Aperture Laboratories: Surplus Auction

[TLHarrell]

I found a rather interesting piece of hardware at a surplus auction. I am in the process of dismantling it in hopes of resurrecting the hardware and determining it's proper use. It's a bit of a jumbled mess, but I'm starting to get somewhere.

This little gem was attached to the top of the case. It cleaned up rather nicely. More to follow soon.

[d_stilgar]

Nice start. I love a little narrative worklog.

[SXRguyinMA]

+ sub

[Cale_Hagan]

i'm going to watch this thread..

[TLHarrell]

I'm not sure the equipment I purchased is entirely functional. After some examination, I believe the interior components which were of value were stripped by the government prior to the auction. Still, it looks pretty cool, and I'm sure it will be of some use once I've got it cleaned up and put back together. It looks like it's been through a lot and has stood up to some serious neglect and abuse.

(Yes, this is all paint. Not bare metal.)

This side panel gave me fits trying to pry it loose.

Closeup of the side panel.

More to come as I complete painting on other parts of the case.

[AmEv]

*drool*

So, when'd you become a mod?

[TLHarrell]

This thing has been a beast to disassemble. Wow! They sure don't make government issued equipment like this anymore! Finally got some more progress on getting this fixed up.

Top panel, reassembled. Drive bay covers. LED array.

Top panel, mesh.

Top control panel. Not quite sure what these controls used to be for. Perhaps plugs for some dimensional portal?

LED array back. I drilled all the holes in acrylic with a laser! Then it was easy to just bend the leads together. This thing is BLINDING!

@ AmEv... I noticed that too. Seems to have showed up last week. With my newfound powers I can drop spammers down a portal over a pit of acid. Makes them squeal for a second or two. And I'm gonna start doing some writing... sometime... it's really on my to do list.

[d_stilgar]

Great work. I'm totally loving it. Can't wait to see more, especially a longer shot of everything, haha.

But seriously, the paint looks great. The weather effect looks so good, like you really just got it beat up from some surplus auction and are now going to have to clean it up and restore it. Great stuff.

[Fuganater]

Awesome paint job so far. I wish I could do that.

[SXRguyinMA]

that is a LOT of LED's for a tiny piece of acrylic!!