Shona's Retro-Themed HTPC : Complete. All pics added to post #1

Lmao! haha...Yeah, this looks fantastic, bro. Now I kinda wish I hadn't given my old tv to the in-laws...

 

Looking good, very interested to see how this turns out, odd this hasnt been done more often, what with all the space an LCD in a TV would give you to add a computer

 

Good point.

I must admit it seemed obvious when the idea popped into my head but I've not seen anyone else do it.

Not that I've been looking though...

Abaout to head back over with my sander and go to town...

 

OK, I've sanded down the first lot of filler.

Its quite brittle so I think I'm going to need to filler it in from the back too once I have everything painted and the screen rebuilt inside the case.
Otherwise, it may move too much and break the filler and fall out!!

Should be fine though.

Just leaving the P38 to dry and harden now and I'll go sand it tomorrow.
Didn't get much work done on it tonight, spent more time tidying up the girlfriend's flat as she's back from 2 weeks away tomorrow!

Starting to look more like how I envisaged it...

More pics to come soon.

 

i like it, keep up the nice work.

 

More pics of the latest batch of filler going on.
Noting too exciting but starting to see it a little clearer now.
Thinking it should look good...

 

I really like everything about this project, reusing the old with the new is very cool. I want to do something like this one day and i'm definately looking forward to seeing how this turns out, good job and keep it up.

 

This is one cool and original idea.......Can't wait to see whats next.

To dremel, is to live.

 

very nice progress

What kind of finish will it have? an aged-black look?

 

Thanks guys.

I have some primer and some flat black spraypaint lined up for it bit I'm worried it will look 'too new' when I'm done.

How would I go about getting an aged-black look?

 

couple of coats of black on top of a couple of coats of dark grey flat paint I guess... sanding your way through the black paint on some spots...

It should be most defenately flat black... maybe after painting black covering every non-visible part, assembling the hull, and paining dark grey from quite some distance... That it will be a nice thin layer of paint, aging the parts you sprayed...

I DON'T KNOW I never tried to make an aged look...

 

Latest news on this is that I have primed the face, found some flaws in the finish so sanded, filled, sanded and primed again.

Some minor flaws still but hoping they'll disappear with more layers of paint...

Test fitted it all together today and it still fits which is a bonus.

So all the rest of the front parts are now sanded and primed ready for the first coats of paint.

Got this week off work so I should get the paint on tomorrow I hope and then start working out the internal layout and then I'll be done.

 

OK, more pics.

Me, ready to rob a bank to fund the project!


Hehe, just kidding, its my sanding booth...


...which just so happens to be my girlfriend's bath!


Got the 1st coat of paint on the shell now.






Still lots of primer showing so a few coats to go.


So there's light at the end of the tunnel now.
Hopefully, by the end of the week I should be set to start arranging the internals in the cabinet.

That'll be a whole new can of worms!

 

I found this out by accident while working on my case...if you do a couple of coats of gloss black, and then cover it with a single coat of matte spray it will come out like it is aged gloss black plastic.

And if it doesn't work for you, just coat it with flat black.

 

pretty freaking sweet mate! very original idea - can't wait to see it completed.

 

Cheers maverick, I'll check that out.
I'm coating it with matt black atm so if I don't like the look when I'm done, I'll try that.

 

The "Bed Depot" looks pretty fun.

 

They sell worms in a can now?... wow

Good work, interested in seeing the finished project.

luvbug

 

Thanks guys.

I've started soldering a little now.
Gonna hide a power switch and a couple USB ports in the little door on the front that used to house the tuning knobs for different channels.

Already managed to create a power button setup that works with the original button.
Works really well.
Just got a cheap push-to-make switch, mounted it in the original holder for the old switch (with a fair amount of dremeling ) and then sacrificed an old floppy cable to connect to the mobo.
Tested it and it works perfectly so my soldering skills aren't too bad after all...

Today I need to look into mounting the speakers and DVD rom drive as stealthily as possible and then breaking open the subwoofer box and getting it all mounted inside the chassis.

pics to follow....

 

Just a suggestion, (and probably a silly one) but you could build an external HDD and DVDRW into an old VCR chassis to complete the look? (Especially the DVDRW, because it'd look slightly weird on a TV lol )

Also, how do you plan the mount the sub? I'd imagine to get its full performance it'll need to be in a ported enclosure like it is in the picture?