Case Mod My 1st Project : White Cosmos S *UPDATE 24/1/13*

[LatinSpirit]

Hello everyone

First a small introduction...

My name is Daniel, I'm 30 years old, and been into PC's since school. I learnt how to put one together when I left school and until now my builds have been fairly straight forward, with none or very little modding. I started out with simple stuff like adding LED fans, better coolers etc. and each PC I made, I went a little bit braver. So This is my first attempt at a modded case, and also my first project log. This will be a budget mod, as I don't have a lot of money...: D

The case in question is a CoolerMaster Cosmos S, which I bought from 13eightyfour in the Forum Marketplace back in December. I liked the fact the styling had hints of car design and it's performance was pretty good too. Unfortunately when it arrived, the courier had dropped it, and it was damaged quite badly.

One of the top rails had been snapped off! These are metal so it must have been quite a drop.



Also there are various cracks on both sides of the side panel surrounds. Here are the worst 2....





I want to say a big thank you to 13eightyfour for his patience and help in getting the parts to replace the broken ones.

I began looking online at other Cosmos S threads for inspiration, and to see what I could do on a small budget. I saw one resprayed in white with a black interior which really appealed to me, and I also saw one in blue which looked cool. I decided I was going to do one of those colours, and after several changes of mind, I decided on white. I will also attempt to give it a nice car-like gloss finish. I might try and add some car inspired details, if inspiration strikes again.

Fast forward to April, and I had an opportunity to go somewhere on weekends where I could do a some spraying, as I can't really do it where I live because I live in a flat (and the wife would kill me if I got paint everywhere lol)

So I stripped the case down as much as I could and went to my local car accessory store for some etch primer, black paint, fine sandpaper and adhesive.

I rubbed down the case with the sandpaper to help the primer stick to the case. Using etch primer will also help it stick to the aluminium better.



Me sanding down the HDD cage



After sanding down, I begin to spray the etch primer



After the primer is sprayed down, it is ready for some black paint



After 2 coats of satin black, here's the result. Considering I was using rattle cans and it was my 1st attempt, I think it went quite well



I will hopefully carry on this weekend, the plan is to sand and primer the side panels.

Please feel free to add any suggestions and help, and if any sponsors are wanting to help me out, let me know

[Rodhizzle]

Seems to be quite a good paintjob, I'd rather put some more cablemanagement holes in the case before painting it but well done.

What are your plans?

[StonieX]

Oh, what a bad luck with the courier service .
The same happened to the used CM Stacker RC 831 I bought two years ago . It´s still waiting for it´s restoration.

For your first attempts at painting it looks really good! I like it and I will keep an eye on your worklog!

I also wish you the best with your case and a new job!

[KidMod-Southpaw]

That's a great spraying job, nice start!

[Gravitea]

Always loved the look of the Cosmos series

[LatinSpirit]

Update 24/4/11

I managed to spend some more time prepping the case yesterday, so here are the pictures

I bought a second can of etch primer from the local car accessory shop and began work sanding down the side panels with the same fine sandpaper i had before, only this time I was recommended to keep the sandpaper wet.

Here they are after they had dried, about to wipe the residue off with a dry cloth.





After wiping off the residue, I did some additional sanding on a scratch which was already on the panel, just to make sure it was smooth.



Once I was happy with it, another wipe down with a dry cloth to make sure there would be no residue stuck under the primer coat. And so I began spraying the primer, and these shots are after the first coat, with a second coat applied once they dried. The primer is quick drying, only needs about half an hour.





Once I was satisfied with the side panels, I also sanded and primered the HDD cage brackets and the first two handle bars. By the time those were done, the sun had set and it was time to go home.





A couple of last notes to end this this update. During the week I got an e-mail from CoolerMaster Europe, my replacement parts had finally arrived from Taiwan to their head office in Holland. So fingers crossed they will arrive shortly, as the process of sourcing them began in January.

I also had a quick look online for white car paints. Now at this stage I have no idea how much the ones I found cost, so I stress that this is just inspiration, and that I might end up with something different (ie cheaper hehe). I found for you "real" photos rather than press shots for these examples, as I thought it would be a better indication of what they look like.

Lexus LF-A Whitest White. This seems to be a really bright gloss white.....with a name like Whitest White, it better be



Lamborghini Balloon White. This has more of a satin effect, which looks cool.



Aston Martin Morning Frost White. This colour has a blue pearl, making it a "colder" white, which I like. Some whites have a slight creaminess to them, which I don't want.



Well that's all for today, thanks for the replies and suggestions, keep them coming

[Throbbi]

*dribble* Aston.............Lambo.....................*/dribble*

Oh, case mod right, yeah..err.

For first time painting it's looking good I would agree that a cold or 'ice' white would be better than a warmer tone, especially since you previously said that the other colour which inspired you was blue and i have a feeling a nice deep blue could possibly make an appearance on this somewhere Keep it up dude.

[microsoftPerson]

I really like the 'balloon white' out of those three colors. It is a awesome. It seems to photograph better than the other two colors as well, looks really cool.

The Lexus LF-A is my favorite car there though. Looks like the car I've been day dreaming about my whole life.

[Winddancer]

awesome - that mod sounds like the one I am having on my mind for some weeks. Can't wait to see how your case develops! Keep it up!!!

[Polymorph83]

I reckon some white led fans would look awesome when thats built .
Any pictures of the hardware going into the case ? .

[LatinSpirit]

Originally Posted by Throbbi

... i have a feeling a nice deep blue could possibly make an appearance on this somewhere Keep it up dude.

I dunno, my current case (an old Raidmax Ninja) is blue, so the main colours on the new case would be white with black. But as my mobo and graphics card have blue heatsinks, there maybe some small details in blue.

[zeBriukas]

I think Aston Martin Morning Frost White is the best color for your Cosmos.

Yeah, first comment in this forum !

[sixfootsideburns]

If you want a automotive-esk paint job use spray paint this is a good guide to follow. Linear is the man and definitely knows his stuff. Also, if you read the guide he talks about letting the paint cure for the proper amount of time before you start sanding between coats, and I can attest to the fact that it makes an huge amount of difference in the final result.

So far its looking good man!

[Reverse]

Aston Martin Morning Frost White. Simply stunning!

[PyrO_PrOfessOr]

I'm gonna ahve to go with the AM Frost White too - Case Mod is looking great - can't wait to see it finished!

[grishenko45]

great paint job! the lsf white is awesome! i'm gonna spray my next case that colour

[nathandanielmorris]

Not a fan of the AM Frost White myself, think the Lexus white would be better suited on a case. Must admit I do like the Lambo white, however, that may just because of the car it's on.

[LatinSpirit]

Originally Posted by sixfootsideburns

If you want a automotive-esk paint job use spray paint this is a good guide to follow....

Thanks, I will give that a read!

[LatinSpirit]

Mini-Update 30/4/11

The spare parts for the case have finally arrived from CoolerMaster!
I would like to thank Ruud at CoolerMaster for sourcing the parts.

This is going to make it a lot more straight forward, I can skip a lot of repairing work now

The parts came in a CM Stacker case box, the parts were very well protected as it was full of bubble wrap too



New side panel surrounds



New top handle bars



That is all for now, I will primer the new parts next time round.

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions, keep them coming!

[13eightyfour]

Nice to see the parts turned up ok, it took long enough though. At least you wont have to fix anything now.