Case Mod - In Progress Project M2 - Case done. AWOL for weeks

From Matriarch to M2, here's the rebuild in progress. Been working on it since last Thursday after getting the cheap case. This time I expect the cost to beat Pprz even with the casing counted. Grabbed one of the worse brand in casing, iCute. Its a 2nd hand and paid only RM25 (approx US$7). Lemme try to reorganize the way my worklog goes.

Since I now have one whole apartment to myself, that means more space = more panels to be worked at once. So work's gone pretty effin fast as I know more or less what to build and how to start molding.

Theme

I don't wanna stray too far from the original Matriarch itself, so this time I'm going for a half human half dragon grotesque theme that wraps around the case except for the top panel. Here are some sketches.







Color combi will be black base, blue shades with green highlights.


Materials

Cheap case and a lot of paper








Side Panels

I'm trying to get the case to look more of a whole instead of each panels having their own different designs as in Pprz. So in this WL both panels will look the same.






To get an idea how it should be aligned with the face at the front










Now you get a better idea of the whole thing on sides and front.





Haggling if I should add ribs to the curves. Keeping it low profile for now.


Front Panel

This is a headache as everything else revolves around it. If the face doesn't get completed/dried, no work goes on until it is. Still halfway working on it as its still damp, probably detailing by tomorrow.












Nostrils... LOL, so it can do something like below in its free time




Keeping a bezel on the 2nd column to support the top of the head.


For ROM stealthing, xtremely thin

Still need to work a lot on the cracks in between and the size. Then detailing as well. The cheek looks kinda small and the eyes a lot bigger than it should be.


Base

Yessur, an extension to the base. Nothing will be in it, just a solid block of paper (as I don't have any tools with me, again). Kinda hard to wait on it, the thickness made the sun looks useless as well.




Dumped stuffs


Some random thing at first for the top panel. Scraped.


Letters which IDK where to place. Scraped.


Top panel hasn't been touched yet as I leave the case upside down to finish the base first. That's all for this week. Be back next week. Oh, about to start a new job, finally after 1.5 years of "retirement" lol.

 

Nice build, i like this mod style...good work

 

like your style two mods at the same time

 

I love what you've done with the side panels. It's surprising how far you're going with a zero budget sensibility.

 

It's beautiful ! That's a very good result with just paper (a lot, yes) very realistic 3D modelisation

 

i'll keep my eye open on this log...

 

Omg...looks amazing already.

 

Cracking case there mate...literally
how long has it taken you to build?

 

Good to see you back at it.

 

Thx mates. More updates below, about 20 pix

Actually only 1 at this time since I chucked away the whole load of the original build. Thx anyway

The material's what I have most with me lol, old newspaper. For the casing, not one that will spend a lot on something you're gonna paste up or cut up haha.

Thx. This is about the end of the 2nd week I'm working on it. Much faster than Paperazzi.

Lol. No abandon ship command, mate. Aye.

Updates below

 

Didn't really work much on it this week. Weather's crazy. Real crazy, I think someone just released Calypso again.

Side Panels

Keeping it simple. Consider both of them done so far. Patching up holes and then adding some waves to the thing in between the things. IDK what they're supposed to be called LOL.





Hate it when this happens. Cracks between joints.Took about 30 mins to fill up all of them and numb the hell out of me legs.



Everything glued and re-glued so they're good to go for the paint job once I align the 'things' with the front panels.


Front Panel

Moved the face to the panel when its 80% done and nearly collapsed. Cracks between the nose-eye gap. Seems like the bezel didn't hold too well or the wet pulp in between the surface and mold is the culprit.




This is the initial build according to the sketch (some parts off)... WTH are you doing between me legs????



Looked too much like G-strings hanging off the face so took it off and now here's something more like what I want.







Pop eyeballs in..







Before and after shots of the forehead patching.






Top Panel

Just a sketch at the moment. Cant make up my mind if I wanna have 3 rows or just 1




Scrapped

First top panel design/sketch... Dumped


Corner for panels.. Dumped



Base

Doubled the thickness of the base. Taking extremely long to dry.. about 70% dried now so probably can flip it back by tomorrow








DEATHHH BY PULPPP




Alrite, gotta go now, very rushed. Be back next week. Oh ya, say hi to David Beckham. He's somewhere in the pix. Good luck finding him.

 

I am truly amazed by what you can do with paper.
One thing on the face revision. I think it needs a mouth, or more of a suggestion of some sort of mask.

That face is scary! Especially without the eyeballs.
+rep

 

that looks really cool that is a excellent idea

 

Thanks mate. Will need a black background/120mm bracket to make the eyes stand out. Don't really look good against the sun. Skipping the mouth cos since a kid the one thing that freaks me out are creatures without mouth (they're worse than rotten fleshed stuffs) LOL.

There won't be any photos this week. Back in my hometown (about 7 hours' drive) to do some last minute packing before I start work at the new city next Wednesday. Come back to grab my hardwares and ransack the house to see if there's any stuffs to scavange for the case. So far found a soon-to-be mousepad.

A lil' progress on the case since I only worked on it 3 days this week. But once I get back there's a lot of work to commence. Got these few days to go off mode from modding and decided what to continue when I get back. Here's the progress (text only ) and what other stuffs I need to do.

Top: layered and laid the 'frame' for the stacked design on top. Something like Pprz's top panel but single-lined, much larger and taller.

Sides: finished and aligned with the front panel. I'll probably re-do the "MII" lettering into smaller size, a base for the letters, frame. Then stick it to the lower bottom corner of the panels.

Front: did some curves on the top part linking the face. With my ROM in hand when I get back tomorrow, can start working on the thickness of the drive frame and stealthing bezel. Need another UV-Green VIZO 120mm for bottom intake, I got only 1 so far. Will fill in the bottom part of the front (too empty) and merge with the base.

Base: the curves have been 'carved' just like in the sketch. Cut off under the front panel so the front is one piece with the base. Once all dried time for detailing.

Mousepad: going the easy way this time. Got a milk-can plastic cover and will fill it up to the brim and then the other side, that way both sides will be smooth. Keeping it simple in the middle and wings designs on the sides. So its gonna be pretty large once done.

Mouse: re-using the MX150 from Pprz, same design, different paintjob. I just can't leave that mouse alone since most mouse in the market can't even fit nicely when you have the fingers as long as a circus freak.

Keyboard: getting a new one once I get my first paycheck in 1.5 years (lmfao) end of this month. Aiming towards smaller sized k/b to give offset the size of the mousepad. Gonna hand paint the letters in.

Mouse case: somewhere to keep the MX150 and keep the design intact if I can find/afford a newer design soon. Using a Ferrero Rocher medium-sized choc box (clear thin plastic) that I scavenged from home.

LCD: leaving the back panel alone, gonna try to disassemble the front cover. Most job will be done on the stand and span wings all the way out and curve it into the frame itself.


So that's basically all that's left to do for this one. Gonna leave the speakers alone. Took it apart and noticed both top and bottom part are soldered together so can't really take the insides out and work on the box. See you guys next week

 

Updatesssssssss

Front Panel

Did the alignment and some touch ups on the cracks.







Patched some holes at the back to hold both sides




Top Panel

I got a BMW









Looks really horrible, once it dried everything bent...





Be tearing them up tomorrow and redo them :facepalm:


Mousepad

Little indent from the plastic cover itself. Drying it now and should have both surface extremely smooth compared to last one.






Box

Still yet to work on the detailing.





Base

Lol the base fell off while still drying (I flipped it around). Too heavy while its still wet, just like Rosie O'Donnell hanging on to a string on the 7th floor. Gonna rebuild it with 2 layers of styrofoam.

That's all for now. In a rush again. See yall next week :banana:

 

Are you going to put lights behind the eyes ?

How about gaging him.




Cant wait to see it Painted. Keep up the good work.

 

V.Cool, great design and I also can't wait to see it with some paint on!

Looks like a feline/human/dragon hybrid

 

LOL cool 'doll' you got there. Nah not gagging M2... Lights behind the eyes will be from the intake fan thats all, UV green 120mm Vizo

Thx mate. Actually already painted the side panel, just a test paint to see how the color goes, most probably will do the real paint job once all panels are ready.. just spray the whole box in one shot.

In the office right now, new pix are in the phone but no cables for me to upload it so maybe tmrw or Sunday. The front looks different now, added some stuffs to it. Top has been ripped and a new design, will be finished tonight for top.

 

Front Panel - Done

The forehead looked kinda empty. Stripped the original top panel off and didn't really plan to mod that night till I fool around with the scraped designs.





Hammerhead lol... then broke them into halves and just place them on the forehead. Looks good, green light. Waste not...





Looks like certain body part :whistler: lol.. And the power switch (don't use the reset button at all)





Done...


Side Panels - Test Paint

Some test paint on Tuesday to see what it looks like...



Here you can see its bluish, but then off the sun it's hardly visible so gonna re-do it. Chuck in some lime green and cobalt blue, randomly mixed and painted







Still missing the bluish effect.. nvm, test phase hehe


Top Panel - Done

Scrapped the last one.. now its done. Keeping it low profile so this is the only thing I can come up with for "low profile" :facepalm:









Those are some big-ass bras to fill...


Base

Re-built. Cut out 3 pieces of styrofoam and glued them together using UHU glue instead of super glue (eats into the thing). Then hold them together using bent paper clips.





Layered some paper between the bottom of the case and the foam, and another layer below the foam. Coat everything up at the side.





Take out the extra and this is what we have.



On the inside since I took out the feet, there are holes so gave it a lil grip..







Hopefully this should dry much faster than the previous all-paper build. And since I'm working wouldn't really have to touch it as I only get home after sunset.


Mouse

Same one from the previous mod, only changing the color. One side got wrecked while being in the box that was shipped back when I moved home.



That's more or less the type of blue-ish highlight I want for the whole case. Just need to get the other side sprayed and then in comes the green.


That's all for this week... 80% near completion for the case itself. Just paint, a lil bit of the insides worked, and the 120mm bracket below the ROM. After that its keyboard and the LCD.

 

I like the style of your case, good job man!