Project : XTC Retro Laptop

Ok here I go again. I still have a half finished project from a few years back on here which remains unchanged to date but due to multiple hardware failures amongst other issues the book is currently closed on that mod. It will be revisited with a more up-to-date configuration and therefore slightly different design once I've finished with this one which I hope won't take too long.

I've already started up a thread here called 'Hardware advice for retro gaming rig' and I was initially looking at a micro ATX build with small components and low specifications. A link is here > http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...ad.php?t=25450

After a little advice based contemplation I started lookin g at old laptops which immediately became a cheaper, easier and much faster way to get what I wanted and on the same day I won an Ebay auction for what is now the heart of my project.

I ended up with a Time 2000 laptop, shown below in a terrible pic I took before realising the webcam had a zoom...

AMD K6/2 500 Processor
12" Screen
128MB Memory
12GB Hard Drive
3½" Floppy Disk Drive
CD Rom Drive
LAN
2 x PCMCIA
2 x USB Ports
56K Modem
VGA
Parallel
Serial
PS 2 Port
Microsoft Windows 98 Recovery Disks

There were very few boxes this purchase had to tick because what I'm essentially looking to end up with is a dated system running Win 95, Win 98 and maybe 2000 so I can finally play my numerous old games without emulation software, DOSBOX or incredibly fast scrolling and distorted music!

I knew it had to have a CDD and FDD because we're talking about dated media and not every game I own runs off a DVD! I wanted USB for data transfer as I don't intend it to ever come into direct contact with another computer, HDD or 'gasp' the internet!

Clearly I've got all of that and more so I'm dead chuffed and the whole lot only set me back £35 for a 'Seller refurbished' item!

So here I am 6 days later and it finally arrived in the post (of that £25. 18 was for delivery!) I booted it up and was greeted by a lovely Win 98 screen which is perfect as I already have install disks for 95 but not 98. I installed one of my all-time faves and played for a while before deciding it was time to actually do some work...

So here comes the actual project as laptops don't really require or allow for very much in terms of modification. Especially now one this old!

As I'm looking to rebuild the case I first had to strip everything down so that meant bare-minimum only. It's taken a fair bit of time and a lot of learning on-the-fly but I've finally done it and so far I haven't lost or broken anything so I call that a success!

Now before I go any further I'm curious as to how much freedom I actually have to work here as the connectors used here give me an unfortunately small amount of freedom... So what follows for my first post is a lot of disassembly images and even more connector ones.

Here it is fresh from my gaming session, still a little warm :)

And then some bits fell off...

Then the monitor disappeared

And was followed by the CDD, FDD, HDD and soundcard which also curiously connects up to the touchpad

And then it was just an empty shell!

I've honestly learnt more about laptops in one sitting than I have about desktops in decades! Now it was in pieces I could see what options I have open to me. The only thing not stripped was the monitor frame but I'm going to leave that for now and work on the base first.

Macbook Air my arse, check the weight of my invisible creation!

Crappy pics I'm afraid but this is the scale of it all. A touch over 30cm by about 24cm deep. Highest point is about 35mm

Awful pic, the case is invisibe this time...

Now onto boring connector pics, I apologise there are quite a few and unless you know something about laptop connections and can possibly help me you should probably move on!

Female socket on the monitor, no cable at all which sucks as I want to move the monitor later on. Maybe there is something I can use inside the frame?

Another poor image. male plug for the monitor is at far left. Yellow is power button and black plug on the right fits to the rear of the CDD

Here is the back of said CDD and the socket which takes above plug making relocation impossible.

This is the HDD,FDD assy upside down. The plug on the right is for the battery to connect to. The funny angle is to show the additional socket for a 12pim plug on the mobo which makes reloacation impossible.

Here's an image of the mobo showing more immovable connectors. The different circuitboards simply use these whits plugs/sockets to connect directly to each other leaving no opportunity for relocation throughout the whole construction. The 2 pictured are slightly different but serve identical purposes.

Here's the other part of one of those connectors, this one is on the HDD,FDD assy again. I see no possible way of moving any of these parts...

So at the end of that I find myself with a much less adaptable hardware configuration than previously hoped. Of course they didn't expect anyone to want to move it around when they made it so it's understandable but still a little frustrating...

The final design for the case will be of similar dimensions to the original laptop but I want to disconnect the screen and have it stood over the base rather than attached vertically to the rear of it. I also need the overall width of the new case to be more than the original which is easy but will leave a few things largely inaccessible based on what I've seen so far.

Current width can be measured at around 315mm and I'm probably going to want an extra 100mm on that though it's undetermined so far and extension will be limited as much as possible.

Based on the location of all these connectors however and the way in which they work there is very little that can be moved in the hardware of this laptop. In fact the ONLY thing that can be moved is the LAN port which is on a separate piece of circuit board for reasons unknown but as I'm not going to use it anyway it matters little to me!

The left side of the hardware comprises of CD, floppy and USB access so this side must continue to form the left side of my build. The HDD is similarly unmoveable and therefore determines the highest point of my build. The right side of the case however can be shallower as it will be empty. This extension will limit access to the battery, LAN port and open venting to the CPU heat sink although a fan also directs heat away from this through the top of the original case near the keyboard. Either way this vent can be easily reproduced so as to avoid any issues with heat. Perhaps the extra space I will be making could even be used to improve the cooling but I haven't thought yet about what possibilities that has. The only other access to the right side of this hardware is the PCMCIA slot but as I addressed in my original post I've never had or used one before so this doesn't matter to me.

The possibilities of relocation that do have a serious affect on this build are just 3. Monitor, keyboard and touchpad... Following are a few images regarding this problem.

This is the slot for the keyboard ribbon and is centrally located. There is a precise size and shape of ribbon to connect the keyboard to this point and it will not allow me any freedom to relocate it but it MUST be moved or the project can't continue. The end of the ribbon attached to the keyboard is not removable...

Finally something I hold hope for. The touchpad is connected to the main computer with a standard cable with plugs at both ends! That makes it easily removable and I daresay, easily extendable! Please correct me if I'm wrong but not right away, I need this one!

The monitor issue must be addressed at a later date, worst case screnario I CAN compromise and refit is in it's original location. Will look crap though so I hope there's a way to relocate it even an inch or so once I open the case up. A slight rotation would be nice too!

Other things I was hoping to move are the power switch which I wanted to mount as a push button to one side of the monitor screen. And the volume control which is of the dial type and fixed to the soundcard. I have no idea if either one of these can be moved currently but I certainly can't imagine how they could be at present.

The LEDs are a final nuisance as I wanted the 'power' 'charging' and whatever other lights I have to all move up to the monitor. I don't really want any obvious electronics to remain on the exterior of the base so this is rather irritating. The LEDs for the keyboard icons are also located in a fixed position but they can be covered or possibly fibre-optically relocated? Never worked with the stuff before but it's a though as it's not dissimilar to the method already used in it's current design!

You'll be pleased to hear I'm now out of pictures and the next stage is to determine the final size I want which will depend on some other construction projects that I have underway! I'll post updates of them in the next few days and once I do the final design will become a lot clearer!

Sorry for the vagueness of it all but I want to get it right in my mind first and then I'll share some more! A few posts from now there'll be all the answers available!

What I need from the brainboxes here in the meantime is a few thoughts on how I might be able to relocate the above items. Like I said, keyboard, touchpad and monitor are the big ones but the keyboard is a huge issue right now so if anyone can help me with that I'll be very happy indeed!

How comfortable are you with a soldering iron? ;)

Looks to me like everything in there could be moved given the right motivation. :D Any cables with special plugs (touchpad, keyboard, etc), just cut it in the middle and solder in extensions. The one that will likely prove the most problematic is the display cable. It will be a wide, very flat cable inside that plastic hinge assembly...hmmm, though it might be broken out into thicker individual wires for the passage through the hinge...hope for that; it would make you job much simpler.

EDIT:
The board-to-board plugs look easily big enough to be taken off and replaced with small-gauge wires. old IDE cables are great for that kinda stuff. :D

Hey thanks 88, so all may not be lost :D I thought the touchpad would be easy enough so that's a relief at least, still not sure about the keyboard though! I can't believe of the dozens of pics I put up I didn't show the actual cable but it's the sort of transparent plastic film type rather than the old ribbons you find in desktop pcs. What can I do about that? If it can't be altered/extended could I maybe trace it all the way back to the keyboard itself and tweak it there?

Been working on a little bit of detailing this evening which has come on quite nicely but there's a whole lot more still to do yet and this is just a practice for the really big jobs! Got my soldering iron and bits and bobs in the mail today but still waiting for my cutting discs for the dremel. They'll come in very handy quite soon!!!

Yeah, that ribbon is to be expected. That one will require a very delicate touch. You'll want to use some quite small gauge wire, probably around 30AWG or so (again, old IDE cables are good for this because it keeps them all in order for you), cut the cable in the middle somewhere, very lightly sand down the plastic till you hit copper, and very gently solder a wire onto each lead. I seem to remember someone around here doing such an operation on some kind of similar cable..can't remember where though.. Changing it at the MBB is possible, but tricky because of the very tight tolerances on that end. Changing it at the keyboard is probably going to give you the same problems cutting the middle of the cable would. The benefit of doing it in the middle of the cable is that if you mess up you can cut the messed up bit off and try again; more space to work with.

If you try to sand down the plastic and solder directly to the copper of the ribbon cable it will make for a very flimsy connection and will pull off very easily, a good idea might be to make a prick hole in each ribbon trace with a pin or something if you can and feed the wire through, "twisting" the wire around itself before soldering so it can't easily "pull off", the wires inside a standard IDE cable might be a bit thick for that but if you use an ATA-100 IDE cable they should be thin enough.

Good idea, that.

thanks guys for the advice, I'm suddenly a little more optimistic about keyboard relocation :D How about cutting in the middle as advised and then getting a bit technical to ensure a good secure connection. I could try making two pricks through each copper trace and then scraping off the plastic between them on one side only. Feed the new extension wire up through one hole and down through the other so it has a good few mm contact dirct with the copper. Then I can solder it on and should have a nice finish? Could approach each cable from alternate sides of the ribbon to make it a little easier maybe? Still very scared about this as if it messes up I need a new keyboard :(

That's kind of the problem with doing anything on a laptop, component-wise they aren't very forgiving, especially if it is a rare model laptop... A good idea might be to cruise over to E-bay and see what (if any) parts are available for your unit and what the cost would be, you don't need to buy any of them right away but if you know there is a decent supply of parts available it might ease your mind and with this type of work having peace of mind and confidence are pretty important before going forward.

Another idea might be to see if you can find another unit the same as what you have on E-bay being sold "for parts" or otherwise dirt cheap, it's good to do a lot of research on your specific model of laptop before doing this though as different models despite looking the same often use different parts and even different revisions of the same model can use different parts, either way it is much easier to go forward if you know there is at least some source of replacement parts, if you search E-bay and can't even find a replacement keyboard or it is so expensive you wouldn't even consider buying it then it might bring about a change in plans, unlike desktops even a simple mistake on a laptop will leave you with a contribution for the trash bin.

Thanks for the advice Rogue, I've spent another day on detailing today and while it's come along bounds I'm still not ready to share it yet until I have a little more to throw in :D

I'm looking at the keyboard conenction right now and this my be wrong as I know nothing on lappys but presumably any keyboard with a similar plug on it would do for a replacement if this one were to accidentally cut itself to pieces :p

As I'm not using the case and the keyboard will be concealed and rarely used (Currently considering sliding it out the front but the space on the right may make other options more logical) so shape and size of the keyboard matters little, just functionality and compatibility. However I don't know how much cross-compatability there is in laptops so I'm looking for someone here who does at this point!

Just had a sit down on the sofa to save my back from all the fiddly detailing I've been doing and managed to get the screen apart. It's good news folks :D Taken a few pics to canvass for advice and also got one of the touchpad wire adn keyboard connector.

Ebay is currently selling a good number of these lappys for spare or repair and some people have lots of 2 or 4 for grabs. Unfortunately noone has just the keyboard right now and buying a whole extra laptop seems a little excessive but that can all be dealt with at a later date.

Anyway here are some pics...

Sorry again for awful quality but here are monitor pics.

The plug in the second shot is the one that plugs into the mobo so it's that one which needs moving in relation to the screen itself. The screen is approximately 280mm wide as a bare minimum. The case will be a maximum of 400mm wide (I think) That gives me a total difference of 12cm or 6cm each side. So I need to move that plug 6cm to the left of it's current location in relation to the screen. This will effectively allow me to relocate the screen centrally on the case while the plug remains in it's fixed mobo slot.

Now I assume, quite possibly incorrectly, that the 3rd of the images above shows power feed to the monito as it's a simple 2 wire arrangement of fairly large gauge. It also comes with a handy plug which allows me to disconnect and extend it by as much as I like. That means my only limitation to how far the plug moves is how I intend to trunk the cables on the left side (signal presumably)

I reckon I could conceivably get up to 120mm of movement from this screen with a simple extension of just those 2 wires. Of course messing it up means I need a new screen but how hard can it be right? If it IS power then not very I think! I can then go ahead with my plans for the screen and move onto thinking about other things.

Here is a shot of the touchpad wire. It's no more than 90mm long at present so will most likely need a little more than that. It's 4 very small wires so will be fiddly but doesn't look particularly difficult. Is there anything that's different about soldering wires I find here than any other kind of wires? IE do automotive, household and computing wires all behave the same when soldering? I just want to know how easy it is to mess it up :p

And finally the keyboard... No idea about this one but hoefully seeing it may help you guys out. (The red thing is just for contrast, behind it is the rear of the keyboard!)

So based on that (and answers to above questions!) I think the monitor and touchpad are pretty much solved leaving me just the keyboard dilemma. I want to be absolutely certain that the only risk I'm running is attributed to my lack of skills before I try anything with that so please keep the thoughts coming! Ebay DOES have replacements but I don't want to spend any more money than necessary here as the detailing cost has already doubled that of the lappy :D

Which reminds me, here is some of the stuff that cost me all that money! Another awful image but you must be getting used to these by now right?!

I'll tell you what was in those packages soon enough :D

Well, if you screw up the keyboard you could always get a slim USB or PS2 one (I assume the laptop has a PS2 port), and the cables on those are easy to mess with. :D

You are correct on the monitor cables. The bundle of little wires on the left are the signal wires. The small circuit board on the right is the power inverter for the backlight, so the two wires coming out of it are carrying a pretty high voltage load. With that in mind, personally I would extend the wires leading to the inverter instead of the wires from the inverter to the backlight. If you do decide to extend the wires from the inverter to the backlight, I would recommend some high-temp solder and high-voltage wires. You can pick both up fairly cheap, you just have to know what you're looking for. Other than that, yes, normal twisted copper wire will work fine for everything. I would not recommend using solid-core wire or aluminum wire though.

So copper wire then? Does gauge matter particularly or should I just try and match what's already there as close as possible but not worry too much if I can't... And thanks for the advice on the backlight, that's the sort of stuff I need! I don't want to mess around with anything unnecessary so if it's easier to extend the smaller wires before it then I'll do that instead! The only reason I thought maybe the two wires would be easier is because there are 2 of them!!!

And yes as far as the keyboard goes I've considered a few options from right back when I started my hardware thread. As it's a gaming computer that will rarely utilise the keyboard at all I thought about a mini keyboard for mobiles, xbox whatever. I have USB and ps2 ports so either are fine as options. If I was to leave the lappy with no keyboard connected at all though would it still work as normal so long as I provided another means of input to replace it? I assumed it would go a bit psycho as a chunk of hardware is missing...

No, it should work fine with no keyboard attached. Desktops will usually default to halting on boot if no keyboard is detected (though you have set them to ignore such an error), but most laptops I've seen will work just fine if the onboard keyboard is disconnected.

As for wire, I would say 18AWG is a good, jack-of-all-trades size for most of the stuff you'll be dealing with. For the keyboard extensions I would try 28 or 30AWG first.

Then again, a laptop keyboard is usually just the mesh, with the controller integrated. So, if you break the board, odds are, you need a whole new one.

Well, if he broke the MBB he would need a new one anyway...

Ok so been a few days since I finished taking everything apart so I now have a good idea of what I'm going to be doing with it all. Due to the apparent limitations with my hardware it'll mostly remain in it's original positions but the keyboard, monitor and touchpad will all be relocated.

I'm not sure where I'll put the touchpad yet but I'll decide once The rest of the external design is arranged. I'll be using a mouse for 90% of my games anyway so the touchpad will either have a sort of camo cover when not in use or it will be retracted inside the case itself and revealed only when needed. Either way it'll need some attention to detail as it currently has no case.

Keyboard is still a similar predicament but I'm not willing to cut anything on that just yet so most likely I'll try booting up the lappy with it d/c and with an alternate input device connected. If it works that way I'll probably just do away with the original completely and use a mini, concealable keyboard for the brief times when I'll need one.

The case is still looking to be about 30cm deep by about 40cm wide which isn't too bad and only adds about 10cm onto the width. The screen will be centralised by extending the wires but I'll be making up a new bracket to hold it, most likely on a pivot to allow easy manipulation. I'll be making a custom case for the screen at a later point in the project which shouldn't be as hard as expected due to the small size of the components there but we'll see!

Anyway I'm posting now because I'm taking a holiday tomorrow so won't be achieving anything now until next Sunday at the very earliest! As I said I've been working on the detailing and while nothing is finished yet I've made some good progress so here are some pics of what goodies were in those parcels I posted up and what I've done with them all so far!

First the long package which was actually 2 kitchen-roll tubes stuck together and had in it 6 meters of 3mmx1mm wood planking! My son promptly acquired these from my desk and turned them into more manageable 10-20cm pieces which was good of him... The image shows some of the pieces he made for me on the left and on the right is a bunch of pieces cut to 20mm strips. At the bottom of this image is some small scale corrugated roofing which I found from a metal materials website run by a great chap who was very helpful! They're intended for model railways and other such pursuits and happen to be perfect for my scale with about 5 ridges per cm!

Here are my bricks next, sourced from another great supplier who specialises in real materials cut to size for dolls houses! Was hard to find a small scale and in fact the correct size would've set me back £90 just for my red bricks so instead I went to a slightly larger size for a third of the price. I got 4 bags of these for a total of 1000 bricks! And also the stone crazy paving which is shown in the next picture. The supplier was also kind enough to provide some free samples of some other products they have. All were very tiny and very cool!!!

For comparison here is a shot of the red bricks I'm using next to a handful of sample I was also sent. This is the scale of brick I wanted to use but I'm very glad I didn't!!! (difference of 4x1x2mm and 2x1x0.5mm!!!)

I haven't done much playing with this stuff yet but the following pic shows the rest of my metal goodies from the guy who did me the roofing. This is 0.4mm Nickel Steel and was a real bargain. Got a sheet of it cut 600x800 and he chopped it into handy quarters for me so it could be sent via standard mail nice and cheap!

Now onto what I've done with it all so far! First up is the crazy paving although in reality that's the last job I did and have only just finished it now! This stuff is far too large a scale for my project (intended for 1:12,1:16 and I'm working in 15mm scale which is around 1:107 I believe) This is the tedious process of turning the original pieces into smaller more irregular pieces. Most of these pieces were reshaped further as I prgoressed though as I'm picky like that...

This is the first floor I paved and it took about 2 hours from start to finish! I'm pretty chuffed with it for a first try! The lines are where there will be walls as this is the floor of a small building. In actual fact I'd already assembled the walls before this point but that's besides the point. These slabs are about 2-3mm deep so when the walls are actually in place I lose a lot of height, I'll need to fix that which I'm planning to do by adding a further piece of 3x1mm planking to the bottom of the walls prior to fitting.

Following is an image of the walls for the above structure (taken before I'd even started the floor!) It's constructed from the strips shown in a previous image and braced by three cross-beams to maintain it's shape and also allow the laying of roof later.

Naff picture but this shows the added realism created by shaping the floor around the walls rather than building the walls on top of a rectangle of slabs. This is me being picky again and it's unfortunate that most of this detail will later be hidden when the roof goes on!

Coincidentally if anyone recognises this building it'll help you greatly in figuring out exactly what I'm doing as I'm not going to spill the beans before I go away! The next building will be a handy reminder too but remember it's an old game so it's possible noone here will know it!

Onto the second larger building now and I started by laying some foundation bricks to accomodate the extra depth of the stone flooring. The lines marked in the centre are where walls and the stairs will later go.

Got stuck at this point last night so packed it in and went to bed! The red bricks in the centre are laid on their edge to provide a level almost flush with the top of the flooring. In this way I hope to build the wooden partitions directly on top of these bricks and maintain the full internal height of 20mm. The outside walls of the lower storey of this building will be brick while interior are wooden. The upper storey will be entirely of wooden construction although in the game it's actually all brick external walls. The decision to change it is mainly financial but partly due to having not played the game so long I forgot this myself!!!

And here is a picture I just took as I've only just finished laying the last pieces of flooring in the large building (I say large, it's 90mmsq) The stairs will be built on top of the flooring but before I go any further I need to seal the gaps between the stones and for this I'm going to be looking for a simple soil simulant. Anything from a railway shop will do and I need simulated grass and foliage too so will be keeping my eyes open this week on my hols!

And that's pretty much the extent of what I've been able to get done so far. I have another 700 bricks to lay before the first storey of the large building is finished so I won't be steaming ahead any time soon!!! I also need to get hold of a suitable paint, stain or varnish for the exposed wood as it must match the game sprites.

So far I'm really pleased with the way everything looks and while I'm taking a little artistic license regarding the finer points of design everything I'm doing matches up 90% to the in-game representations so I think when I'm finished it would take an idiot to not recognise the origins! (providing of course they know the game that is!)

Still to come I need to fill the stone floor, extend the walls of the small shed, stain the wood, build my brickwork and stairs, fit the interior walls and lay the first floor on the large building, construct the 46cm of wooden walls for the second storey then stick both the roofs on!

And that'll be approximately 30% of the design complete :p No more buildings after that but there are still plenty of fiddly bits to do. I think my current plan is going to remain focussed on the buildings for now and then concentrate on the actual construction of the new case once they're done. Get everything nice and secure and enclosed then I can move onto the detailing of the case itself using the buildings and templates to represent the missing items. Then I need to construct said missing items, complete detailing and make a new support and trim for the screen!

Still some way to go but I'm pleased with the progress I've made so far and at least the bricklaying will be more straight-forward than custom shaping dozens of stone slabd for the flooring!!! Wooden walls are easy too but boooring!

Here's a final image of what's been done so far (but one piece has been left out for now!) It shows both the floors and also the completed shed in the background. The small pile of bits to the left are the pre-made walls for the interior of the large buildings ground floor. Can't fit them until the floor is sealed though so they'll wait a while yet.

Hope you enjoyed these pics a bit more than the connectors! And let me know if anyone recognises these buildings, can birng the project out of the closet and into the light then! I didn't want to say it before I made some progress though as I feel like I'm taking on quite a responsibility by trying to honour this game with a casemod! Only time (and you guys) can tell if I made the right choice ;)

Whoa.
Like where this is headed.
+R.

Wow thanks, my very first :D Will be back onto this next monday but will obviously need some time to have anything to show off so bear with me while I let my back recover!

No guesses at the game yet then!?

Nicely done on the floor. +rep (Holy crap, that added a box! I've never added a box to someone before!)

As for the game...idk. I'm assuming it was before my time. Given the age of the hardware and the ease with which it plays it, I'm assuming it's from the early or mid 90's? I'm guessing it's either an RPG or action/adventure game. More likely an RPG since as you say, you can easily spend hours on end playing it. Most likely a western title, given the use of brick in the building construction. It doesn't use the keyboard, so it's probably not a 3D or real-time game. Hmmm. :think: IDK, the only games that came to mind were Arena, Daggerfall, and Monkey Island. My gaming experience from that era is rather limited. :P

Wahey 2 boxes now! I had none yesterday so I'm guessing the first few are quick to earn. Hopefully I'll deserve a few more before the end! For now though I'm away from home but I did pop to the model shop as planned and saw way too many different materials to come to any decisions!!!

I want to try and get everything else I'll need from this place so I'm trying to piece together the rest of the design kind of on the fly! I really wish I had a shop like this nearer to home as I'm currently about 200 miles away so I really have to get this right first time!

I need something fairly sturdy to form the base of the case then another lighter material to form the rest of the case. I'll use styrene sheet to form the new screen trim so am thinking about using that for the top parts of the case too but unfortunately it's the only thing this shop doesn't have on the shelf!!!

Then I'm going to be after the rest of the detailing items which will mostly be terrain. I need something to simulate soil and grass which will form the majority of the display but the rolls of grass-sheet you get for wargames and railways doesn't really satisfy me as it's not as convincing when compared to the brick by brick construction and real material used in the buildings. Will keep looking and thinking about possible alternatives. Also thinking about an orchard as used in the game but it's a tricky scale so may be tricky.

I have one more piece to build after the 2 structures are finished and I'll be detailing that quite heavily so might get myself some metal bar, rod, pipe, whatever for that. My model of this piece will be far more detailed than the game ever was so I can use my imagination a bit which is nice! Don't want to go ott though so will be thinking about that as well.

In the meantime thanks for the rep and the comments. It'll be a boring week now but don't forget to stop by next week to see what I got from the model shop!!!

No, you just impressed some of the right people.

IIRC, you now might have the right to set a custom title, under the name.
Choose wisely....

As far as the game goes....

For some reason, Doom 1 is coming to mind.
Don't know why....

Finally making a return to the model shop tomorrow and I think I've decided on my materials but will confirn that once I have them! Going to pick up some paints from good ol' Humbrol too as I have a shedload of old battleships waiting paint :p

Anyway you're close with the date 88 but it's not an RPG. It was published in 1994 and although it ties a few gameplay concepts together (for the first time) it's definitely a strategy game. Interestingly it's set a few years later than it was released but no distant future stuff. The construction you can see so far isn't a great clue unless you've played the game really as there are lots of different terrain pieces in the game but this is the one I have down as the most recognisable.

So very few clues really but no hits yet except the release date! Once I get back into it there'll be more to go on anyway. I'll be back tomorrow to share any purchases I make, hopefully I'll be able to get everything I need so we'll see!

Got to the shops yesterday so have a brief bitz update! Nothing particularly interesting really as I can't showcase any of it till I get home and can put it in context...

Anyway I managed to get a sheet of wood for the case itself which gives me enough for a 300x400mm build and leaves plenty spare to make the sides as deep or shallow as I like. I'm doodled the design onto what will be the top of the case and I don't think I'll make it much smaller than 300x400 as it looks about right. Probably be less than 50mm deep though.

In addition to the case material itself I've got a couple of bags of model railway 'ballast' to act as both soil and gravel for me. I don't have anything to use as grass currently as although they had grass matting it was very poor quality (just paper with green flock on) and I think the build justifies something a little better than that. The brown stuff I got to use as soil will also be used to fill the gaps in my paving so that'll be the first thing I do when I arrive home.

I've also got myself an assortment of glues that I'm going to need between now and the end of this build and some paints for my warships as I said I would!!! Bought a few short lengths of metal bar and tube to detail later on but I'm not ready for that yet so will explain the use of them when I'm home again.

Looking forward to getting back and cracking on now as the only thing I don't have yet is a method for seeding my grass. Will keep my eyes peeled but I have so much soil that'll be spare I think I may use that to form a base all over and then sow the grass on top of it. Will allow me to vary it from patcy to muddy to full thick grass.

Will post again when I'm home on Monday and should have some new pics of some progress by the time I do!!! Thanks for looking, and please keep watching!

Ok time for another update! Only spent a few hours actually working on this today as I'm being very bad and not organising myself at all well. Add to that the fact that my newly filled floors need 24+ hours to set and I'm fishing for advice on final case size and shape from the missus who's hardly ever here!

Still, maybe you chaps can help me with that instead as I'm still yet to cut any major holes so nothing is set in stone just yet! Here are some pics of the stuff I bought on my hols (minus the humbrol paints!) and what I've got round to doing with them so far.

Ok so here is my shopping! Got one sheet of 3mm board at 12x36" which I've cut into two pieces measuring 300x400mm for the top and bottom of the case and the remainder is more than enough for all 4 edges. In this pic I've already chopped it up and you can't see it but there's also a bit of doodling to try and finalise the ideas!

Also got PVA glue in the back along with superglue and plastic modelling glue because you just never know! In the front are 2 bags of small scale ballast as intended for railway modellers. I have one dark brown one for my dirt and a slightly more coarse one for a gravel patch which will later be a sort of scruffy courtyard area. The ballasts are shown below but crap webcam limits usefulness of pics...

Below is my doodling on what will become my top panel. It's divided into 100mm squares at an angle I choose because it looks best! This is to represent the scaling of in-game components I'm creating and help me finalise placement. Doesn't show much due to camera quality but it's still only 90% confirmed anyway!

Turns out that filling the gaps in these floors is not a particularly easy job! Wish I'd bought some 'Scenic Cement' from the modelshop to do the job for me but instead I followed an online suggestion by multiple railway modellers and made a mix of 50:50 water and PVA with a touch of washing up soap! Was rather distraught during this process as it looked like a horrible mess but after sticking with it for a while it cleaned up ok and now I'm just letting it harden.

Again poor image quality but you may be able to see the end result in the following pics! The first one shows the gaps filled but no sealing mixture applied and the rest are after application.

Again I've kept the spaces clear for the bottom of the walls in the small shed. I did this by fitting a few offcuts while the mixture was applied and then removed them when it was in a sort-of semi-solid state. I've also extended the bottom of the walls in the small barn by fitting a row of 3x1mm planking around the whole thing but I didn't take a picture. That means this building is ready to base and roof as soon as it's stained. I tested some 'dark oak' stain I have today but it's far too glossy so will keep trying a few different methods.

The other job I've done today was to make some stand-offs for the motherboard as I'm not using any of the original parts from the laptop except hardware.

My first attempt at these was a few bits of plasticard (HIP, Styrene Sheet) glued together then drilled, tapped and filed to as close to circular as possible. They were perfectly functional but all of them were too short (only 4mm out of a necessary 7mm) due to my poor measurements and not realising the RAM and other modules are located lower than the rest of the MOBO.

So I moved onto plan B as I wasn't too delighted with the idea of trying to secure the plastic standoffs to a wooden case anyway. Went into town this afternoon and borrowed part of a display from the DIY shop which fitted the role almost perfectly! And don't worry they had loads of these things I'm sure they won't mind! If there had been a similar item for sale I would've bought it but this'll do just as well...

So I've got myself a wooden rod, about 9mm in diameter and much longer than I need. Ideally I wanted something of 7mm diameter but I've been able to use this just as easily.

So armed with a ruler, some guess-work and my recent investment of a Dremel I set about making the 11 little logs I needed, cut to 7mm lengths. Here is a shot of my ever so high tech workshop (yes that is my keyboard in the back)

I then moved onto drilling the necessary holes in all of them (slightly smaller than the fitting screws of course) The ones with the holes off-centre are not mistakes but made specifically for particular spots where the 9mm diameter would've interfered with the hardware.

And here's an image of the underside of my MOBO with all it's little wooden feet in place! The lump in the back is one of the lower areas that scuppered my first round of measurements.

Here's a final image of the MOBO using it's feet for the first time. The desired effect has been achieved and I'll have a nice sturdy base to work from once I glue down the bottom of the feet. I'm hoping that plain old wood-glue (once allowed to harden thoroughly) will be enough to hold the feet firmly in place during any future removal of the screws. If not I'll just glue them back on, no big deal hey! The 2 pieces of wood shown are obviously the base and rear of the finished case. You can see there's a lot of space around the actual inner workings of the lappy even with only a fraction of it installed.

The backplate is 40mm deep making the very thickest part of the whole case about 46mm but I'm wondering if I can do better with the front and sides of this case than just make it a big flat sided, square cornered box. I could have it shallower at the front or have the front and sides angled into the centre. Would improve the appearance but also give me a bit of a problem with where the CDD and FDD are currently situated which is right against the left hand side of the case as can be seen above. I can always leave the sides perpendicular but have the front shallower than the rear to give the whole thing a gentle slope and also lean in the front to blunt that corner a little.

Would like to hear some thoughts from anyone who has them as I'm currently undecided. I now have lots to do and no particular order to do them in though. I've decided after much consideration to cut my own IO panel but I'm not sure what I can use to get an accurate result. I only need 4 ports and I already have the panel cut but need to finish it by making the necessary holes which I don't want to look scruffy.

Until I decide the final placement of the sides of the case I can't securely attach the MOBO to the base so I guess that's next. If I can finish tomorrow with the IO panel hole cut in the wooden back of the case and the MOBO mounted then that'd a good start. Can probably get the sides in too as well as the rest of the hardware fitted inside the case.

Still unsure about touchpad but have a possible location for it which I can easily conceal. The keyboard that came with the lappy simply won't work so I'm going to try booting it up with a USB or PS2 one fitted asap. The result will have a serious impact on future direction of this project so I'm hoping I don't have trouble with running newer hardware on an old 98 system.

So that's what's next! My paving will all be dry tomorrow as well so I'm hoping to stain the wood, fit the walls to the small shed and start building up the brickwork and stairs in the big one. Will see how I get on though, got lots still to think about...

Feedback and critique appreciated as always, and I'm still waiting for someone to guess the game! It's a 90s turn-based Strategy game which uses 10x10 modular terrain generation. I can't give any more than that so it's down to someone on the forum having played it now!

More tomorrow.

More images today, all of the case! Made good progress but it has meant I've been neglecting the detailing so the buildings haven't moved on much since last update. My apologies AGAIN for the awful images. If anyone has a digital camera they wish to donate please feel free to do so :D

Anyway here they come, mostly self explanatory! Started off with what the last image in my previous post shows. A base and top cut to size and the beginnings of a rear panel. I've done no sketchups and very little of this design is down on paper so it's evolved along the way. The process has been rather haphazard if I'm honest. Placing components, cutting hole, shaping wood, placing components etc. But it's turned into something I'm pretty pleased with so looking good so far!

So hear come the pics, first job was to cut the other sides of the case and I decided on an angled front panel in the process to break up the large boring shape I'm creating. The detailing will improve on the remainder of boring lines and the front panel is now larger and better presented so it's worked out well. You can see my first attempt at standoffs here at the bottom of the pic!

Next I started cutting the various ports and panels I'd need. In this image I've cut out the space for the I/O panel and the two holes on the right are a PS2 port and the charger socket. I need a 12mm drill bit to finish the PS2 port to the right size but I later enlarged it to 10mm.

The following pics show the location of the MOBO and a rear view of the first slots I cut.

Next I cut the flap for the CDD and made a cover for it from a further piece of wood. The cover is attached to the face of the drive at either end and sits just proud of the eject button so a push in the centre of the wood cover will open and close this drive. In the back are the two USB ports which took a fair bit of test fitting to get right!

The enlarged PS2 port, I drilled it a little high but due to it's recessed location it needs to be slightly larger anyway. Once I find a 12mm drill bit I'll widen it and lower it's position so the port should be central in the hole.

An image of the almost complete case with all hardware fitted. The last job was to devise a method of securing the battery as previously it was held in place by a clip on the case. I placed a piece of wood either side to keep it straight and a rubber pad underneath the end will hold it firm with a simple application of friction!

This is the final case with all components removed and all legs intact so it's all good so far! Despite the crappy quality you can still see the numerous stand-offs and the rails which hold the battery straight.

I then painted the whole interior black, losing one foot in the process but I'll reattach it after I finish this update as the paint is now dry! I know you can't see anything so I shouldn't have bothered with the picture but it's made a big difference in turning it from a wooden box into a nice neat case so I'm pretty chuffed with it!

The only corners I've gut so far is that I haven't cut the slot for the floppy drive. I'll be ignoring that for now as I want to get everything together asap and I won't need access to the floppy right now.

I'm also yet to address cooling as the original case had an intake on the right side and an exhaust above the CPU fan, near the keyboard. While the intake will be easily replicated with a bit of chopping I'm unsure where the fan will come out so haven't decided how to deal with that yet.

I also have 2 small speakers which were originally located on the front of the case. They'll go in the same place on the new case but I'll need to extend the wires and make some mounts for them.

The sloped front panel will at some point bear a name or logo for the case but I haven't decided on one yet and I'm also not sure how to show it. The exterior will all get a few coats of gloss woodstain tomorrow so I might use a nice bright metal to contrast the dark brown and have something made professionally for it. The missus has also suggested I cut the name out of the panel and light it from inside which is another good idea I might potentially consider.

I ran up this lappy today to make sure I hadn't messed anything up and I booted it with a USB mouse and keyboard while leaving the original touchpad and keyboard disconnected. It started up without a hitch so I'll be discarding the originals with the rest of the case and using off-board USB or PS2 components for the interfaces.

The only other thing I need to do it extend some wires on the monitor to allow me to relocate that further to the right of it's current location but seeing as it works fine currently I won't be attempting that job till later.

Right now my priority is finishing the case so that all hardware is complete. That means extending and fitting the speakers, addressing my cooling issue and finally giving it a good coat of stain!

I'll easily get that lot done tomorrow so the back of the build is broken! Won't be long until the detailing is all that's left to do, though the monitor will be the very last thing I actually attempt...

Will update again when something more develops.

Decided not to be lazy with the floppy drive so cut it out today and came up with a rather ingenious little cover if I do say so myself!!! There are plenty of 'very similar yet ever so slightly different' pics to follow which show it but basically I cut an oversized rectangular cover for the DVD drive. I didn't really think too much about it as if I had done I would've realised that the reason the original one is the shape it is, is because of the location of the floppy drive in relation to the CDD.

Rather than cut a chunk out of the CDD cover and go back to the nasty shape the original lappy uses I decided to just make a cover for it so it was hidden when not in use. It also allows me to keep the CDD rectangular :p

So below are images of the solution to the above problem and I've also put down the first coat of stain today which makes a huge difference. Got hold of a digital camera too which isn't as bad as the webcam for wide shots but for some reason is much worse close up! No focus in sight...

So here come the pics, first one shows the 2.5" slot and cover I made for the 3.5" floppy!

Here's the clever bit. It's just a T piece with part of the cover missing. The visible light wood forms the rightmost part of the cover and the gap at the left is concealed by the CDD.

And here's how it fits in the drive prior to assembly. Of course in order to use this drive I'll need to open the CDD for access but I imagine it will be rarely used so I'm not bothered!

I had to sand out a recess on the rear of the floppy cover to accommodate the eject button. It is this button that prevents the cover sliding too far in on the right side. On the left side I glued a small piece of wood to the inside of the opening for the same purpose.

Then it was time to stain! Got black paint on various parts of the case so had to sand it back which took forever. Finally was able to give it the first coat of wood stain and it's made a big difference. The bottom (shown here) will only get one coat and I've since attacked the rubber pads which are now it's feet! The sides will receive at least one further coat to create a nice uniform gloss finish.

Here's a post-stain pic of the interior which I failed to show off last time. Quite a lot of sunlight but the paint and stain have made a massive difference from when it was plain wood just yesterday!

Last shot of ports as they're ALL now finished! Found a file and enlarged the PS2 port and obviously the floppy is new too!

Next one shows all the hardware back in as well as the CDD, FDD arrangement which prompted the intersting design!

And a few more of the cover (last ones promise!)

And a final few of the completed base. This is how the sides and back will remain when completed but I've yet to do anything on the front panel regarding the speakers I have for it.

Still a few things left to do on the base, some of which I was hoping to do today. As I said I'm yet to fit the speakers as I don't have any wire to extend them and I'm not going to cut into the case without knowing it's in the right place!

Still not decided on a name for the case or how to display it so hat's on the to-do list as well. I cut a hole in the top of the case today directly above the CPU fan but it'll be largely concealed by one of the structures I'm currently building. Based on the fact that a similar amount of the fan was covered by the keyboard on the original case I'm not anticipating any kind of problem.

I am however debating whether or not I need to cut another opening for the intake as this case is significantly larger and roomier than the original. Originally the CPU heat sink was essentially an enclosed wind tunnel with a vent on the right side of the case feeding in new cool air to the fan which then blew it all out the top of the case as warm air. I have the fan and lots more space so I'm debating the necessity of a further intake, especially since the 'wind-tunnel' effect does not exist in the new case...

I have the lappy up and running as we speak and have just whittled away another hour of my life playing the game it honours! The only things that need doing regarding hardware are speakers and monitor but both are manageable as they are.

I'm using USB mouse and keyboard at the moment but I'd rather run a PS2 mouse so one of the USB slots is always free for a memory stick. Either way I'm currently sharing both between the comp and lappy so I need to buy new ones at some point!

Regarding the case itself I now need to cut holes for the speakers (and intake if I decide to make one) and trim the monitor which is a whole other job in itself! The top of the case remains undecorated so that's the penultimate and undoubtedly the largest job of them all!

I'll start that off by setting out the terrain how I want it and then will place structures as I go. The small toolshed is STILL only in need of painting so that'll be a quick result but the large barn is still seriously lacking brickwork so will take longer and will demand a lot of attention from me!

Will probably start on that tomorrow but there won't be anymore fast process so no updates for a short while.

Please post something if you're reading this! I feel very lonely talking to myself and it's not much of a forum if there's no discussion. Tell me what you think, advise me on things I'm not sure about and guess the game dammit lol

lol, I like the floppy cover. Reminds me of those old floppy drive lock they used to make. :P

It definitely looks a lot better with the stain and paint; really makes it look like a finished product instead of just a white block. If it were me, I would just leave the battery out. It'll work fine without it and if the battery works at all any more, it won't last long. I would also add a plastic shroud over the heatsink, across the top, from the edge of the fan to the right side. That will channel the airflow through the few fins that are actually there. For the USB, a simple solution to that is a USB hub. You could even keep it all internal if you want to get a little fancy with the wiring.

Thanks 88, I wasn't sure if it would still work without the battery? I'd assumed that the DC was fed directly to the battery and used from there. I know for a fact the battery is already dead so I certainly don't need to keep it...

I'm trying to avoid messing with wiring where possible so I can probably cope with the 2 USB slots, bet it won't be easy finding a nice PS2 mouse though!!!

Sounds like good advice on the heatsink, reckon I'll do that as it won't be a difficult job anyway. Do you think it's worth having a vent somewhere to facilitate intake? If I'm making a cover for the top I could always extend it all the way to the edge of the case and shroud the sides too so it regains the wind-tunnel effect it was designed with. Is it worth it though?

I would put an intake and outtake of some sort. Maybe incorporate one or both into the scene on the top? IDK if that would fit; still no clue on the game...that was a bit before my time. :P

For the PS/2 mouse, you should be able to get a USB-to-PS/2 adapter. Most mice used to come with one; it would sometimes cut back on the functionality of the mouse or keyboard, but it would let you conserve the then relatively rare USB ports.

Try booting it without the battery. Most likely, a laptop of that era, the power from the AC/DC adapter, the power from the battery, and the power input lines to the MBB are all just a single junction, electrically.

I do have a USB to PS2 adaptor actually but I'd rather not use it if possible. I have an adaptor fitted to my monitor cable on the back of my desktop and because it adds over an inch to the length of my case it sticks out rather unpleasantly whereas it was a perfect fit with my old graphics card :( (old one didn't need an adaptor, new one only has 2 of the funny white ports so it does!)

I've cut the outtake exactly how it was in the original setup. In a way it's lucky that it's located right behind one of the buildings as it'll remain mostly invisible in that position. The intake will be on the rear or side of the case if I have one so I'll just cut a few slots like a standard vent.

Very quick update as I just posted these up in another forum so felt it rude not to share them here as well :D Been working on the detailing again, brickwork first. Been doing 2 rows a day this week and am about half way up now. Also got an acceptable result with the wood colouring with a brown ink from citadel colours (the games workshop ones) so fitted the walls and the side of the stairs which I'll complete soon.

Next post will be when the walls are up so don't expect it soon!
This image is almost identical to this building's in-game appearance. Chances are if you don't recognise it yet you never played this game :D

Finally got the walls up! Got around to staining that small shed too but it's a bit darker than I was hoping for. Still it's a step forward, if anyone can think of a way to lighten up the final look of it that'd be great though!

So here are some pics, need to lay down the first floor now and from there on this build gets a lot faster as I'm done with the bricks now and back to using wood! Managed some better quality pics with the webcam this time (I hope) thanks to having a little more light.

First the completed ground floor, just lacking finished stairs and doors!

And here's the smaller shed. It's actually even darker up close than in these images!!!

Will get on with laying the floor tomorrow but probably no more tonight. Should have the first floor finished by the end of this week so then I can get onto some real progress on the rest of the case which involves a lot of landscaping and learning as I go!!!

EDIT: Those with eagle eyes may notice that I initially built the back door in the wrong place so it's moved one and a half bricks nearer to the corner now!!! Didn't take too much remedial work and it's better I catch it now than let it bug me forever!!!

Wow, nice brick work...must have taken forever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by x88x

Wow, nice brick work...must have taken forever.

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Haha you're not kidding! Been trying to space it out a few rows at a time but based on the amount of materials I have left I'd hazard a guess at there being about 850 bricks in there!!!

Like I said, it'll be a pleasure getting back to do the wood again :p

Been lazy with this since I got the brickwork done but I had a play on sketchup today so I can finally give an example of what I'm after from the end-result. Also made a custom screen to replace the Windows boot-up sequence but it'll probably end up as a desktop background because of the poor resolution in the splash screens. Been working on the planking of the first floor too but need a bit more before that's done. Here it is anyway and there's no way anyone who's played this game before can't recognise it after this post!

First here's the planking I've been working on. I cut 4 crossbeams from the same 3x1,, wood used for the walls and made a temporary frame by glueing a scrap of wood to either ends to brace them. Then I've been using 5x0.5mm wood for the individual planks by splitting it into 3 much smaller lengths and cutting accordingly. I've removed the temporary braces now and in the image of underneath you'll see I've cut the braces in 2 positions too. That's so the braces will sit level with the top of the brickwork and the planks just above it.

Now for the first bit of the giveaway. This is my replacement for an in-game screen of the game made with a 3d model in sketchup and a lot of MSpaint!

And if you haven't guessed yet you're about to get the biggest clue there is. If the look of these images still don't help then check out strategycore as linked in the image! After that you're on your own so if you don't know it you just haven't played it. Shame on you!

Just got to finish the planking and get on with the walls for the first floor this week. It's pretty much all over after that. Although there is obviously one rather large component missing right now!

Army men, by chance?

Nope, though there is a strong focus on little green men lol

it looks a lot like a level in doom 2.

lol not Doom. Remember its squad based so forget any FPSs!

As a mini-update I finisihed planking the floor this morning and am now cutting the wood for the first floor walls. Should have them done by this evening!

Hmmm...I haven't played any mid-90's games in quite a while, other than the first Fallout. However, if I were to take a stab at it, I'd have to say the original XCOM. Then again, it has been so long since I played that game that I don't remember if it was squad-based. Long time ago + sleep deprivation = poor memory.