ODST Legendary

Hit a snag...the Corsair H50 is no good...I am going to return it to NCIX. Anyone have any thoughts on these?

Liquid cooling:
Coolit ECO

or Antec Kuhler

or go air cooling with the Scythe Susanoo:

Appreciate any guidance...

Coolit stuff is traditionally very good, but they are big turds to their customers. Every time I've talked to them I've felt chided for really no reason other than not being a large company trying to sign a big contract. Also, Corsair essentially uses Coolit stuff with the Corsair name on it. I personally would rather try again with Corsair again (maybe upgrade) before going to Coolit. Really, I've been that disappointed.

Also, Corsair stuff should work with Corsair Link, which is pretty awesome. The promised Coolit Maestro was never released and was essentially sold to Corsair as the Corsair Link.

Scythe tends not to perform as well as you would expect for how extremely large and heavy some of their coolers are. Still, I've used their stuff in the past (the Orochi) and still like them a lot. They have lots of original stuff and their fans are really really quiet.

I don't know anything about the Antec Kuhler (is that pronounced "cool-er"? (irony)), and I'm fairly indifferent about them as a brand. I've never used their cases. I know they're good but they just never caught my attention enough for me to want to buy one. Maybe someone else here can chime in.

Well, Antec is known for awesome PSUs....

Thanks guys, I looked up my local dealers here...I think based on my budget, there are only a few choices, and the companies offering the liquid cooling products are limited...Corsair, Antec and maybe Coolit and Intel...the rest is air! I'm going to keep your feedback in mind while I keep looking...thanks!

As I mentioned before, here are the pics of the MB and the back panel I am working on.

Accessories:

Back panel...still debating whether I want 2 fans or 1 120mm...

Damn the "real" jobs! Too much of work loaded on me all of a sudden!

I haven't had a lot of time to do anything, but I was able to work on a couple of things..back panel etc.

I mounted the rear IO panel frame onto the back panel to see what I can do with fans.

Based on what I see, I can mount the 2 80mm fans like in the pic (one from the PCI mount, which I am replacing with another 80mm and the HDD cage, which I will also replace with another 80mm. I am not overly concerned about clearance issues as I am going to liquid cool the CPU anyway. The plan is to install the rad on the other side of the MB instead of the backplate.

I am going to reuse the PCI fan, the 2 fans for the motherboard and the HDD fan. I still don't have any plans for the 140mm fan I removed from the ATX PS. Have to see how I can make it useful in the case...

Now, back to the grind...:(

Trying to juggle everything that still needs to be done on this mod...so went out to get some more testing supplies for the shield assembly...I'm going to work on that for the next few days...trying my hand at sculpting...hopefully it will turn out ok..:crossed:

Left to right:
- Styrofoam balls - skull design
- Sculpting tool kit
- Major Combat! He doesn't know what's coming :devious: - purpose will be updated later
- Modelling clay
- Top: Dowels for support within the sculptures

Here's a bigger shot of the Major:

I'll post pics as I progress

I was really having trouble with visualizing the 3 layers from the picture, so I decided to really put my thoughts into 3 layers...here's how they look like...I will start with the clay either later tonight or tomorrow...

Shield:

The skull will sit slightly above the center of the shield on top of the guns...

This morning my alarm didn't go off :whistler: so I called it in...

Thought I'd get some sanding done outside and as soon as I stepped out, this is what happened...WT@?

So back to indoor stuff...

So this is the first time in my life I tried using modelling clay :D

I used the styrofoam ball and cut in in half first to give me a surface to start moulding the skull on to.

Then I took the modelling clay ($1 at the dollar store) and started on the shaping of the skull...good thing it was only from the dollar store...so here's what I ended up after some trial and error...

This is mostly from looking at a picture of a skull on the net...

I'm going to try tweaking it a little more...need to make the skull elongated...looks too short?

Here ya go, you can edit and paste into your first post...

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Originally Posted by jdbnsn

Here ya go, you can edit and paste into your first post...

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IT'S AWESOME!!!!!!! TY TY TY TY!!!!! :banana:

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Originally Posted by jdbnsn

Here ya go, you can edit and paste into your first post...

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Where can I get one of those????

For ModCron!

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Originally Posted by AmEv

Where can I get one of those????

For ModCron!

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I posted my request in one of the first 3 - 4 topics in Work in Progress...and JDBNSN did his magic :D

So did I!

yeah yeah, you are on my list of to-do's homie. I'll get you one soon, promise

Okay, no rush.

No new updates to post...waiting for the clay skull to dry, so I can do a dry run on it with paint...weather is supposed to let up tomorrow...so might get down to some sanding :D

I'm also going to sculpt the SMGs tonight using carving foam and get the clay on them for the final tweaks.

So, the clay still didn't cure, maybe another 24 hours for me to be able to paint the skull...

I thought bad weather, can't sand, waiting for stuff to happen before I move on...so went out an exchanged the Corsair. For the same price, I was able to get a better model...the Corsair H60...pic below:

OK, some of the supplies I have been waiting on have arrived...Sanding FTW :D

Left to right:
- Methyl Hydrate - for cleanup first
- Easy off - 1st step after I clean up - will use a sponge
- Grey primer for after sanding
- Tremclad textured hunter green (kind of dark green/black) - Still waiting on Green Black

Left to right - other supplies:
- Dyna Patch filler for before sanding - scratches, grooves, cuts etc.
- Epoxy - no plans for it yet, but we'll see
- Sanding sponges - Fine to very fine

So tomorrow - whether freezing my butt off or not, I will sand - in the garage.

I'll post pics as I go...

Also need some feedback, folks...to LED or not to LED? While it's a G5 case, except for the outline, except for a couple of things, nothing else will be G5 in it...so my son asked me today, would I put LEDs in it or not and that got me thinking...I am torn!!!!! Help please? Thanks!

I'll toss this here so others can also benefit:

For sanding, I usually use regular wet/dry sandpaper and a wood block for finishing work. Sanding sponges are good for curved stuff, but if you're trying to flatten a surface out and remove irregularities you will find the sponge conforms and will sand down in the dips. A wood block planes over the irregularities and take off the high points.

The way I would do any of the added relief items on the outside of the case would be by casting them in resin. (Getting started with casting resin is a bit costly, but if you're doing a lot of mods it opens up a lot of cool things you can do by duplicating your work.) You could then mount the resin parts with screws, rivets or just double stick tape (servo tape for RC cars is the best).

Make your original part out of anything you want to work with. Basswood is perfect for the flatter shapes and can be cut and sanded extremely easily. You can also add plastic and other items as well. Bondo or clay will also work. You load up the basswood with sanding sealer, sand it, prime it, wet sand that so it's got a nice surface. Make sure everything's well smoothed and doesn't have a porous surface. Then cast a mold of that part in RTV silicone. TAP Plastics sells kits and supplies for casting. Some hardware stores carry similar. You'll have to look around for similar in your area. Basically, the mold is rubbery. You then cast resin (clear plasticky stuff) into that mold. Once cured, the molds are easy to peel off without damaging them, even molds with some overhang since the silicone is stretchy.

You will need:
1. Your original part, cleaned and sealed so it's not porous.
2. Silicone mold compound
3. Mold release agent for silicone molds
4. Casting resin
5. A small box to cast the silicone mold in (you can use the box as support for the mold when you cast the resin parts, then remove the box to make the mold flexible.

There are tutorials online for doing castings like this. It's not difficult if you prep correctly. You can make more than one casting from the same mold, and it makes for a very durable cast part. Added bonus, if you use clear resin, well... it's clear. You can add lighting inside it.

If you want something that's really integral to the side of the case and shows no seam where it attaches, you should do it out of metal if possible. You can form the shape from bondo, but it's not ideal. "Bondo", also referred to as "car body cheese" has a nasty habit of just falling off of the metal surface. It's best use is to act as a final smoother for a surface, not to fill big stuff. Build your sloping item out of metal or any other suitable base that is well attached with screws or rivets, then smooth the joints out with the bondo. Do this directly on bare metal. Alternatively, cut the metal case side and fold it out to form your slope, then add material as needed to close it up again.

When working with Bondo, remember that there's a short working time before you can't spread it around anymore. Starts out like peanut butter. Use this working time to get it close to your shape. Then it hardens up but is still a bit soft. Get to grinding as soon as possible if there's any spots you want to smooth out. After that softer time, about 30 minutes, it gets extremely hard. At this point, you're into blocking and fine sanding only as it's very tough to make a dent in it with anything short of air impact tools. Definitely try the stuff out on a scrap and just play with it to get a feel for it. It's got a bit of a learning curve that'll be a surprise the first time you use it.

Is it ok if I rename your thread to ODST Legendary?

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Originally Posted by jdbnsn

Is it ok if I rename your thread to ODST Legendary?

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I was trying to find out how to change it myself, I would appreciate it if you can...many thanks, jdbnsn!!!!

So, after whining and groaning about my transmission, I decided to get back to the mod again...I was digging through my stash of shtuff and found this NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller which I am going to use in the front below the shield, Power/Reset will go on the right of it and USB will go on the left...I dont care much for front audio, so I am leaving that out. I cut out a slot for the front panel to fit the fan controller...it does look very cool with all the pretty colors :D

Here it is running (the fan on the right is animated...it's pretty cool):

I am also going to cut a slot (not decided where yet) to accommodate a multi card reader that I repurposed...

How do I know that, that card reader came off of an HP?

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Originally Posted by AmEv

How do I know that, that card reader came off of an HP?

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LOL...yeah, it came off a media center, HP N8000 :up:

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Originally Posted by Neodymium

Also need some feedback, folks...to LED or not to LED? While it's a G5 case, except for the outline, except for a couple of things, nothing else will be G5 in it...so my son asked me today, would I put LEDs in it or not and that got me thinking...I am torn!!!!! Help please? Thanks!

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That should never be a question. ALWAYS LED!!!!!! :banana:

LED's it is...I'm going to take TLH's advise and carve out the pattern on the right panel in wood, then make a mould and put LEDs in them...I cant really do anything with the left panel, it's more decals and paint...I can however cut the orange part out, but that will not give me the effect...any thoughts?

Well, depending on your budget, you could always replace the orange section with clear plexi/orange LEDS or orange plexi and white LEDs or something like that, you could put LED's in your skull like you had mused about on one of the first pages, for the red eyes effect.

There's lots of things you can do with LEDs :D

Thanks, Alder...are you saying cut it out or just layer the plexi on top of the base metal and then add the LEDs?

I was thinking cut out the metal and put in the plexi in its place and light it with LED's on the edges

Hmmm...let me draw something out based on your idea, I will post back and go from there...thanks!

Sweet, I work tonight and my work amounts to sitting on my butt and browsing the interwebs (quite often TBCS) all night :P so I'll keep an eye out :D

OK, here we go...

My concern with cutting the metal out and inserting a plexi panel is as follows:
- See the dotted lines in the pic? They are either structural (part of the panel) or mechanical (the locking mechanism)...how do I go around without cutting those parts out...
- See the 4 little squares? The LEDs can be embedded into the panel (flat LEDs) edges...but how do I hide them without putting the plexi behind the panel cutout vs into the panel itself...

Let me know if I am not saying this straight...I'll try and do better :D

Have you considered lining the plexi with strip SMD LEDs? Opposed to individual LEDs

Also the other build you linked, using this case has a large plexi window cut in, ask them about how rigid the panel remained.

Thanks Stoner, that was one of the options for LEDs once I can decide upon the cut...

As for J-Roc's mod, he cut a clean square cut in the middle of the panel (without hitting any of the panel border or the latching mechanism), for my design, the plexi would pan over a larger and irregular area...

I am not sure why you would want to cut up there not too many components to see and you will see that supporting brace.

You could probably make do without that one locking mech but you may or may not fit plexi in over the rest of the brace anyway.

Have you considered lowering the window or changing the design of the stripe entirely?

I don't know if the purpose of the plexi was to be a window, or just to be some bling :D
I think the best bet for a "window" would be using transparent/tinted orange/blue plexi for the main panel, instead of the back pane, and then lighting those, so you could see a bit into the case but still get the details. Maybe it was just me, but I was thinking for the side he drew, it would be some fairly heavily tinted plexi, so you get the orange color but not seeing much inside.

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Originally Posted by Aldersan

I don't know if the purpose of the plexi was to be a window, or just to be some bling :D
I think the best bet for a "window" would be using transparent/tinted orange/blue plexi for the main panel, instead of the back pane, and then lighting those, so you could see a bit into the case but still get the details. Maybe it was just me, but I was thinking for the side he drew, it would be some fairly heavily tinted plexi, so you get the orange color but not seeing much inside.

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Alder, there was never any intent to use plexi...the orange stripe is basically paint and sanded/polished to almost mirror finish...

I hear what Stoner's saying, maybe drop the stipe a little bit further down...I don't know if I want to change the design entirely without losing the essence of the theme itself...I didn't want to showcase anything inside the case anyway.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the "bling" was the color of ODST visor :D

Yeah I knew that you weren't planning on using plexi, I had just suggested it as a way to get some LEDs in the build :P As far as other ideas with the LEDs, you could possibly add some backlighting to the guns/skull.