Lucas Arts Adventure PC.

[d_stilgar]

AmEv and I have a shared love of the Micron Millenia case. I've had one for a long long time now and have never done anything cool with it. I've had some ideas, but always put off building them.

Well, after the Double Fine Adventure was funded on kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/double-fine-adventure?ref=live) (with my support), I've been watching the updates and getting more and more nostalgic and excited about the old point and click adventure games. Particularly, those made by Lucas Arts. I know I could just put ScummVM on my computer and run my old games, but I want a really authentic experience.

However, the Micron Millenia case is well . . . a circa 2000 case, which is a few years younger than when those games really saw their prime. 3D cards were really becoming popular with several companies making them, and the Sound Blaster was also becoming the new standard in audio cards.

So I decided to make a computer with a bunch of the top of the line hardware from 1999-2000 and then install windows 2000 on it, and put it all in the Micron Millenia and then put a whole bunch of games in the thing.

Hardware is still sort of up for debate as to what is the best of the era. But this is what I'm thinking.

[X] PIII 866 Coppermine
[ ] 1.5-2Gb ram
[X] IDE Hard Drives
[X] CD Rom (I'm pretty sure DVD-rom was coming out around this time, but I've already got the drive)
[ ] ATI Radeon with DDR ram (this was the first Radeon and the first 3D accelerator with DDR ram)
[X] Floppy Drive

So, here are some pictures. AmEv has a decent walkthrough of the case (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25033) in his Micron Millenia mod, so you can go there for a more detailed teardown. I'm just trying to be fast with my mods. I still have a baby coming and school starts too soon.

Right:
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5048.jpg

Left:
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5049.jpg

Side Panel Open. What a nest in there, but so big and nice and well featured:
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5050.jpg

Interior. There are 3 hard drives. 2 are sort of modern, but still IDE. Not sure if I'll keep them. There's a raid card, a modem, a network card, and some nothing video card. Also, floppy drive, 240W PSU, and CD-Rom.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5051.jpg

Components removed and plastic stripped off the case. All the rivets still need to be drilled out and it needs a pre-paint sand before I can paint it.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5054.jpg

Here's the plastic. I'll be using RetroBright (http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/) to get all the beige plastic back to its new color. I'm not sure about the blue plastic. I'm thinking maybe gold spray paint. Thoughts? The metal will be purple, so gold would match the Lucas Arts theme and their old school logo. But I worry that there's too much blue plastic and that it will be too much. I guess I can always paint it another color if the gold turns out to suck.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/LucasArts_GoldGuy_logo_purple.jpg/200px-LucasArts_GoldGuy_logo_purple.jpg
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5056.jpg

I stripped the components apart for paint as well. Might as well go the extra mile, it doesn't take much effort but really adds to the overall effect.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5052.jpg

Everything is given a light sanding and then a coat of some reflective silvery stuff.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5057.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5058.jpg

Then it gets a coat of shiny purple. I ran out while doing the main body of the case. I'll get more tomorrow and finish up everything.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5059.jpg

But I was able to finish the PSU, floppy drive, and CD drive. I knew that purple would look awesome with beige, but it's better than I even imagined it would be.
http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5060.jpg

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_5062.jpg

That's all for now. Friday I will spend some money that I should be saving for other things and my wife will be mad at me. That is, if my baby isn't here yet and I haven't found my better judgement by then. Still, this is going to be a pretty quick mod and cheap to boot. I may try to nab an old micron mechanical keyboard while I'm at it. I have a sweet force feedback mouse from around 2000 that will get the purple paint treatment as well.

Thanks for looking!

[d_stilgar]

Hey all. My wife delivered our son Thursday evening, so things have been a little hectic for a few days. I finally got to go to the store today but they no longer stock the paint I needed. I found it online and ordered three more cans. It should be here soon-ish, and then I can finish painting the purple.

In the mean time I'll see if I can't get some Retr0bright started on the beige plastic panels so at least some work is getting done on it.

[Fuganater]

Grats man! hope to see more work

[OvRiDe]

Congratulations!! A little hectic? LOL Hectic is probably an understatement! Looking good so far.

[xr4man]

congrats

[d_stilgar]

Alright so my mother-in-law is there until Thurday, and the paint I ordered isn't here yet, so no work has gotten done and probably won't until next weekend. Sorry guys. More will come. I promise.

[msmrx57]

Alright so my mother-in-law is there until Thurday, and the paint I ordered isn't here yet, so no work has gotten done and probably won't until next weekend. Sorry guys. More will come. I promise.

No apologies needed, life happens and yours just got a lot fuller. ;)

[AmEv]

Looking good!


I'm impressed with what you've done so far.

[d_stilgar]

Thanks. I've painted more since then. The purple is essentially a candy coat, but out of a can it is nearly impossible to get an even coat over anything. I would never do that again without a proper paint gun. The largest parts of the computer look pretty bad. I may end up redoing it at some point, but for now I'll just go with it. I'd rather just finish this and have it running.

[msmrx57]

Thanks. I've painted more since then. The purple is essentially a candy coat, but out of a can it is nearly impossible to get an even coat over anything. I would never do that again without a proper paint gun. The largest parts of the computer look pretty bad. I may end up redoing it at some point, but for now I'll just go with it. I'd rather just finish this and have it running.

I've had good results with rattle-can candies and pearls in the past. An easy trick is to let the can soak in hot water out of the tap. This bumps up the pressure and gets better atomization. That being said it's very hard to beat a decent spray gun or air brush.

[TLHarrell]

I sit my rattle cans out on the windshield wipers on my car for about 10 minutes. The area around them is black, and the windshield soaks up a lot of sun. Brings up the can to a very nice warm temperature for spraying and makes it flow nice and smooth.

I also use the same location as a drying rack. I'm usually ready for recoats in minutes when I'm not wet sanding between coats.

Candies are always a challenge regardless of whether you have a proper gun or a rattle can. As always, prep, prep, prep. And always try to eliminate or minimize sharp edges. Paint naturally wants to flow away from them, and with a transparent or candy coat, will show less color.

[d_stilgar]

Yeah, I've had all those issues. I think I'll just wet sand a little bit and call it good no matter how bad it looks.

For the next two weeks I'm working overtime and I've gotten back on my regimen of running, so I have little spare time to work or post updates, but will soon.