Motorized Madness

[rendermandan]

I must have been hit by the bad luck bug recently. I've been assembling the case piece by piece after i've fixed a few things and painted everything black.

Now I noticed that my DVD drive is not working properly. See this post:

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...187#post156187

[rendermandan]

I think I've narrowed the problem down to something getting pinched or messed up due to the screws I use to install it. I can get 3 in, but the fourth one seems to mess it up. I got so frustrated with it, I just decided to put it away for a few days and work on something else. So here is a small update. Sorry its not very big, the holiday and xmas shopping, xmas lights on the house (that are set to music by the way) have been taking all my spare time.

But here you go anyway.

Here are some shots with all the parts painted black.

God there are alot of parts to this case!

here is a shot of all the accesories and power input for the servo controller.

From the left we have, 6V power in, then switch to turn off servo controller, then Video in for the lcd, then a small 1/8" headphone jack, that I'm using as a connector for power to the lighted mouse pad.

I also started on the back panel. here it sits all nice and clear.

with some CA glue and .03" thick styrene sheets, I glued to the back side and trimed to match the panel.

I want to install the rear exhaust 120mm fan on the outside of the case. this is due to the location of the window on the side. I dont' want to look in and see the ugly side of a fan right?

So I cut some styrene to make a box to fit over the fan.

And here it is.

I added some modders mesh, the same stuff I used over the side radiator. to the back of the case.

and here is a shot with it on the case.

Then I hit it with some primer and black paint.

Here is another shot of the case.

And just for reference. here is the black case with the turbine sitting on top. Sorry its a little blurry.

As far as I can tell, all the major building and modding is complete. There is still some wiring that has to be done for lights inside the case. I bought a couple led light strips. and some more glow wire that came all messed up with black spots in it again.

So now its time to clean the workspace up and get the airbrush and paint brushes out.

Cheers!

[rendermandan]

I think I've narrowed the problem down to something getting pinched or messed up due to the screws I use to install it. I can get 3 in, but the fourth one seems to mess it up. I got so frustrated with it, I just decided to put it away for a few days and work on something else. So here is a small update. Sorry its not very big, the holiday and xmas shopping, xmas lights on the house (that are set to music by the way) have been taking all my spare time.

But here you go anyway.

Here are some shots with all the parts painted black.

God there are alot of parts to this case!

here is a shot of all the accesories and power input for the servo controller.

From the left we have, 6V power in, then switch to turn off servo controller, then Video in for the lcd, then a small 1/8" headphone jack, that I'm using as a connector for power to the lighted mouse pad.

I also started on the back panel. here it sits all nice and clear.

with some CA glue and .03" thick styrene sheets, I glued to the back side and trimed to match the panel.

I want to install the rear exhaust 120mm fan on the outside of the case. this is due to the location of the window on the side. I dont' want to look in and see the ugly side of a fan right?

So I cut some styrene to make a box to fit over the fan.

And here it is.

I added some modders mesh, the same stuff I used over the side radiator. to the back of the case.

and here is a shot with it on the case.

Then I hit it with some primer and black paint.

Here is another shot of the case.

And just for reference. here is the black case with the turbine sitting on top. Sorry its a little blurry.

As far as I can tell, all the major building and modding is complete. There is still some wiring that has to be done for lights inside the case. I bought a couple led light strips. and some more glow wire that came all messed up with black spots in it again.

So now its time to clean the workspace up and get the airbrush and paint brushes out.

Cheers!

[rendermandan]

I'm pretty anxious to get this done myself. I can't wait to get everything working and all the parts setup and installed. I got some led stip lights in the mail yesterday that I will be using instead of the CCFL lights. the only thing about them is they dance. I wish they were just on solid all the time. I might have to do a little mod to them.

I will be using a lot of the same colors as the turbine. and I will give it the dirty, weathered look. although, there will be a lot of detail painting that will give it a little different look. I just have to figure out how

The light wire. Where do you get it? Does it need to be run off 12v or can it be modded to run off anything else?
I'm really excited to see this so far along. I hope you can get all the kinks worked out. I have to disagree with Spawn though. It looks really nice black, but it looks boring. I am highly anticipating a matching paint job. Great work man. Still can't rep you though.

Edit: I just realized how big that turbine is compared to the computer. Wow.

I ordered the light wire from Xoxide.com it was on sale for $5.99 for a 5 foot piece. However, the last 2 I ordered came all messed up with black spots in the wire. Like its old or worn out or something, so I'm considering not using it, maybe. I'd return it to them for a refund, but the cost of shipping would outweigh the benefit.

And just how big did you think the turbine was anyway?

[rendermandan]

Ok guys, here's a painting update!

Here is a shot of the paints I will be using. A pretty good selection of colors!

I started by paint just one side panel first. the one with the most detail!

First I air brushed some gray onto some panels. Although they appear white.

Then I randomly painted some rust colored panels.

Then some green and tan panels.

Then after several hours of fine detail painting with multiple colors, we have this witht he flash.

No flash.

Then I used some mesh drywal tape and sprayed the inside parts of the gears with some gray.

Then I taped off the gears. and the center parts.

Shot them with some rust from the airbrush.

Then I got them dirty. (Drybrushing)

I drybrushed and airbrushed some dirt onto the rest of the panel to dull it up.
I am showed it on the case with the turbine above for color comparison.

Remember those spaces between all those panels that I covered wit the liquid mask. Well, I'm pretty close to removing the masking but I want to make sure everything is painted before I do that. I dont' want to have to re-mask those areas. I will be frosting the back side of the Acrylic panel to give it that Blue glow.

I overlaid the logo on it and guess what. It sticks out like a sore thumb!!!!! I really didn't expect the blue to stand out that bad. What do you guys think?

Maybe some of you can give me some suggestions as to what to do about the logo. Maybe you think it looks OK, maybe not. Let me know!

Thanks.

[rendermandan]

Hey man been following this thread quietly and I think it is great!
Another +rep for all the inovativeness (Is that a word?) hehe

I like the logo but what I think would set the tone for the mod is to have the gears behind the logo slowly turning.
Maybe have a small motor turn one of the cogs and the others would turn by the teeth meshing.
The logo could be on top mounted on the shaft ends of the gears.
These could be slowly turning the whole time the system is on, I think it would bring that side of the case to life.

Just a thought and it may be too late to make that big of a modification.

Charles

Thats an excellent Idea, and I actually thought of that too a while back. the only thing that held me back from doing that is the noise the motor and gears would make while the system was on. Servo gears are very loud and having one go constantly would drive me bonkers! that is why I decided to have the stationary. But yeah its a little late in the game to be making that kind of change.

[rendermandan]

Excellent mod!

One question - and I may have missed this somewhere in here - what thickness of styrene are you using? Looks way thicker than anything I've seen at the store.

Thanks, I used different thicknesses throughout the project. They ranged from .02 to .125 inches thick.

I got the sheets at a local hobby town.

And for a first time, you did a hell of a job. If you want to refine the look a little, you should hit Crimson up for some tips (or as he would probably say..."yah, buy my book").

-Jon

Yeah, I was considering buying his book, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
I'm sure there are many things that can be learned from his wealth of knowledge!
Maybe Santa will get me a copy for Christmas!!!!


edit: Hey I just noticed that I now have 6 Light green bars. Thanks everyone!!!!

[Crimson Sky]

Getting the paint just right is a very tough technique to master. Paint the whole thing black again and start to build up your color in subtle layers. For Doom 3, it was a combination of airbrush for base colors, then drybrushing, colored washes, pastels, powders and a combo of flat/gloss paints to bring depth and realism. Get some very good sable brushes too.

Jon saw Doom 3 close up and can vouch for the subtle yet effective paint job that was given to it. Airbrushing for models is only a rough process, the rest takes many (many many) hours of brush painting. I've been practicing for 30 years to become a master model maker, so just keep at it!

Try some of the following secret products and keep up the GREAT work.

Weathering Pastels for the Ultimate in Realism

Gray Tone Pastels for the Ultimate in Realism

Doc O'Brien's Weathering Powders

RUSTALL SYSTEM

[rendermandan]

Well, Its been a while since I've made an update. I apologize, I've been swamped with a project at work, My last day off other than Christmas day was December 1st. LOL.

Anyway, here's the progress that I manged to get done in the little free time I had.

I started to paint the base unit. First I taped off some shapes on the top.

then i just did the same thing only in different colors.

Then I started the detail painting of all the parts.

Here a couple shots with the flash on. The flash really makes it look like crap. It looks so much better in person.

Here are some shots with the flash off. this is alot closer to what it really looks like. but they are kind of dark.

you can also notice I gave the entire inside a coat of black paint.
I gave everything so far a coat of semi-gloss clear coat to protect it too.

Then I installed the power switch. You can also see that I removed the liquid mask from the leds in the motorized trays.

Next after clear coating. I went to remove the liquid mask that I applied so long ago. Here is a shot before I remove it. You can see the "channels" where it is located between the panels.

Here is a shot with the back up to light. It still has the blue painters tape on the back side to protect the back.

and here is the back side with the tape removed. You can clearly see where the "light" channels are around the panels.

I got some spray frosting to coat the back of the panel.

Here is a shot after 1 coat of frosting. It deffinetly dulled it out and it has that frosted look, but I want it to be more, so I will add a few more coats.

I noticed that the more it dried, the more it frosted. the picture was taken while it was still wet.

thats all I got done up untill last night. I added a few more coats to the frosting, so I will have to see how it turned out.

Untill next time, Peace!

[rendermandan]

ok, Another painting update:

I started to paint the other side of the case. I started with the large Rotating gear. i painted it similar to the other side of the case.

Then I started on the panel.

here is a shot of the fan controller.

I taped off the inside of the gears to paint the gears themselves.

unfortunaly I got bit by the "Bad Primer" bug again.
the Paint pulled away when I removed the painters tape.

So i will have to touch up those areas.

Here is the finished Panel. With flash. You can see that I removed the masking from the gears with the frosted panels.

here is all the panels and parts so far that are done.

Then i started on the back panel. Painting it similar to the rest of the case. I think you get the idea.

And the top.

The last thing I did was prime the case screws.

I will have to give them some drybrush dirt when they are dry.


thats it for now. I still have the tv to do, and the front panel.

After that, final assembly and water cooling setup!

The end is near!!!!