Case Mod - In Progress Project: Kharneth [7.11.07 :: Side Panel Almost Complete, Planning Diorama]

Welcome to Project Kharneth. I have decided to make a case based on the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000 as I am a collector/modeller myself.. I collect a Chaos army known as the World Eaters, a band of savage berzerkers and bloodthirsty demons that live for nothing more than to collect skulls and blood for their god, Khorne... or in the dark tounge known as Kharneth.

The case I have selected is a Lian-Li PC-61 USB case with nice pre-stealthed USB ports up front. I am going to mod it with a window in the shape of the symbol of Khorne (drawing to come later) and I am going to hand-brush acrylic paintings of Khorne berzerkers and such all over the beast.

This introduction may seem hasty as I have to get to work in fifteen minutes



That's my case in my (not technically mine tho) work area. I'm going to sand it just enough so that the primer can stick but I'm not going gung-ho down the the bare metal. Remember, I'm not trying to get mirrored hot rod finishes here, only a suitable surface to hand brush acrylic paintss and then add a few layers of clear coat.



So here I am sanding my nice undrilled replacement side panel with 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper using a sanding block. I put enough muscle in it to rough it up but not enough to warp the panel. That white crap is dish soap reside from the water I used to clean the bits i sanded off out of my paper and also as lubrication. I cleaned the panel off, dried it, and ran a tack cloth over it after about 45 minutes of sanding North South East West.



There's the panel after I cleaned it up a bit. It looks a little discolored and roughed up but doesn't feel bad at all. I'm just trying to get that grit into the anodized finish so i can get that darn primer to stick. There is some exposed aluminum bare metal on the edges tho so I think maybe I should only go over it one more time with a piece of fresh 220 grit paper. Then maybe I'll go over it once with some 400 but not too much... i've never sanded anything without a belt sander before that wasn't wood so this is new to me!

Alright I -really- have to get to work before the bosses kill me X) So here's some of the mockups I made in photoshop:



Top Panel idea



Motherboard tray side panel idea

all these are subject to change, as I'm kinda like that. Cheers, maybe I can get to masking off and drawing my design.. and dremeling tomorrow

At work if it's slow I'll add an update about more plans and hardware.

 

Those pictures make me think of Drawball...

Anyway, good luck!

 

nice case there. i have that same one! lol. lots of potential! the mobo side should look pretty killer with that!

 

Yes I know it's just so nice and simple, and in that fact it is extremely mod..d..able.. if that's a word.

Anyway time to go finish this virus removal.

 

yeah, i can't believe i haven't touched it yet, guess im afraid i might ruin such a nice case. lol. superamtispyware. its free, and gets rid of everything!

 

I need tips on how to slice acrylite sheet. The piece i have is a wee bit too big and the dremel spits off too much thermal energy to slice it without cooking the side of the acrylic (though i twould not be seen anyway)


suggestions?

 

a jigsaw depending on how thick it is. i used my fathers tablesaw to cut my acrylic for my case, and that was 1/8 inch thick. then again, theres always a hacksaw....

 

I always use my jigsaw with a special sawblade for plastics and acrylic. Leaves very nice cuts, no damage right next to the cuts, or anything.

 

Alright then a jigsaw it is. I shall see, when I see my boyfriend's mother's husband (yeah quite the mouth full) I'll see if he has a jigsaw available to me. He's a woodworker, he has to.. I just have to pick up a plastic blade for it I suppose. I'd say it wouldn't matter if it's pretty or not but i was wanting to incorporate some acrylc around the bezel. Then again this might disrupt the flow of the design, so, I will possibly avoid this. If the edge won't be seen then... meh might as well not sacrifice good work for speed.

I'm in my DMA class right now (Intro to computer graphics). We are learning today how to open Photoshop CS2 and save a file. Please shoot me.

 

Once again I am in my DMA class. I'm writing to tell you all that I am indeed not dead and that the project is in motion. HOWEVER, unfortunately, my laptop bit the dust just in the middle of me ordering some more parts for the PC. I accidenty jarred or screwed up a solder connection or a pin of some sort (though to me the pin itself in the jack seems ok) when I layed it next to my boyfriend's bed, and it's my only computer with a card reader... so progress will be slow.

 

Nice artwork, should look really good on that side panel.

 

Just don't shed too much blood for the blood god ok

 

the drawings look brilliant, if you can bring them out in the case as well as you drew them, it should look awesome

 

Hey all..

Been up to my knees in debt, fighting a credit company for a charge for an account I never had. Bought my name from verizon in 06 apparently and charged me for an old account that was in my name in 03.

Paying off car repairs, got my hours cut cuz Circuit City is tryin to save money so I cant afford a processor.

Just moved into new apartment, got painting table all set up. I'll just be painting panels until i can afford hardware.

 

nice drawing, cant wait to see this in the works, no worries on not having to many updates stuff happens, believe me I know lol so you work for CC, I work for BB part time to get the discount (car audio stuff is my main area in which I plan to bleed them drive with savings lol not to much computer stuff sadly that have a great discount on ) anyhow my hours as well suck but I have a second job so ehh I dont care to much about that. Well keep it up.

 

ALRIGHT! Progress, woo!

Car works great, investigation in progress on adverse account, and getting a pay raise soon!

I just ordered my processor, fan/HS, and RAM! All I have left to get is the video card, which is the single most expensive piece. It may take another month to procure this, but I'm back up to 30 hrs/wk due to a major management and organization shift in the company.

I've just primed one of the panels, and I'm dremelling out the other. Instead of actually dremeling out the symbol of Khorne, I'm going to do a nice big window in the side of the case and do an acrylic etching... I've taken to doing these actually, they are a lot of fun and easy to light up! All you have to do is string some LED's around the edge of the acrylic and the design lights up like christmas.

Now, I've got the front panel sanded down and it is in need of priming as well, though I won't paint it the same as the side panels. The non-access panel is my big canvas...

Since this is a warhammer 40k mod, I was thinking of doing a miniature diorama on top -laugh- it would make the computer interesting to transport (always by car!) but I thought it'd add to its character. I am putting a new blow hole in the top w/ red LED fan and I thought it'd be like a Chaos altar glowing red w/ the armies fighting by it, actually done in the game's miniatures. I've taken to sculpting in epoxy putty and apoxie sculpt too, so I could do something pimp with that too.


[see also: I dont want to screw with the rivets on top so i'll just sand it and sculpt on it ]

Will post even mroe concept and IP shots tomorrow. Let me know what you think of that idea, and apologies about the hiatus.

- brit

 

nice to see this mod come back to life. too bad about those expenses you didnt make... congrats on the raise.

 

I'll leave you with this idea I'm kicking around for now.. Let me know what you think etc

 

If you did those by hand I can garuntee you this case is going to be kickass. Can't wait to see this one. I love things that stand out from the norm and this style you're going for is much different than the average. most people spend weeks trying to get an automotive finish and it's nice to see a guy doing a "graffitti" finish on a case. I'll be watching.

Oh and maybe spikes on the fan but go with smaller ones. The huge ones are so obtrusive.

 

I know, I'm tired of the whole 'hot rod' thing XD It's just not me.

I did that by hand in photoshop with a wacom tablet. I just have to replicate it in acrylic paints which i can do, it'll just take a few days as opposed to hours.