Project: Antec 900 Revamp

[slaveofconvention]

...also, should we be worried about the gas can right next to your grill?

LOL - the grill got beat up pretty badly in a weekend of serious wind about 3 weeks ago. Until I have time to strip it down and sort it out, it won't be getting used - but thanks for the thought.... My Petrol weed-whacker is kinda dead too atm so the gas won't be getting used anytime soon, and as I keep it pre-mixed with the oil the whacker needs, I can't really use it for anything else (oh and my car is has a Diesel Engine too lol)

[OvRiDe]

Sounds like you have had a series of challenges with this build my friend. I thought the case was looking pretty good all white, but that charcoal is going to look great. Can't wait to see the orange go on!

[TheGreatSatan]

Is it supposed to have a speckled look

[slaveofconvention]

That's a flash artifact. The paint is a very sparkly next gen pearl colour. The flash has caught the crystal in the paint. I'm going to try to get some better daylight pics soon

[blueonblack]

I thought as much, the paint looks excellent to me. I have to say I'm with OvRiDe with the white. It looked good like that also, but I think your sparkly paint will look excellent, hope to see it all together soon.

[slaveofconvention]

The white wasn't an option. As it happens, it isn't white or even close to it. The plastic primer I used on the top and front parts is a light grey, and the primer on the side panels is actually a greenish yellow. I guess the flash just washed them out a little and made them look white. I really have no need for a white case, for reasons which are hush hush right now but will hopefully become clear in about a month.

On a seperate note, I was showing the worklog to a couple guys at work today, and that dented corner is really starting to bug me. I see a more thorough repair and repainting on the horizon. Fortunately I have plenty of the paint left that I used on the side panels. I think I used, at most about 70ml of paint out of a half-litre.... It is amazing how far the paint goes when put through an air powered spraygun!!

[flare]

Nice work with the paint, it looks awesome! Too bad about that corner though.

...also, should we be worried about the gas can right next to your grill?

It makes BBQ's more fun

[slaveofconvention]

It makes BBQ's more fun

That comment, and your user ID here.... SOOO apt lol

[flare]

Haha I didn't realise that!

The project is looking good man, nice job with the paint.

[slaveofconvention]

Modkitty says "Do the orange bits, do them NOW!!!"

Hmmm.... Last time I checked, I wasn't quite finished with the grey bits lol....

If you all can remember as far as last week (I vaguely can) you'll remember that after getting the blank side panel all lovely and primed and smooth and stuff, it fell on the floor and got a nice dent in the corner for it's trouble. I decided, at the time, that as the corner in question was the back, bottom corner on the side that sits against the side panel of my desk, I could live with the damage, and straightened it a bit and painted it anyway...

Well this is the corner I'm talking about, and how it looks painted and clearcoated...

And... well no, I can't live with it.... Wire wheel time - it was almost heartbreaking seeing the first gashes appear in that nice shiny paint...

The metal was twisted, bent AND split from my quick and dirty "grab a pair of pliers and bend it back" repair. I spent about 15 mins with a hammer and a straight screwdriver, and the same pliers as last time and got it a lot straighter, then applied some single-pack stopper filler to it.

I then sanded it down and gave it a dusting of primer, then sanded it again. Actually I repeated that 2 or 3 times before I was happier with it and ended up with this...

A good heavy sanding of the area later and it looks like it's ready for primer again, but because I didn't flatten the clearcoat, there's actually quite a texture to the panel as you can see from the pattern left behind...

I decided then, it'd probably be better to just repaint the whole thing instead of trying to puff in the repaired part so set to work sanding the whole panel...

Because I used a high-build primer last time (the one with the yellowish colour) there really wasn't any need to do it again, so a few quick coats of aerosol low-build primer later...

While I was waiting for that primer to go off, and in the repairing mood, you may recall the drive bay my lovely wife scratched when moving my sons BMX frame... Well a quick sand down and a quick blast of black later we have...

Which now looks much tidier. As for the corner of the case...

That also looks MUCH improved... Time for some colour but... this is ME we're talking about and with my luck, after the first two coats of grey, a great big drop of paint fell off of the tip of my spraygun.... I was very surprised when it effectively ate straight into the low-build primer...

There was no way, after the hours it took getting that corner back to being close to perfect, I was going to be able to put up with that either, so back to sanding....

And then back to the paint. Fortunately there were no more dramas and I ended up with this...

If you look really hard and really closely, you can just see where that drop landed, but it's a LONG way from obvious and it is definitely now acceptable. I didn't have enough time to clearcoat it - it was starting to get dark, so I may try a little something tomorrow to make it even less noticable. As for that nasty dropped corner.... Well that I'm completely happy with. Again, really close inspection WILL show where it was damaged but it is nowhere near as noticable as it was before....

If the weather holds tomorrow, I might get around to doing what the cat wanted... The orange, but no guarantees. I still have those runs to deal with on the other side panel and this panel will need another coat of colour before clear too. I really want to get the grey finished and put to bed before I start on the orange parts....

I've been told by people who know WAY more than I do about it, that you really should be putting clear on within 30 minutes of the last coat of coloured basecoat, so there'll be one more coat of colour tomorrow (or next time) before the clear goes on....