Project : Unnamed (Please Help ID Case)

[daedal]

Project: Specter

This is basically my first official case mod so any hints, tips and suggestions are very much appreciated. Essentially, the project got started on an idea to mold out a skull and put it on the side of a case to make it look like it was "coming out" of it. The skull was first molded in dollar store plasticine by my girlfriend. Once it had dried, I applied a coat of fiberglass and dug out the plasticine filler once it had set. I then added dozens of successive coats of body filler which were sanded down smooth to produce the final result. It's still a work in progress as it demands alot (read, ALOT) of intricate sanding which is very time consuming.

I'll also be constructing several wire boxes to house the LED/Fan power adapters and their wires. Any suggestions on how I could do these? I'm thinking of creating a mold and making them in fiberglass and create the less complex shapes (bottom plate to hide wires) in plexi.

The front panel got hit by a 4.5" holesaw I had to pickup from my local Rona store. Canadian Tire and Home Depot both did not carry sizes bigger than 4" and this sucker cost me about 45.00$ with the drill adapter. Worst part is that it doesn't even fit on my electric drill; I had to use my press drill, which was a nightmare to align properly.

I'm still undecided on the color scheme. I was thinking black and green, or white and green. Kinda leaning towards white which would give it a cool clean techie feel that wouls stand out. Any suggestions? I'm going for a clean alien theme and am trying to avoid blue as much as possible at this time as I'm planning another mod with blue .

Anyway, that's all for now. Specs are below and I should (hopefully) be posting some small updates tomorrow. Let me know if you have any questions. Later.

Project Details
Project: Specter
Inspiration: Alien themed. Glossy white and smooth.
Start date: May 8th 2005

Case Details
Case: Unknown brand and build. Anyone know so I can get some "before" images?
Case Cost: Unknown. (was collecting dust in the closet from a long time ago)
Case Specs: Standard ATX. Steel construction. 2x80mm back, 2x80mm front.
Cooling: Air cooled unless I can find a sponsor for water.
Cooling Specs: At least 2x120mm (intake, blowhole) and 2x80mm (exhaust) so far.

Hardware
I can't afford new parts to put in this thing so I'll leave it as N/A for now.
Motherboard: N/A
Processor: N/A
Video: N/A
RAM: N/A
Hard Drive: N/A
Optical (CD/DVD): N/A
Floppy: None
Power: Not sure. At least 500w and I'll do custom sleeving.

Here's the front panel on it's first Bondo application after I've punched the hole for the 120mm intake fan. I was missing one of the 3.25" bay slot fillers so I just filled the whole thing in Bondo and sanded it down smooth.

Painted flat black chassis. The white spots are because of the reflections. I don't think I've missed any. Note my girlfriend's hand and the ring I bought her for christmas. By the way, does anyone recognize that company's logo on the base?

Close up of the paint. Sorry about all the dust on there. Forgot to blow it off before taking the picture but the paint is actually very clean despite of how it looks on this shot.

Second Bondo application on the alien skull.

Another pic from the second Bondo application before sanding.

View of the front panel before sanding.

Random stuff I was working with. Note the front panel's sanding moving along.

Third Bondo application before sanding it down.

Alien skull after an hour sanding the forehead. Note the big gap where I missed my fiberglass aplication.

Last pic for today.

 

[xBuddhax]

Operation Bondo

 

[ralfyboy]

i suggest white for your color dilemma. make it glossy too. ipod like.

the case naturally has that curve in the front?

 

[daedal]

i suggest white for your color dilemma. make it glossy too. ipod like.

the case naturally has that curve in the front?

That's what I was thinking; sort of a white, clean industrial feel and look. I think that's what I'll go for.

 

[daedal]

May 11th 2005
Haven't done much work today as I was juggling some stuff I had to do around the house and then go to work. I did manage to squeeze in an hour and slap some more Bondo on the front panel and sand it down a bit as well as sand a bit of the skull.

Anyone have any suggestions for the name?

Anyone else ever use or try the UV activating Bondo? If not, don't. It takes forever to cure even in the harshest sun and does't sand properly. It always feel chunky and rubbery. Wouldn't recommend it unless it's for really light scratches or knicks and even there, it tends to want to peel off at the edges. Definitly stick to the hardener-based product.

That's the paint I used for the chassis. I would definitly recommend it; the texture and color is awesome and it's very inexpensive considering it's quality and OEM look. I will definitly be using it again in future projects.

This is the logo on the bottom of the case.. I'm still not sure what brand it is. From what I've been told, this logo might stand for some kind of international standard (C-E).

I knew I should have Dremeled the front 120mm hole in front before I painted. Oh well, live and learn. Shouldn't really be a big problem with proper masking tape.

Front Panel after forth or fifth Bondo coat and some sanding.

Another coat of Bondo to smooth out the front.

Just some of the stuff I've used in the past 2-3 days. I've got at least 5-6 shelves of random stuff like sandpaper, paint, sanding tools, bondo, fiberglass, etc etc.

There's that last coat of Bondo which has been smoothed out in that large flat area.

This is what the back (inside) of the skull looks like. Notice the chpis of colored playdoh remains.

Here's how the skull is going so far. Still have allot to do.

Yet another bondo application to smooth out the wave thing in the front. Didn't want it to be all square and ugly.

This is how the front panel looked at the end of today. You can't see it much on this picture but there's still alot of work to be done and alot of deep knicks and scratches to fix but that's for another day. I'm still not sure what I'll put in there but it would be a good spot for an LCD, huh?

 

[rogue_jedi]

AFAIK, that is a standard thing. not a manufacturer logo. (well, some manufacturers use it anyways... it is on the deer cases i have, plus the powmax one... i'd guess it is mainly the cheaper variety)

looks like an interesting mod. good luck!

 

[daedal]

AFAIK, that is a standard thing. not a manufacturer logo. (well, some manufacturers use it anyways... it is on the deer cases i have, plus the powmax one... i'd guess it is mainly the cheaper variety)

looks like an interesting mod. good luck!

Oh right. Forgot to note that. It's a Europeon Standard kind of thing. Kind of like ISO here.

 

[incomudro]

im liking the way this is looking