Modding Mod of the Month - February 2010

LOL, I know .

 

A really tough decision between Mach and tarator, really great skill and problem
solving by both. I ended up going for tarator though, those hand cut columns are
just magical, beautiful hand made parts always get my attention.


By the way you have to feel sorry for the guy who's making the PC guitar. I'm not
denegrating the project (I think it's quite cool), but it's cetainly the odd one out here.
Hindsight aside, I'm sure anyone could have guessed the look of the vote table.
It should have been held over and put with more similar company.

 

Steampunk from RUSSIA by tarator
Easy.... I would vote for the a380, but it's nowhere near finished and can still go wrong...

 

Ah, man. You guys don't make this easy. This may be down to a coin toss for me.







-And is it me, or do I get quoted a lot in MOTM intros?

Edit: I'm Giving it to Mach this time around. Metal working, soldering, woodworking, etching, ray skin leatherwork... He's running out of techniques you can use.

 

So much awesomeness this month .

 

Vote for the boob case!

Jokes aside, tarator's incredible. :X

 

It would have been a hard choice if I didnt shamelessly selfvote

 

wow a really tough decision this month ... all are really top projects...but i love the Bärsärkar-gång

 

Acronym does show us a lot of design talent, but letting a machine do the work for you, raises no points from me. I dont see loving skillfull handwork in the mod which is IMO a modders must. Also building an pico or nano pc into any object ( eg a guitar) requires little modders skills.

 

I believe this is the first time I've not been able to pick an outright favourite - the quality of this lot is through the roof! I think I'm torn between the sleek and beautiful minimalism of Acronym and the 'Mad Professor-ness' of the Steampunk from Russia, (though I really like the A380 too).

Also, I know we're all entitled to our own opinions, but I disagree with you wholeheartedly on your comment re: Acronym there Frenkie - which I think is pretty disingenuous.

Well planned design is at the heart of any engineering project, and the machine is hardly doing all the work - it's just executing Achron's extensive and complex design instructions, (which is where the loving, skilful handiwork lay). If it were easy I think we'd see a lot more people doing it. For example; the best golf clubs in the world wont make you any good at the game without the skill to wield them.

Personally, I think it's pretty astonishing...

 

I tend to get this alot too. The whole notion that if you used a CNC or a lathe that your mod is somehow less skillful. Thats like saying that toyota and honda dont really do a good job at designing cars because hey, they just drew the lines and let a whole bunch of robots do the job for them.

Good modding starts with good designing, if I can execute my design with precision accuracy using a CNC and have the end product work flawlessly, then why not? Why should I or anyone else with the machinery capable to do these things not take advantage of that?

Why should I limit myself to things I could only handcraft? Thats your argument isnt it? "letting a machine do the work for you"??


I've been down that road with a dremel, heatgun and a billion other hardware tools, those are the old days. I prefer to concentrate more on the design side now rather than worry about what I can physically make by hand.

Can anyone here really say that if they had a CNC that they would be hesitant to mod with it because someone else might look down on them for using it to their advantage? Modders use whats available to them to achieve their dream PC, if the only tool they use is a dremel, then cudo's to that skill. If someone CNC's and lathes their way to perfection (like darkblade), then cudo's to them as well.

Im not going to sit back and judge people on what tools they used to make a mod, I'll just judge the end product. Its what you create, not what you created it with that counts.

But hell, this is just my opinion and I could be totally wrong. Flame on

 

I love and envy CNC mods. I know the skill required for both CNC and 100% handmade mods, and there's nothing to differentiate the two at least in termd of my appreciation.

But sometimes, using machines to do what could have been done by hand is a little off-putting.

Anyway, my vote goes to Bärsärkar-gång - a great mod and a pretty unique concept.

Apologies for any typos, a wasp bit my index finger.

 

+1
Sometimes it takes months of 'drawing' before the bit touches material too. It's another tool. It's just a lot more sophisticated than a hammer.
Also, Achron's single boo-boo likely set him back several hundred bucks. The investment he's putting in to this project has to be respected.

 

They all look amazing. But the level of detail that went into the steam punk one made my jaw drop. Can't wait to see how they progress.

 

OH dear, hand bags at 10 paces lads, you know the rules take 10 paces , turn and have a bitch fight, but remember no nails and hair pulling....What does it matter machine made or hand made. If it's a great looking mod, it is just that a great looking mod, I would love to turn out mods on a CNC Machine, but alas i have to go old school and break out a pile of power tools to do any case modding of my own. Maybe the only way this argument will ever get settled if is the Bit-tech boys split it into 2 catagories, but then again some ppl will still still say it's a hand made to make themselves look better, so where do we go next......Over to you lot....??