| Spiderman 3 Case Modification Part 2 |
|
|
This is part two of our Spiderman 3/Venom Project where we will add much more customization to the case and start to fill in lots of details. Check out the first part of this project if you have not yet seen it.
Now we move on to the Spiderman "3" on the front. We'll start by measuring how big we want the "3" to be. The fan itself is 4.5", so we chose the "3" to be slightly smaller , about 4" wide.
Cut the "3" out and trace it on the sheet metal. Using a grinding rotary tool we made a brushed steel look.
Using epoxy, affix the "3" to the front of the door panel behind the mesh.
Now that the front is done, we're going to finish up the window side panel, and draw out the lines for the motherboard side panel, too. We'll start by using a yard stick to draw out the web, making the center point. We chose to start with a "+" shape and put two more lines between each side of it. This allowed for there to be three points at the top to cross the lid.
Do the same with the window panel, though you will not need to make a center point, you should use proper measurements to locate the "central" point on the window for symmetry. After all of the lines are made and you like what you see, clip a small piece of the tip off of the black caulking, giving you a fairly thin stream for webbing. Ours is about 1/8." Using the yard stick as a guide, run the caulking gun along it for a straight line for your web. If any mistakes are made, use the flat scraper to remove the caulking and start over. It should rub off.
Now that this is done, give the caulking ample time to dry. We waited over night, though it only requires about 2 hours. After this, we used a standard paper plate and cut a piece of it out to use for the circular webbing. The same technique is applied as earlier, though instead of a yard stick, trace the plate.
After the caulking is completely dry, use your silver acrylic paint and a small detailed paintbrush to paint the caulking silver. Make sure you get the inwards angles so you can't see black, but don't risk getting it all over the panel itself.
Spray this panel with the standard 6-8 coats of clear coat after the caulking dries so that it won't move around. This will also make the caulking look gooey, which is exactly what we want. Put the panel back on the case and continue the webbing across the lid. Use the circular webbing at your discretion, but we went from the center of the case to the middle of the side lines, then from the center to the edge of the case.
Now I should have taken another picture of where the circular webbing comes in, but you'll have to look ahead. (look below). Now after all that dries, paint it chrome with the acrylic as before. After THIS dries (there's a lot of drying time), it's time to go crazy with the Venom webbing. Start from the rear of the case (I chose to have it come out of the power supply hole) and move the caulking gun in a wavy pattern, moving Venom ooze to the color fade. For the side panel, the same rules apply. I chose to have the venom ooze come out of the back of the panel and wrap around the edge. I also brought ooze out of the motherboard panel, power supply, as well as the PCI ports.
Now we can put as many clear coats on the case as we want, stopping once we get a mirror finish on the case, and the caulking looks like it's actually part of the case. This will keep the caulking from peeling off as well. I used about 6-8 coats of clear coat.
We decided we didn't like the ULTRA chrome 80mm grille on the side, so we put an order in to www.Xoxide.com for their 80mm Spider fan grill and two sets of red Lazer LEDs.
The Lazer LEDs were originally going to be placed in the Spider to make it light up (which you'll find out about in Part III) but it was too big, so we added both of them to the front fan to really brighten up the Spiderman "3."
We took the front panel off again and noticed there's a decent bit of space on the top and bottom of the fan. We used epoxy again to fasten the Lazer LEDs in place to shine right on the "3."
At this point, we decided to have our DVD burner in the case match the case. We ran over to Staples and picked up an I/O Magic Internal DVD ReWritable Drive. Since the front panel is red with a black trim for the Optical Drive, we wanted to paint our DVD burner in the same pattern. We also realized the DVD LED is blue or green. We hacked apart the DVD burner to replace the LED with a red one. I would NOT suggest trying this if you are new to soldering. YOU COULD BURN YOURSELF OR RUIN THE PRODUCT.
After plugging in the burner and ejecting the tray, unplug the burner so it turns off in the open position. CAREFULLY pull upwards on the front bezel (with the DVD logo on it) while supporting the tray as not to break it. After that, you can pinch in the side flanges on the burner to remove the rest of the faceplate. We followed the instructions in our Easy Painting Guide and sanded, primed, and painted these panels, following them up with clear coat. You'll have to scrape the paint off of the LED glass piece with a toothpick so you can see the LED.
Between each of the above steps, we opened up the DVD drive (which VOIDS your warranty) and took a look at the motherboard. I apologize ahead of time for the poor pictures, but my camera didn't seem to want to take close-up pictures.
First we had to pinch the tabs on the daughterboard to get to the LED.
Unless you are familiar with soldering, I wouldn't try this, because you could burn yourself or break the product. After removing the old solder, bend back the legs of the LED, pull it out, replace the LED, bend the legs back, re-solder
Finally, snap the daughterboard back in, place your painted pieces back on, and close up the DVD burner.
That's it for this time! Make sure you return regularly to catch the final Part III of the Spiderman/Venom 3 project, where we'll be cutting out the spider, lighting it up, and putting it on the case!
| « Back Home | More Guides » |