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

[dmcgrath]

Well, As I mentioned on the previous post I've been having trouble with the Fiber optics a bit and it's still not resolving itself. Or rather, I haven't been able to resolve it. So I have to move forward with a secondary idea. I really wanted to create a mod where you do not have to detach wires leading into the doors.
Unfortunately it's becoming impractical to run 30-40 feet of optic cable, in the limited door space I have, and still not get the same light output that a few LEDs on only 18 inches of wire can achieve.
The place I ordered the LED strips from is out of stock on the 12" light strips, so I'll try and make something happen with two 6" strips per door.

It will look something a bit like this.



I will put it only behind the wing, sort of rear facing, so it's not flashing out forwards and blinding the user. Also it's only on the trailing edge of the wing instead of on each tier. Any other possibility seems unfeasible, both financially and in the interests of time. It will still look great! And I hope to prove it soon.

It's not exactly what I wanted as far as materials used, but it is much closer to what I wanted to achieve as far as light output.

Perhaps I can use fiber optics elsewhere, in another mod, I do have a few extra feet of it in various diameters.

Now, back to the eagle head...
I added some foam, and then did some trimming and moderate shaping.







After adding the bondo resin, I took a look at it and decided it was too short, and not shaped the way I wanted it.





I really didn't like what I had so i chopped it off and started over on the beak.







I also changed the design on the front door cover. It looks a little more inline with the Art Deco theme, as well as the eagle head.



After finishing the door area, I once again didn't like the eagle head (that was the third rework of that area if you're keeping track) So this time I chopped the entire head off.



And broke out the monster clay and got to work on shaping something a bit more pleasing to my eye.





I think I'm heading on the right track here. The silhouette of the eagle head is much more recognizable and pleasing.



Now to rework it in foam, coat it one last time with resin and then aluminum.

Thanks for looking.

[Pranja]

Nice!! It is looking good.

[monkeyfun]

subscribed and rep'd! Mod on my friend.

[Sarakon]

Those LEDs under the wing loock sick!! and the the third head design is the best

[alain-s]

Nice its really beginning to get shape now. But i like the nose of the second model more then the 3th but that just my opinion

[matiss]

Great idea for a theme and stunning work on putting it together. I like what you did with the aluminium pieces. The fake rivets look very good. Now with all that lightning going on im impatiently waiting whats next popping up in your mind

[Atasimey]

How did I manage to miss this one (too)!? Awesome work. Love the way you're not stuck with one thing (carving funky porous stone) but can pull off all sorts of weird and wonderful designs.

To me you're from now on going to be the guy who took the first step towards fiber optic use in pc modding <3

[amagriva]

the last head seems more a vulture than a eagle to me...

[peteski]

your work amazes me mate and is a pleasure to read and look at. keep up the good work mate

[dream1]

Looks great but a bird should be a little bit longer, and more powerful and littelbit mor mad or like have some characteristic.Right now it looks like just a bird. Any way this is just my opinion.
Keep it going so far good but the bird is a word

[dream1]

From Family Guy Bird is a word

[dmcgrath]

Originally Posted by Pranja

Nice!! It is looking good.

R+'d Thanks!

Originally Posted by monkeyfun

subscribed and rep'd! Mod on my friend.

R+'d and thanks man. I'm watching yours too!

Originally Posted by Sarakon

Those LEDs under the wing loock sick!! and the the third head design is the best

R+'d Thanks, it's getting there. As I hope you'll see soon.

Originally Posted by alain-s

Nice its really beginning to get shape now. But i like the nose of the second model more then the 3th but that just my opinion

R+'d - The pics I had of the 3rd, It looks like they weren't quite where I finished the clay modeling. The silhouette is what I have at the end, but the other pics, I actually added a bit more material after those were taken. the beak is much more eagle like.

Originally Posted by matiss

Great idea for a theme and stunning work on putting it together. I like what you did with the aluminium pieces. The fake rivets look very good. Now with all that lightning going on im impatiently waiting whats next popping up in your mind

R+'d Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Atasimey

How did I manage to miss this one (too)!? Awesome work. Love the way you're not stuck with one thing (carving funky porous stone) but can pull off all sorts of weird and wonderful designs.

To me you're from now on going to be the guy who took the first step towards fiber optic use in pc modding <3

R+'d, haha I hope to use fiber optics somewhere in some mod again soon. I had to bin the idea for this one just because I'm running out of time and I cannot make my original idea as well as I wanted too.

Originally Posted by amagriva

the last head seems more a vulture than a eagle to me...

R+'d, , Agreed, I hope to not make it look like a vulture, it's hard when you can't make feathers on it though, they do have very similar head shapes, eagles are more often scavenger birds than they are raptors.

Originally Posted by peteski

your work amazes me mate and is a pleasure to read and look at. keep up the good work mate

R+'d Thanks for the comment!

Originally Posted by dream1

Looks great but a bird should be a little bit longer, and more powerful and littelbit mor mad or like have some characteristic.Right now it looks like just a bird. Any way this is just my opinion.
Keep it going so far good but the bird is a word

R+'d, thanks! All points you have made are valid and I really want to not just make it a bird. I think I got a great "hook" to the beak, as you can see in the final profile shot, and that will help prevent it from looking like a generic bird head.
I'm hoping the next phase of the aluminum sheet will bring more of a regal appearance to it.

Thanks again everyone for the comments and criticisms. It's great to get the feedback!


Till next update!

[kinghong1970]

wow...your build makes me want to go visit the Chrysler Building... very nice!

[dmcgrath]

On to getting the door into a workable state.



This worked out pretty well for me, it's super easy just to stitch these LED strips together. A little solder, and a little heat shrink tubing and it's done.



And as you can see, the effect is still pretty great. Maybe even more so over the fiber optics. (I promise one of these mods I WILL get a decent working model out of those fiber optics, it's too fun an idea not to play with more).



Even in the daytime this lighting effect works really well. The LED strips have a sticky backing on them, and that's nice to hold it in place, while I used a little extra hot glue just to be safe.



I dropped some black spray paint in the air shafts, just so they don't attract too much attention.



And then I began the long and laborious process of installing the aluminum chips.



Clamping around the edge was time consuming and I was using the Gorilla Glue still at this point. It took me hours before I could see if they would hold. Some did, some didn't



So I got plain old fast cure epoxy. I have to test fit every piece anyway, and shape them, sometimes more than once, sometimes more than twice. The epoxy has helped immensely.



This still takes days to do.It's pretty labor intensive.



But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.







The effect, in my opinion, is quite spectacular.



The lighting is still a bit of a troublesome area. It's great. and I still need something to cover the area so I opted for a single piece of metal wrapping the entire area. It took a couple of attempts, but it's secure and still works!









This may take me days to do, but it's arguably the hardest part. The surface area is complex and enormous.
The good news is, there's only one more door to go! And the eagle head... haha.!

[thechoozen]

Awesome Work!!
i really like the look you achieve with those aluminum chips!! Keep up the good work!!!

[The_Beast]

Looks really good



keep it up

[Bindibadgi]

This is incredible! Loving it!!

[ASPHIAX]

Originally Posted by dmcgrath

This still takes days to do.It's pretty labor intensive.

But it looks so much better with some proper love and attention dude !

[Vetalar]

coolest Cosmos 2 build ever IMHO!
i think You should hire some lilliputians for metalwork and riveting
*search yellow pages for lilliputians or smth*
and yes, first "eagle" were more like a crow for me

[Pranja]

OMG,awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!