Refresh: Project Smurf 2.0

Soldato
Joined
4 Dec 2015
Posts
3,221
Location
London
So at the turn of the year I finished my latest build which you can find logged in full here:

Project Smurf

Basically once it was finished it looked like the below, wrapped in a white carbon finish which turned out pretty nicely (it was a royal pain in the ass to do though):

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The Revival!

For whatever reason I decided I wanted a different finish recently so undertook the rather long and dull task of getting all the wrap off... Man that stuff was welded on after months of heating and cooling! What I wanted to achieve was a more interesting colour finish and make the build look matt, so I ordered a bunch of Plastikote paint in matt White, 'Mediterranean' and Grey. The paint is top stuff and i'd recommend it as a nice cheap alternative to some of the overpriced paints, picked it up on Amazon for about £5 a can.

Once i'd finally got the friggin wrap off I sanded down the glossy plastic finish (which I just think looks cheap, sorry NZXT) ready to paint. Several coats and colours later it now looks like the below, i'm really happy with the finish... What do you think?

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The fluid comes out really blue in the photos, in real life it matches the rest of the build!

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Also painted the SSD cases to match, the sides are blue and top matt white, one is a bit dusty in the picture but i'm too lazy to take it again cleaned up :):

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Replaced the very cheap window plastic with some good quality acrylic, looks nicer now and i'll be honest I put a massive scratch in the old window :)

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And finally here she is chilling on my desk.

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I haven't had chance to sort out the lighting again yet, the connectors where a bit dodgy so i'll need to replace the kit at some point but the fluid is UV reactive so looks a bit like this in low light:

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Now all I have to do is squeeze two 1080's in there in a month or so...
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,686
Think that looks great mate. I really like the glow under the case, nice touch.

Not sure on the UV myself, I know pictures never do it justice but I really like the pic of your desk with the light off. Maybe even a small white LED to illuminate in the dark but that is just personal taste.

Nice tidy build :)
 
Associate
Joined
21 May 2013
Posts
1,975
Looks a million times better with the paint. Great colour combination too.

My suggestion is to change the power/underglow LEDs from blue to white.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Mar 2016
Posts
121
Plastikote is great. Can drip without care though. You have made a lovely finish. How many coats did you do? Just one? Gave !y rads a coat with that stuff love the matte finish it gives. Think I might spray my case with it.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
4 Dec 2015
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Location
London
Plastikote is great. Can drip without care though. You have made a lovely finish. How many coats did you do?

Around 3 light coats, you can probably get away with 2 though... same as all spray paints, more light and even coats are better than one thick one.

Not sure on the UV myself

The UV you're right its never like that - I've usually got the lights on so the effect is much more minimal and quite nice just a bit of a UV aura around the tube. I'm not a fan of it either if i'm honest so it might not ever get replaced!

My suggestion is to change the power/underglow LEDs from blue to white.

The underglow LED looks really Blue in the pictures but its actually much lighter in colour, I did think about white though so we shall see!
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2013
Posts
8,393
Love it. And you know what might be even nicer? That patch of the white HDD cage that can be seen through the window's top-right corner, make it blue, or grey. That would actually transform the little flaw in the case/window design into something that looks purposeful.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
4 Dec 2015
Posts
3,221
Location
London
Love it. And you know what might be even nicer? That patch of the white HDD cage that can be seen through the window's top-right corner, make it blue, or grey. That would actually transform the little flaw in the case/window design into something that looks purposeful.

I actually thought about modding the crap out of the window and making it bigger but it might look decent with some accent on it so i'll make a mock up or two when I get time and try!
 
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