HP-4 Flame'D

[Defyant]

I went off on a bit of a Tangent in this next update ! bit more self indulgence. I'd had an idea thru the week! and having a spare front panel to play with i'd thought i'd give it shot!

I wanted to spice up the old "blow hole" mod, give it somthing new


The modded panel and the new one i'll use for the new "Defyant style blow hole"

I'll pretty much skip thu the cutting hole process, all been seen before.

This blow hole is going to follow the shape of the case and be a raised type.

The new part or extra to the blow hole will be it'd side vents!


This is the first time ive tried this mod, it's ganna be messy soz, but bear with me and hopefully the end result will be worth the time.



No rocket science just mark and cut

The left over will be bent down to help with the shape of the vents.

Some left over 100mm pvc from the blowhole is cut into 2 small strips.

And pretty much "jammed" and araldite glued into the cut slots.

[Defyant]

You all knew this next part was coming

Again im skipping thru the several layers of bondo ive applied.

Some final 2pack qick dry fine sand putty is used....more or less fancy blade putty as ive used earlier.

[Defyant]

As you can see i'm trying to work 2 contrasting shapes against each other in the hopes that they will become more interesting to look at.

With the one side almost complete ive poped the front facia on for a good old "looksee"

I'll update with the other vent completed and the whole panel under putty.

[Defyant]

altho still no where near finished i can get a good look as to how the new front will now look.

The 2 vents are not as perfect as would like and one is slightly more open then the other, this i can fix.
now that thyr under spray putty i can get the lines right and finish them for the next update.


The "finishing" putty i'm using id a pro type qick dry 2pak stuff, i'm using this because it drys and is sandable within minutes!it's expensive but gets the job done for me a lot faster.

This stuff is mixed in small amounts and used as needed to fill the pits etc.

The vents are worked some more and put inder a few coats of spray putty.

[Defyant]

Finally the dried panel is sat back onto the the case to get and over all final look.

As said before still a way to go before the vents are finished, there's also a bit of modding to be done to the blow hole yet

[Defyant]

NB*** I opted in the end not to run this mod! the end case looks cleaner without the rings*****


While this mod is not going to be a HP3-MRGA when it comes to lighting effects ,i still wanted to add something new.

What i decided upon was a very simple yet modular design that would allow me (with the use of LED lit fans) to swap lighting around to suit the case. A blue fan id used for now but a RED, GREEN ,UV etc can easily be added to the carridge.

I wanted to add lighting that would add to the blowhole/turbine effect, but not distract too much from air flow.

A qik trip to the local plex shop and i was home with the parts needed

The major part of this next mod are the 2x 50mm long Perspex tubes , the outer is 100mm and the inner being 80mm.

The modular part of the mod is an old fan holder from a HP server. I will be altering slightily to suit this mod.

Shown here is the cutting away ow the middle area to allow the nosecone to come thru,

In the end i removed all the round grill bits and just left the 4 support posts.

The next shot pretty much gives you the idea of what im after!

The plex tubes are taken inside for a qick sanding

Dried and cleaned

To help the new paint stick the "inners" of the plex tubes are coated with plastic plex prime.

The the "insides only" are painted with Platinum silver.

[Defyant]

Once the paint has dried the ends of each tube are given a qick sand to remove the overspray.

Then these are glued to the also previously painted and dried fan ex holder.

For testing i'm going to use a spare CM BLUE 120, this type of fan is totally perfect for this mod! the 4 placed LED's that are already on the fan will carry along the tubes perfecty.

Rubber gromets are used to support the fan, the fan is then bolted to the assembly.

The assembly now works as one unit and can be installed and removed as needed.

[Defyant]

Next is to test the lighting to ensure the light will actually travel along the tubes to the outer rim.

It does! and as can be seen buy holding the light unit different angles can produce different effects

Next to "SLOT" the unit over the blow hole.... the unit is a nice tight fit! and i doubt that it would easily slip off...but a permanent bracket will be attatched later.

Lighting will also be added to the side vents soon!

[Defyant]

And of course a few mandatory night shots

[Defyant]

The next pic really moves along and also shows the base now painted silver! the process is the same as any painting but i'll show it for the sake of the worklog

After the panel is "high filled" and left to sit for a few day to allow the dozens of coats of highfill to sink back it is then "Black shadow'd" or guide coated, the idea is that the dusty black guid coat is your guide for the sanding or wetrubbing process.

If theres something on TV i'll sand in the laundry sink this allows me wet rub and watch the nightly news

Once wet rubbed using 800grit wet and dry the panel is taken back out to the workshop , wiped dry, tack clothed or propsoled and given a dusty coat of "Platinum Silver" then followed by several more coats.

The panel is allowed to sit for a bit and then given 5-6 coats of CLEAR and left to sit for 2 days.

While the shine looks pretty good! this is a can paint job! and does need to be chopped and buffed.