Project : Lupine

[Tech-Daddy]

Great Job so far !!!

That is a great case to use to mod with. I have the same case . Tech-daddy, was the case wobbly with just the 3 1/2 bays removed? I was wanting to remove my 3 1/2 bays to allow more view, and tempted to find ways to support the case and move my 3 1/2 devices to other places in the case.

Very wobbly... if removed, you need to figure out a way to reinforce the case stability wise. Although, once the top was back on the case, it may very will help the regidity factor. Experiment by popping the 7-8 rivits that are holding it in place, and slide it out. it is fairly simple to remove and return to it's place. If you have a rivit gun... that is!

[Radiant]

You should take the plastic off of your drives and paint them black. It would help hide them a little more. Heck I just used black primer on my drives and it works dandy good. Primer tends to rub off but if theres mesh in front it would be fine.
(Right now you can kinda see a gray square behind the mash it doesent look as natural as it could)

[hungrych]

Wow, this is a great mod going here. Keep up the good work.

[Tech-Daddy]

You should take the plastic off of your drives and paint them black. It would help hide them a little more. Heck I just used black primer on my drives and it works dandy good. Primer tends to rub off but if theres mesh in front it would be fine.
(Right now you can kinda see a gray square behind the mash it doesent look as natural as it could)

Radiant... they *are* black units. The tray on the eject and the flash makes them look less black, but in normal light, they are a perfect match for the front mesh panels. Also, the "greyness" of the velcro is due to the flash, otherwise it is jet black and not noticable as a different color behind the mesh. The flash just causes different materials to reflect differently. Honestly, looking at the front of the mod, you dont notice a color difference. I appreciate your concern for color consistancy, and your offering of suggestions, much appreciated!

Thanks for all of the comments guys!
I'll be home by Monday, and will hopefully have some items waiting on me to continue to mod with! (LED's, Laser etched acrylic, new motherboard, etc...)

TTYL!!!

[Radiant]

I see... so what your saying is flash ruins everything and yes it was intended as a suggestion.

[Tech-Daddy]

Yeah... that flash is something that I need to find a better way to manipulate! but I'll be damned if I am going to get a pro rig and get it setup just for "update" and quick pics taken to establish progress.... Still annoys me when I look at those pics!

Again, I hope I did not come across as ungrateful or anything, I do appreciate your assistance suggestions. It's just that they really would not help on these particular pictures.

Motherboard came in today (yay!) LED's arrived too! (yay!)

I need a few more pieces to allow me to move Lupine into the next level of the mod.... but that wont stop me from doing some smaller things in preparation for the final push!

[crenn]

With the flash problem, if you can see the case fine, set the camera to No Flash, it should turn out better.

btw, I love the case, and I got a Hyper48 too!!!

[Tech-Daddy]

Quick pic update.

1) The etch work:

The wolf was used with the permission of the artist, and his name is Nick Deligaris (http://www.deligaris.com/art/color30.jpg). I believe you will find the remainder of his work as impressive as the wolf. He was very gracious in the use of his artwork, so long as I did not profit from it and I gave him credit. Well, as we all know, modding is an illness, and I certainly have not made any money on this mod but I want full artistic credit for the wolf to be directed to Nick and his beautiful work @ www.deligaris.com. Thank you Nick, it has been a pleasure working with you on this!


Here we see what I plan on putting into the bottom of the window frame:

I am contemplating making the sides look like there are branches from trees "just out of view" that are poking into the picture.... we'll see how that flies before I start cutting.

All put together, after cutting, this is how I forsee the window coming out, shape wise:

The bottom will not be white, I just had to reverse the cliff image, and flip over the paper to orient the wolf where I wanted it. Where you see white on the bottom, that will actually be the black of the side cover. Plus, the white just shows up better on the black background!

The inside CPU fan shroud had to be removed to make way for the window. I think this hurt a bit to pull the tube out, as I had wonderful plans of seeing how cool my CPU was going to cool using hte fresh air.... but alas, the window and the placement of this cylinder just would not work out... so, off it came!

Putting the cutout template on the inside of the door . I actually ended up cutting off the bottom 1.5 inches of white paper, and lowering the scene down so that the rocky/cragy clifs were not going to be cut out of the mesh work... I did not want to hit the bondo on this cut!

More tomorrow, as I will begin and hopefully complete my window!

[sXenoG]

That etch is amazing. It looks like the same quality as one in the gallery. The one in the gallery I thoguth was a frosted decal. How did you get this etchd one becuz if I ever do a window id love to get an etch jam packed witht hat detail.

[Tech-Daddy]

Find someone with a laser etching service. I happen to have a friend that has a laser that can do this, so I profided the layout picture (in this case the moon and the wolf) and they etched the acrylic with it. Here is a company that I have yet to try, but they provide the service :
Refocus Laser Engraving