Blue-Hellfire

[Cobra]

ok i am carrying my worklog over to multiple forums so i can get feedback from all angles while i do my build. this will catch everyone up to where i am now.
Be warned from the onset that this is gonna be a looooonnnnngggggg build.
Also the quality of some of the pics wont be brilliant but all I have to work with atm is snapping shots between a tempermental vivitar 3mp camera that eats effin batteries like candy or my N95 with the 5mp cam on it. I will do the best I can with pics and try to give you as much detail as I can. also being in England atm i dont have a dedicated mod area, i am betting this is the main reason i get the evil eye from wifey when i talk about working on it lol. The project tends to follow me into whatever room i decide to sit in to mod that day, kitchen, sitting room, back garden, hell even wet sanding in the bathtub isn't off limits.

Technically I am building 2 PC's, one for me and one for the other half. internals will be identical but she doesn't have allot of care for the exterior modding aside from paint.
so mine gets the surgery to make it the way I want..hers just gets some lipstick and a new pair of shoes.
Knowing from the beginning that the budget will be a limiting factor since all the components will be bought in pairs ( if they aren't identical spec hdwe wise wifey says I can sleep in the back shed for a while till I come up with a good excuse for the deviation =oX)
we start out with a budget case bought from our friends over at scan, a Sharkoon Rebel 9 economy edition
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/newbox1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stock3-4right.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stock3-4left.jpg
this will serve as a good canvas for me and sufficient room for the hardware we are considering.
My goals for this build are as follows:
increase ventilation through the case
add a side window
add internal lighting
try my hand at wire management
pull out the airbrush after 17 years and see if the hands still work
lastly, come up with matching systems that will last us four or five years.

While I know I am no where near as good as some of you in sketch up, I did try my hand in it to see what I could come up with.
Here's the basic results:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/side1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/threequarter1.jpg
these depictions give me a good idea of how I want my layout to be. Mind you the color scheme isn't picked yet aside from my determination to use blue in it lol.
Placement of the lower intake and upper blow hole should give me the airflow I am looking for.
When coupled with the turbine intake on the front panel and the dual 80mm exhaust at the rear I think there should be plenty of air moving through the case.

First things first...
deconstruction:

off comes the front panel
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stockfromback.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/usbstock.jpg
followed by the front usb io panel
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/internalusb.jpg
then the power and reset buttons
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stockwiresnled.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/switchesnleds.jpg
leaving me with a bare front panel to play with
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/frontpanelstripped.jpg

Now onto the fun bits:
i hit Wickes(for those in the states Wickes is like Valu home center..smaller more personal version of home depot) and picked up some cheap clear plexi
I know this isnt top of the line mod material but its cheap and cheerful and foots the bill for what i need to do with it.
off i went to grab my trusty razor knife...scored a strip of plexi and placed it over the edge of the coffee table ( makes note..wife really doesn't appreciate me modding in the sitting room) after a bit of downward pressure *POP* the piece snapped clean off scaring the crap out of the 2 dogs in the process.
this piece will be the filler for the bottom portion of the front panel.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/plexi1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/frontpanellayout.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/plexi2.jpg
i started out using araldite(5 min epoxy) to hold it in,
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/epoxy1.jpg
once the epoxy set i got paranoid and followed up with super glue down the joint as well simply because i didn't wanna get halfway through makin this front panel and have the seam go pop and have to start over.
once the new insert was affixed to the front panel i had a bit of a rummage around the local Sunday market and found a cheap hole saw set (more on its quality later)
i chucked up the largest diameter hole saw in the drill and marked everything up.
i would love to tell ya that i took 10 different measurements, made sure all were spot on, crossed them all with Einsteins theory of relativity and then only after putting on all appropriate safety gear including gloves goggles and steel toed boots, started drilling.
i'd be a lyin **** if i did, truth be told i set the front panel in place back on the chassis. marked out where the center of the stock 120mm fan cage sat and freehand marked the center point for it (Gasp).
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/turbinehole.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/turbinefrontface.jpg
then i grabbed my custom specially made turbine intake port unit ( shhhh i know its just a Cd sleeve but its all fun =o)~)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/cdsleeve.jpg
marking the ring to cut off the end was kinda easy..lay a sharpie marker in the table and spin the cd sleeve against it for the straight line.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/cdsleevemark.jpg
end was removed with trusty dremel tool and cutting disc.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/cdsleevecut2.jpg
checking the diameter against a 120mm fan
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/fantube.jpg
looks close enough for me. the sleeve is a bit wider than necessary but i will make small filler panels on the fan housing itself so it wont be noticeable.
i then reversed the placement of the mounting panel in the chassis to give it a bit more depth and set the front cover back on the chassis with the cd sleeve through the hole so i could mark where to cut it.
i know i will prolly get beaten severely for not having a pic of that process but to be honest, when yer on a roll its hard to remember to snap pics of every step you take.
once i had everything sitting flush, i marked the intake with a fineline marker again and cut it with the trusty dremel again.
i sanded the interior and exterior of the cd sleeve to give the adhesives something to "bite" onto. i figured that had to be better than leaving them ultra smooth so things pop off later.
i set the cd sleeve into the front panel and grabbed the araldite again
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/turbinefrontface.jpg
cant ever say i waste things... what was a scrap cd sleeve top is now a pallet for mixing epoxy, hehe
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/5minepoxy1.jpg
this one i epoxied from top and bottom. the followed up with a fine bead of super glue as well to make sure it never comes off.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/turbineduct.jpg
wow from this angle the tube looks alot longer than it actually is..
a quick hop to Halfords brought me back with this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/bondo1.jpg
English bondo!!!
eh it suits a purpose for now. i know the front panel was never meant to be a "one fill then done" project so i popped open the can, grabbed a mixing pallet ( technical name for a few paper plates )
and promptly got kicked out of the house into the back garden =0/
apparently the wife doesnt share the same affinity as i do for the smell of body filler.
undeterred i went ahead and layed on the first coat.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/fillerstage1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/b4sanding.jpg
Note to self:Use masking tape to keep body filler out of areas you dont want filled moron!!
now i got to do the fun and wonderful job of sanding the first coat down so i am close to where i wanna be.

[Cobra]

this is after sanding the first coat.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/turbine7.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/fpanel3.jpg
i needed to find some flat drive bay covers as the curved mesh ones that came with the case wouldn't fit the idea i have in my mind. after lookin at the 6 machines in the house i only have one that will work as a donor..shamefully its mine and not one of the wifes or either of the daughters =oX
luckily it is the box i am replacing with the PC i am building so its not too painful to rip things out of it.
so pillaging i went, i took the first drive cover and super glued it to the top slot of the case. i want this area clear inside the case because i will have the blowhole in the top panel and i wont want the chance of it being able to hit an optical drive once they get installed.
time for more body filler to blend it all together
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/fpanel4.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/fpanel2ndcoat.jpg
some more sanding and time for coat number 3
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010194.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010193.jpg
thats after a bit of sanding and just before i drop on the first coat of primer.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010195.jpg
after coat 1 of primer

e bay came through for me in a good way.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/1764a.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/1764b.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/1764g.jpg
nice thing about this one is that the pots come off the end of the pcb now at a 90 degree angle so i can fit them into the side pillar of the front face plate.
first thing i did is dismantle the fan controller and use the faceplate to layout and mark my holes
then i used the actual pcb pots to double check and make sure they were all gonna be center.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010200.jpg
then i loaded up the trusty drill with a small bit for guide holes and *POOF* i got thrown out in the back garden.
apparently the sound of the drill was drowning out an ever so important episode of Judge Judy =o/
eh no matter, i went ahead and drilled my holes and snuck back in the house. hehe
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010202.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010203.jpg
just about now Judge Judy was ending so i grabbed my dremel to help me remove some of the excess plastic on the back of the face plate that would allow me to flush mount the fan controller.
plastic removed it was time for a test fit.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010205.jpg
then i threw on the knobs to make sure they would look the way i wanted from the front once assembled.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010210.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010209.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010211.jpg
winner!!!!!

eh for now thats where i am gonna leave off on this update.. nice day and more to go dremel cut saw fill and sand.
possibly small updates during the week but more than likely looking for the weekend for major posts.
till then
cya soon =o)~

[Cobra]

a nice thing about that fan controller is that its not very deep and when its installed it hides itself entirely in the front panel.even with the front panel installed on the chassis theres still a 2mm gap so no chance for a short anywhere.
thanks for takin the time to read through this everyone. all comments are welcome
as it sits now the shopping list for this build looks like this

already purchased:
Sharkoon Rebel 9 economy
Generic 6 Channel fan controller

Still need to acquire:
Asus P5KC, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2/DDR3 1066/1333/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX
520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, Yorkfield Core, S775, 2.5 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB L2 Cache, OEM
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz), Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler
250 GB Seagate ST3250410AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 11 ms, NCQ
512MB BFG Tech 8800GT OC, PCI-E 2.0, Mem 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 625MHz, Streams 112, 2x DL DVI-I
2x LiteON DH-20A1S-18C Black 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8 / -RW x 6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA Black
2x Sharkoon 12" Blue CCFL 2in1 Kit x2 CCFL Tubes
2x 120mm Akasa AK-174BK-S Black Case Fan, 3 Pin, Sleeve Bearing Ultra Quiet (17dBA) Retail Package
2x 80mm AKASA Auto Thermal Sensor Black Fan, 3 Pin Ball Bearing
Saitek PK 02AV Eclipse II Wired Keyboard, BackLit Purple, Red + Blue Keys, USB 1.1/2.0, Black

as i mentioned at the beginning this is a budget build x2 so as we scrape together cash and get new bits you will see them get added little by little :up:

[Cobra]

got home from work last night and had a look at the back panel for the case.
decided i will end up changing the rear exhaust to a single 120mm fan rather than the twin 80's
will mean a little bit more work to obtain the look i want but hey....thats what we are here for right? lol
this weekend i should have pic updates on the main side panel and prolly either the top or bottom panel of the case.
cya soon

[Cobra]

ok.... couldn't bother waiting for the weekend to post a bit more of this mod in progress.
hmmm i hate stock pc case feet. especially when they look like this.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stockfeet.jpg
they were screaming at me to kill them each and every time i looked at them.
not liking to leave anyone disappointed i had to oblige. off they came.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stockfeetremove.jpg
simple push through pin construction made removal easy enough.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/casefeetremoved.jpg
took a bit of a stroll over to Homebase to find something suitable to use for case feet.
about an hour later i ended up back home with these.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/newfeet1.jpg
drawer pull handles with a knurled finish on them.sad bit was they only had 3 in stock. so my wife being the loving woman she is undid the display model from the front of thier display section, threw it in a bag for a different knob and just told the cashier thats the way we found it.
gotta love a chick who bends rules so i get what i want sometimes hehe.
one of the reasons i wanted to replace the feet on the case is because i am planning on a 120mm intake fan mounted inside the bottom of the case. need room to let the air draw in. plus i generally think they look tons better than the stock crap.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/newcasefeet1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/newfeet3.jpg
note favorite coffee mug in picture
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/newcasefeet3.jpg
plenty of clearance now and after i hit the knurled bit of the feet with some color matched paint i think they will look mint.
now back to the front panel......
i still had 2 more holes to drill in the front panel before i considered it finished.
i had to make room for these.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/buttons2.jpg
i know i know... i said 2 holes and theres 3 switches there. one i have other plans for but not in this part of the build.
the other 2 are basic momentary switches.
they will be replacing the buttons on the dvd drives to open and close them. since i plan to stealth them behind face plates i figured i might as well go the full monte and do a proper job of it.
so i drilled the 2 holes
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/dvdbuttons1.jpg
so now the front panel looks like this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010185-1.jpg
i am quite happy with this result as it will give me ample area to botch together a mess on it when i grab the airbrush in a few months =oX

with the front panel nearing virtual nirvana i figure its time to take a look at the rest of the case to see what i can throw together with some bubble gum n duct tape.
before i can rebuild it i obviously had to break it thoroughly so out came the power tools (insert Tim Allen grunt here)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010184.jpg
time to get rid of some rivets..
started drilling out the connecting rivets
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010185.jpg
got to the front dvd optical and hdd frame and have a rough idea for what i may do with it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010189.jpg
i will cover that in a different update, for now i just kept drilling rivets
till i got it broken down to look like this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010188.jpg
its totally amazing how many of them little damn things they use to hold something so small together.. i know car manufacturers that don't use as many lol.
so now tis all in pieces for this update ending. next one i see what else i can break bend twist n twirl to end up with what i want in the end.
cya next time
same bat time
same bat channel
=o)

[Cobra]

found some more time for another update.

where i left off before we had new case feet and a chassis broke down into pieces.
i planned to add extra ventilation to the case with a bottom intake and an upper blow hole.
these of course need holes for the fans to draw air through.
here is where i get to come back to my £5 hole saw set and and let you know how much of a quality piece of equipment it really is.
the poor thing didn't have a chance in hell of cutting a hole through either steel panel.5 minutes at low speed effectively damn near flattened the teeth of the cheap blade right out barely scribing the circle shape into the case floor.
it did good on the plexy for the front but appears to be useless for anything pertaining to metal.
finally giving up on the hole saw idea i grabbed my jig saw and proceded to add the additional ventilation holes.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/bottomintake1.jpg
its not the cleanest cut in the world but after some attention with a file at a later date it wont look too bad.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/bottomintake2.jpg
the hole placement is set back far enough so the rear of the front turbine intake ends where the side of the floor panel intake begins.
should create plenty of air flow coming in.
now to take care of one of the exhaust mods to help remove some of that hot air.
i covered the top panel with tape and measured out where the power supply will end up. then layed out the placement where i want the upper blowhole.
grabbed my trusty jigsaw again(didn't bother even tryin the wanna be hole saw this time =o))
and this is what i end up with
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/blowhole1.jpg
now i don't think in the final product that this will be the only hole in the top panel.
i can almost bet that by the end of the build i also add a windows either over the optical's or the power supply.
just have to decide on that once i get to that stage i guess.

alright, lets take a look at the ugly stock rear panel
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008098.jpg
first off can someone explain to me why case manufacturers add extra holes to case bits for no apparent reason.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008099.jpg
how is someone actually supposed to be able to control and direct air flow is there are extra holes and louvers all over the place to dissipate the slip stream.
eh first to close up the louvers..grabbed the small hammer and the 2.5lb mini sledge to use as a backer.
holding the mini sledge against the back of the panel i lightly tapped down each louver with the small hammer until all the gaps were closed.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008102.jpg
the back panel itself had mesh covering the area where 2 80mm fans could reside. i wont be needing this much ventilated real estate so i will have to fill some of the stock mesh.
grabbing some masking tape i first masked the rear panel from the inside. then came to the outside and only applied masking tape to the area where the 120mm fan will sit.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008100.jpg
then i grabbed my body filler and *POOF* i got thrown outside again.......
eh at least its a nice day out hehe
ok so i mixed up some body filler and carefully covered the area where the louvers were and also the vent area. this also took care of a few other random holes the manufacturer put in the case for no apparent reason.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008105.jpg
let dry for about an hour and peel off the tape.
then i was left with this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/08052008109.jpg
grabbed my trusty sander to start knocking things down to level
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/08052008110.jpg
and ended up with this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/08052008111.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/08052008112.jpg
still needs more work to get it totally flat but it looks much better than the stock crap already in my opinion.
i will be removing that stock mesh area once i get things leveled out and replacing it with something different. havent decided with what yet but you will be the second to know.(wife being first)
ok since the rear panel needs a bit more filling and sanding and you guys know how all that looks already i will move on to a different bit and just bring back the rear panel later in the build when i am ready to cut the stock grills and get it ready for paint.
important bit:
i need a show of hands here......who thinks the stock panel on this case looks like crap?
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/stockventpanel.jpg
(/me raises hand, annoys wife long enough to make her raise her hand and threatens to take away his 2 girls pocket money away for 2 weeks if they don't raise their hands as well)
ok majority rules.
now we have to do something about it.
since the beginning i have planned a window in the case but i didnt want a basic rectangle or circle.
i also want to stay with the hellfire theme i have picked so i covered the whole side panel with masking tape and started testing ideas with my wife as a control panel
(she doesn't really get into modding and just kinda puts up with me cause she loves me) after a few different sessions of hearin her eh, ugh, ewwww, i got to a " that one looks ok"
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/leftsideflames.jpg
once i had the design layed out i ran out to the back garden.
eh i would have gotten kicked out here anyhow once i start cutting so i might as well save a step and just start here for a change.
grabbed my drill with a fair sized bit and drilled a hole at the center or each flame curve.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/flamedrill1.jpg
starting points for the jigsaw.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/flamejig1.jpg
after about 30 mins i ended up with a rough version of what i want it to end up like
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/flamescut2.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/flamescut.jpg
this week i will see if i can spend a few hours cleaning up the edges a bit on the flames . the jigsaw does an adequate job but does leave rough edges that will need to be filed down and sanded.
i think thats it for todays update..
weather is supposed to be nice so i will spend some time out in the garden
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008103.jpg
( prolly sanding or dremeling something)
and maybe get the BBQ fired up later today =o)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008104.jpg
note that its modded too..got the biggest charcoal one (gas is cheating for real BBQ) available, then brought it home and sunk it into the top of a stainless steel hospital table. 17 jigsaw blades later i have a great BBQ with a work surface built in =o)
cya soon

[Cobra]

i was gonna grab one of Bills Blowhole covers from Mnpctech for the top but i figured i would try my hand at a custom version first and see if it fit the mod a bit better.
i grabbed a piece of plexi and cut it to the rough dimensions of the cover i want.
then i traced on the outline of an image i planned to use.
out came the dremel.
after 30 mins of
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010192-2.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010193-1.jpg
and
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010194-1.jpg
i had the image cleaned up sufficiently to hit with some primer.
that left me with
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010184-1.jpg
covers the hole fine in the top of the case
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010189-1.jpg
and will look good once i add some mesh behind it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010191-1.jpg
i dont think it looks bad and it will fit in with the theme fairly well once painted and installed.
also with the mesh.i look around locally for "expanded metal" mesh as i am a cheap sob lol
heres a bit of a tip if your looking for cheap (free) mesh
hit up the local quick change oil service places in your area.
ask them if they have any of the old air filters in thier trash ( if they say no they are lyin.)
the mesh backing on them is great as a use for grills and the likes
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/airfilter2.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/airfilterinterior.jpg
recycling at its finest =o)

[Cobra]

just ordered up 4 of these LiteON DH-20A1S-18C Black 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8 / -RW x 6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA Black

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/636643-A.jpg

2 for my rig and 2 for wifeys
i already plan to stealth them in the front panel of mine and relocate the open/close button
will have to see what i can do about the chassis of them tho.. they are a bit ugly n nekkid

[Cobra]

quick update...did some work this week on the induction fan for the front turbine unit. (pics will follow for the weekend update.
a mojority of this mod will be painted deep candy blue but i need to come up with a color for the interior chassis parts.
right now i am leaning towards high gloss black as it wont detract from my blue lighting i have planned for it.
i also have the option for white but i think that will end up being too "in your face" when everything else is added.
any other ideas or thoughts?
dont really want to have it same color as outside of the case cause i dont want to lose the work i do in there in a mass of blue.
thanks for any input =o)

[Cobra]

Hi everyone, been a fairly busy week here in non mod life so i will go through what i have done so far in the spare time i have had.
first off my wife snuck in a gift this week for me
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/skullgoodies.jpg
they will go well with the theme of the mod once its completed
up close and personal this is how they look
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/mmodscloseup.jpg

did some lookin around here and there to find a way to make a turbine fan nose cone.
in and out of every hobby shop in and around London and no one had anything usable for what i wanted it to look like.so it was time to think outside the box and see what could be subbed in to do the job on it and make it look right.
decided i would hit B&Q(home depot in the states)and see if i could find something ,,,,,anything with a cone shape on it.up and down every aisle, even checked out every type of cap to damn near every product they had just lookin for the right shape. was no good =o/
so me and wifey stop at woolworths cause we need a few small things out of there for the home.
low and behold wifey actually found something to work.
Silly putty!!! well not the actual putty, but the egg shaped container its sold in =o)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008106.jpg
so i took the upper half and stripped the stickers off of it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07052008107.jpg
once i had it sanded lightly and ready to go on i grabbed the super glue.
i centered the half of the egg on the fan hub and taked it on with the super glue.
after 3 or 4 times popping it off then putting it back on so i make sure its centered i finally got it where i wanted it.
so i hit it with some primer and this is what it looks like now.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/tfan1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/tfan2.jpg

remember the optical / hdd cage
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010183.jpg
well it needs to go on a diet so out comes the jigsaw for the rough cuts.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010192.jpg
after a few decisive cuts i am left with this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010190.jpg
this leaves me the bit at the top for the opticals and then the small support bit at the bottom for the turbine fan support.

thats where i am gonna leave things off this atm. i have alot more planned for this week all pending on available time.
remember everything so far in this mod has been the "rough draft" the refinement is yet to come once i get the layout close to where i want it.every edge still has to be filed or sanded,and every piece primed and painted.
still waiting on opinions for interior color choice.
i am leaning towards high gloss black at the min bit cant commit yet .
cya in a few days =o)

[Cobra]

just a small update today.
kinda screwed up my lower back over the weekend so its makin it a bit hard to get any modding done at the min.
but this is where things are sitting so far.
start with a pic of how the nose cone will look when its in the turbine opening
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/18052008141.jpg
i think it looks pretty good for what it is =o)
next lil thing i got around to was Blow hole cover V2.0
i wasn't totally happy with the first one i did as i felt i could do better.
so once again i grabbed my dremel, this time the canvas was a perspex clip board from staples.
its a bit thicker than the material i used to make my first fan grill so i already thought it was an improvement.
first thing i did was cut a hole in the clipboard the size of the opening i wanted.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/15052008128.jpg
this is the point where i am gonna get bashed,kicked, clubbed and beaten.............
i started with an idea in which i wasn't sure if it would work out or not so i just dug into it.
i didn't take pics of the actual process because you all know how to do the simple stuff like drilling and shaping things with the dremel and assorted bits.
all i can say is that i started with this basic shape
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/17052008139.jpg
then i fashioned a lower jaw bone as well and cut both pieces out of the same clip board,
once i had the rough pieces cut out i drilled and ground out the eye and nose sockets so it was similar to my other blow hole cover.
heres where i did something a bit different.
1st my wife let me borrow one of the steel muffin tins from the kitchen.
2nd i grabbed my small propane torch.
mixed the 2 together with a bit of imagination and a touch of clear 5 minute epoxy to join things together afterwards and i ended up with this.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/17052008133.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/17052008134.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/17052008135.jpg
i now have a 3D version of my skull for my blow hole cover. i used the torch to heat and melt the rounded edges of the skull around the shape of the muffin tin to give it a bit of depth.
next i hit it with a coat of primer as i will plain this unit with high gloss black shortly.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/18052008140.jpg
once i have it painted i have an idea of something i want to try out which i think will work good on that part in particular.
more on that once i figure out exactly how i wanna do it.
one nice thing this week tho is my opticals came in
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13052008123.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13052008124.jpg
so of course i had to start dismantling them hehe
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13052008126.jpg
who knew there were so many parts in these damn things? lol
eh they will more than likely end up getting a paint makeover and a full stealth before they go in the case
anyhow i will cya this weekend with something more hopefully

[Cobra]

yay:clap::clap: i can move again!!!
well at least somewhat, enough to get a bit of modding done.
in the end i decided to stay with that version of the blow hole cover. i am going to try some different things with it to see the effects i end up with and hopefully come up with something i am happy with.
this past week was a slow one for modding my machine as wifey wanted to see some progress with her own so she didnt feel left out.
so this is what i been doing this past week.
remember me and wifey have the same case we started with
hers we did basic mods to, store bought side window for the sharkoon rebel 9 ran us a whole £10 and i deem that cheap enough to justify not cutting the whole myself lol.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/rebel9_window-kit.jpg
stock pic courtesy of the sharkoon website.
we didn't like the stock plexi that came with it cause it came with mounts for 2 120 mm fans built into it.
pulled that out of the frame, filled the holes with some bondo and smoothed things out.
primed it all up and went to halfords for her to pick out some colors.
she wanted a dolphin/water theme so various blues came home with us.
she went to work on her new side panel piece of plexi
she is engraving for her first time so i will ler her do her thing while i do the paint thing.
popped off the front covers fron the dvd drives and also the front faceplate from her fan controller ( they do have to match or i get my but kicked)
i wish i had some pics of the process up to now but to be honest my back still wasn't up to par and she left the new cam up in the bedroom most of the week and i just wasnt up to hitting those stairs back and forth for the cam so i just got on with it.
did a basic fade for the undercoat of the case including the drive covers and fan controller cover.
then grabbed the squirt bottle.
filled er up with some water and set the case one its side.
spritzed the side of the case till i thought the water drops were big enough for the effect she wanted.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc013.jpg
then grabbed an aerosol can of gloss black and lightly misted the entire panel.
note to self....when watching commandos vids on painting make sure to have the sound on and also watch them to the end.
see part of my prob is i am a MAN
i see an example of how to do something and figure,,,eh i got this.
since i am said MAN i cant be like a normal person and actually get the information i need first time through and then go try on my own.
i say that for one reason
i almost had to strip the whole damn case down and respray it like a moron.
i misted the panel and left it sit on its side for about 35 mins.
all the while it was sitting there i am thinking hmmmmm.. that don't look quite right.
so figuring i was screwed anyhow i went into the house and came out with some paper towels.
started dabbing off some of the excess water that was left on the panel.
ugh this looked like crap, so wifey came over and grabbed the paper towels and decided since the paint was screwed anyhow she would scrub it a bit and see what happened.
tis there where the bit of luck came in.
when she rubbed it wasn't perfect but it did pull up a good bit of the paint that was inside the bubbles themselves and that made it look the way she wanted it to in the beginning.
little more rubbing with the paper towel and first side was deemed done.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc010.jpg
i continued this on the rest of the faces of the PC
top first
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc022.jpg
then other side panel
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc023.jpg
one at a time, the only difference being, after misting i only had to wait about 10 mins for the gloss black to flash dry before i grabbed a paper towel and dabbed off the excess.
all in all it turned out pretty good looking.
i also did the face plates for the drives n fan controller
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc035.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc029.jpg
once everything was "bubbled" i pulled out the clear coat and layed out 6-7 decent coats of it.
now the pc is mock up assembled and waiting for the clear to cure enough for the color sanding and polishing.
which leaves us here..
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc026.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc034.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc036.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc037.jpg
thats it for this week guys.. i have done some small bits on my own rig but i felt it more important to keep being able to sleep in the bed as opposed to the shed by putting her PC up here =o)
cya soon

[Cobra]

thanks for the comments guys.
they are all much appreciated
i did a bit o playin around with some of the smaller stuff in the past few days.
remember these?
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010190.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010192.jpg
well.. i did a bit of filing, grinding and sanding to them just to clean em up a bit.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc017.jpg
they did look like this after a few coats of primer
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc030.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc032.jpg
but now they look like this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc038.jpg
all nice and purty and gloss black
while i was at it i hit the rest of the chassis bits with some primer(yes i did sand everything down previously with 600 grit paper to the primer had something to "etch" onto)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc033.jpg
also remember these things?
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13052008123.jpg
it was time to give them a bit of a makeover as well.
since they are going to be full stealth i removed the front bezel totally
i peeled off the stickers on the drives ( whats a warranty worth now a days anyhow to a modder? lol)
the rear of the drive (the header panel SATA connection) for some reason they cast in tan plastic..thats horrible in my opinion but thats why paint was created.so i taped off all the electronics inside of it and sprayed the back panels black and also the exterior casings
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc002.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc001.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc003.jpg
since the front bezel isnt going to go back on these drives i need to add some auxiliary wiring to them so i can relocate the open/close buttons.
broke out the soldering iron
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc006.jpg
and some spare wire from my lil extinct PC spare parts bin.
then i soldered the 2 bits of wire to the front 2 points for the micro switch on the pcb board
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc006.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc004.jpg
and one with the outer casing back on.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc007.jpg
ok thats where i have to leave off for today. more to do this weekend
cya soon

[Dane Bramage]

very cool work, man. very impressed with all of it. i especially like the "bubbled" technique. can you post a link for us newbs to the video you mentioned? i love your wife's case so far. even for just a pain job, i think it's gonna look excellent.

also, the trick with the opticals is kewl. one more thing to add to my impending design.

rep/sub.

[Cobra]

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12621
there ya go bud..the origional tute i saw that gave me the idea for the water effect.
enjoy

[Cobra]

sorry for the lack of updates guys n gals but i got stuck on a side project last week ( building a new cage for our degus)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/degu-400-2.jpg
we have 3 of the lil critters and they needed a new place to run around.
so i built this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/Picture001.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/Picture002.jpg
6-7 hours of bending wires and cutting wood should have provided them with enough room now to chill and enjoy thier toys for a while =o)
pc build update should be here this weekend hopefully.
cya then

[Cobra]

Had a friend of mine do up a sig tag for this one now as the one i had previously kinda sucked.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/sig1.jpg
thanks Jon, works awesome as always.
ok tis time to get back to the pc's, first a brief rundown of what i have done on mine this week and then a quick update on the wifes with temp lighting and her etching.
when we last left my machine i had just painted the internal opticals and parts of the chassis.remember the first skull i carved out of plexi?
kinda looked like this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/01010184-1.jpg
well i didn't want to let it go to waste so i recycled it by adding a bit of mesh to it and painting it black.
it now resides on the rear panel over the rear exhaust fan.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/waynespc041.jpg
i didnt like the pieces of plexi that connected the eye sockets and the nose so i removed them with the dremel and epoxied each piece to the mesh behind it. i think it looks alot better than previous.after this shot i also shaved down the left edge to be flush with the case IO panel.
next... i grabbed a bag of rivets and decided it was time to start an assembly process to get it back to lookin like a pc again.
i do have to say at this point i am glad i didn't disassemble the chicks pc as far as i did mine..made it alot easier to use as a template for riveting mine back together lol.
once i got a basic chassis back together i started pondering how to mount the hard drive in such a way that it looks like its floating in thin air.
somewhere in one of my parts bins i found what i needed
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19062008209.jpg
its an old drive bay cover from one of those full acrylic cases ya see here n there.
should work nicely for what i want so lets knock right into it.
measure things up and layout the holes that will act as mounting points in both the case and on the HD itself
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19062008211.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19062008210.jpg
then drag it out back in the garden and grab my friend the propane torch =o)~
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19062008212.jpg
lil bit of heat, lil bit of persuasion and i have what i want.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19062008213.jpg
this is the basic mount idea i have in mind.. simple but yet it will give me the effect i want when complete.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19062008214.jpg
so i make sure the hardware fits the mount and the case frame itself
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008222.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008223.jpg
bolt it down in place
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008225.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008226.jpg
hit it with a touch of paint to make it disappear and then attach the HD to it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008227.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008228.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/25062008229.jpg
its far enough off where the mobo will be so it wont cause a problem. not worried alot as i dont plan on anything extravagant for a vid card or anything and in the position its in it will also help me hide some wiring while keeping itself in the middle of the cross flow of the front and bottom fans.
just for the hell of it i decided to throw the side panel on just to see how much will be visible through the window when done....
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008239.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008240.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008241.jpg
yeap...... i like it so far =o)
ignore the colors as the only thing on it at the moment is the stock black and then some white primer . this will all emd up changing but i have more work to do before i am anywhere near ready for paint yet.
tis all for mine this week but a quickie on the wifes rig.
she had her go at etching and i have to say i am quite impressed with it...
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008238.jpg
then for her blowhole cover i cut out the basic shapes and she went to town on those as well
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008233.jpg
slapped some mesh behind it and a blue led fan to compliment it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008237.jpg
hot wired a psu
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008235.jpg
to get an idea if how it will look with lighting
while none of these lights are in their final places you can get the idea that its gonna end up looking very cool.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008236.jpg
i think thats it for this weeks update.. didnt have the time to polish out the chicks rig so hopefully that will follow this week sometime. and i have more fun stuff to mess with on mine.
cya next week with another update...
one last parting shot for ya before i go
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/29062008243.jpg

[Cobra]

easy guide for hot wiring psu's ..basically just bridging the green wire in the large connector to one of the blacks
http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/psumod/

[Cobra]

alrighty then...
i got 2 things in the mail last week that are both gonna help me towards my final goals with this build
first one deals directly with the build itself
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/12072008246-1.jpg
wifey snuck around and found me a compressor on ebay so when its air brush time i dont have to use those god awful cans =oX
second present that showed up is just plain awesome.
wife knows i plan to use this as a gaming rig when done so the ebay queen herself struck again and now i have this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07072008244.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/07072008245.jpg
now yanno by the time i actually use it i am gonna have to rip it apart, tweak, push, pull, prime, paint and light it so it all matches lol.
as wife reads this and shakes her head in shame i have to remind her.. its a mod thing =o)
gotta have everything match when its done or its only half a mod =oX
this morning i looked over my side panels and decided i have some pinholes to fill in the larke one and i needed some bondo for the flamed one to even a few areas out so i started with takin care of those.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008247.jpg
knocked most of the flame areas flat with a hammer and dolly , still needed some filler for the bits that didn't wanna cooperate.
then i hit the other side panel with a bit more filler.. this ones almost ready for color
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008248.jpg
i am shooting for the end of this month shooting some color on my rig. should be able to pull it off as long as nothing drastic happens.
while i wait for the bondo to cure so i can start the sand fill sand fill sand process i figure its damn well about time i polish out the wifes rig..
what do you know.... she agreed with me =o/
armed with a bucket of slightly soapy water,
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008250.jpg
an old piece of wall tile i have cut down and use as a sanding block. some 1200 and 2000 grit paper
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008251.jpg
i start rubbin it out
starting in parallel strokes with the 1200 grit first until i take all the gloss off the panel itself
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008249.jpg
once its all a uniform dull finish i grab the 2000 grit and sand the entire piece again being careful on corners and in depressions so as not to cut through the color coats and into the primer since i really really don't wanna do this paint job again o.O
once i have it gone over with the 2000 i grab some light rubbing compound. the stuff i am using today is called t-cut compound but any haze and swirl remover would do the same.
loaded a damp towel with some of the t-cut and applied it to the panel with a light haze.
then i grabbed the electric car buffer and used that to work the compound over the paint and smooth out the finish.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008252.jpg
i repeated this on all the exterior panels on wifeys machine until i got a nice even shine.
she seems to like the way it shines and reflects now ( yay me )
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008257.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/13072008259.jpg
thats it for todays update. hopefully have some more for ya next weekend.. have a great week =o)

[Cobra]

just a bit of a quickie for today
bodywork is done on 3/4ths of the case so far.. all complete except the flamed side window side as i havent had time to do the necessary sanding to flaten things out yet but that wont be too much hassle.
since the rest of the case is matte black right now from the guide coats of paint i am going to use basic black as one of the main undercolors on the paint scheme.
on top of the black base i need white as what i have planned will need a very light background as a canvas later
i grabbed some 2 inch masking tape and covered the exposed areas.
than i grabbed my flamed side window panel and used it as a template for the flames on the other side just so everything ended up in scale and matched.
once the flames were traced on the panels
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008279.jpg
i grabbed a generic razor knife and cut out the pattern little by little
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008280.jpg
flames started to take shape the more i removed masking
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008282.jpg
figured while i was at it i might as well throw in a foot shot so no one felt left out or neglected since there haven't been any new sightings in the past 2 weeks or so =oX
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008283.jpg
the layout for the top panel
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008284.jpg
i am not real worried about symmetry as flames aren't perfect anyhow and it wont really have an effect on the overall appearance once its done
grabbed a can o trusty Halfords white primer and layed on a light mist coat
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008285.jpg
i hit the front panel with the white again as well
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/19072008287.jpg
i hit the panels with a few more light coats till i had even coverage
then let it dry about 20 mins before removing the masking tape
this is what i am left with atm
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/20072008288.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/20072008289.jpg
as i said.. the side window panel isnt finished yet and needs to be sanded and painted to match.
kinda my queue to go buy some more black and white primer lol.
both cans started sputtering out a bit by the end of their sessions.
its prolly gonna be about 2 weeks till my next update only because i have a bit of a full workload on the homefront and work in the near future so mod time will be limited but i will get "something" done in that time.
cya when i can =o)

[Cobra]

Hope everyone has had a good christmas and santa brought them some bits to help the modding days to come.
Santa (wifey) was good to me this year on the PC bits front.
while i am still sorting out components for the hellfire mod , she picked me up some good bonus bits to hold me over till i can grab the hdwe to continue on the mod.

one of the things i had planned was to pick up one of these and Mod it
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00035.jpg
wifey clause took care of the "get one" so now i am gonna have to figure out what i want to do to mod it. might actually only get a matching paint job because to be honest it is one of the best keyboards i have used and the laser cut backlit keys are awesome for gaming in the dark.


next thing wifey clause picked up for me is another Saitek toy =o)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00038.jpg
works great but somehow it annoys me that it does not have a blue led option for the backlight.. only yellow,green or red (hint at a mod there)
one other thing that i have to work on is how to program the thumb joystick properly because following the destructions didnt help much to get it to yse the common wasd keys.
if i can do that then i can use the command unit to play the 3rd gift wifey clause got me for xmas.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00039.jpg

yea yea i know. its not "Official internet crack" like all the WoW fanatics out there but in the short time i have been playing it, i love it. and with no monthly fee's it suits me just fine for the long haul =o)~


last bit of pc gear wifey clause got me was this lil thing here.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00040.jpg
Optiquest Q2202wb
22' monitor for me to play games on.. beats the hell out of the 19 i had lol
i think once hellfire PC is done this may have matching paint scheme cause i just hate to have things look out of place hehe.
i can feel wifeys eyes burning into the back of my melon right now at the thought of me taking all the new bits apart to "tweak them" but she knows thats kinda what i do with everything =oX

few short weeks and i should be back to regular updates on the main build again. pissmas is over and most bills are paid so we can afford a bit of playtime here and there to work on the Mods.
cya in a few days and have a Happy new Year!!!!!

[Cobra]

Xmas is over and a new year has begun, time to fit some modding in =o)
decided to install the side window into wifeys machine permanently so lets start there.
her self etched dolphin side panel:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/28062008238.jpg
double sided tape from homebase:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00006.jpg
a bit of extra protection just because i dont know how much i trust the tape on its own to keep it in place for the long haul:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00005.jpg
started with a strip of tape all around the edge of the opening
placed the window where i wanted it and stuck it in place
then followed it up with some epoxy on each corner:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00007.jpg
then a bit more on each edge ( i dare this to fall off on me) lol
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00008.jpg
all installed and waiting on hardware:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00010.jpg
speaking of hardware, wifey and I did a bit of thinking, since neither of us does extensive gaming or other extreme bits on the PC we have decided to drop a touch in the proginal hardware list i had first hoped for.
it will still do way more than what we ask of it and believe me they are worlds better than the current 4 and 6 year old machines we are currently using.
and to be totally honest alot of this decision was the money factor.
we have settled on this hardware setup and its all been ordered and on the way for me to mess with hopefully by this weekend.
OCZ GameXStream 600W SLI Power Supply
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/4ac5_1.jpg
Thermaltake CL-P0333 Blue Orb FX
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/product-6679546.jpg
Kingston KVR800D2N6K2/4G / 4GB DDR2 800Mhz PC2-6400
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/8582205x.jpg
5600 Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core ABIT Board Bundle + 1GB Memory
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/a86jb.jpg
the memory that comes with the bundle will be set aside for a future build as we will be using the matched pairs from kingston in these builds
since they didnt have heatsinks on them and i am a sucker for add ons i also ordered a pair of these
Geil EVO CYCLONE Memory Cooling System
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/geil_evo_cyclone_memory_cooling.jpg
Nvidia® Geforce 9500GT 1GB PCI-E Graphics Card
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/a26jb.jpg
overall thats the layout of the hardware on the way.
with a bit of luck i should be able to have wifeys machine up and running in about 2 weeks while mine still needs some paint work before i even think about assembly.
cya in a few days as hardware rolls in and i start installing to get atleast one of these 2 builds tucked away.
have a good one.

[Cobra]

Bah!!!
decided to return the mobo bundles back to maplins for 2 reasons.
first off there is no way in hell i can make both the cpu cooler and mem cooler fit in it as the memory slots are too close to where the cpu sits on this board. (pics follow)
secondly come to find out this is a B grade setup (previously used and returned) funny how it doesn't say it on the site when you order unless ya read the real fine tiny minuscule print. grrrr
no biggie, we are opting for a different setup now. just have to wait for the maplins refund so we can reorder the different set.
heres some pics i snapped last night
Damn this cpu cooler is huge =0)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00030.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00031.jpg
memory cooler is pretty cool as well
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00028.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00029.jpg
motherboard, layout is just a bit too compact =o/
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00027.jpg
here is where the problem was:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00032.jpg
no way i can trim either bit to make them both fit on this board.

heres a few pics of the PSU's
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00016.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00017.jpg
these things are pretty heavy, felt like i was holding a brick lol
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00019.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00020.jpg
wifey wanted me to leave the stickers on here as she is not bothered by them, I on the other hand cannot stand stickers, so they just had to go.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00021.jpg
here we go, much better looking now ( atleast i think so)

the bits we have decided on now are
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66Ghz LGA775
along with this mobo
Asrock 4Core1600-D800 LGA775, DDR2,VGA,SATA2,7.1Snd,mATX
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/MBA-4CORE16D8.jpg
that setup gives me atleast workable clearance for both the mem and cpu coolers and to be honest i kinda prefer intel anyhow.

hopefully things work out better with this one once its delivered.
i plan on some more tweaking this weekend so i will hopefully have something more for you by sundayish.
cya then

[Cobra]

yay just what i was looking forward to.
a bit of drama when it comes to returning parts.
be careful when using maplins online to order bits here. they seem to drag thier feet a bit when it comes to returning things.
they were supposed to have the mobo bundles collected on weds, waited till 5 to 6 and gave them a call. oops they couldnt make it that day so it had to be thurs. they finally show up thurs mid afternoon to collect the bits and return them so wifey called them up to let them know they were collected.
lady on the phone tells her " when we get them back here we will test them to see what the problem was" ummm they werent returned for being faulty, they were returned for being 2nd hand and partially built with assorted bits missing in each box , ie: i box had sata cables missing, ide cable missing, back panel cover missing and memory just thrown in the static bag flopping around with no protection, second box had been partially assembled, cpu in board, fan clipped on various assorted other paperwork ( from a dvd drive and multi function panel) thrown in the box again missing back plate and no thermal in either box. when this was explained to the lady on the phone all she said was "Oh, then when we get them back here we will process your refund which normally takes about 14 days" hmmmmmmmph sell 2nd hand parts and make people wait 2 weeks to get thier money back so they can go buy the new bits they need. sometimes i just really dont get it.
and to top it off they were paid with paypal, but since they dont refund by paypal they are sending out a cheque, which will take another 3-5 working days to clear the bank after they send it. Bah!!
i am looking at a 3 week wait before i can order the new kit so in the meantime i will have to find other bits to keep myself busy on the mod front.
on a positive note i did get the vid cards in last night and the ddr2 memory.
stock view
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00035-1.jpg
fan virginized
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00037.jpg
i guess i will start looking for a decent cooler for my card as i just cant stand to leave anything in stock form (wifey tends to shake her head at this tendancy) =ox

on the agenda is a bit of paint work this weekend, maybe modding some of the cables on the psu's so they end up the correct length and finding a place to mount my on off switches for lighting in each rig that wont clash with the builds.have to fit that in around reworking the bath surround in the bathroom..=o/

wish me luck and cya in a bit

[Cobra]

hmm dont have a table saw so i think this round is gonna go to the router again. buys me a bit of time before i have to worry about laser straight cuts.
woke up this morning and decided.. Ok today is modding day! suprisingly wifey didnt kick my ass since i finished reasealing the bathtub last night so i had the weekend to mod.
and also i didnt think she would yell when a mojor chunk of the day was spent on her rig lol.
so heres where we start the journey today.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00038-1.jpg
wifeys rig, waiting for bits but still needs wiring sorted out a bit and still needs switches installed and lighting.
2 switches need to go in for the lighting.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00041.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00042.jpg
most inconspicuous place i can find to put them is on either side of the case in the side panels
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00039-1.jpg
down in this area
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00040-1.jpg
so i was lazy, grabbed my trusty dremel with a small drill bit on it, and went to work.
notice how clean cut and machine made the hole looks?
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00043.jpg
nah me either...
important bit is the switches fit.
yay me.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00110.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00111.jpg
once those were popped in it was time for a bit of wiring for the lights
ccfl's ended up at the top and bottom of the window panel side.
had to notch the upper and lower pillars so they fit along the case tho
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00064.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00065.jpg
used a bit of 5 min epoxy to stick them in place ( cant stand that velcro crap they give you with em.. does anyone actually use it?)

then we had a set of 4 inch ccfl's to illuminate the front si i found homes for these as well.
first ine just inside the front lower frame rail.. then the second mounted on top of the front fan assembly
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00052.jpg
let em sit for a bit then peeled the tape off so they are perm mounted now.
next had to find a home for the little resistor packs they come with.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00053.jpg
a bit more 5 min epoxy
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00054.jpg
squish in place
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00055.jpg
tape so it cant move
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00056.jpg
then go back to it in a half hour. can remove the tape then and it should be perm mounted
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00063.jpg

same deal for the other side resistor. ended up something like this ( one chrome and one black.. figures i couldnt have 2 match because diff manufacturers lol)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00068.jpg
this side also had a hole in the housing so i riveted it to one of the holes in the case =o)

all this stull was starting to feel a bit like work and it was coming up on 9 AM..seemed like a good time for breakfast..
mmmmmmmm ham n cheese omlette
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00071.jpg
eh while i am relaxin.. look what wifey got me on xmas just so ya wont have to look at me feet so much =o)~
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00070.jpg

ok back to work
decided to sort out some of the wiring on hers so when the new bits get here i have less to do.
eww beige wires
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00075.jpg
much better now
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00076.jpg
did the same with the header connector set
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00074.jpg
ran the wires for the lighting
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00073.jpg
thats kinda where i left off on chicks rig today.
now it was time to mess with mine a lil bit.
grabbed the dull black power supply
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00021.jpg
and decided to ummm errr improve on it a touch
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00079.jpg
tis ok but its the first time i have actually messed with an airbrush in about 10 years so i wasnt expecting a picasso.
then i grabbed my Maxtor 250 gig sata hd i will be using for this rig
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00060.jpg
removed the sticker the day after i got it.
thinkin this has to match everything else so grab the masking tape
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00058.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00057.jpg
trim out the area to be painted
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00059.jpg
and your left with this...
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00061.jpg
3 layers of white primer later and this is whats left
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00069.jpg
tima to make it match the psu(sort of)
grabbed my net hacked and home cut stencil (can you say ghetto air brush supplies?)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00080.jpg
and started messin about
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00081.jpg
almost to the point i want it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00083.jpg
pick curtosey of da chick
and heres a HD
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00085.jpg
so now here was the dilema.. clean up all the airbrush gear and continue again messing about tomorrow , or...say the hell with it and start on the case with the layout in mind.
starting on the case won.
here is early early progress pics.
found a cool demon skull n the web a while back and decided that would be the focal point.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00086.jpg
after basic outline and shading i started adding a few of the surrounding images i will need to make this look the way i want it to.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00098.jpg
at this point wifey actually turned to me and said " that looks like crap"
/hmmmmph.. back to painting and biting tongue.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00103.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00104.jpg
brought a few of the skulls into the intake area.. thought it looked cool
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00107.jpg
after about an hour i ended up with this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00106.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00108.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00109.jpg
still got more detail to add and all that but overall i am happy with the way it turned out.
once i got done with the skulls i kinda figured it was time to pack up the airbrush and paint and call it a day.
i am sure i will find something different to mess with tomorrow while i twiddle thumbs waiting for hdwe.
cya soon

[Cobra]

todays adventure takes us to keyboard land first.
remember that Saitek Eclipse 2 that wifey clause got me for Xmas?
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00035.jpg
heres the before pic
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00112.jpg
yanno i cant leave anything stock if i can help it at all.
soooooo
it had to come apart..screws were easy enough to drop out of it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00113.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00114.jpg
pop the wrist rest off so it can be disassembled too

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00115.jpg
then off comes the keyboard surround
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00116.jpg
that took a lil bit of prying even after all the screws were out.. its my guess that saitek really didnt want me to take the keyboard apart.. pffffft
tima for a few more ghetto skull stencils cause of course everything has to match.. so i found a few on the web.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00117.jpg
and then proceded to cut em out.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00118.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00119.jpg
this is the set i will be using for the keyboard
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00120.jpg
heres a pic of the airbrush i am using for this.. wifey picked it up for me off ebay for £21 + shipping.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00121.jpg
i used to have a testors aztec in the states before i came to the Uk and i have to say, as far as fine line and control work goes this one spanks the testors one.
repeated random patterning on the surround and wrist rest till i came out with this
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00122.jpg
popped things back together to make sure how they look
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00123.jpg
bingo.. works for me.
now on to the next part of what i worked on today.
that cool Giel memory cooler..
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/geil_evo_cyclone_memory_cooling.jpg
quick show of hands here.. who thought this would stay stock......?

as if...
lol
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00124.jpg
dont know what about it just doesnt sit right with me so i will take it apart till i figure it out.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00125.jpg
construction is simple on it.. basically the fan holds everything together..should make cutting it up all the more fun =o)
fans out
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00126.jpg
leaves me with these 3 main pieces
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00127.jpg
i found the one that annoys me so i grab the dremel n the cut off wheel and attack the offending eyesore
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00128.jpg
put the baseplate/outer cage on a diet
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00129.jpg
reassembled after streamlining
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00130.jpg
i like that much better now.
even with the side clip mounting plates on it i think it is better than stock looks
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00139.jpg
maybe i am biased (duh) lol
eh thats enough for this weekend.. this week i will fit more modding in.. see what i can get done and if i get anything good i will be sure to throw it up on here for people to point and laugh at =o)~
cya soon.

[Cobra]

Ty for the great feedback guys and yes the HD should be atleast partially visible in the finished product.
for now i seem to have a bit of a sneaky wife.
she goes from tellin me we have to wait for maplins to sort a refund to get the new kit then turns around and orders it behind my back just to suprise me. hmmmph
i would try to make it seem like i was upset but ummmm i just cant do it.
so this is what showed up today.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00145.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00146.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00148.jpg
looks like it is time to do some fitting and clearance checking.
first in is the CPU cooler.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00150.jpg
damn its still huge lol
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00149.jpg
next up the ram. these sticks threw me a bit cause they arer shorties compared to what i am used to working with.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00151.jpg
they fit the board so they must be ok lol
heres the partially assembled board
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00152.jpg
atleast the CPU cooler isnt overkill or anything lol

then to fit the mobo into the case....
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00153.jpg
hmmm bit of a clearance issue with the PSU
twiddles thumbs...all i needed was about 2mm to make the mobo fit.
sooo i grabbed 2 square washers and spaced the lower portion of the PSU off a touch.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00154.jpg
that created enough tilt for the board to fit where it should and have 2 frogs hairs clearance before touching the PSU =o)~
now to throw in the stock memory cooler
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00155.jpg
easy enough to put in and theres a full 2mm between it and the CPU cooler.
o.O
i would love to tell ya all went well and the rest was simply plug it in and test all the lighting and fans since we are still waiting for sata cables to get this one done ( should be here tomorrow) but alsa.. plugged the beast in and hit the switch and it laughed at me....effin thing.. checked the wall sockets (fine) swapped the kettle lead for the psu even tho it was new ( no difference) mumble grumble popped off the PSU connector and hot wired it to make sure it works, hmm yep fired up with no probs and all lights came on.
everything was pointing to a bad mobo problem. pulled off the leads one by one and refit them just in case i had a bad contact with one. when i got to the stupid power on off switch one and re seated it the thing came to life. stupid damned connection thingy!! lol

in the end i popped the covers back on and let it sit idle for a bit to kinda run the hdwe in a touch and also to grab a few shots for here.
this is what we ended up with
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00161.jpg
even better when the lights are off
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00157.jpg

both coolers are pretty sweet
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00159.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00160.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00162.jpg
by the weekend this one will be complete, then i am down to one to finish and no excuses not to push on and have some fun.

cya in a few days with another update.
ty to all who have stayed tuned and stayed interested so far. your feedback is much appreciated.

[Cobra]

was looking for a place to mount my on off switch for my lighting that was out of the way.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00133.jpg
i think i found it
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00132.jpg
see if i mount it on the top of the turbine intake then ya cant see it unless you know where to look =o)
grabbed my dremel with a drill bit and decided to drill from the insode
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00134.jpg
camera buggered up on me when i took the final pic of it so i will do a redo this evening when i get home.
heres a crappy pic of the placement for now lol
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00141.jpg
i clipped the switch in place and this will be followed by 5 min epoxy for the final build...whew this one has been goin on so long its hard to believe i can see a finish line coming up heh
tis fine by me tho.. wifey is quite happy with her rig and i have another project on the horizon so i dont imagine i will be away from the forums much when hellfire is done.
tonight i am hoping to do a bit more work on the paint for hellfire and finish off wifeys rig. hopefully see you tomorrow with a bit more of an update and a better pic to replace the last one
=o)

[Cobra]

ty bud
tis weekend and i have had time to play a bit over the last few days.
first off mr postman brought me a nice gift on tuesday.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00003-1.jpg
picked it up from a place called specialist paints. while it was a bit pricey at £12.99 a can it was well worth it because i had planned to use this colour from the beginning. if your in the UK and need some funky paint colours check them out http://www.specialistpaints.com/.

so with paint in hand i had to start laying down the colour.
laying down light mist coats till i got the colour i wanted
i started with the PSU
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00010-1.jpg
moved to the HD
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00009-1.jpg
then i figured i would hit the keyboard surround and wrist rest.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00008-1.jpg
mmmm candy
now on to the case
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00004-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00007-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00006-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00005-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00014.jpg
after this dried i grabbed the airbrush again and some white, need to make the flames pop a
bit so some highlights were in order.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00012.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00013.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00011-1.jpg
then it was time to cover it all in clear
and shazam!!!!
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00017-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00018.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00019-1.jpg
hehe i like it =o)~

reassembled the keyboard once the paint was done
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00016-1.jpg
yup like that too heh

last lil pic for this mornings update is the HD after i peeled the masking off
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00020-1.jpg
cya in a day or 2 with more fun stuff.

[Cobra]

thanks guys!!
figured it was time to drop some bits in this thing for a test fit. i know i will have issues to deal with along the way so lets hop right into the fire =o)
first i fit the power supply, i know from the dolphin rig that i have a clearance issue even before i start because of the "slightly bigger than normal" cpu cooler so i will do the same thing i did on the dolphin box.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00005-2.jpg
start the top screws for the psu and then use 2 thin square nuts as spacers for the bottom of it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00004-2.jpg
cant really notice the tilt from the front but it makes everything all snug and cozy.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00006-2.jpg
more lil skulls to hold bits together hehe
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00007-2.jpg
then check it with the side window frame on to check visibility
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00008-2.jpg
that works for me =o)

ok so next i temporarily throw the motherboard in there so i can check other things for clearance
motherboard fits in fine, so then i bolted up the HD in place to make sure it didnt hit the vid card or mem cooler
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00009-2.jpg
looks like clearance to me so far.
now with the side panel
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00010-2.jpg
now we have been kicking around ways to keep the vid cards cool for the machines here since we picked them up a few weeks ago.
the card:
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00019-2.jpg
decided on these lil things
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00012-1.jpg
should handle all our cooling needs for the vids
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00013-1.jpg
first up had to lay on the mini chip coolers.
sticky thermal tape anyone?
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00022-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00023-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00024-1.jpg
next we check clearance on the card for the mounting plate....
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00025.jpg
hmmmmm
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00027-1.jpg
looks like one of those capacitor thingies does not wonna play nice
tis ok... have dremel, will trim.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00028-1.jpg
should be close
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00029-1.jpg
yup winner!!
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00030-1.jpg
now is where i ran into a bit of trouble.
fitting the card to the mobo the new cooler was hitting on the memory cooler(racker fracker #@!!#^*)
sorry for the lack of pics of the problem. just kinda got on with rectifying it before i remembered the camera .
in short i had to trim some of the lower fins off the vga cooler so it would clear the memory cooler.
so i cut right about here
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00015-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00016-2.jpg
till i had removed enough for both coolers to live in harmony =o)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00017-2.jpg
lil straightening of the fins and some colour on the bare metal areas and we are back moving forward with the fitting
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00018-1.jpg
ok lets see what the whole deal will look like once its fit in the rig
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00031-1.jpg
side panel in place
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00032-1.jpg
yep i can work with that
on the agenda for this week. shortening and tweaking the wiring from the PSU
fitting the front panel covers to the dvd drives
wiring the switches for the front of the case
that should be enough on my plate if ya also figure in the 50 hrs a week i work at my normal job lol
cya as soon as i can and thanks to anyone who has been following alont and posting, its what makes the project log portion more entertaining.
take care till next time
=o)

[Cobra]

ok i had an eventful few days or workin on hellfire =o)
i installed the fans in thier rightful places and did a bit of wiring cleanup on the PSU.
first the sata cables that came on the PSU were way too long. so i cut em heh
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00005-3.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00004-3.jpg
luckily they came with nice little push type connectors which made shortening them rather easy.
just popped the side caps off of the mid way ones and pulled off the connectors.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00005-3.jpg
then i cut the wires near the PSU so i could keep the Last plug with the pins n stuff so they had a finished look.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00003-3.jpg
i soldered the wiring back together and covered the connections with shrink tubing and sleeving.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00006-3.jpg
overall it looks alot cleaner with the shorter wiring there.

once those were shortened i cut all but one molex plug off the PSU. all the molex powers is the lighting so i had no need for the 5 extra plugs

now it was time to sort the lighting wiring out.
not so many pics for this as i was kinda on a roll and with the finish line looming near i didnt really feel like stopping every 3 mins to take a pic (sorry)


for the front fan controller i didnt want mine to light up like a christmass tree , wifeys is a bit bright in my opinion.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00159.jpg
so i hit em with the same candy blue overcoat to both tone them down and blend them in a bit.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00021-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00022-2.jpg
i think they will look good when installed.
got all those fitted and snapped the front panel on.

tricky bit here was i now had to affix my front dvd drive bay covers so they sat flush with the front panel.i needed to find a spacer to make this achievable.
did some lookin around and found something just the right size for what i needed..
swiped a few pens from wifeys desk (shhhhh)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00014-2.jpg

dissassembled and trimmed down they will work fine as spacers
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00016-3.jpg

temporarily affixed then with some superglue.

once in place i ran a bead of epoxy along the top and bottom of them to make sure they were permanent.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00019-3.jpg

once those were set i started mounting the lighting
i used one ccfl on the front edge to light up the flames
but i needed something a bit more to set off both the front turbine intake and the top skull vent cover.
i found a set of these on the net..round ccfl fan grills.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00027-2.jpg

they only had em in 80mm so i will make due as usual.
i started by disassembling them so i had the bits i needed.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00028-2.jpg
luckily they seemed to be just a press fit and came apart easy.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00029-2.jpg
pulled the light rings out.

using the 2 larger ones for this mod and saving the 2 smaller ones for my next project.


positioned the first ring on the backside of the front turbine fan and epoxied it in place.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00032-2.jpg
the top fan since it was in upside down position cause it is exhaust i had no framework to affix the lighting to.hmmmm
cut a piece of mesh down to bridge the mounting holes in the underside of the fan and then epoxied the light to the mesh.
did what i needed and things worked out well

wifey picked me up a few skull keychains from the bay that she was hoping i could use in the build.. me never wanting to dissapoint the wifey just had to find something to do with em =o)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00011-3.jpg
heres the top 4 that will protect my ex fan grill

that left me with 2 more
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00041-1.jpg
one for the front turbine intake
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00040-2.jpg
and one for inside the case just as an accent piece.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00043-1.jpg
with all lighting in place it was time for testing them out
what would a day be without a bit of drama.
get em all wired to my switch and turn them on ...hmmm only the front ccfl tube is working, nothing from my 2 light rings...grrrrr
a bit of this and a bit of that later and come to find out the lil effin resistor box for the round ones was bad.. glad i ordered 2 of them when i got em.
swapped out the converter and now they are all purty.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00039-2.jpg

heh i like it =o)

now it is time for final assembly ( yes i actually said final assembly)

all hdwe went in without much drama


yep winner!!
got everything all installed and back together.

here is the finished product..

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00052-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00051-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00047-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00045-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00053-1.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/SNC00054-1.jpg


stick a fork in it. i am callin this one done.
overall i did what i wanted to do. i have a decent case and a rig that can play any of the games i want it to with little or no fuss.
i am doing some benchmarking tonight to see where it sits and i will post screenies of that.
i already have another project on the horizon but i plan to take about a month before i really start on it so i have time to play with my newly finished toy.

thank you to all who have been following the worklog, i hope i havent dissapointed too many of you in the build but at the end of the day i am happy with the results and i have learned alot from everyone on these forums during the whole build process.
most off, thank you to Wifey!! for putting up with me while i left pc bits all over the house hehe.

heres a bit of a spoiler for ya
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/CobraMods/dragonrising.jpg
early plans are shuttle,home server with about 6 hd's improved cooling and lighting and double as a monitor stand on my desk, and of course some air brushing on that one as well.
wish me luck and see you all in a while with this new one =o)


Link To Original Worklog (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14478)