MasterCase5 MOD: Project TRON

ALXAndy · 5 Sep 2016 at 13:25

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.

deblow · 5 Sep 2016 at 19:47

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

Best

Wolf

Wulfster said:
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

ALXAndy said:
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.

LePhuronn · 5 Sep 2016 at 23:41

Wulfster · 6 Sep 2016 at 07:03

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

deblow · 6 Sep 2016 at 16:58

LePhuronn said:

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.

Wulfster said:
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

LePhuronn · 6 Sep 2016 at 19:11

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

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!

deblow · 6 Sep 2016 at 23:11

LePhuronn said:
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 · 6 Sep 2016 at 23:24

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 · 9 Sep 2016 at 21:35

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.

Devrij · 9 Sep 2016 at 23:50

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

Cenedd · 10 Sep 2016 at 10:19

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

Wulfster · 10 Sep 2016 at 11:09

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

LePhuronn · 10 Sep 2016 at 11:13

that gloss is insane, beautiful job

deblow · 10 Sep 2016 at 18:35

Devrij said:
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

Cenedd said:
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

Wulfster said:
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 :eek:

LePhuronn said:
that gloss is insane, beautiful job

Thank you mate

deblow · 10 Sep 2016 at 18:36

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

Cenedd · 10 Sep 2016 at 20:57

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!

deblow · 11 Sep 2016 at 15:56

Cenedd said:
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 · 11 Sep 2016 at 16:00

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

Wulfster · 11 Sep 2016 at 16:32

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

Cenedd · 11 Sep 2016 at 17:19

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!