Scratch Build – In Progress Project Acero

loving the case so far. IM currently planning a wooden mod but have very little experience working with wood. I have been recomended to use Patina as a finish for veneer, what are your views on this?

 

Um, Wouldn't it be possible to DIP the parts in the shellac can?

 

As long as I stay away from Arizona I'll be OK. Didn't the Mythbusters use Coke to dissolve steel jail cell bars? Maybe that was something else. I'd believe it though.

Thanks. Never heard of Patina. Sounds like one of those accelerated "aging" products Bill and Jeremy are into. It's cool but I can't bring myself to do that.

You know that sort of thing never works....except maybe in a Three Stooges skit.

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Now I get to struggle with the front button/decorative element. I have three options and change my mind hourly. What fun! Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks for looking.

 

Marbles seem to be making the rounds again. Your rig is the right size to use normal sized marbles.

 

One of my options is an unusual coat button that is 1930's Bohemian glass. I'll have photos of that soon. I also need to adjust the white balance on my camera because these colors don't represent reality. I didn't realize how bad it was until just now.

 

Got the colour sorted (watching way too much BBC). The button is Bohemian glass from the '30s. It has a bizarre black chrome effect that makes it look somewhat like metal. Reflections will have to be sorted out in the final photos assuming I go this route.





So what do you think?

 

I like it, it sort of matches the black gloss of the plexi.
(Color looks better now too, I was thinking it looked washed out before)

 

looks excellent & agree with mosquito, colours are looking really nice now.

 

I wouldn't call it washed out. More like a bad Jersey Shore orange tan.

Getting better. Still working on it.

I appreciate the opinions and comments guys.

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Been fooling around with cameras and lighting for two days without much luck. Color was getting better but still not close enough. As a last resort I tried my wife's iPhone. Put it in HDR mode and shot these photos...


Final 2% included sleeving the combo power switch/power light cable.


The pushbutton sticks out just far enough to keep the cover from sliding off accidentally. At first I thought I had made another mistake but then I realized I had designed it to work that way.




The color is correct(ish) but it has created a lot of other problems like not seeing the meshwork or the glossy finish. The color HAS to be right or the rest doesn't really matter.

Thanks for looking!

 

hmm... saturation/ white balance is a pain in the a** if you dont have the real gear :/ that's the biggest problem for my cheap 250$ camera to

 

I have been through some mighty struggles in the past to get decent photos. Seems the smaller it is the more difficult it is to get a point-and-shoot to play nice.


Alternative button #2


Flush mounted piece of black acrylic.



Thanks for looking.

 

That's some nice work there as allways.

For the photos, well... everyone sees those in a different colour anyways aslong as people don't start calibrating their screens with a Pantone Spyder. So don't be too harsh to yourself for not getting the colour to show properly. Maybe even your screen is not setup to show it properly, I don't know.
On my calibrated Eizo FlexScan it looks quiet OK

 

Thanks for that. There are other issues. The case is actually very glossy. In person the Coke can is reflected nicely off the surface. The detail of the mesh is also lost. If I try to adjust for those things then the color goes to sh!t. Frustrating for sure. I'm just waiting for TS Debby to pass over so I can get outside into some natural lighting. That usually helps.

Here is a photo showing my current indoor setup. Pretty sophisticated huh?

 

This is what my outdoor setup looks like.

 

That is, in fact this is incredibly neat. Should have seen the crazy setup I done when I did one for air cube, clothes lines tacked to walls which carried on slipping down with white shower curtain draped over the project with 3 daylight bulbs covering sides & top.

Would be great if camera manufacturers or decent camera shops sponsored great modders so they could capture their projects as good as they look in reality, I was definitely very hesitant in purchasing a DSLR with the price of better lenses but think a modder like you skip with heaps of high quality projects might be able to work something out with one, would it be worth a try?.

 

@Waynio...Interesting idea to be sponsored by a camera company. Pico-ITX into a camera body anyone?

 

It's so awesome! Great work. I was trying to figure out what you meant by the button holding it on, but now I see what you mean.

 

You mean that design feature I planned from the beginning? lol

You can almost see the holographic effect so I shot another video. Not sure if I see it or not. The sun really lights it up. Indoors it takes on more of a brownish hue. (Did I just say hue?)

 

Awesome little rig like the nice slip on cover with perfect flush fit windows, can see how nicely the reflection continues on both materials, pure quality.

 

@Waynio...Thanks!



















...and that's all folks. Thanks for looking.