MasterCase5 MOD: Project TRON

[deblow]

love the paint work. How easy is it to get the branding plates off the heatsink, and how did you do it? I had a mare wrapping the sticky plate on my Impact's power board and it'd be easier to take it off, but mine won't bloody budge!

Thanks mate, all the parts are removed via some screws on the back and the covers over the heat sinks was removed with some via low setting with a heatgun.
they was held on very very well with some type of double sided tape.

Greetings program!

This is what I hear every time I come to look at this build https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JLZGbJ5QE8M. . Damn, think I'm gonna break those Tron movies out again.

Best

Wulf

lol, thanks for the link!
I'm hoping I can steal that track for a final video at some point

Just finished painting all the white parts today, only the covers need doing still

 

[deblow]

All the internal components and fittings are now painted, might add some more colour and or logos to them later in the build.
Tron is very polished and simple yet effective, so I want to keep this as clean as I can.

Here are some closer shots of the before and after CPU block.

This is the backplate for the GTX1080 GPU, no white available so went ahead and painted a black one.
I will be adding something extra to this later.

Sound Cards repainted white with some added blue.
This wont really be seen as the card faces down, but I still wanted to have it matching and hopefully the
reflection will show once the bottom panel is added.

For the pump I just needed to paint the rubber padding and the metal bottom.

Here's the RAD, I think it looks great in white.
Wont be needing to paint the fans for this RAD as they will be hidden on the other side.

This is the fans for the double RAD going on the top, as it will be seen on the inside of the case I painted them.

 

[deblow]

The most part of the internal layout.
Some painted with acrylic and plasti-dip for the rest.

I've made some covers for the bottom, sides and back that will all be painted white or wrapped once the wiring is done.

 

[deblow]

Looking awesome mate, sound blaster ZX never looked so damned good! Eagerly awaiting more

Best

Wolf

Just an observation, but that white shroud with "Gigabyte" on it above the CPU would look awesome painted with that blue you used on the Soundblaster ZX. Shaping up to be a great build mate.

Best

Wulf

Beautiful work on the sound card. Something too many people don't bother with IMO.

Shame the rig isn't inverted so you can see the hard work. If it were me though I would also paint the edge of the PCB in the same blue. Nothing like a manky old piece of fibreglass wrecking the look.

Thanks all

Ok, I plan to add some lighting to the side of the card and some other bits, then depending on how it looks I will add some more colour, but this all wont be done until last thing so I can see the end result as im doing it.

I will be making the bottom very glossy, if I cant achieve the result I want with paint or wrap then I will have to dig in my pockets again and get a bit more white plexi.

aiming to get some reflections going on, hopefully the sound card will be reflected in the white, if not I have some mirror on standby lol.

Oh and Wolf, I have some ideas for some of the internal logos, design, and it could involve silver.
going to play around with blue and silver later in the build.

I'm still awaiting the GPU so im moving back to the outside of the case soon.

 

[deblow]

I love that cycle and its funny you posted it as I was looking to get one from the net and use inside the case, im not sure if it would look a bit cheesy though. plan was to have it riding along some EL tape.

Hehe I've got Flynn's light cycle on my desk in my man cave. Not that I make bike noises or play with it ofc lol

Those ideas sound great Deblow, gonna be like looking into "The Grid" when looking through your window panel

Best

Wulf

I collect toy's and figures so don't worry I wont take the p*ss lol
And thanks! I will try get some photos posted today.


BTW, CoolerMaster are sending me the new MasterCase3 (smaller one)
So, I'm thinking I Will paint it white on the outside with the same Tron theme, I have both then

Just modding the case though, no time for another full on build

 

[deblow]

Oh how I envy your position that another full build is restricted by time, not money. I have another 3 projects planned after Asteria II to build up a portfolio, but I'll have to pay for everything myself!

Well yeah, not just time. but I've been lucky this year as I was asked to do two builds and offered support for both.
It's a bit more tricky when you go looking for sponsors but if you plan on doing a couple of builds its always worth a quick email or call to see if anyone wants to help out with the components.

I'm still rocking my 2014 build "Alternate" but as this one will be more powerful for VR and gaming in general I'm going to use it for about a year as my main rig, will give me time to re-work my desk.

 

[deblow]

Back-plate for the sound card in place, used some velcro to hold it down as I will be needing to mess with it later in the build, its also a bit more tidy than using the screws on the card to hold it.

got this cutter some years back for my model making, helps add some detail to the plastic, also very useful for cutting the plexi

Bit wonky as it's not fastened in place just yet..

Same again for the back cover.

Ordered some more white plexi, so most the parts will be re-cut using the old ones as a template.

After some testing I decided to have the RAD facing the standard way rather than upside down.
Just didn't have the room I wanted at the top for all the pipe and fittings.

 

[deblow]

This has been the best part of the build so far, the results from the extensive paint coats, sanding, buffing and polishing have paid off, by far the best paint finish I've achieved with gloss.

This has taken weeks, not a easy task especially with the sharp edged all over the panels making it very easy to take the paint of all the way down to the primer if not do perfect.

This is the result after the gloss had been put down.
Plenty of orange peal and although it looks shiny I cant stand the peal.

So after the couple of weeks painting then sanding I got the gloss down and had to wait a week or so for the gloss to harden, then I carefully sanded down the gloss to get the surface as smooth as possible with paper.

my hands looked like I had been sat in the bath for 2 hours lol

Because I'm so happy with the result I will show you all a good handful of photos.
Hope you like the result as much as myself and the next update will be installing some of the EL bits.

 

[deblow]

That's one hell of a finish on that gloss. Looking forwards to seeing more of this build!

Thanks mate, looking forward to completing.
I can see the finish line approaching

Got as far as the "as smooth as possible with paper" pic and have to confess I was thinking Meh,
it's not that glossy - it's so easy to sit idly and be critical of someone else's hard work! But the finish after you've polished it up is fantastic - looks like you have a lovely garden there

I was thinking that might happen lol
Thanks mate, as for the garden, it's been a bit neglected this year as my wife hates gardening and I've been locked in the shed for most the summer lol

Wow a lot of hard work to be sure, but damn that finish is impressive. Well done mate, just don't let anyone grease it up with fingerprints lol.

Best

Wulf

Thanks
Yeah not letting anyone near it, but I cant resist touching it sometimes lol

Reason I went with matte on the last desk build, but for a case I should be ok.
I can imagine the state of it after a week at a computer show though

that gloss is insane, beautiful job

Thank you mate

 

[deblow]

Sound Card almost complete, just need to add something to the top plate.

 

[deblow]

What you need to add is some scratches and some generally bad bits. The gloss panels are clearly immoral...but the sound card is illegal!

lol, nice one, I love OCUK, cant beat the comments on here

 

[deblow]

Started carefully placing the EL wire and some tapes, this was tricky, glued my fingers to the wire a couple of times lol

Put down some tape on the none flat parts for some protections and as a guideline.

Top is done, sides and front still need some more work doing.

Hopefully you now have a better idea of the final look im going for with the build

 

[deblow]

Omg, I think I may need a change of underwear! That el wire is working a treat. Totally smashed the Tron look bud. Looking forward to the next instalment of Tron porn

Best
Wulf

Thanks again
Just for the MasterCase3 pro today so going to start a white version soon

There's only one problem....the panels are so shiny it's difficult to make them out in the photos - just reflections of bits of bench! Looking good though. The inlaying of the wire works really well - definitely worth the effort!

I though about this before I started the mod, still had to be done but I will be making sure the reflections are sorted for the final shots ofc.
almost every photo angle in the shed just shows crap or myself lol

holy ***balls, I think I might actually cry it's so good.

lol Thanks mate

 

[deblow]

As im awaiting some more parts for the main Tron build I've been working on a couple of things
and due to the time needed for the paint to dry im moving between the main build, Tron (black) and
my second mod, Tron 2.0 (white).

I wont be doing a full build log for the 2nd Tron case mod but I will add a couple of photos to this log.



As I mentioned before, not to happy with the original PSU cover I did with clear plexi so I ordered some more
white and did the cover again, much better now for the reflections im wanting to capture.

Like with the sound card, added some EL lightning to the RAD.

Sticking with the EL, time to get the Tron disc painted to better match the case and the original look of the disc.
I really enjoyed this part and im very happy with the result.

After some very careful and painfully slow masking the disc is almost completed, painted with water-based black so as not to damage the plastic coating.

here's some pics of the Tron 2.0 mod, all the paintwork is completed and im now working in the lighting.

 

[deblow]

There's two?! Well day-um!!

What's better than a Tron themed build? TWO Tron themed builds!!

Awesome work mate, so much attention to detail.

Best

Wulf

for sure! had to be done when I got my hands on the MCase3, as I was in 2 minds with the original mod, black or white?
Now i get chance to play with both ideas.

Got to hold back a bit on the 2.0 (white one) I dont want to outdo my main build in anyway lol

Although im sure some people will like the white one more due to taste and room decor.

 

[deblow]

For the side panel i'm going with one that's airbrushed and also doing a plain one painted the same as the rest of the case.

I'm doing the airbrushing in 3 stages, first the panel was painted the same as all the case but then sanded down ready
for the shadows and base colours, protected again with some clear coat and then stage 2, now I have clear coated all
the design and will be waiting for that to harden before doing the highlights and fine details followed by a final protective
clear coat.

Some parts of the design will hopefully have a matte look where others will be a nice mirror/gloss finish
to help him pop-out from the back background.

This might look a bit crap at the moment but should look great when completed, I like to try use as many skills as I can when
doing my builds, this is something I've never attempted before so i'm learning as I go along

As promised, here are some pics of the smaller project I just completed "Tron 2.0" this was just a case mod for now, using the
CoolerMaster MasterCase 3 Pro.
No log for this one, it was a very quick job with only the paint dry times taking most of that time up.

Done in white with slightly thicker EL wires and the same Mirror finish paint but this time in white.
I wont post lots of photos on here but you can find all the other on my facebook page if you need.

Thanks to elpanelandtape.co.uk and CoolerMaster UK for providing most of the bits needed for this one.

 

[deblow]

What are you talking about you mentalist?! That looks great already and you haven't even finished it yet! Frankly, the fact that you've never done airbrushing before just adds insult to the injury!

lol Great, glad you think so
I think it's a bit rough still in comparison to the picture im working from, yeah not done anything like this before but done more simpler things with the airbrush and gun.
Learning as I go along.

I'm not 100% confident I will like the overall look when complete so thats the reason im doing a plane black side, just encase lol

 

[deblow]

Dude, hats off to you.

That is some very impressive work. Tron fans everywhere will be getting hard at the mere sight of this build when it's finished.

Best

Wulf

lol thanks Wulf!

 

[deblow]

Damn that's looking good!

Alrite this is far more impressive than I could imagine

Thanks guys, and sorry for the delay with updates, Im still waiting for the GPU so I cant continue with much more atm, almost finished the side panel and just
completed a "Mini Tron" for a Mini "just for fun" comp

I will post results of the mini as soon as they let me.

 

[deblow]

Side panel completed, will get some daylight shots done once we get some sun here lol

Used some of the same style for my Mini mod, just for the fun of it, a quick build as im on a bit
of a break from the main build.

Fitted with a fully working Raspberry pi.
1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
802.11n Wireless LAN
Bluetooth 4.1
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
1GB RAM
4 USB ports
40 GPIO pins
Full HDMI port
Ethernet port
Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Micro SD card slot
VideoCore IV 3D graphics core
PSU - 5v 2a

Not bad for the size, fits well with my collection of 1:6 scale