Case Mod - In Progress Candy Cube - Water and Air - November 8th.

I'm finally starting work on my Mountain Mods Opti 1203, i've had the case for 6 months but i was finishing other things and i've spent hours staring at this damn box planning and visualising what i could do to it ! The final plan is quite minimal compared to some ideas i've had, i want it to look neat and tidy inside as well as showing off the simplicity of the cube shaped exterior. I'm going to attempt to hide as much as possible cabling wise with stealth covers and the use of Aluminium mesh and acrylic whilst having one watercooled loop cooling the Q6600 and 8800 Ultra (on a Thermalright PA120.3) and the chipset on the Asus P5k deluxe air cooled with heatsinks and Thermalright HR05 ifx North and South bridge heatsinks. There will be a total of eight 120mm fans (including two Scythe Kama Bays in the 5.25" bays of the OPti) so i'm hoping for good temps whilst not overloading with tubes and wires !
I'd like to say a big thanks to Tom at Chlled PC who supplied most of the parts and went to the extent of sourcing parts he does'nt normally stock, and to Bry at Hangar 17 for his support !







Fistly, theres a few things i did'nt like about the MM. The side panels are 1mm aluminium with a large acrylic window (i bought the case 2nd hand so these panels were allready with it) i found them a little flimsy so i'm going to make new ones out of acrylic. The powdercoat whilst looking good and is well finished for the cause is not really what i wanted for this project. I thought there was quite a bit of orange Peel effect on the finish so i thought i'd try flatting on one of the spare side panels to see how it would look !

You can see the orange Peel below :-



1000 grit wet and dry :-




Then 2500 grit, you can see the paint is flatting (not yet polished) :-





And with a little elbow grease !





It was at this point that i knew i wanted the case painted. This little piece had taken an hour to do (at my 1st time trying ) and you know how big these cases are so weighing up my total lack of skill in the fine finish painting arena and the ideas i had for the case i went to see the professionals which is where the case has been for two weeks and i'm about to leave to pick it up, i'll be back later with a totally different case and i cant wait to show you guys as i saw it pre laquer and its a bit mad lol !!
I'll leave you with a shot of some of the components to squeeze into the box !

 

I was wondering when you'd be starting this bad-boy!

 

great to see you started this mod ............ I hope it turns out like your previous mod ..........

Subscribed ..............


Alan

 

I like those big cubes, cant wait to see what you will do to it.

 

Ok, the case is back in my grubby hands and WOW did these guys do a good job !
The case was flatted 1st and the guys applied a thin layer of this crazy rainbow finish sparkly flake (best seen in sunlight !) before applying candy red paint and rolling clingfilm on it whilst the red was wet to give a marbled texture then lots of laquer and flatting !!
I saw an American custom car with candy red paint way back in the day (over gold instead of black as here) and it had to be this finish for me !! The weird thing is it seems to change colour and texture from every angle and with different types of light and it made it hard to photograugh along with that mirror shine !! I'll let the pics speak.........





And with flash (see how it changes !) allthough you'd swear it was without the flash !







And mobo tray out !



And again, a different look in different light !



And so the work begins, more updates soon. Any suggestions then fire away folks !

 

That looks mint mate!

 

Very sexy, man. When done right, that technique is amazing, and can only be truly loved when in person because pics don't do it justice. And these pics look amazing. Just imagine!

 

That is one CRAZY paintjob! Looking forward to see this comming together!

 

Ye, it really is a bit mad in the flesh - it was nearly dark when i got in tonight so i hope the weathers good tomorrow as it looks different again in the sunlight and i want some more pics !

 

oh my god. that's beautiful. Can't wait to see it in the sun light!
+ how much did the paint job run you?

 

very nice :up:

 

wow.........that is absolutely beautiful ........... sexy looking ...............

I love it ...............


Alan

 

Indeed a very nice job on the paintwork Rich

 

very nice mate!!!

 

Nice going Colossous, these are nice cases. been to the site

 

finally a mod of a MM cube.
I've always loved their cases, and I've been very close to buying one at some point in time. But they're actually a bit too big for my current desk and living room setup. And I always found that neither of their versions would be perfect to me. However, since they've started their customize service...I've been on their site more and more again. I also think that they don't have enough pics on their site. Anyway, all of this to say I'll be following this project!

 

Thanks for the kind comments guys, i just wish i had the painting skills to have done this myself instead of just dreaming it up !! I'll have to practice !!
I had thought of customising it more to be honest Jokkos, at one stage i was thinking of cutting out the back panel and turning it through 180 degrees (Duality style) and having the watercooling hidden in the bottom half of the case with windows in the top section but i dont think the Opti is the right MM case to try that !
Got to work over the weekend but i'll try and get some small bits done whilst i wait for the last few parts to be delivered !

 

Looking very nice!

 

Sweet! This paint job could give you diabetes it has so much candy coat.

 

Ok guys, parts arriving over the next couple of days and then some serious updates but in the meantime a straight question !!
Asus p5k deluxe or DFI blood iron ?
They'll be teamed up with 4gb Crucial Ballistix, a Q6600 and a 8800 Ultra, i cant decide !!