DISCO Scorpion (old skool modding)

[Defyant]

                 

 

*******New Build and Title more suited to the build.

 

 

Current/latest Build Progress Thumbs.

 

          

 

     

  

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't modded in what feels like eternity. The past decade or more ive been doing head light and tail light mods for local rev heads.Just as challenging as PC modding but it's sad seeing all you works drive off into the sunset

 

I found this forum from a random google search for some thing modding related and decided to join up.   I'm an old old skool modder.  No fancy sketchup stuff no real plan and usually no real clue!

 

I just take a case that has something i like about it and get to modding.  All of my previous mods were heavily Perspex themed this will continue thru this mod and will be done from scraps only.

 

The chassis actually had nothing i liked about it..... just a dumpster find.    An Octek branded oem compaq mini tower.    But something happened one day when i turned it upside down........   My little White Stinger mod.

 

It's not a pretty case.... but that is where the challenge is. To give the LTT forums something they haven't seen before.

 

 

 

 

In the first few shots Some initial cutting is done to the top/window  front/intake fans  Rear/exhaust fan

You can see this is an old skool design... psu uptop.

 

 

 

 

But here's the "sting" flip the case upside down and all of a sudden it's got every thing i want for my nightly surfer and the modding starts!

 

 

 

 

As this is going to be a "Very White" mod. The chassis is given a few coats of dulux vivid white as a base coat to work with.

 

The final colour before end assembly will be more arctic white to better match "THE PLEX".

 

 

 

 

Speaking of "THE PLEX" here it comes.... literally.. in scrap bin loads of the stuff.

 

And the first few bits get us off to a flying start.

Using a DIY line bender to knockup what will be the start of the PSU cover.

The Line bender is just some MDF with some hinges and some alu channel and some Nichrome wire -- 20 AWG Powered by 12v. I switched to this rather then a hot air gun to get sharper cleaner bend lines.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MB back Cover, Left blank for now till i decided what board i'll use.

 

 

 

 

 

Front Fan mount panel.

 

The idea of this build is to clean and maximise space.. no matter how you look at it fans take up space.

This will allow me to incorp the fans directly into the front panel.

No fancy sketchup or lazer cutting just good old dremel and router recess work
 

 

 

 

 

The same is done for the rear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Defyant]

Prolly noticed the PSU cover looks a bit "unfinished" I thought Since the modding scene has gone RGB bat shit crazy lets run with that.

It's bling time!

Nothing too over the top to start with, a simple accent.
 

 

 

To make this happen the first thing is to paint the back white.

 

 

Then apply somthing to block out the light.  For this im using some old 3M roof vinyl from my car.

This dosn't have to be perfect or pretty.... it wont be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then trimmed a few mill from the edges.

 

 

 

Because the white plex is a bit translutient if we dont paint the back white before applying the black vinyl it will darken the panel.

A qik light test to show this is effective.

 

 

 

Next is to also add white to both sided of the clear light panel, this help to trap light and give a brighter edge,

The 2 sections can be Glued together.  All the light panels in this mod will be made using the same method.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is to add the first LED RGB strip.... and DUN DUN DUN OMG WTF BBQ SHIZ yes im using those cheap ebay LED strips....

YUP the ones that will only last 50,000 hours and only give off half the brightness and wont give you a full 180 degrees of full sexy lumins of diffused god like lighting.

I digress, of course im not going to use expensive LED's for the mods your about to see.

 

 

 

With the strip in pace the side accent panel can be lowered into place

 

 

 

The inside edge can be covered using some block out alloy tape.

 

 

[Fluffybakon]

On 9/29/2017 at 7:27 AM, Defyant said:

Hi Guys i'm the new guy on this block.  

And from the builds in this forum ive got a lot of catching up to do.  I haven't modded in what feels like eternity. The past decade or more ive been doing head light and tail light mods for local rev heads.Just as challenging as PC modding but it's sad seeing all you works drive off into the sunset

 

I found this forum from a random google search for some thing modding related and decided to join up.   I'm an old old skool modder.  No fancy sketchup stuff no real plan and usually no real clue!

 

I just take a case that has something i like about it and get to modding.  All of my previous mods were heavily Perspex themed this will continue thru this mod and will be done from scraps only.

 

The chassis actually had nothing i liked about it..... just a dumpster find.    An Octek branded oem compaq mini tower.    But something happened one day when i turned it upside down........   My little White Stinger mod.

 

 

It's not a pretty case.... but that is where the challenge is.

 

In the first few shots Some initial cutting is done to the top/window  front/intake fans  Rear/exhaust fan

You can see this is an old skool design... psu uptop.

 

But here's the "sting" flip the case upside down and all of a sudden it's got everthing i want for my nightly surfer and the modding starts!

 

 

As this is going to be a "Very White" mod. The chassis is given a few coats of dulux vivid white as a base coat to work with.

 

The final colour before end assembly will be more arctic white to better match "THE PLEX".

 

Speaking of "THE PLEX" here it comes.... literally.. in scrap bin loads of the stuff.

 

And the first few bits get us off to a flying start.

Using a DIY line bender to knockup what will be the start of the PSU cover.

The Line bender is just some MDF with some hinges and some alu channel and some Nichrome wire -- 20 AWG Powered by 12v. I switched to this rather then a hot air gun to get sharper cleaner bend lines.
 

MB back Cover, Left blank for now till i decided what board i'll use.

 

Front Fan mount panel.

 

The idea of this build is to clean and maximise space.. no matter how you look at it fans take up space.

This will allow me to incorp the fans directly into the front panel.

No fancy sketchup or lazer cutting just good old dremel and router recess work
 

The same is done for the rear

Followed, looks great, looking forward to updates

 

-Lukas

[Defyant]

Cheers  -Lukas ty mate, there's no shortage of those coming

 

 

Let the RGB madness begin!!       Got a fav colour?     im warming to that puke green....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Defyant]

For the back light panel it's really more of the same..... i wont bore you with more cut and paint shots.

 

Again this part dosnt have to be pretty just functional.

 

 

 

 

All the strips are soldered to 4 pin headers.... i also wont bore you with shots of me soldereing end to wires...... but ppl really do it.
What i will give you is a mind numbing amount of RGB madness!

 

The reason ive left a cut out for the light is for another accent.

I used to call these "storm" rings..... from a very old mod many years ago. They are cut from 16mm plex sheets and edge routed on an angle. Hard to do by hand very very slow work to try and not loose a finger tip.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Added to the panel it will add a light feature to the beack panel... but it will also cheat as a fan housing

 

 

 

 

 

The light panel can be added to the case with the 4 pin header tucked away in a small top rail.

 

 

 

 

 

And the inner panel with ring attached can be added.

 

 

 

 

Did some one say..... "Can we have some RGB shots of that Defyant"!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A sneeky peek for the next update!

 

[Billy_Mays]

Damn that is REALLY nice

[TheCamba]

Nicely done!

[AlienALX]

Hey you've got a scorpion on your wall !

 

Great build man, will keep an eye on this

[Tech_Dreamer]

Nice!

[Defyant]

20 hours ago, Billy_Mays said:

Damn that is REALLY nice

 

17 hours ago, TheCamba said:

Nicely done!

 

15 hours ago, AlienALX said:

Hey you've got a scorpion on your wall !

 

Great build man, will keep an eye on this

 

 

12 hours ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

Nice!

 

TYVM guys   this is pretty old style modding and you never know if there's still a market for it nowadays

 

[Defyant]

Tonight's little update is brought to us  from some Rear End Action!

 

A couple  of my older case mods had these really cool moulded back panels... some thing i thought was really cool for the time... but some thing you never see now.

 

I thought i'd have a stab at trying to re create  "some thing".

 

The first thing to do is to select a victim.. and this piece of cut down 8mm scrap white will do nicely!

 

 

 

With the sucker clamped into place i need to make the cutouts...  For this ALOT more clamps are added a starter hole is drilled and the panel is attacked with the trusty makita trimmer.

 

 

Got snow?

 

 

 

The moulded 3D recessed look i want is for the IO  area. And to keep in theme i'll use 3 layers of white clear white plex.

 

Chunky!

 

 

 

Cut down to size.

 

 

 

Then measured and cut to size and glued to the back panel.  I'm not joking when i say this took near an hour of routing to cut away the inner section.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some RGB strip goodness added..... OUCH look at that ugly ass end.......

 

 

 

OOOOOHHH Dayum DAT ASS!

 

 

 

And i know you all sayin, D what about some RGB shots!!!

The flood of light above isnt intentional  i just haven "blacked out" that area yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicnac]

beautiful!

 

curious to see how the fans will work out

[Defyant]

1 hour ago, Nicnac said:

beautiful!

 

curious to see how the fans will work out

 

Cheers Nicnac tyvm mate,  Initial tests for now look promising,  Ive been testing with different fans... which means for this mod ive scrapped about 5 sets of fans so far.....

 

Todays effort was some more scrapping...

 

The front panel shown has been scrapped also but you can get an idea for now of how they will be set.  There is a thicker more complete panel on the way this weekend so these shots are chop suey for now.  

 

These shot show the fans temp glued in.,.. but the end mod will use epoxy.

 

On the plus side.... i get free RGB fans!

 

Sneeky peek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicnac]

Looks great! Very clean. Are you gonna sand the sides and fan cut outs? Might make for an amazing frosted-effect  

[Billy_Mays]

Staph it’s too nice and pretty

[AlienALX]

That is gorgeous. You are really egging me on to get stuck into my next project, a Sega AM3 machine. I am just waiting for Supermodel to get Daytona 2 perfect (controls are a bit waffy ATM) and then I am building my own take on a Sega dev kit.

 

We need more old skool modding. It's quite amazing how much attention this style of modding has been gathering. I think people are just sick to death of hard tubing and CNC etc. Yawn. There is no work in pressing a button !!!

[Defyant]

7 hours ago, Nicnac said:

Looks great! Very clean. Are you gonna sand the sides and fan cut outs? Might make for an amazing frosted-effect  

Cheers mate tyvm Frosting /smooth sanding the edges actually looses / dulls light... The routed edge will present the most light.  I learnt alot ripping apart really expensive headlights and finding out what makes Angel Eyes and DRL's work then applying all that to my Defyant style headlight mods.  There's a lotta skull duggery goin on in there but the biggest trick to making light flow was the ruff cut edging.

7 hours ago, Billy_Mays said:

Staph it’s too nice and pretty

I just can't man  i have the RGB SICKNESS everyone's catching it and i'm not sure there's a cure in sight anytime soon   But cheers tyvm 

5 hours ago, AlienALX said:

That is gorgeous. You are really egging me on to get stuck into my next project, a Sega AM3 machine. I am just waiting for Supermodel to get Daytona 2 perfect (controls are a bit waffy ATM) and then I am building my own take on a Sega dev kit.

 

We need more old skool modding. It's quite amazing how much attention this style of modding has been gathering. I think people are just sick to death of hard tubing and CNC etc. Yawn. There is no work in pressing a button !!!

I know right !   doin all this shit by hand like us just seems silly when you can pay some one else to be creative for you   Nah in fact im kinda jelly of the new wave modder.

It's clinical but so is pretty much everything else nowadays.

 

Modders of old used to be a really tight bunch who hung out in these amazing creative forums and supported and spurred each other to push the limits of what could be created with our own hands. They were special times and we pretty much gave today's modder's everything.

 

This mod is really just poking a bit of fun at what we are seeing today. God know i would never have made this a decade ago... i may have been laffed out of the community

 

Cheers AlienALX right back at ya mate, i'm also really enjoying following your mods as well mate

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Billy_Mays]

5 hours ago, Defyant said:

Cheers mate tyvm Frosting /smooth sanding the edges actually looses / dulls light... The routed edge will present the most light.  I learnt alot ripping apart really expensive headlights and finding out what makes Angel Eyes and DRL's work then applying all that to my Defyant style headlight mods.  There's a lotta skull duggery goin on in there but the biggest trick to making light flow was the ruff cut edging.

I just can't man  i have the RGB SICKNESS everyone's catching it and i'm not sure there's a cure in sight anytime soon   But cheers tyvm 

I know right !   doin all this shit by hand like us just seems silly when you can pay some one else to be creative for you   Nah in fact im kinda jelly of the new wave modder.

It's clinical but so is pretty much everything else nowadays.

 

Modders of old used to be a really tight bunch who hung out in these amazing creative forums and supported and spurred each other to push the limits of what could be created with our own hands. They were special times and we pretty much gave today's modder's everything.

 

This mod is really just poking a bit of fun at what we are seeing today. God know i would never have made this a decade ago... i may have been laffed out of the community

 

Cheers AlienALX right back at ya mate, i'm also really enjoying following your mods as well mate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually when I say staph like that it means it’s usally good

[Defyant]

Ahhhhh i thought it was a slang for " stop"    Cheers mate ty, hopefully a decent update otw tomorrow

[Billy_Mays]

11 hours ago, Defyant said:

Ahhhhh i thought it was a slang for " stop"    Cheers mate ty, hopefully a decent update otw tomorrow

Some people us it for slang and I can’t wait for updates

[Defyant]

On 02/10/2017 at 8:22 AM, Billy_Mays said:

Some people us it for slang and I can’t wait for updates

Any day i learn some thing new is a good day, and i learnt some thing new today   

 

I got a bit distracted this weekend trying to finish off a build i started yonks ago.

 

Did get some vital shit done yesterday tho!   I wasn't  happy with the FRONT panel... i didn't address power or reset and wanted to add a solution for LED strip replacement.( down the track i would like to go full  IC strips)  

 

 

Anyways... i thought best to show how the original panel was made then onto the new MK2 version.

 

Starts off as a sandwich of plex....  an initial hole x 2 is drilled thru all 4 pcs

 

 

 

 

Next is to start the hole making process.....  x 8.........

 

 

 

 

 

Coasters anyone?

 

 

 

 

Chunky front!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i couldnt resist hookin up some rgb's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the RGB sickness out of the way it was time to cut the LED strip channels. this only needs to be cut in the clear layers.

 

 

 

im still sick!

 

 

 

 

Again i wont show you pics of me soldering ends onto wires ffs.... no one wants to see that shit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blockout film applied

 

 

 

 

 

Finally panels glued and clamped

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edge is routed to 45 degree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Defyant]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Defyant]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Defyant]

MK 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://photos.smugmug.com/Compaqd/i-nwMHKqJ/0/e440b4e1/S/245-S.jpg

[Defyant]