Cygnar Storm Strider Casemod

Update #17: Kerfing works!
Count Down: Only 28 more days until PAX 2011.

In exactly 4 weeks at the time I’m writing this (7am local time), I will be standing in a line waiting for my coffee so I’ll have something to drink while I’m standing in line waiting to set up my computer so I can stand in line later in an exhibition hall at PAX.

Standing in line, it’s a hobby.

My impatience decided that waiting for shop access wasn’t conducive to forum update and my sanity. I decided to give kerfing a try. I started off with marking off all of the cut lines.

Then I simply used my dremel to make small groves in the metal. With the assistance of a rubber mallet, I bent the metal into a curve.

My curve is a little off. But I will re-work it to a better curve. I set up the wall with the posts.

The second wall turned out MUCH better. Fortunately, this is metal and you get second chances as long as you’re not cutting things out.

Next I set up a couple of the pieces to get an idea of how it is all coming together. :) I’m feeling pretty good about the case so far.

The lightning coils are ready for their putty then clean up. I’ve tested the tubes inside of the coils and they look awesome… of course, you’ll have to wait to see that.

That’s it for now! I should have some more pictures and updates after the weekend.

looking good!

this is just full of awesome!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA

looking good!

---

Thank you!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xr4man

this is just full of awesome!

---

That is my goal, good sir.

Just a quick little update, the voting has been closed on Privateer Press's forums. I will be sacrificing a miniature to the furnace. Nemo was selected by the masses:

It's nice to see the Privateer Press enthusiast get excited about this project. I've even gotten a couple of requests to come by and see the case at PAX. Fun times!

I have some REALLY exciting news! Privateer Press is going to provide me with the paints I need to paint this case! I have my first sponsor! I am working out how they want me to list their sponsorship and have provided them the paint colors and quantities I need. As an added bonus, they will be featuring this case in their monthly magazine which has an international readership!

*swoon*

If you'd like to know more about Privateer Press, just check out some of the games they have! If you play these types of games, I suggest playing Grind and Warmachine! They're two games I love to play and of course influenced my decision to do this case.

http://privateerpress.com/


Thank you very very much Privateer Press! I love it when the excitement and awe is contagious!

congrats!!

Great to see sponsors taking interest, your work deserves it!

That is amazing work. I wish i had the time and resources to do something fun like this. Great work man :)

This is simply just awesome. Great work. Love the craftsmanship your showing all of us.

Keep it up.

D.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA

congrats!!

---

:banana:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheMainMan

Great to see sponsors taking interest, your work deserves it!

---

Thanks!!! I appreciate any and all the help I can get.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Notyab

That is amazing work. I wish i had the time and resources to do something fun like this. Great work man :)

---

Actually, so do I. I'm working 2 jobs, doing this case mod and planning two others (a clockwork DVR and a My Little Pony case). As for resources, I've been doing this all on the cheap. I buy scrap aluminum plates for framing. The aluminum I'm melting down is scrap from local bicycle shops (wheel rims and some frames are aluminum). My biggest expense was buying the computer parts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dooglo

This is simply just awesome. Great work. Love the craftsmanship your showing all of us.

---

Thank you every much.

are the pictures in post 41 dead for anyone else?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Snowman

are the pictures in post 41 dead for anyone else?

---

Yeah, it looks like Yahoo Business Hosting is having some trouble. I'm getting a hold of them and seeing what's going on.

I'm getting dropped connections when attempting to connect to the server.



--------------------------------


Looks like there might have been some problems with the A record for my domain hosting. Hopefully the quick little work around works until they get it figured out. Try refreshing the page and see if it comes through now.

When it rains, it pours!

I might have a second potential contributor/sponsor!

Details will be posted soon with an actual update!

Update #18: Paint and Tapping Frustrations
Count Down: Only 23 more days until PAX 2011.

Look what arrived! First off I’d like to thank my new sponsor. Privateer Press! For those of you unfamiliar with Privateer Press they make a several fun games and a line of paints. The idea for the model was derived from one of their Battle Engines from the game Warmachine.

http://privateerpress.com/

Not only did they agree to sponsor me but they sent their help in record time. A package arrived on my door step by the time I finished reading the email saying they’d sponsor me. It was filled with four cool looking boxes.

Each of those boxes were filled with model paints! And they sent two cool patches to use for a process display!

The colors I requested and they provided were:
Exile Blue, Cygnar Blue Base, Cygnar Blue Highlight, Arcane Blue, Menoth White Highlight, Morrow White, Thamar Black, Battlefield Brown

I should be able to use these colors to replicate the colors they used for the gallery entry for the Storm Strider:

All in all, this help from Privateer Press brings me to a new level of happiness and excitement! I can’t wait to try out all of the new stuff. Even better news, I’m in discussions with D. Anthony over at Green Fairy Studios. They would like to help out the project by painting and/or detailing the case! As time runs short, this is a much needed boost to my confidence and my ability to make the PAX deadline! Feel free to check out his work: http://greenfairystudios.wordpress.com/

Now, back to the case! I am all tapped out. Literally, I am out of taps. I ran into a bit of a snag and snapped not one but two of my taps. Fortunately, I was able to extract the snapped pieces without damaging any of the pieces. Do any of you experience metal workers out there have any advice for me? Am I just strong arming my taps? They are kind of thin/small, 4-40 taps. Is there a brand anyone prefers?

Here’s the base plate with half of the posts attached.

I’ll probably have another post on Friday/Saturday. Stay Tuned!!

my only advice is to only turn the tap about a 1/4 turn at a time. backing it off after every 1/4 turn and then every couple of full turns backing it all the way out to get the metal shavings out of the hole.

perhaps you used a slightly too small drill bit to make the initial hole?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xr4man

my only advice is to only turn the tap about a 1/4 turn at a time. backing it off after every 1/4 turn and then every couple of full turns backing it all the way out to get the metal shavings out of the hole.

perhaps you used a slightly too small drill bit to make the initial hole?

---

The drill bit i used was included in the tap package as the 'matching drill bit'. It's probably me just being too aggressive or not clearing enough shavings out.

well i guess that's the right drill bit then.

Absolutely amazing project.... I'll def be following this one till the end...

TD

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Commando

Absolutely amazing project.... I'll def be following this one till the end...

---

Thank you!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


As a little update:

Do not be surprised if every single mod I do for the next 10 years has blue LEDs. I just got a screaming deal from a US LED manufacturer: 1000 Blue LEDs for $27 USD.

Even if 950 of them don't work, I'll still have enough for this project and will have paid less than buying them from the local Radio Shack.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by monkeyfun

Do not be surprised if every single mod I do for the next 10 years has blue LEDs. I just got a screaming deal from a US LED manufacturer: 1000 Blue LEDs for $27 USD.

Even if 950 of them don't work, I'll still have enough for this project and will have paid less than buying them from the local Radio Shack.

---

You could always sell some of the extras here. Just sayin.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by msmrx57

You could always sell some of the extras here. Just sayin.

---

You can do that? Hmmm...

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...play.php?f=134

Update #19: Main Enclosure
Count Down: Only 18 more days until PAX 2011.

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

Yes, I hear the clock’s deafening roar. But no, I am not worried. My goal is to have it done by PAX (August 26th), although if that doesn't happen I will still be diligently working on it until completion.

In all honesty I am hopeful that I will have it completed on time but... it all comes down to what happens on August 9th. I am casting the master pieces of the legs on the 9th. IF they turn out good then I'll be able to do a second casting later that week and the pieces from the 9th as masters and replicate one leg into four. Those four legs will need to be cleaned up and put everything together. But all of the cleaning parts and the assembly can happen at "midnight on 8/25" and I'd still have a showable piece.

IF they don't turn out as usable pieces, then I have to carve more pieces out from foam and recast them which will take quite a bit more time. Absolute worst case scenario, this project will be completed in October at the latest.

Best case scenario, it's completed on time. Now, onto the update!


Allow me to introduce you to Nemo. Nemo has a very short time to live. He has until August 9th and then he will become one with the casemod. To all of those that participated in the voting to pick which model was going to be melted down and infused with the casting, thank you. To those of you that requested that I use the old Nemo rather than the 2010 model, I apologize. I was only able to obtain a 2010 model in this short notice. Wish Nemo well because his life will not be long.

I finally got all of the enclosure posts completed.

Then I began attaching the walls.

After each wall was attached, I made sure they fit properly and filed down any parts that over lapped the edging.

Here is a front view before I filed down the front edge.

Here is a close up of that front edge and the curve.

This was one of the broken taps I had mentioned… I was able to extract the tap by simply unscrewing the tap from the post.

I was able to put all of the mother board mounting posts into the base plate.

I finally attached the back plate to the posts.

The enclosure has finally taken shape. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to see your mechanizations take shape when they’ve only been figments of your mind and snippets of conversation. It is a validation. Oh, just to the right is Nemo. He’s over-seeing the construction and screw inventory/count.

I tossed the template into the enclosure to get an idea of placement and to make sure the motherboard mounts will work. It wasn’t until that day did I even notice the template piece I have been using was for a Maximus III rather than the Maximus IV. After a little bit of panic and double checking with the actual board, the template works for aligning the motherboard mounting holes.

Next I file off the extra bits for the back plate. I’ll do the same for the top after I place the top plates.

Then I place the top plates. I cut these plates using the base plate as a template… which was a mistake.

Since I’m making this whole case ad-hoc, there are little difference between posts and how things align. The parts aren’t exactly symmetrical but they are functional and aesthetically decent. That being said, I cut the top pieces too early and now they don’t fit with the top part of the posts. The right side would be off on one of the inside walls. The left side is a little too short.

So, I decided to just cut two new pieces. I’ll start on the top plate details after I cast the center piece and attach the two inside walls.

Since I can’t work on the top plate until after the casting, I started working on the windows. There will be a fan on each side to help with air flow in the case.

Here is a quick look at the mesh I’ll be using in the windows.

Well… I hate to leave you with that gnarly, unfiled window cut but that is it for now. Another update will be posted later this week. We’ll see if I can get the windows completed and the next set of casting pictures up in the next update. Thanks for reading!

Ok, we did the casting of six pieces last night. These are all the pieces needed to repilicate into 3 other legs. Aaaaaannnd I still have to process all of the pictures and the movies. The result?

I have good news and bad news.

Still working on the update. To keep you entertained...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwXX1dXVpqE

:D

Update #20: More Casting! Good news and bad news.
Count Down: Only 15 more days until PAX 2011.

HazardFactory’s

First off, I’d like to thank Rusty @ HazardFactory for all of the help and the use of his shop. Without his help, this project simply would not be. Rusty:

Like the previous work log entries before, I had to prepare the sand and each of the moulds.

The furnace had to be heated up and aluminum melted.

The Furnace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJSmt7C23CA

Melting Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtX4kj9I3cs

Then of course, we poured the aluminum:

Pouring part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0-Kq-OEmRw

Pouring part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDdI6RvzweM

After pouring we waited about 20-30 minutes then checked our work:

Reveal part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoH5pwmER4U

Reveal part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JJBmWqGyDc

Oh! The LEDs arrived. If you were curious, this is what 1000 LEDs look like:

The Good News: These castings are great! 5 out of the 6 parts will require minimal additional work and that 6th part is usable after a little repair work. These parts can be used for master parts to do impressions to cast the other legs.

The Bad News: I won’t be able to use the shop again until September/October. This means I won’t be able to cast aluminum. The shop I have been using by the grace of Hazard Factory has a series of paying projects that will be taking up the space and time. I appreciate all of the help Hazard Factory has provided so far and look forward to working with Rusty again in the future. With what I currently have cast, I still need to do 11 more parts. So… this means I won’t be finished in time for PAX. :(


However, all hope is not lost. I have a plan. I will teach myself resin casting and see if I can make aluminum framed and re-enforced resin legs. I can do that this next weekend, right? I will need to make a three-part plaster mould for the shin guard and two two-part moulds for the legs. I’ll pick up the resin this Friday and begin the work ASAP.


Like I said at the very beginning of this project, even if I don’t get it completed by PAX, I will still be completing this project. I will even bring the partially completed project to PAX as the main enclosure will be assembled and usable as a computer case. It’ll either be missing the legs or have armature legs holding it up.

Still not losing momentum! Mod on my friends!

That is awesome! love the use of casting!

I love the videos! I wish I could have been there to see the whole melting and casting process. It sucks that the shop has to kick you out for a bit, but a lot of people here have experience with resin (myself not included), so ask away if you have questions.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mDust

I love the videos! I wish I could have been there to see the whole melting and casting process. It sucks that the shop has to kick you out for a bit, but a lot of people here have experience with resin (myself not included), so ask away if you have questions.

---

Yeah, I was a little let down that the shop was unavailable this month, but I'm counting my blessings rather than disappointments. They have already basically donated about $1700 in time, labor and space rental towards this projects. And for that I am grateful. It's up to me now to find and make an alternative work if I want to get this done by PAX.

I spent 5 hours last night cleaning up the newly cast pieces and I should be able to make the moulds this weekend. I've pretty much have to hustle on all of the parts. Anthony @ Green Fairy Studios said he'd paint the whole case for me, if I can get the parts to him to paint on the 20th/21st of August. I predict many long hours this weekend and next week.

Update #21: Mould Making.
Count Down: Only 11 more days until PAX 2011.

I've finished cleaning up the parts I recently cast. It's a little rough but beggars can't be choosers when you're trying to make a time-line. In hind sight, I'm thinking I should have started this project about 2 months earlier. Regardless, here's the parts placed together:

Next, I made connecting parts and place holders for both the mould and where the wire tube is going to be. Then I attached the parts with a regular glue gun. I used a glue gun because I wanted them to hold together for the casting but easy enough to pry apart.

Then I made a box to create the mould in... it's big enought for both the leg and the shin guard.

To be extra careful I coated the box seems in Vaseline and then did a light coat of baby powder (talc). This is to keep the plaster from sticking to the box. I also coated the leg with Vaseline.

The leg was suppended in the middle of the box.

NExt I filled the box half way up with plaster.

After the plaster dried, I made three key holes so the two halves of the mould could be fitted back together. Then I coated the top half of the mould with Vaseline and poured the second half of the plaster.

The mould came out pretty good considering I haven't made a plaster mould in 16 years. There will be some rough edges when I do the resin casting but all in all I should be able to sand and clean up finished product.

As a side note... if you're making a mould of this size it's unadvisable to buy the 3 pound box when you need 50 pounds of plaster... lessons learned.

Next update in 2 days.

Update #22: The Enclosure.
Count Down: Only 10 more days until PAX 2011.

I need elves …like those little elves that make shoes for the cobbler… someone to work on my case while I’m at work. :|

The case enclosure has shape!!! Here’s a picture with all the walls in. I still have some more cleaning up to do and filing around the edges but I wanted to get things put together to make sure I didn’t have any design flaws that would keep the parts from fitting.

Each of those panels will end having mesh put into them… but that’s in the future, near future hopefully.

Next I began fitting the cover plate. Since I ended up cutting new pieces (see update #19) I had to file down all of the overlapping parts.

Before:

Half way:

Much better:

Here’s an unfocused over-view of one half. I apologize for the quality of this picture but… I’d rather rush a picture or tow than not get any for the work log.

Here’s a view of the over lapping parts and the mismatched rear-arch.

After I did some filing on the rear-arch:

I had to stop here as I needed to use the table saw to cut some pieces and my neighbors frown on metal cutting at 11pm in the evening. More pictures will be up in 2 days. Tonight repairing some of the casting flaws with bondo, attaching the dome to the top piece, tapping the frame for the lightning coil spine, cutting the pieces for the PSU/HDD enclosure, cutting the frame for the leg resin pieces and cutting the holes for the input/output ports in the back panel. Tomorrow, I’ll clean up the plaster moulds a little bit and make a stab at the resin casting.

Update #23: The Mad Dash.
Count Down: Only 9 more days until PAX 2011.

I know I said I was going to update every two days but I got a bit done last night and … well… you’ll see.

Completed Last night:

Prepared the cover plate for cutting
Repaired some of the casting flaws with bondo
Cold welded the lightning coils seams for stability
Tapped the frame for the lightning coil spine
Assembled lightning coil frame
Cut out Frame pieces for leg resin
Cut wire tubing for legs
Cut out Mesh pieces for side walls
Cleaned up the plaster moulds

Pictures:

Prepared the cover plate for cutting:

The mesh is ready!

Here are the wiring tubes and the leg frames.

This was all the work that I completed on the spine:

And finally for this update you can see a semi assembled case!!! Please forgive the pink lightning ports. I’m smoothing those parts out with bondo.

What’s left? Here’s the To-Do list I have until the case is completed.

To-Do list:
Cold weld Wire tubes to resin leg frame
Cut the pieces for the PSU/HDD enclosure
Create frame and enclosure mounts for the PSU/HDD enclosure
Cut out switch holes on PSU/HDD enclosure
Assemble PSU/HDD enclosure
Cut the holes for the input/output ports in the back panel
Create cover pieces for the spine
Attach lightning coils to spine
Cut Spine attachment pieces
Cut spine space and panels out of top cover plate
Cut out wiring holes in main enclosure base plate
Bend and insert mesh pieces to side walls and top cover plate
Cold weld dome to cover plate
Cast resin legs
Attach legs to PSU/HDD enclosure
Create 3 part mould for shin guards
Cast resin shin guard
Attach shin guard
Cut acrylic windows for all lightning ports
Wire shin guards for LED lighting
Base paint all the parts
Paint the case
Insert the video card mounting plate
Put in all of the hardware and switches
Test run for shorts and issues
Disassemble case for transport


Next update will be in 2 days at latest.

this thing just gets more and more impressive!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA

this thing just gets more and more impressive!

---

Thank you! I'm slowly but surely crossing things off my list... soon... soon I'll be complete.

wish I knew why the pictures never load for me....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Snowman

wish I knew why the pictures never load for me....

---

Try reloading the latest update again. I keep forgetting that some people might have difficulties if the picture urls don't have the www. listed. It's pissingme off because this is something that my hosting company should have taken care of a while ago.

My hand decided to have a fight with a chunk of aluminum that got caught in a table saw. I'm bruised but not daunted. Sallying forth!

Done:
Cold weld Wire tubes to resin leg frame
Insert the video card mounting plate
Create cover pieces for the spine

In Progress:
Cut out wiring holes in main enclosure base plate
Cut Spine attachment pieces

To-Do list:
Cut the pieces for the PSU/HDD enclosure
Create frame and enclosure mounts for the PSU/HDD enclosure
Cut out switch holes on PSU/HDD enclosure
Assemble PSU/HDD enclosure
Cut the holes for the input/output ports in the back panel
Attach lightning coils to spine
Cut spine space and panels out of top cover plate
Bend and insert mesh pieces to side walls and top cover plate
Cold weld dome to cover plate
Cast resin legs
Attach legs to PSU/HDD enclosure
Create 3 part mould for shin guards
Cast resin shin guard
Attach shin guard
Cut acrylic windows for all lightning ports
Wire shin guards for LED lighting
Base paint all the parts
Paint the case
Put in all of the hardware and switches
Test run for shorts and issues
Disassemble case for transport


An actual update will be posted tomorrow or Friday.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by monkeyfun

Try reloading the latest update again. I keep forgetting that some people might have difficulties if the picture urls don't have the www. listed. It's pissingme off because this is something that my hosting company should have taken care of a while ago.

---

ntohing but white space or broken image icons, i will try a different browser. They load fine in firefox but not in chrome... chrome is really starting to upset me with their funky image rendering.