C&C GDI Powerplant PSU mod

[Frenkie]

Command & Conquer GDI Powerplant PSU mod

This is the worklog of the second round in the Dutch competition of BouwEenPc.nl.
First round I came in third with my Wall-E DVD mod.
This time the assignment was to mod a powersupply. Ok, initially I thought it would be difficult to imagine anything, the DVD player mod has at least something of moving parts where you can do anything. But fortunately, the kink in my brain gave me a new impuls and I think this is going to be fun.

I still play many games and this time I used Command & Conquer as inspiration. What's is really beautiful to a PC power supply to mod it to a power supply of the GDI base. And so be it;

Take a powersupply. (The crew of BouwEenPc will send us a Fortron Blue Storm PSU to mod, so here I use a mockup untill it arrives)
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant01.jpg

An old lamp foot of a lava lamp.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant02.jpg

Two CPU fans out of the dark and ancient catacombs of my room.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant03.jpg

Some red CCLs to create a bit of atmosphere.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant04.jpg

Liver pate.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant05.jpg

Unscrew the light bulb from the foot.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant06.jpg

Mount the foot on the powersupply.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant07.jpg

Attach the liver pate on the side and mount the two CPU fans on top.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant08.jpg

This is how the mock-up looks like now.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant09.jpg

And this is how it looks in the game.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant00.jpg

Imagine here some hours of manuel labor in between ....
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant10.jpg

With Vikureen I will model some parts and think it will be a nice mod, underneath the large tower a red (heat) fire and underneath the two CPUs are blue LEDs (cool). I will eat the liver pate and there I will make some little mini-towers.

Here you see the two CPU fans, stripped of everything which is not necessary.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant13.jpg

The liver pate replacements; two cans of exactly the right size.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant12.jpg

What pieces of PVC waste .....
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant14.jpg

.... come on the side of the cans
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant15.jpg

a found a piece of perforated plastic.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant11.jpg

Ideal for the railing of the big cooling tower.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant16.jpg

So you see how that comes out, the bottom edge will become a black and yellow warning stripe.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant17.jpg

And here you see how I go to work on the basis of the prints from the game itself.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant18.jpg

[Frenkie]

Thanx guys, I hope you won't be disapointed. Here goes !

The PSU has arrived. A Forton Blue Storm 400 Watt.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant83.jpg

After I opened it and removed the fan, you see what room I have left.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant84.jpg

Lots of wasted space, the entire supply fits in a box of 150 x 115 x 50 mm.
Ok, I have to reroute the power entrance and the on/off switch too.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant19.jpg

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant20.jpg

Made a box around the PSU as tight as possible. Also the large hole for the exhaust fan.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant21.jpg

Used a smaller fan then the standard Fortron fan.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant22.jpg

With the lamphousing on top, here you can also see that the cables are now coming out on the side.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant23.jpg

looking closely at the images from the game, I build here a small exit-portal.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant24.jpg

On the sloping roof, I will make a GDI logo, after the spraypaint.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant25.jpg

The back (or is it front?), here come the two intakes.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant26.jpg

I make them half inside the case, and in the towers holes for the air to pump through.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant27.jpg

Here you see where they will be positioned, but I need to cut some of the height.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant28.jpg

The front (or back?), I tried as good as possible to copy the measurments from the drawings.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant29.jpg

Here is a close-up of the side.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant30.jpg

And as he looks in the game at that spot.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant31.jpg


=======

So sorry to hassle you guys,but the voting has started here in Holland for best casemod and best caseconstruction. I am participating this time with my R2-D2 mod. If you want you can vote for me at http://www.hardware.info/nl-NL/news/ymiclJqWwpaaa5Y/Stem_mee_voor_de_finaleplekken_van_tBCL_2008/ website :D

[Frenkie]

Thanx man ! I o U :)


Today, among other things, I worked on the two intake towers. Here you see the two holes on the side where the air runs through the intake.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant32.jpg

And I have the height adjusted, the proportions are now much better IMO.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant33.jpg

For lighting I have knotted these 3 ultrabright blue LEDs together.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant34.jpg

With a piece of stiff wire I made a support ring and glued the LEDs on it.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant35.jpg

Here is a close-up of a ring at the bottom of one of the intakes.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant36.jpg

Both intakes with a nice rubber edge.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant37.jpg

This is what the inside looks like.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant38.jpg

The large cooling tower gets red lights, same principle as the small ones. Here is a stiff wire as support frame.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant41.jpg

Three LEDs glued on it and connected.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant40.jpg

Thus, the LEDs in the tower.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant42.jpg

[Frenkie]

With two perforated strips and and some pieces of metal ....
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant43.jpg

.. I made this little ladder .... :)
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant44.jpg

Somewhere around here.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant45.jpg

Here you see where I attached the power entree and the on/off switch.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant50.jpg

Used some wooden sticks...
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant49.jpg

To make a small girder.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant51.jpg

Here they come.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant52.jpg `

And for all the fans and LEDs to be connected, I have a used these connectors.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant54.jpg

[Frenkie]

Thanx guys, much appriciated.

Now we are coming rapidly to the end;

Just a small detail in between. This is a door.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant60.jpg

Just 12 mm wide, coated with sticky aluminum foil.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant61.jpg

Using a real warning decal as an example, I created a mini version for my mini door.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant62.jpg

Coated the whole case in a few layers of primerpaint.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant59.jpg

Added more details, I first drilled two holes in the cooling tower.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant63.jpg

And with some wire and nuts I made a double pipe and mounted it against the tower.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant64.jpg

The bottom edge of the fence with black and yellow warning tape.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant65.jpg

To "age" the mod, I airbrushed some of the tower surfaces.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant66.jpg

To make it more realistic I used this Scotch-Brite to add more weathering.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant67.jpg

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant69.jpg

With sandingpaper and Scotch-brite I tried to make it look more worn.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant68.jpg

To try out the electronics, I hotwired the green wire to Earth.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant70.jpg

The electricity to the switch soldered and finished with mesh.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant71.jpg

The last time the case is open, here you see everything neatly meshed.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant72.jpg

[Frenkie]

And here are the final pictures of the power plant mod.


http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant73.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant74.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant75.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant76.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant77.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant78.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant79.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant80.jpg
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant81.jpg

Another photo: with the case, in semi-darkness, lighted up it as I thought it would, cool-blue from the rear turrets and a hot red glow from the large tower.


http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/frenkie/gdi-powerplant/Powerplant82.jpg

This is the end of the worklog of the second round. This is an eliminating round, so some competitiors wont make it to the third and final round....
-UPDATE- yeah, I got through to the third and last round, that will be the Command & Conquer GDI Construction Yard Mod. Coming up!


Link To Original Worklog (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16620)