G'day Bit-tech long time no project log. Well i thought id start another mod, this time a theme case. With the release of the new Transformers movie on our door step, i wanted to build a case around it. The case itself is not so much for the new movie but more the 1st with the mighty beast of a truck known as Optimus Prime. Transformers has long been a favorite of mine, from a little kid to now. With the first movie making me fall in love with them all over again. And now with a 2nd ZOMG. Now the case im building as one can take it from the project name, can gather that its all to do with the legend Prime himself..... And you would be right. The case to put it lightly is going to be Massive and consist of 3 Parts, Complete the case will measure in at a whopping 1.6M in total length. Which ill go into a little later with pictures etc. The case will be build out of a mixture of MDF and donated chasis parts from old case's. The case is a near perfect 7:1 scale of my son's toy. Which i will try to build as close to perfect as i possibly can. The Hardware for the case is by no means flash, and is more likely to be found in a museum then a fresh case build. But it will suffice to operate as a computer. Hardware: Shuttle 462 Motherboard AMD 2600+ Mobile 1gb DDR-400 Generic Memory MSI 6600GT 160GB ATA Hard drive Generic LG DVD/RW Cooling: DangerDen BIP2 Modified DangerDen TDX - CPU Modified DangerDen TDX - Chipset Pcustoms Custom Res Generic Tubular Res ( still deciding on Pump ) Now im in no real hurry to complete this project as im running on limited funds ( $0 ), so ill be taking my sweet time to update when i can. In saying that, the longer i take to complete it, the better the finish one can expect. Ill be building the case around the parts that i have listed above but will be making it possible for upgrade at a later date if i so wish for. Well enough of the build up and now onto the build etc. regards, Huren ( excuse my for the delay in post's as i write out the log as i go for the first few post's )
Now im one of those people that boils idea's over in my head rather then pen and paper. So most of last night was spend brain storming the layout and ideas to put into the case. After a few hours of arguing with myself i started plotting it out on a piece of mdf that would start the build. I started with the front of the case / truck Now the case will be full 3D, it will not be a flat boring square. if it bulges on the toy, it'll bulge on the case. Now with the front all pretty much sketched up and ready for the chopping block i went out to start cutting. Now the lights at this point are going to be a challenge. I intend to make the lights work ( when i get around the this feature ) as HDD activity lights, and look like that on the truck itself. and the cut out front unit.
Now with the front of the case mocked up i needed something for it to be built onto, so i went on to measure and cut the case of the case. This measure in at 1.3M and for the front to join to i mocked up a temp backing raiser out of mdf which will be replaced with alloy right angle flashing's later on. The front of the case will join to the backing via countersunk screws that will later be flushed over with auto body filler. The next step in the front is to work on the look of the Grill. As i am using a Blackice Pro 2 i will be able to get a realistic effect to the front grill with the fins coming through the front. It will be positioned on the left front of the grill. and a brief look at what it'll look like coming through When the exterior of the case is complete, i will be refinishing it in PPG paints and air brushing the remaining frontal grill area to effect as the rad does.
Well that's about it for now, there more to be added up tomorrow.. but for now i am going to go and work on the hood area, and work out the case side's and wheel arches. The hood Untill then c u later.
Oooh interesting. Personal bias, that's not Prime. That's Michael Bay's attempt at Optimus. Generation 1 prime. That's where it's at. But damn if this mod doesn't have my tingling with "oooh shiney"-itis.
Hahah yeah. well i was thinking of doing it on the orig Prime with the trailer as well, but being a car painter bay's rendition of Prime stood out to me alot more. OHOHOHOHO FLAMES !1!!21@ Well ive been outside tonight ( seeing thats where my current workshop is lolz ) and planned out a few more parts for me to start on first thing tomorrow morning. *teaser parts of the Hood *on / off button *head lights *fenders *cabin untill then how u all look forward to updates as much as i will be making them. regards, Damo
Well this morning i started on the front of the case again.Just some small detail works. Started off with making a few small vent type effects under neath the light's put a few channels in. They are not perfectly rounded off as of yet but this will come together later with the assistants of body filler. Then onto the front grill Transformer grill badge which will act as the power on. This will end out being a little trickier then it looks, but ill unveil what else i am doing with the front later. I had to grind out the inside of the badge a little to allow for an alloy insert that is etched with the logo. You'll have to excuse the picture quality as im having probs with the auto focus, seems to only be focusing on the back ground as apposed to the foreground. I also added some screw heads to the lower of the front bumper, these will later be filled over and give off a little dome effect. I have also opted to take the light's off and make them separate units as this will aid me better when it comes to wiring up the activity lights. Ill be working on these some more today, and hope to get them shaped and with some make shift lenses in place. Well that's all for now, more later
Wow! First 4 feet picture on bit-tech, so far as I know! Ambitious project, it's looking really good. I admire your drafting skills! Will it be transforming, or staying in the truck form?
Well it wouldn't be much of a transformer if it didn't transform now would it As for the feet, in one of my last projects i did a three foot shot which got people going double tee ef, so i thought id roll the 4 this time around
Why do you need the case to be so big? Unless and this is my guess of what you are going to do, on the back of the cab will you mount a nice big LCD with a chair sat over the rear axle's so the case is really a whole desk / gaming chair / pc all rolled up in one but in the shape of Optimus Prime? That make sense?
The case is so big as its to scale 7:1 of my sons transformer toy. i was thinking just make it so the gear will fit, but then anyone could / would do that. So take the next step and go big. There is a motto for a local hardware store in New Zealand that's " Bigger is better " and i agree XD. But you are on the right track for the lcd. i wont be adding a chair though. When i have the money i will be fabricating a swing arm with an lcd mounted on it to come out from the inside rear of the cab. When i have a little more time to sit and actually put something down on paper ill show you what i have planned
Well after alot of thoughts into this case i have decided that im going to cut it down in size. I have decided that having the cab + rear is just way to OTT so i will cut it down to jus tthe front screen of the cab, as a PC. But i will continue to also produce the rear of the case when i attend lans etc for show boosting XD. Today i plan to do alot of updating to the front left of the unit. Doing the build up front the front bumper, wheel arch, guard and screen on the left side. Stay tuned for more updates this afternoon, currently 7:50am local time for me.
update well ive started as per above post with the build back on the front left side of the case. And with this i was no able to move back to the light and work on the offset stands. and im now working on wiring channel's for the activity lighting.Im yet to find or source what i will use to make the light lenses from. was just thinking of using some 10mm clear acrylic, sanding it rough and placing the leds 2mm into the acrylic. Either that or ill find some blue plastic / acrylic and go from there. Well i need a snooze, been up for well over 24h's. BBL. Damo ~
Well today i got some pretty good progress done on the guards, and started with some internal bracing for the sides to join to. and a little lip for the hood to rest upon. Then the guards. Now the plan for this was to do them in one piece, but that was going to work out to time consuming and without the correct tools, and funds to replace mdf i decided to take an easier approach to the task at hand. After working out where and how big etc. the guards needed to be i set out to make the task easier. And then the plan is to attach the side face of the guards. Now the plan is to fill the empty area in the guards with foam and then finish it off with auto body filler for the roundish effect. Still in the pretty rough stages atm, but by the weekend i should have this side flush and ready for finishing ready for a prime up. But while i was dumping some waste i noticed a little gem in the pile of rubbish that i could use. My daughters old pull cart has some perfect size wheels which i might make disappear. Well that's it for today, finally going to bed. And tomorrow im off for a fish and wont be home till late. So until then, peace.
Haha yeah, its abit of a hardware graveyard atm. Well not much of an update, but an update non the less. Got most of the left guard filled and near finished on the sanding. Also had a bright idea on how to score some leds for the lights. i had some old 80mm led fans lying around, so i took the leds out for donor parts. Also figured out my camera after alot of fecking around. So now ill be able to pour some high res / quality pictures after i get through the mucky parts of the build. And just to give you an idea of how the leds will be used / placed on the lights. Well thats it for now, im off to the pub for a few.
Well here is a little update for now. ATM im doing a lot of trial and error, well more error then anything, in regards to the side panel. With these picture should give you an idea of where im heading with the right side of the case. bearing in mind that there will still be a guard on this side of the case. Some more planning should have me up with a little avi either today or tomorrow. Now in regards to the other side of the case, Ive had to rip the guard off and start again. This is due to me drinking and modding at the same time and mixing the measurements up with another part of the case. This resulted in the guard being neally 180mm longer then it should be. Well thats it for now, more updates as they happen
