Case Mod - In Progress BF3.3 Battlefield 3 themed Mod

Ah ok, I understand. It's not like blue and orange don't go well together. It just looked a little misplaced, that's all. But I do understand your argument in regards to the blue lines on the outside - might work fine in the end.

 

I just hope the strip lighting up does not spoil the mod, if it does the lights will be getting cut off

 

Been a while since I updated, as I thought I would hang for the radiator to do another update, sadly still not here, but it is due to hit me this week, anyway here is what I have been upto meanwhile.

After being let down with my fans for this mod I quickly reached out and overclockersuk stepped in and supplied me the fans I needed, Originally I had wanted orange bladed fans but when my contact suggested I use the Alpenfohn fans that have a hint of orange I thought no way until I saw the link. As the build is black and orange (with only hints of orange inside).



So Thank you to OCUK





I was pleasently surprised with the build quality of these fans, especially with the rubber like coating on the frame and blades. And up close they look very well made. The fans themselves come with PWM connectors as standard, but come with this inside the box.



What yo basically have is a 4 pin to 3 pin adptor, a molex adaptor and 4 silent fan grommets in the same colour as the orange hint on the fans, A nice touch if you ask me.

Mod wise I put the mouse back together, but not before I re hacked away and the mouse base to get the orange to bounce out of the worn trigger finger button.



Ok so first attempt at filling down the base to bounce the light down almost worked, so it was back to the drawing board with this.

( yes my hands are really that big and yes they are covered by modders tattoos (tattoos in this case means loads of little scratches and nicks lol)



Second attempt worked out a lot better with the glow finally reaching the bottom and having the bright spot in the middle instead of all the way to the back of it, this was done using a bit of foil stuck to the back of electrical tape inside the main body (only stuck to the back of tape so it was no longer conductive).

So here is how it looks in the dark





Next up was the headset, after wearing it down a bit I took the camo wrap to them



Funny thing happened just before I went to post this the radiator turned up!! So I went to town installing it and took some more pictures for you guys. So here are some pics, these were rushed so I could post this before trotting off to work.






That’s all for now folks, I am hoping to have some final shots done by next week fully assembled and up and running.

 

Whoa, those fans are beeeeaaaaauuuutiful and they sit so well in the case - nice find!

 

They do them in other colours as well, I love the fact they are rubber coated as well

 

Expensive? And what are the noise vs. performance numbers?

 

for the 120 the specs are

120x120x025mm

noise
19,7 dB(A)

​​speed (12V)
1500 U/min

​​speed (7V)
850-900 U/min

​​speed(5V)
500 – 550 U/min

Airflow
108 m³/h

 

Thanks. It's a very clever design. Well, at least seen from a modder's POV.

 

Messing around with different colour lighting one the window, made something wierd happen when you walk past the panel (sorry could not help myself and had to show this.











As you can see the colour changes as you move from side to side, but the amazing side effect makes it look like he is watching you and turning body to follow you too..

full pics here flickr

 

Don't turn your back to that dude!

 

ha ha ha, i am not worried about the soilder more the pesky claymore on the front they always get me in game.

 

Turned out awesome Richi, when can we expect the final pics?

 

Lol sorry about late reply mate, for some reason notifications had been stopped, and I have not spent much time around an actual screen to keep checking things.

Thanks for the Kind comments Bill, Plannig on putting final pics up today actually, Have been super busy working out how to make a dusty looking surface on the bottom of the case without actually having anything loose or static down there, solution was actually very simple, but it took time to work out how to do it.

 

Well after a good few months and a lot of work it is time to show you what has been done, as the finish line has been reached, I know some people will have some different opinions on this mod as I had a hard time deciding where to make the right marks, scuff marks and loose cables, as well as adding scratches mark and even dirt in some places, I know it sounds strange, but I found it hard second guessing myself on this project.

Anyway guys here are the final pictures, I hope you enjoy, added some white edge on a couple of pics that edges were not clear with black background.















Now we have seen the outside and a few wear marks here and there, let us take a look at the worn used been In a battlefield look (excuse the lame pun ) inside.




The picture below and above should give you some idea of some of the work gone into this, you would not believe how long it took me to get the back panel and the bottom of the case looking like that, it’s a in use for months look that looks dusty and dirty, but you cannot actually wipe it or move it.



I think I nailed it tbh, but that’s my opinion.



Wear and tear on inner door hinges, as well as rough looking edge cut to tie it in ( I did of course plan to file down and add u channel, but it just looked too clean), I also done some nicks and a few notches on this edge (using small thin round modelling file) and loose molex pushed down into groove of at back of window frame, the actual molex is not needed as the lighting I done for the window (orange leds one side white the other) runs from the contact switch on the chassis (black wire next to hinge)



I know some will either like or love the rough and ready look, but again I had give it a Battlefield used feel as well so for me it was a must, nearly got a bit carried away with the used look though as I was going to take the sand paper to the back plate on the EK GPU block as well :O, but as I could not do the cpu block as well so I decided against this.

I am well happy with the used dirty look I got on the inner section, but yet keeping the actual components of the rig squeaky clean, I also love how the dirty industrial tubing looked as well, and I think it ties in nicely with the build.

Now let’s power it up shall we




Side panel without the Left sided LED lit up, and yes that is a green piece of acrylic looking like its orange



Now a few of the side panel lit up showing how it looks when walking left to right at the window






Thanks to the contact switch when the case is opened the lights cut on the windowed panel, which leaves the inside lit up with a nice calm orange glow.

Last but not least, the Keyboard and mouse, here is how they came out.




They keyboard is just right a small hint of the theme, but making it still tie in.




Have already had a bash with the mouse and keyboard gaming and all I want to say is manufactures take note a material side feels much better than a rubber or plastic one!
I do have a little more planned for this, but that is once it gets back from its outing later this month.



I also plan to do a little video of the rig running, Until then I hope you enjoyed my take on a Battlefield 3 PC that has seen a bit of action.

 

Fantastic mod!!!

 

Awesome job! Love the detailing Richi

 

This one is definately rated 42!
This is the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Modding.

john

 

Thanks

Funny thing that Bill, it was not my most easiest build, making it look rough in certian places played with my mind, way to much umming and arring about what to do, 50/50 choices ect, that part was a pain in the arse.. a good example of this was the side panel, after making it and having it filled to perfectly smooth sides and applying the trim it just looked too new again and taking sand paper and file to it was painful, but i was happy with the results in the end, just took too long to decide thats all

Lets just say i did not enjoy that side of the build it drove me crazy

Wont mention how many times I resanded lacquer on mouse off as I wanted to add more wear to it

Ha ha another good quote