Case Mod CM Cosmos II - The Eagle Has Landed (I like that saying).

[KidMod-Southpaw]

The use of material here is a really nice effect, well done, love it!

[Asouter]

Like your work lots +sub

[peteski]

good start mate and looking good

[Sarakon]

Originally Posted by Waynio

Oh am I excited about this & see the star troll has been busy again .
Absolutely 5 stars + rep

Anyone who likes modding should be giving this 5 stars without a doubt, maybe the star system needs replacing & a rating system that automatically goes from a cold blue star up to a glowing white hot twinkling star from the hits & replies the more you get the more it morphs from a cold star to a scorching twinkling star .

I know the star rating has 1 to 5 but when I don't consider a project worth giving 5 star I don't leave stars simple.

I really hope moderaters find the bleep or bleeps & bann them for carry on doing this on awesome projects, it really is irritating me anyone who has seen this dudes work will know he does incredibly amazing stuff, star rant done .

I agree and have therefore added both as well!

[dmcgrath]

Working steadily but slowly on the next part.
I'm trying to make both the left and right sides match with one another and so it feels like it's taking a lot longer than I wanted it to.

I started with the sharper and more angled wing tips, but it didn't seem right to me looking like that.



Here it is with the 5 tiers almost originally as I envisioned. I'm really liking the design by now, thankfully!



Stacking and shaping them to what's appealing to the eye.



It's 5 levels deep, but it's only adding about 1 inch (2.5 cm) width at the top of the case on each side. It will stand out, without being too obtrusive.





This is a decent shot to show the curve around the door. There is a big angle there and just bending it didn't look good. I like the sharper turn.





Here's a great pic to show the sturdiness inside of the door, behind their aluminum panel.
Routing of the fiber optics will be coming soon!



I've also decided to cover the vents on the sides. Turing them into rear facing ports. It will still be usable but just more along the style of what I'm trying to achieve.







Also getting some of that fan mesh over the ends. I'll probably have to get in there with some black paint so it doesn't stand out so much.

[peteski]

great work loving your skills

[Waynio]

This is going to be awesome .

[Vetalar]

epic!!! from all cosmos2 builds here on bit-tech that's y favorite. original idea, good materials and excellent skills!

[renrenderla]

i saw your concept on a movie trailer! forgot the name though! awesome mod by the way!

[dmcgrath]

Thanks for the comments everyone!
I'm moving kind of slowly through this part, but now that I have a MUCH better idea of how to light the doors it should all fall into place faster.

In my last update I had a specific idea of using a circular flashlight head, it really seemed like a great idea at the time. The reality of using a 2mm strand of fiber optic is the fact that it's really quite springy and resilient to bending. And they snap like dry twigs if pushed too far. Below is a mess, in a manner of speaking, that I am trying to tidy up.



I ended up not using the flashlight idea because the entry point of the light beam is too extreme. I decided to use a piece of plastic stock that I had lying around, it's a bit too thing, only around 4mm in thickness. I drilled 24 holes in there and put all the optic wires into it. The idea here is to have the light beam into one end of the plastic and have it do the work of distributing the light a bit more evenly to all the optic fibers.



And then to fit that plastic bar into the plastic shell area if the door. I want to cut a window to have the light coming in from a different area.



I ended up getting these nifty little LED strips instead, they are meant for a 12V supply, which works great for me.



And they pump out some serious light. Too bright to stare at, as I found out later when installing them into the top rail of the door frame.



The two door frames are pretty easy to take off of the case, the upper part is a perfect place to place the light strip.



Cut a little channel through the top area. Removal of as little as possible is better. Keeping the strength in that area is pretty important.



I also went with a thicker plastic piece.



Then I marked off and cut out the slot where the plastic will be located in the door.



Nine lights for just a mere six inch strip is a decent deal. As I mentioned already, they do put out a fair amount of light.



I got the lights set through there, hot glued into place and it's shining pretty well.



I like the result.



And the fit in the door is nice and snug.



Here's a preliminary light setup. I have a bit more to cut up in the door for everything to fit. I have discovered that using my heat gun solves a lot of the fiber optic problems. But the downside is if it's bent too steeply the light won't travel as effectively though the fibers.



Thanks for looking!

[Waynio]

Neat creative modding can imagine many wondering where this is going but I've a rough idea & expect it will be crazy awesome.

It's also highlighting an awesome way to do lighting in a way I've never given much thought to, awesome work mate.

[peteski]

love it mate keep up the good work

[alain-s]

Just one word i need to say, AWESOME

I have said it before and a say it again i love the the hole idea what u are doing this will look so awesome when u are done covering it all up with the aluminum plates

Cant wait to see the result

[jokkos]

this is great! 5 stars from me!

[dmcgrath]

Thanks guys!

Well, I will admit the truth. The idea is great but the application still needs a little work.
I mentioned before that the 2mm optic fibers tend to snap if pushed too hard, and that's what they do when I install it into the door. I lose about 4-5 lights every time I try. So I'm going to step down to the 1.5 mm, trying not to sacrifice on light out very much, but I have to have it workable when I put the door together too.
In the meantime, while I wait for the shipment to arrive, perhaps I'll get to shaping that eagle head on the front now...

[NoobNeb]

The lighting is definitely different and you dont see art deco influenced mods every day can't wait to see the final product

[kelvinb]

Rather than trying to get light to exit the end of the fibre optic fibre have you thought of something like this

https://www.inventables.com/technolo...ptic-backlight

They scratch the side of the fibre to allow light to escape

[dmcgrath]

Originally Posted by kelvinb

Rather than trying to get light to exit the end of the fibre optic fibre have you thought of something like this

https://www.inventables.com/technolo...ptic-backlight

They scratch the side of the fibre to allow light to escape

I have never seen that product before. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I had not considered that before, but I had thought about each level just being a piece of white plastic with lights behind it. It felt too much like a desk accessory at that point, even though I realize that a computer case is pretty much a "desk accessory", lol.

I really wanted point lights shining downward, and I also wanted no actual electricity to be routed into the doors. Thus my fiber optic solution, hopefully the 1.5 mm stuff will arrive shortly. But in the meantime I've got some eagle head sculpting to do.

Thanks for looking,

[KoSoVaR^]

Thats just too sick , i love your imagenary thinking and ideas!

[kelmannen]

NICE! :-D i was sceptical at the alu plates at the beginning but then i saw those benginned panels, DANG! Pure awesomness!!! :-D

rep and stars as deserved...!