Scratch Build – In Progress Woodlands by RandomDesign

Finally, after a long time, a new worklog.

Recently, I started working together with Devolver Digital and Free Lives to
create a mod, or better three mods to promote their latest game "Terra Nil"

It was my aim to get the essence of the game, which is Nature reclaiming its space
back in the wastelands.

So my concept was to use as much reclaimed and recycled wood as possible.

I started with a simple pencil sketch.





After my concept was approved, I moved into 3D to get a better feeling for all the measurements and
proportions. In addition, I already designed all parts that I wanted to 3D print later.

 

Good to see you back with the computer industry so...squirrely.

 

First, I needed some wood.
In my hardware store, I found some old used and reclaimed wood that was just perfect for the project.

It was a wide variety of color, but I needed enough for three mods, so I sorted the wood
a little bit by color.






Unfortunately, the panels were about 20 mm thick. To make them fit my under construction later
I needed them to be 10mm. So I got a cheapo planer and created a lot of wood dust and flakes.

 

?
Back in Germany?

 

Yes, my wife got a professorship for biochemistry at the university of Cologne.
So we are back in good old Germany.

 

Next, I started to work on the under construction of the case that
will hold the wooden shell later on.
I cut some plywood boards into size and cut an angle for the front.





Then, I the table saw was used to make some slots for some other boards to get it
to the right height. For more stability and to increase the glue surface, I attached some more boards to the construction.







Then everything was glued to the base. I used 15mm plywood for the entire under construction.
That way, the wood that is attached later should stay in place and not start wrapping.

 

Next, I made a first test on how the old wooden panels would look on the construction.



Before moving on, I build a construction for the side panels and attached it to the base as well.



For a better stability, I added another piece of wood. Here, I already made all the cut outs for cables
and water cooling tubes.





Then, I needed a mounting for the radiator in the front.
I simply took an aluminum profile and drilled some holes.
Next, I attached it to the inside of the front and also started
to glue some of the old wooden boards into place.





Installed fan and radiator already.



For the fan cables, i needed two additional holes, cause the outer shell will
cover that part completely later on.

 

Not much space left when working on 3 mods at the same time.



Always cut in the needed holes, before attaching the individual panels.





Cause the wood is kind of soft, I could not use normal mobo stand-off screws.
I drilled holes and then used a screw from the back to secure a threaded screw to attach the
mobo later on.





Then the gluing continued.



Holes for the water tanks.



Then the last panels for the outer shell were glued into place.

 

Rustic. Any wood that looked like that here would have wood ants pour out of it after a cut. What's your splinter count so far?

 

Stopped counting after the first day lol

 

Next, I glued the top part into place.
Currently, its a little lighter in color, but that will be fixed later.



Here is a picture of the open back side. There should be enough room for all the
cables and water cooling components needed. I started with putting the HDMI and USB cables
for the inserts on the outside into place.





The USB and HDMI inserts are a little too shiny, so they needed a little weathering.





Covered them in wax to add more contrast, and after a quick wipe, they got installed into place.





Last thing was the cut out for the PSU.

 

Next up, I sanded down the shiny parts of the GPU block.





For all 3 mods, I processes over 100 fittings.
Used a sanding sponge to sand down the outer chrome coating.







Then I applied some metal wax and removed most of it after drying.





And a quick before/after pic.

 

Nice work with the fittings

 

Continued with the next detail.
I needed a mounting for the water tanks, in total 9 times.
So, I decided to just make them once and then do castings in resin.
That way, I also had the opportunity to make them in a cold cast technique, so I
would not have to paint them later on.

First, I made a 3D model and printed it in resin.



After post processing, I made a quick mold box.



Degased the silicone in my vacuum chamber to get rid of the air bubbles.



The mold looked good so far.



Coated the entire mold with some aluminum powder.



After casting, it looked a little dull, put polishing with some steel wool really brought out the shine.





Made a bit of weathering with my favorite black and brown wax.

 

Really nice work - those look great

 

To attach the water tank, I simply drilled some holes into the POM cover
and used some screws to fix the cast ring.



After it was put into place, I started building the first sections of the water cooling itself.









I also needed a PSU cover multiple times. Here I used the same cold cast technique as for the
other detail parts. That way, most of the metal effects of the mod look the same.

 

The pump's rings are amazing.
Could you thread a hole in a cold cast piece?

 

For a thread, the ring is too thin.
I used a 2,8 mm drill and drilled a hole in the rings as well as the POM top of the water tanks.
Then I used a 3mm screw. That way I forced a thread into the POM top.
If I am not over tighten it, it should be fine.

 

What a weird era, to see 123 blocks on the old garage tool rack.

 

I also made quick cable combs to fix some of the cables on the back side.





For the top, I made rings to imitate the look if some kind of turbine,
like some buildings look in the game.







Removed the housing from low profile fans.



To make them fit into the rings, I 3D printed another thin ring, to get the same distance all around.







Then I weathered the top wooden panel and put some moss into place.



As a little detail, I removed the original logo from the fans and replaced it with the Terra Nil logo,
I cut in vinyl.