! thyrs still lots of ruff/low spots, the proper thing prolly should be to "spot putty" these, but i'm confident enuf to over come these with some sneeky sanding and a few more coats of primer putty.

Some black shadow is applied to help me find my "lows" as i sand.

a few mins later of "wet rubbing" and the flame is starting to look like it should. (moulded)

a qick few coats of primer now to help fill again and show up any ruff spots, whick are again sanded out.

i'll leave this to sit over night to allow the ton's of paint to "settle" and have a looksee in the morn as to weather i'll add some more spray putty of just a few coats of primer

 

[Defyant]

After another qick wet sand , a few more coats of spray putty was applied.

Again left to dry for the most part of the day and given one final wetrub

Some close ups show how each little area is worked to the result needed.

One final going over with primer! this is the last step before one more wetsand and finally the paint.

 

[Defyant]

Thought it was finished? just a few shots to show the product and the technique used to apply it!!!!

A few shots to show the base with the pc

 

[Veeb0rg]

looking great man.. I would have been temped to try and keep the flames clear thou, light them up with a red led later..

 

[unhappy_mage]

Dude! Looking good! I like how well the bottom flames came out.

Any plans for airbrushing the flames, or are they staying "natural"?

 

[Borgschulze]

I'm not big on flames... but the rest looks good.

 

[Defyant]

looking great man.. I would have been temped to try and keep the flames clear thou, light them up with a red led later.

cheers mate yer the thought was there, but i didnt just want this to turn into another HP3-MEGA where you are all just dazzled by the bright lights!
i wanted this case to actually stand on the quality of the mods

Dude! Looking good! I like how well the bottom flames came out. Any plans for airbrushing the flames, or are they staying "natural"?

Cheers u_m the plan is the airbrush all the flames , i still havnt decided on the colour i want tho.

I'm not big on flames... but the rest looks good.

hahahaha your deffinatly posting in the wrong thread! this whole mod is about flames

 

[Defyant]

For the motherabord side panel i'm going to keep with the Auto theme and use some Vents ive had laying around for ages.

these will not only be for looks but serve to help the internals breath as well.

The idea is that the 2 will petrude thru the side panel much like the hood scoops do on hot rods.

These will be attached to the chassis and the side panel will be fitted over the top.

The holes are cut by hand and dremel, so the lines are not as streight as they could be.

A block and paper help to sand them back to near streight.

With one hole cut the Vents can be placed thru for a "look see", the only delema is what way to have the vents face?

 

[Defyant]

I decided that now was a good time to cut the second (top) vent hole and do a proper looksee!

Nothing really flash to show you guys, just me cutting a hole! so ive left that out and moved onto the better shots.

A bit of early spray putty was used to help fill in the larger scratches from the cuts and sanding.

Next (using some double sided tape for now)was to sit the side vents in.

Last was to pop the panel on!... i have to admit i really like this look and i think it will fit in with the rest of the theme, not bad for a $2.50 mod :wink:

Maybe some added lighting later

 

[Defyant]

I went off on a bit of a Tangent today! bit more self indulgence. I'd had an idea thru the week and having a spare front panel to play with i'd thought i'd give it shot!

I wanted to spice up the old "blow hole" mod, give it somthing new


The modded panel and the new one i'll use for the new defyant style blow hole

I'll pretty much skip thu the cutting hole process, all been seen before.

This blow hole is going to follow the shape of the case and be a raised type.

The new part or extra to the blow hole will be it'd side vents!


This is the first time ive tried this mod, it's ganna be messy soz, but bear with me and hopefully the end result will be worth the time.



No rocket science just mark and cut

The left over will be bent down to help with the shape of the vents.

Some left over 100mm pvc from the blowhole is cut into 2 small strips.

And pretty much "jammed" and araldite glued into the cut slots.

 

[Defyant]

You all knew this next part was comming

Again im skipping thru the several layers of bondo ive applied.

Some final 2pack qick dry fine sand putty is used....more or less fancy blade putty as ive used earlier.

 

[Defyant]

As you can see i'm trying to work 2 contrasting shapes against each other in the hopes that they will become more interesting to look at.

With the one side almost complete ive poped the front facia on for a good old "looksee"

I'll update tomorrow with the other vent completed and the whole panel under putty.

 

[CrimandEvil]

So cool!

 

[l0cke]

So cool!

agreed

 

[Borgschulze]

hahahaha your deffinatly posting in the wrong thread! this whole mod is about flames

It doesn't mean I hate flames

 

[Billiam411]

idea: i think it would look really cool if you had some glow type lights inside the vents. it would look like the underglow of cars. not bright and not a strong light, but just enough so you see the light on the vent itself

 

[Defyant]

This stuff is mixed in small amounts and used as needed to fill the pits etc.

The vents are worked some more and put inder a few coats of spray putty.

 

[Defyant]

 

[mrweasel]

wicked nice!

love the intakes near the blow/suck hole

 

[VulturEMaN]

that case pwns so far. I expect as much detail on the mod; don't let me down!

 

[LongShotHero]

looks good, but i hope sky blue isn't gonna be the final color

 

[UnknownSouljer]

looks good, but i hope sky blue isn't gonna be the final color

Looks sorta like baby blue to me, but in either case I kinda like it. But I think that's just the colour of the spray putty or the primer.

 

[LongShotHero]

Looks sorta like baby blue to me, but in either case I kinda like it. But I think that's just the colour of the spray putty or the primer.

Yeah that's kinda what I thought but I wasn't positive

 

[NeO473]

Very nice work, I would have to guess you have auto body repair as a hobby/prof. Keep it up!

 

[TehRoflcopter]

Not to be "punny", but this mod is "hot!".

/lol