Case Mod - In Progress Dancing Iridescence - PC-Q30 - Update 4th, March 2014 - Final Assembly

Can't believe I've missed this! That paint is pure genius.

Subbed.

 

The mobo/block look great together and the interior lighting is very nice too.

 

Ive missed out on this one... Looking really interesting there man!

 

Thanks! The paint was kind of the main reason for the entire mod lol I wanted to give it a try.

Thanks The lighting is RGB, so I can change to whatever color I feel like, yeay ADD lol

Thanks!

 

That is one totally gorgeous effect under the candy paint, nice 3d effects, this is a beauty of a project.

 

Thanks Waynio!

 

can't wait to see this in person.... under brian's photo studio lighting

 

Me too! It'll be interesting to see how well he can capture the effect of the side panels with still image shots. 1,000 times better than me, I imagine lol

 

Before I had to pack everything up and move, I managed to get the front wooden panel finished and ready.

Since the window panel is smoked acrylic, I taped off where the window fits. Reason for this is because I didn't want the wood behind the window to be darker than the rest of it. It's only taped off while I apply dye to the rest of it.





First coat was 3/4 cup of shellac sanding sealer with 6 drops of "Vintage Maple" transtint dye.




I sanded back after the first coat, and applied a second coat that I cut in half, 3/4 cup shellac with 3 drops of dye.




With the lighting I had in my shop while applying the finish, the effect I'm adding is more noticeable on the edge. The dye soaks in further on the end grain (curly) part of the wood, and then I sand back the face grain to get it to lighten back up.




After the second coat dried, I removed the tape, and lightly sanded with 320 grit sand paper.




I applied 1 coat of clear shellac to the whole thing, let it dry, and then sanded with 600 grit sandpaper.




Applied coat #2 of shellac, and then sanded to 1,000 grit.




The final coat of shellac was hit with paste wax, applied with #0000 steel wool, and then buffed with a cotton rag.




You can see the effect that this regiment of dye, sand, dye sand, finish has. The curl in the maple is more pronounced now, especially in the right light. I could have gone a little heavier on the dye, but I didn't want ot make it too busy, with the side panels.




And fitted to the front, with the window installed. Overall I'm pleased with the result. Not using dye where the window goes was a good decision, the color is almost a perfect match between that and the dyed part.




Now, for the other big news. Last update I had posted a shot of some ADATA hardware... They had agreed to sponsor some hardware for the build! I'm pretty excited, and the 8GB XPG V2 RAM that they sent for the build goes pretty well with the build.






The tungsten gray color fits in well with the rest of the hardware, especially with the lighting.





They also sent an SSD, but you'll have to wait and see what the plan is for that

Big thanks to ADATA for helping provide some of the hardware for this build! Stay tuned for some more, and in the meantime, a little leak testing




As always, thanks for checking it out!

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Ok guys, here's the first round of completed case pictures. As it turns out, this isn't all that easy to get good pictures of (Who'd have guessed, right? )


















I also brought it in to see Brian at Radar Studios for a couple of good pictures. This thing deserves it







Can't wait to get the finished pictures back!

In the meantime, I'm going to try to take some better pictures with the equipment that I've got, and see what happens.

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That looks kickass brotha!!

 

Looks fantastic, video would show off the effect better than stills though.

 

Thanks man!

That it would, and video there shall be This is just phase 1 of the final presentation, so it should get better Thanks!

 

Wow, looking good. The front facing MB in the lit window give it a really interesting feel . . . like looking at an old TV (or Apple IIe?) and seeing the insides instead of the screen.

From the side view I can't help but get this feeling that it's about to topple backwards, so I have to ask . . . how stable is it?

 

Great finishing of the Maple

Love the overall look, just wonderful.

 

Thanks! It's a different way that Lian-Li positioned the motherboard/window (and designed the case, for that matter), but it has certainly grown on me.

How stable is it? Side to side it's like a rock! But if you get the front feet about 2" off the ground it'll tip over backwards lol Luckily (sort of) if that happens, it hits the radiator, and not the side panels. But yes, it does tip over relatively easy. May end up adding some weight to the front to help a little.

Thanks! I'm happy with the maple, and happy with the combination of maple and side panels.

 

Part one of the video series on the MNPCTech channel is up!

 

Editing Part 2 of Mosquito's video series, hopefully have it posted by Monday

 

Part two!

 

SO clean, can barely find wires even when I try. Also nice seeing an HVLP in use :: ) Props