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Nox
07-02-2006, 09:13 PM
Well, I have to start by saying the folks here at the TBCS forums have given me inspiration to go all out an mod the hell out of a computer. I've lookied through the forums, checked worklogs to see how the little tricks are done, poured over the forum tips and tricks and got it in my head to mod, truly mod, my system. Now, the most I've done as far as modding goes, is I've pulled a case apart down to the pieces and painted it...I hear you all now OoooOOoo...lol
This mod will be the first time I delve into cutting, painting, manufacturing my own parts etc. Call me chicken, call me skeptic, but I have always thought to stay within my own comfort zone to keep myself from growing broke while envying all of you guys with your ideas. But envy I shall no more! heh.

On to my idea: I have always been a fan of the Mechwarrior series of games, playing battletech until just a few years ago when they came out with the new gaming miniatures (BRING BACK PARTHA MINIS!) so I decided for my first mod to step right into the thick of it and mod a cube and detail it after a Battlemech.
I kicked a few ideas around at first, thinking a mech might be too difficult, but then thought about making the mod reflect the docking bays or hangar that a 'Mech would refit and repair in. I read Crimson's Doom 3 mod, and thought kitbashing was the way to go for all the parts I needed - wrong! A hangar would be too detailed for a person of my skill, so I went back to the idea of making the cockpit and reactor assembly of a Battlemech.

The Mod:
I had a cabinet sitting around here from a past upgrade I did for my last computer, and I needed to find another to make my cube. I looked online to price the cost of 2 basic boxes and was surprised to find out how much a friggin box cost nowadays! So I did the next best thing and checked out my local computer repair shops for boxes they no longer wanted or needed because of customer upgrades. Lemme tell ya folks, there's a treasure trove there I never imagined. One shop gave me 4 boxes of various size, 2 Dells, and 2 no namers - one of which fit almost perfectly to the box I had at home.
Besides getting the second hand cases for free, I got what was mounted to them for free as wel, netting a 40x cd rom, a 52x cd rom, 3 floppy drives and 2 PSU's (One a brand spankin new Antec 350W), and 2 Windows XP Home cd keys from the Dell computers that were printed on the side of the cases lol.

I got my cases home, measured them out and found the match to the one at home:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1862/picture0010sx.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0010sx.jpg)


Which I then took them outside and riveted them together along the insides of the frames. I also took note that one case had removable sides, while the other was a single piece 'U' shaped cover. I noted that so I could figure out how to mount the side panel to that side of the case.
I took the top from the case that had removable sides and cut it into strips, enabling me to use the notches in the tp to mount the removable sides:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/4347/picture0027ti.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0027ti.jpg)

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3041/picture0056xc.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0056xc.jpg)

Nox
07-02-2006, 09:32 PM
I used one of the ideas I garnered from the Doom 3 mod (Which I had never thought of) and used foam bard to mock up a control panel for my "cockpit". After using several days to think of what I wanted, I cut the board and taped it together then drew out what I was going to have down for little eye catchers all over it which I was going to mount by, again, using Crimson's idea of transparencies printed out over lights or LED's:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/9272/picture0038nd1.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0038nd1.jpg)

I ordered some 1mil styrene sheeting from Evegreen Scale Models and then made a few purchases from Directron as well as FrozenCPU for the innerds of my box - then waited for them to come..

Meanwhile, I bought some 1/8th inch angle iron (yup, steel baby!) and flat stock from one of the steel shops here in town ansd began working on the front of my cockpit:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3411/picture0086xk.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0086xk.jpg)

After making a mistake here and there, I finally decided that the flat stock had to go, since I planned on using it as a 'spacer' to push the face of the computer out so I didnt have to drill new holes to mount my drives and fan controller. so I started drilling out the rivets I had used to mount the steel stock (which were - steel rivets, not aluminum) Needless to say, using quality tools results in quality product and lessened injury - the cheap ass drill bit I was using (Thanks Black and Decker!) decided to break and the remaining bit that was in the chuck buried itself clear to the bone in my hand...
WARNING: not for the queasy of stomach!
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/9910/picture0076jo.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0076jo.jpg)
Yea, the yellow stuff is fat..
Well as a result: Some cursing, questions from my wife why I was having her take pics of my hand, and a nice tetanus shot later - I was back home and working on this beast to finish the front end of the box.

Mach
07-02-2006, 09:42 PM
Great idea, I love the control panel mockup. Should be very cool!


No, I won't click on the injury link as anything with the footnote of "the yellow stuff is fat", I do not need to see. :eek:

Nox
07-02-2006, 09:45 PM
I unfortunately had to redesign the front control panel since the idea I had wasn't panning out - I wanted to make small doors to cover the drive bays, but the design of my control panel was too high, and wouldnt allow that.
So I decided on a new panel design, and had to cut the front of the cube in order to allow the wiring and other goodies I had decided to make:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3411/picture0086xk.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0086xk.jpg)

I was having trouble mounting the top to the two cases so I decided to cut the strips for mounting the sides a little narrower that way I didn't have such a residual space along the front of the face. I also bought some cheaper black paint to use as a primer to keep the steel and sheet metal I was using from rusting:
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/9210/picture0096ja.th.jpg (http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0096ja.jpg)

Next I bought some good blades for my jigsaw (Dewalt is the brand I got) 32 teeth per inch I believe, not sure, but they cut sheet metal like frigging butter! I cut the window out for the side, then primed it with the black after some hearty sanding:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/6655/picture0107fj.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0107fj.jpg)

I had planned on buying some good thick plexi to mount into it as a window, but I checked the prices for my local stores and they wanted damn near 10 bucks for a window. Eh, too much in my opinion for a mod that may or may not look too hot, so I checked Diamond Home Improvement - they had a sheet of 1/10th inch plexi, 24x36 for 8 bucks!
That made my window, and left me plenty of leftovers for any ideas I might be able to cook up.

Nox
07-02-2006, 09:59 PM
I found out where I could get some sheet metal at a decent price and began working on the top to my mod. I decided I wanted to make a 120mm blowhole in the top, but had trouble figuring out what I wanted to disguise it as - then I had an idea later that day - a fusion reactor that is used to power the 'mechs as they move and battle.
Anyhow, I went to a heating and air business and had them cut me a piece of metal for the top - 20g galvanized. They wanted 50 bucks an hour for any shaping or breaking of metal, but when I explained what I was doing with it, they guy bent the ends for me for free. (Thanks Caveman heating & air! lol)
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/8866/picture0119yw.th.jpg (http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0119yw.jpg)

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/1732/picture0120uh.th.jpg (http://img67.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0120uh.jpg)
I dont have a holesaw, so I gad to cut the hole using a jigsaw and round it off with a file.

Next I sanded and painted the MB removable case side:
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3916/picture0137nv.th.jpg (http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0137nv.jpg)

Next I had an idea about wanting to mount a 120mm intake fan, but the idea was shot down with the failure of the original control panel, so I had to modify my idea with a 92mm blow hole intake. A buddy of mine had a Vantec tornado fan he wasn't using, so he sold it to me for half of what some website wanted, so I began shapng my idea around that fan.
I bought a 100mm to 82mm step down sewage coupler and (what I thought was) Bondo and began working on the intake side of my air cooled system.
Also, I mounted some of the plastic sheet stock onto the exhaust (fusion reactor) and the intake to make a fan mount for each (which was later scrapped and modified) Later I found out that the red bondo isn't actually Bondo, its body filler. My dad had a 10 year old can of bondo laying in his shop (The ****'s like a twinkie, it never goes bad??!), which I later used in the making of the intake:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/6339/picture0143xt.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0143xt.jpg)

Nox
07-02-2006, 10:14 PM
I sanded and primed the top, marked the various holes I needed to drill for rivets and mounted the top section to the cube:
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/7537/picture0152hu.th.jpg (http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0152hu.jpg)

After much fighting with the different pieces of angle iron and flat steel stock, much of it was removed and I will have to find some other way of mounting the drives and fan controller properly.

Next was the control panel. Now, admittedly, I underestimated any of you that have done scratchbuilding of any sort with sheet plastic. I went into the control panel idea like I was building some sort of Revel model when I was rudely awakened by the shock and horror that is scratch modelling lol.
I cut plastic and went through measurements like there was no tomorrow, changed plans and ideas in the middle and modified my original idea - I didn't take pictures of the process becuase I knew I would have enough memory in my camera even if the pics were turned to the smallest size LOL. After 2 weeks of cursing, glueing, cutting and my wife yelling at me to come to bed at 3am I give you the control panel:

FRONT:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8620/picture0170ri.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0170ri.jpg)

BACK:
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/7232/picture0183zm.th.jpg (http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0183zm.jpg)

FRONT with Flipout panel closed:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3221/picture0198lm.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0198lm.jpg)

I modelled it somewhat from a cockpit I saw in RobotJox, as well as some Star Wars ideas. The reset switch is housed in a flipout panel, and when its time to hit the reset switch, you flip the box out, hit the button, and push it back in to hide it. The panel of 6 led's on the top left is for a weapons readout which I was going to use transparencies for the "screen", and the led's to light it, but I couldnt find transparency stock for a home printer. Also, this might be delayed due to the led's I have are really REALLY dull, they arent very bright. The two green LED's on the right are a backlight for a power readout, and the single red led in the lower end is for another simulated readout.
In order to start the computer, the missile switch needs to be flipped to the "on" position, then the two smaller switches beneath it must be both pressed to complete the circuit to the start switch on the MB.
I have stickers that I will be putting all over this board to simulate warnings etc, it wont remain this plain.

Nox
07-02-2006, 10:30 PM
On to the front of the box again!

I finally completed the front of the box, I decided not to take step by step pics on what I was doing, because every time I had an idea down and started taking them, something would change and I would have to start over.
The front of the mod is pretty much done, having had 3 coats of a cheap paint as primer over the entire box, sanded with 420 and painted again.
I decided that I wanted to be able to see my hard drive from outside the drive bays, so I cut a small window into the sheet metal on the front of the bays, and I will be covering it with a piece of the plexy I bought from Diamond. I also bought a red blinking LED I will be mounting above the HDD in the bay - so you can see the HDD with a warning light blinking above it.

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3236/picture0207wx.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0207wx.jpg)

A guy I work with does laser engraving, so I will be giving him the plexi window before I mount it and he will engrave this into it for me:

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/8775/caution0ai.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It still needs some work, but its a general idea. It wont be etched with colors of course, so I need to find a way of giving it a feel of being realistic, but readable. Also, the intake blowhole was changed a little - I found a grill to an older power supply that was the same size, so I notched the back of the intake and epoxied the grill to it - then mounted the fan to that.

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3337/picture0214ns.th.jpg (http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0214ns.jpg)

I decided that if I am making a box that has a fusion reactor, stuff inside needs to glow - so I bought UV reactive mesh sleeving from FrozenCPU and you can see some of it on the tail of the fan - its bright orange but you can't tell in the pic. UV cathodes are in the future to make the inside light up, and I bought 2 sets of lazer LED's to brighten things up here and there - 1 set of green, 1 of red.

That's all that I have so far, more will be posted as I go along - but its in the final stages of the build - I need to do some outer touch ups here and there.
I'm out for now!

DaveW
07-03-2006, 06:27 AM
You would be better posting the images in the thread directly. You might find this easier with photobucket hosting?

-Dave

lotech
07-03-2006, 01:25 PM
For the images, try my hosting at www.lotechdesigns.com/host. It's not just a plug for my site, but it provides you with the thumbnails and also gives you the code to copy + paste for the forum to give you linking thumbnails embedded in your post.

As for the mod so far... looking good ;)

Nox
07-03-2006, 05:34 PM
I used imageshack and they gave me the code to copy and paste to make the thumbs show up but for some reason they arent coming up - for example:
url=http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0207wx.jpg][img=http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3236/picture0207wx.th.jpg][/url

That code isn't popping up the preview like it should - mind you, I took the first and last brackets off so you can see the entire code.
Lemme know how to fix it and I'm all over it. Gawd I hate PHP...

silverdemon
07-03-2006, 06:09 PM
try to use this code:
IMG]_URL_of_picture_here_[/IMG

(offcourse put a square bracket in front and at the back of that line)

FyR
07-03-2006, 07:01 PM
you need to enclose the address within buddy, good work on the mod, keep it up! :)

EDIT: Dam you silver demon and your faster at helping people than me ways!! :)

silverdemon
07-03-2006, 07:22 PM
:P sorry :P

lotech
07-04-2006, 02:42 AM
Hehe, it's forum BB code not PHP :P

As said, if you want them to show it would be like

[*URL=http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8530MonkeyGlasses.gif]http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/thumbs/8530MonkeyGlasses.gif[/IMG*][/URL*]

Minus any stars so you end up with:

[IMG]http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/thumbs/8530MonkeyGlasses.gif (http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8530MonkeyGlasses.gif)

Nox
07-04-2006, 03:21 AM
Ok, picture code is fixed to show previews and I made some more changes and improvements today - might post some pics this morning if I have time.
Thanks silverdemon and lotech!

DaveW
07-04-2006, 11:29 AM
Looks good so far man!

-Dave

Nox
07-07-2006, 06:08 AM
Finally got some time to post more on this box.
I was digging through some of the parts I had gathered from the throw away Dell pc's I was given by one of the computer stores here and found a dual usb output that was complete, so I yanked it out of the parts box and it fits on my board!
So I used my handy dandy nibbler and cut a sqauare large enough to accomodate it in the front of my project, so now I have a dual out for my graphics tablet and joystick. I also used some of my scrap sheet polystyrene and made a nifty lil housing for it.
Also, I looked on 'ol google and found some industrial signs and warnings, which I printed out on white sticker stock and made use of all over this thing.
Also just got done putting in the plexi window to observe the blinking warning LED over the hard drive when the computer is on. Still smeared with the silicone, but I'll clean it tomorrow. I'm tired so I'm goin to bed!

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8110/picture0249ao.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0249ao.jpg)
You can catch a sneak peek of the 'fusion reactor' I am building for the top to cover up the 120 mm fan. Its the white cylinder with the red coffee stirrers epoxied to it on the left LOL.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2748/picture0265pw.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0265pw.jpg)

I took a closeup of the intake hole where the 92mil fan is mounted. I had it up to full speed using the tester PSU I made, and the damn thing will pretty near tow your hand into the box - I figured warnings about that were well deserved!
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/1212/picture0253hk.th.jpg (http://img144.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0253hk.jpg)

Still having problems with the LED's being too dull and washed out, even with pulls from other units like VCR's and other junk I have around. I'm not sure if I am putting in the right values to figure the right resistor for it or what, so I will be worjking on the displays and all that later when the aesthetics are done.

DaveW
07-07-2006, 06:34 AM
Wow, this is looking great! Keep up the great work! I especially like the Matt paintjob, and the stickers around the front. I'd also like to compliment you on a seamless integration-it looks fantastic.

-Dave

Nox
07-07-2006, 04:24 PM
Thanks Dave! This is my first 'real' mod, and to get a compliment like that makes it dang worthwhile!
This is a 'Mk 1' version, I am waiting for a matched set of cases from work when they do some computer upgrades, the IT guy is giving me a pair of cases from the same company, so I will have fewer problems matching size as well as I'll have some fronts to work with to make the optical drive placement a little easier.
Off to work, then its a weekend of more work on this monster - see ya!

Silenced_Coyote
07-25-2006, 02:30 PM
About your LEDs being dull. Could it be dull because of their low luminous intensity? I wish I knew more about LEDs to be of more help...

b4i7
07-25-2006, 07:02 PM
nice mod idea.....me and some friends talked about doin some mech4 mods....but they never got into works.....i might have to start one now

phelan1777
08-07-2006, 12:48 AM
Dude I bow to you, I was working on a CM STacker and wanted to go for a Clan Ghost Bear theme. Having a time with the mod, so many ideas, having a hard time tryin to decide.

I have searched and found like no one working on a BAttletech/Mecwarrior MOD. I can't wait to see it in its full glory.

Silenced_Coyote
08-07-2006, 01:51 AM
Way back in the day I played Mechwarrior 2 for PC and read the books too. It is great to see someone do a mod themed after Mechwarrior.

I loved the Wolf Clan! The Timberwolf was my favorite mech. Loaded it with PPCs. Been such a long time...

Tech-Daddy
08-07-2006, 06:26 PM
Dying to see this thing into completion.... I have some ideas that I have been looking for "just the right case" to pull the mods on...

Good luck and you have me hooked!

SnowFox
08-07-2006, 06:30 PM
Me like the mod !!! very nice :D

cybertron
08-09-2006, 07:08 PM
Dang, somebody beat me to it.:)

I'm just looking to get into modding (real modding, not just cutting the crappy fan grills off my case;)) and I thought a Mechwarrior themed mod would be cool. Should be fun to see yours finished.

Tech-Daddy
08-09-2006, 09:30 PM
Dude.... MW/BT is big enough for anyone to go for it.... dont let this one slow you down from trying your hand at that style!

GO FOR IT!

b4i7
08-09-2006, 10:55 PM
Dude.... MW/BT is big enough for anyone to go for it.... dont let this one slow you down from trying your hand at that style!

GO FOR IT!
nuff said td

cybertron
08-10-2006, 08:58 AM
Yeah, right now I'm just working on trying to get an armor look down so that I have a starting point. We'll see where it goes after that. I'm sure I could come up with something to differentiate it. Might post pics of my progress later in the noob forum and see if anyone has suggestions.

phelan1777
09-03-2006, 07:02 PM
Dude.... MW/BT is big enough for anyone to go for it.... dont let this one slow you down from trying your hand at that style!

GO FOR IT!


For real there are Clans, Houses, Political Factions, Mech designs Drop Ships, jump ships you name it, it can be done.

Not to mention time frames in the BT/MW timeline Star-League, Pre invasion, post invasion, Dark Ages.