Case Mod Project BIO-A10 by E.E.L. Ambiense - Completed

[mnpctech]

Loving the frequent updates Jeremy. Now, I don't want them to ever end...lol.

I think both you and I suffer from the "End of Project Blues"

[Rapture2k4]

Your PSU soap-box gave me a chubby. I've got a 550W that's been running close to 24/7 for the past 4 years at 70-80% load. Still running fine. Awesome "review", couldn't have said it better myself. It blows me away how you are able to do what you do. You sir are a craftsman and I salute you. As the Air Force tells me every day, it all about attention to details.

Keep going strong bro, keep your head up, and I hope you enjoy being a father (soon).

[Mankz]

Pweety

[AlderonnX]

I love the humor in each update. I thought I was the only one doing that. Very cool build.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by mnpctech

Loving the frequent updates Jeremy. Now, I don't want them to ever end...lol.

I think both you and I suffer from the "End of Project Blues"

Hahah, thanks man. Oh you know I do, definitely. It's the chase, not the capture, for sure! But only when it's E.E.L. work. Regular work...not so much. You definitely get the "blues" more than I do though; like a roller-coaster!

Originally Posted by Rapture2k4

Your PSU soap-box gave me a chubby. I've got a 550W that's been running close to 24/7 for the past 4 years at 70-80% load. Still running fine. Awesome "review", couldn't have said it better myself. It blows me away how you are able to do what you do. You sir are a craftsman and I salute you. As the Air Force tells me every day, it all about attention to details.

Keep going strong bro, keep your head up, and I hope you enjoy being a father (soon).

Hahahah, thanks man! See, there's another satisfied Seasonic® customer. I appreciate the kind words. And being a father is simple; anyone with a pair of testicles is capable of that. It's the being a dad that counts. And it rules, definitely! I love my son more than anything; unconditionally.

Originally Posted by Mankz

Pweety

Thanks, m8!

Originally Posted by AlderonnX

I love the humor in each update. I thought I was the only one doing that. Very cool build.

Hahah, it's my schtick, definitely. All my logs over the years are filled with all kinds of disgusting, sick, depraved, foul, hilarious, nasty dirtiness all over the place. At least, when I'm trying.

[Dragulax99]

[Journeyer]

Amazing work on those weathering effects - truly amazing!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Update time! I need to get this bloody thing finished. Too many other projects cropping up.

Let's get to it, shall we?

Last we left off, I had coated the main part of the chassis in matte black. Now I need to rough up the finish to get the rattlecan crap to stick to it well enough.

I like to use sanding foams, but anything will work. Except genitals. Don't use those; trust me it doesn't work!



It's always a good idea to remove the loose debris after sanding. Sure, compressed air works for a lot of things, but not everything.



Tack-cloth fills in that little void rather well. Should be in every painter's arsenal. You'd be amazed what kinda crap you get off the seemingly clean surface!



Back to the case feet! Last I had half-coated them in black. Now they're sprayed with rattlecan yellow. Never mind the hasty uneven sprayjob; it's purposeful as it won't matter.



Some steel wool action...



And the next step is done. I'll set those aside until the time comes.



After a couple coats of rattlecan-brown I had been using on the main part of the chassis, I can start the weathering process on it now. I start by sanding in all directions and shapes on every available surface. It gives the case that "I've been around a while and it shows" kind of look.



Looks pretty good. I may go for another pass, but I'm not sure.



I started applying the iron solution to the inside of the chassis proper. I get really liberal with it too.



A nice trick is to scoop it out with whatever you're using and apply with a painter's sponge. Any artist should have those in their kit as well.



I love this part too. I'm going to go a few passes here as well. Really make it gnarly!



I also started applying the first pass on the 'surface rust' weathering on the outside of the chassis.



Moving to the front door, I need to begin assembly of it to see how things are roughly going to look. Bottom structural piece...



And dropping in the left side of it...



And dropping in the hilarious piece...





Alrighty, I need to get to sleep. Fridays are total chaos on the work front, so I need to prepare for it. I decided to be responsible and not go to the midnight opening of Prometheus. I really wanted to. I should. I've really been looking forward to this movie for close to a quarter of a century. I've been an ALIEN fan for a loooooooooong time... I even have one permanently on my person (not to be mistaken for in my person)! Needless to say it's difficult not to go to the 1st showing. But I'll catch it early saturday and pay less for it too. And probably see it a 2nd time right after that!

Alright, I'll be back. As always. Thanks for tuning in and see you soon!

[Dragulax99]

doing an awesome job! p.s. Prometheus was amazing ....

[Cown]

Superb work! This is probably the best biohazard build I've ever seen! Can I borrow your brain for a couple of days? I wanna make something just as great

[Journeyer]

Speaking as a person who doesn't really care all that much about those MNPC feet (yeah, I know. Feel free to slap me around), I must say what you've done to them is superb. Your technique to get that aged and worn look is unsurpassed, and your photos truly show the work of a master.

/chant
We're not worthy ... we're not worthy


By the way; got any hints as to how to achieve the same aged look on wood?

[Cheapskate]

@Journeyer - Look, man. Abrasives are one of those things that should never come into contact with your- Oh. You meant the building product.

Drybrushing the "scratches" on might work better on wood. If you want aged wood look; sandblasting it does neat stuff.

@EEL - Gonna have any coolant leakage on the outside?

[Journeyer]

Ahh, so that's where that burning sensation comes from whenever I... never mind.

I'll experiment a bit with drybrushing as I don't have access to sandblasting equipment. Thanks.

[AlderonnX]

I'm taking rust off, E.L.L puts it back on.. Brings balance to the force.. er universe

[KrunchR]

Looking good, E.E.L. Glad to see you back at it!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by Dragulax99

doing an awesome job! p.s. Prometheus was amazing ....

Thanks, man! Yes it was...

Originally Posted by Cown

Superb work! This is probably the best biohazard build I've ever seen! Can I borrow your brain for a couple of days? I wanna make something just as great

Thanks, m8. I don't know about that, but I appreciate the kind words regardless!

Originally Posted by Journeyer

Speaking as a person who doesn't really care all that much about those MNPC feet (yeah, I know. Feel free to slap me around), I must say what you've done to them is superb. Your technique to get that aged and worn look is unsurpassed, and your photos truly show the work of a master.

/chant
We're not worthy ... we're not worthy


By the way; got any hints as to how to achieve the same aged look on wood?

Hey everyone's entitled to their own opinions and tastes. Part of being human of course. I appreciate the kind words!

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

@Journeyer - Look, man. Abrasives are one of those things that should never come into contact with your- Oh. You meant the building product.

Drybrushing the "scratches" on might work better on wood. If you want aged wood look; sandblasting it does neat stuff.

@EEL - Gonna have any coolant leakage on the outside?

That's awesome.

Honestly, I'm not sure. May not want to make it too cheesy!

Originally Posted by Journeyer

Ahh, so that's where that burning sensation comes from whenever I... never mind.

I'll experiment a bit with drybrushing as I don't have access to sandblasting equipment. Thanks.

LOL

Originally Posted by AlderonnX

I'm taking rust off, E.L.L puts it back on.. Brings balance to the force.. er universe

Hahahaha, that's the way it always works!

Originally Posted by KrunchR

Looking good, E.E.L. Glad to see you back at it!

Thanks, man! I appreciate it!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Update time! Right. Let's get to it, shall we?

Last we left off, I needed to finish assembling the front door's panels, etc. as one piece. Let's put another dent in that.



It's no big mystery that I'm a fan of socket-cap screws. I used them practically everywhere for everything. Well, not quite. But close, ya know?



Remember the inner-bulkhead that I was working on? Let's go back to that.



I began to apply the copper-sulfate solution to get things rolling.



..and rolling...



Bah, let's move to a sponge!



Speed things along a bit with some heat... That should be good. I'll get back to that soon enough.



Back to the outside of the chassis proper. I decided things were still a bit "plain", so... heh...



...Let's add another decal!



Carefully peeled...



How à propos!



Masking the surrounding area off a bit. I didn't take major precautions, because, really, if there was some over-spray would anyone really notice?



And a quick spray and steel-wool lovin' later, we have this!



Why, you ask again? You really going to ask that question after the smiley-face? Alright. Let's go through the background of it. The things I have to do for you people.

Perhaps the system was labeled to be 'scrapped' or something and the user decided not to. Or perhaps it's a 'hand-me-down' like those jeans you got from your cousin when you were 5 y/o and they never quite looked good on you because you were tall for your age and it looked ridiculous with penny-loafers and white socks and you were forced to wear them to the skating rink on a Friday with your feathered hair and satin royal blue Corvette jacket with the sleeves pushed up on the arms like a cheap Miami-Vice mimicry and you couples-skated to Kool and the Gang's "Cherish" and tripped over your own feet because of a combination of the crystal ball throwing light around too quickly/you being distracted because you psyched yourself out thinking about how ridiculous those pants looked on you when you should've been thinking how pretty the chick with the headgear and freckles was that was holding your sweaty and stinky hand at that moment and she fell over with you as you took a spill and split your lip open on the hand-railing while trying to drag both of you off the rink so your fingers don't get run over by other couples rolling past you causing a 25-couples-skate-couples pileup?

....Maybe that's just me.

Let's add some rust in the area though too. I'm sure I'll weather on top of it even more.



I finally finished up and assembled the mobo tray/back-plate.



It installs in the case and side panels drop on just fine with it so it works.



But it needs to be...



Ah, that did it! Now I can start weathering it to match the rest of the case.

I went ahead and took care of some of the other items that were still bare metal.



I also discovered earlier that there was an oversight on my part. That's what happens when you're....rusty.

I forgot to cut a cable pass-through for the PSU's cables to get to their destinations. The stock slot won't be enough. I really prefer to take care of such things before the final paintjob, but no biggie. I'll do a little surgery here and you won't even notice.

Stock cable pass-through...



Masking off for the augmentation...



zzzzzzZZZZZZEEEEEEHHHHH.....



.....hhhhHHHEEEEZZZZZZZZ......



And done.



Flat-filed it and it's ready for service!



Extra credit if you can guess the chassis this came from...



5...4...3...2...1... Time's up. If you said TJ09 you'd be correct!

Because of the stock dual-PSU bracket on the A10 is set up as if you'll be installing the PSU so it's facing "inside" instead of the other way around, I need to use it "backwards" so the PSU will be facing outward instead. Unfortunately, I do not have any PSU cover plates that will fit there so I'll just make one out of mesh.



Ready for some really-quick and sloppy snipping. A phrase you do not want to hear a mohel say!



Alrighty, that's all I have for now but I'll be back. Must prepare for the evil Mondays at work, which usually involves putting my hand on a hotplate while wearing a wet blanket over my head and moaning softly/crying and babbling incoherently. You know, the usual.

Thanks for tuning in and see you soon!

[Waynio]

Pure awesomeness mate. Dirty-Li reading your log I'm easily as entertained as watching a good episode of the simpsons & getting an excellent modding fix in the process.

Appreciate the effort you go to to make a great log & mod.

[KrunchR]

Lol. Another great entertaining entry by Jeremy.

So you used to skate, huh?!

Nice update.

[mnpctech]

I'm following a steady diet of the "Modding E.E.L." every morning to build strong bones and a creative mind!


@KrunchR, welcome back dude! (aka Crunch from Mod Nation and Mod Brothers!)