case mod [Case mod] Half Life 2: Gordon Freeman edition

[SotosLg]

Hello LTT!

 

You might know me from the CMWS 2017 and my participation into this competition, and since the Cooler Master forum is closed, i decided to re-create the entire worklog i had there in here!

 

A little background of me

 

My name is Sotiris, commonly known as SotosLg. I am a computer technician and a case modder from Greece.

I've been doing case modding for fun since 2004 and since 2011 it hit me directly to the forehead.

I've made through the years some projects just for me and my intention is to spread the word around Greece or even better, whoever knows

 

So, enough of the pep-talk, let's jump into the worklog shall we?

[SotosLg]

As a Half Life 2 fan, i have an obligation to make a case mod around the best fps game that has ever released. I've been thinking about it since my last case mod that participated in an international (2012) event (sadly it was never completed as the website that the competition held got issues as far as i can remember). So, in a few words, i will be fusing a few techniques of mine and some others in order to achieve the best result that i imagined and thinking about. Rusting, crackle paint, scorched looked exterior side panel and color splash or even some paintbrush are the main tools to achieve something great and most of all something that i have always been dreaming of. So, Half Life 2: Gordon Freeman edition is commencing!! I will soon be posting pictures, so be patient and i hope that i fulfill my dream since 2012 and beyond!! The "victim" will be a Cavalier case!! 
 

 

[SotosLg]

So, first things first.

 

I removed the left side panel so i can create the outline of the HL2 logo and mask it so i can cut it.

 

 

After that, i had printed the hl2 logo in an A2 paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Along with that, i bought some Dremel goodies like a speedclic disk with the driver

 

So, it is time to cut the outline with a razor blade.

 

 

 

 

After that step, it was time to draw the outline on the masked side panel.

In here, the drawing shouldn't be perfect but a bit angled

 

 

 

 

 

I made two drawings because i didn't like the first one, so then, i marked the second that had to be cut.

 

Because it was late at that time, i only made one cut only and left it for the next day.

 

The next day i proceeded with the side window cut.

 

 

 

 

 

Here i couldn't cut such a curve, so i relied to my faithful files!

 

 

Let's bring the big guns!

 

With lot of patience and lot of filling, i achived this result!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cut, shouldn't be perfect, but my OCD Kicked in.

 

That is all for now, you will soon be updated so be patient!

 

Have fun, and mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

 

[SotosLg]

Next ting to do was to clean the right side panel from the stickers

For that purpose, i used nitro thinner and a sander

 

 

After cleaning the panel, i alligned the two panels almost perfectly! OCD you see! hehe!

 

 

 

To make the whole design as the outline, i used primer

 

 

....and here is the result

 

 

 

 

Never mind about the excess paint, scorched effect will be applied on top of it!

 

More to come in a few minutes!

 

Have fun! And mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

Now, let's move into the right side panel and add some scorched/melted effect.

For that purpose, i used my trusty finger and a combination of polyester putty and fiberglass paste.

1st pass of thee effect looks like this....

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to add more effect and added more and more....so after a few passes it finally looks like this....

Here i am also experimenting with some paint effects etc to see how it will look in the end.

 

 

....and finally it is time to paint it with primer

 

The whole colour theme of this case mod is orange/black

....so here it is with a fine pass of primer

 

 

 

After that....i moved on, and painted it with orange

You'll have to forgive me in this one, but i can't find an image of the side panel painted orange, i might have though a video of painting with crackles....so i will post it next!

 

....here it ready to be painted orange!

 

 

The process is simple....for the crackle paint effect, i used common spray cans that you can find everywhere....so it goes like this....

Once we paint the base colour we want we don't let it dry and instantly we paint on top of it a layer of matt colour at random pattern to create the crackles.

The more paint we apply, the bigger the crackles would be....and on the other hand, the less paint we apply, the smaller the crackles would be....

 

Here is an example....and a video

 

 

 

So, until next time, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

Now, let's jump into the left side panel

Forgive me, i don't have many pictures to show you but i'll describe to you the best i can!

 

Same process applied to the left side panel.

Using only my trustworthy finger and a combination of polyester putty and fiberglass paste.

So, after a few passes it looked like this

 

 

After that, it was time to paint it with primer

 

 

....then paint it with orange!

 

 

....i don't have a picture with the side panel painted orange, so instead, i'll show you the final result, painted orange and black with the process i described to the previous post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, have a look at the video i took at that time showing you how it looked painted!

 

 

 

Untill next time, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

So, in the meantime, i had some brainstorming sessions of what to put on the top side of the case.

I contected a friend of mine and gave me an excellent idea....of putting the logo 3d printed on top of the case.

Then i instantly agreed and he proceeded to the renders....

 

 

I also told him to 3d print some fan grils, as my intention was to make a turbine-like face panel and put an extra one on the rear side

Here are the assets ready and 3d printed!

 

 

What i did next, was to play a bit with some colour combinations for the fan grills and the top side logo....you will be updated soon!

 

Until then, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

 

[SotosLg]

Next stop, was to play a bit with the fan grills and logo that had to be placed on top of the case.

So, let's get started!

 

 

At first i had to sand them down to get rid of that plastic finish and roughen a bit of their surface

 

 

 

 

I did lots of things like painting them with crackles etc

Here is an example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because i had two fan grills, i had to play with the other one too

So, what i did, i painted it red in the beginning in order to achieve the crackles but i was dissapointed

 

 

 

 

 

This above picture, is with the color wiped with a tiny piece of cloth

I didn't stop there and i moved on

I removed completely the colour and used hammered blue with red splashes

While the hammered blue was painted i used a cloth to remove the effects of the colour and then let it dry and afterwards, i used paint splashes like this one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next thing to do was to play with the logo that had to be placed on top of the case

So, i sanded the effects of the 3d printing a bit and painted it with red and black to get the crackles but....it went wrong!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that and knowing it failed, i wiped away this kind of combination and tried with different colours and different spray cans and this was the result!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is all for now!

Next thing to do, is place and stick the logo on top of the case with my good ol' friend the super glue and create the scorched effect around it, like it scorched the way on its way out!

 

 

Until then, mod it till it bleeds, the mod it again!

 

 

[SotosLg]

Now, it is time to place the logo on top of the case and apply the scorched llok effect

 

 

 

 

 

Onwards to apply the effect

 

1st pass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GIMME MOAR!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to paint it with primer

 

 

Now, i will show you how it looked painted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the same painting technique as i used with the side panels and that was crackles!

 

Until then next update, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!  

Edited August 2, 2020 by SotosLg

[SotosLg]

Hello guys again!

 

Until i dive into the logos and cutting them, i dived into the front face panel.

So, what i did, i tore it apart

 

Quite a mess as you can see hehe

Then, i made a fan hole with a hole saw to fit a 120mm fan.

After i made the hole, i covered the gap between the aluminum mask and the plastic with some fiberglass cloth, to create a shorta like tunnel for a turbine-like look.

As you can see next, i alligned one of the fan grills i had and made some holes for it to we well screwed on the aluminum.

Thick enough i must say, and it was a pain in the b****!

So, here is the fan grill placed properly and with scorched effect around it using fiberglass paste.

 

 

 

What i did next, was to put a spinner from an rc plane in front of the fan to see how it will finally look.

Here is the face panel attached to the main chassis and with primer applied.

 

 

 

Well, that wasn't enough for me, and i added some more effect around the already existing effect.

It was kind of ugly for me.

So, now, i will show you the final look of the face panel painted with blackand orange plus with more scorched effect applied.

The process for this paint effect goes like this....

....we apply the base colour we want and let it dry, after it dried, we apply a second colour of our choice and ontop of that, we apply a plastic bag and remove it instantly to create a random pattern, more like a random cracked pattern....

 

Here is the result of the face mask painted with that effect

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next time, i will show you what i did with door's panel and the logos with follow!

 

Until next time, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

Hello guys once again!

Not very big update, as i don't have many pictures of the process, so i will try to explain to you what i did as best as i can.

Here we go!

 

I wanted to cut the logos using acrylic for them to be placed on the side window, and mirrored on the other side panel.

All that, because i wanted to make it look like it went through the other side of the case.

So, first things first.

 

I used the λ from the logo i cutted before to make the outline for the side panel and made the outline of it.

Cutted using a Dremel Motosaw and later i filed like a lot!

Same process followed for, 5 more times, which means, 3 λ's and 3 2's on the left side.

Same thing for the right side but mirrored.

 

So, here is the first two λ's alligned with double sided tape for filing.

 

 

Same thing for the 2's but in greater magnitude.

Again, cutted using a Dremel Motosaw and a looooooot of filing to get the desired look

OCD kicked in that time i know, right?

 

 

 

 

So, it took me quite a long of time to get them done, and finally glued them together using liquid fiberglass.

 

In the next update, i'll show you what i did with the front panel's door PLUS a little surprise!  hehe!

 

Until next time, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

Hello again guys!

Next things i wanted to do, was to add a 5" touch screen display on the door's face panel in order to see realtime information about the computer or whatever you might like!

So, i ordered a relevant lcd screen and once it came, i measured the precise outline of the screen and drew it to the face panel's door.

Because the face panel's material was a thick enough aluminum, i wasted quite enough dremel discs.

So after a long cutting seesion, here it is with screen in place and alligned.

 

 

Next thing i wanted to do, was to also create a scorched look effect around it so i started puttin fiberglass paste around the lcd screen.

Here it is with a mixture of liquid fiberglass and polyester putty....(so i thought that would do the job!)

 

 

 

 

NOTE....the fiberglass paste or the polyester putty, doesn't stick on aluminum so i had cracks in its base, so i re-enforce the whole door with fiberglass cloth along with liquid fiberglass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next thing in line once it all dried was to paint it and do a test fit.

So, here it is painted.

 

 

 

Because i didn't like how it ended up, i tried to repaint it so, here is the end result of the door.

 

 

Next thing in line was to play a bit with rusting kit it arrived, so i will show you more in the next update.

 

Until then, mod it till it bleeds, the mod it again!

[Badomen]

The Korinthos paste massacre :D. Cant decide if its ugly, or not, but you have lots of passion for it. Fingers crossed.

[SotosLg]

6 hours ago, Badomen said:

The Korinthos paste massacre :D. Cant decide if its ugly, or not, but you have lots of passion for it. Fingers crossed.

It was really a massacre indeed!  You have to wait and see the end result!

[SotosLg]

Hello guys! Here i am again!

 

So,  next thing in line was to play a bit with the rusting kit which came from the US and it is the Metal Masters rusting kit.

First things first....

I took the rear cover of I/O's as it was painted, and put some rusting across it as you can see below.

 

 

 

My intention for the 5.25" drive bays was to paint them orange/black and put an hl2 logo on it, but it failed and then painted it orange/black with the plastic bag effect.

 

 

 

 

I re-infroced the 5.25" drive bays with liquid fiberglass and fiberglass cloth in order for the paint to stick better.

 

So, next in line was to paint the rest of the parts orange/black as the whole theme was orange/black.

Here they are painted and ready to be assembled.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Freeman supervises the whole process!

 

 

Here is a test fit of the whole front face panel attached to the main chassis!

 

 

As all the parts are drying, i am going to add to the bottom panel 4 chair wheels.

This you're going to see in the next update!

 

So, until next time, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

I did a test assembly and saw that the pattern of the face panel weren't diffused properly with the rest chassis so i decided to do a "trick"!

Picked a plastic bag and tapped orange and black a few centimeters to the back of the top panel and a little to both of the side panels.

 

The top panel looked like this

 

 

After that, i painted the main chassis with the same pattern and a little paint splash

 

 

 

 

 

Later, i clear coated the upper panel and looked like this

 

 

It is time now to add the bottom wheels!

 

Here is the chassis with the wheels attached using rivets

 

 

 

 

 

Then, it was time to glue the λ and the 2, that was made out of acrylic, in this panel they will be mirrored. They were glued with liquid fiberglass.

 

 

 

 

Here is a test fit with the right side panel attached

 

Next time, i will do a test fit with all panels preped and without attaching the acrylic to the left side panel.

Until next time, mod it till it bleeds. then mod it again!

[SotosLg]

Good morning people!

At that time, i decided to go with a Crosshair IV formula i had bought in combination with AMD Phenom 2 x6 1100t

I bought the cpu off ebay and it posted since 1st application!

 

 

Then, it was time to put the parts together and rivet them down!

 

 

Afterwards, i did a test assembly to see how it will going to look

 

Here is the power switch i was going to use to power on the computer

 

Once the whole build would be watercooled, i decided to use an EK pastel orange with soft tubing.

 

....and here are some photos before i complete the whole case mod and put it in use!

 

Gordon Freeman action figure glued with 2 element epoxy

 

Next part, is to apply the 5" lcd screen display and shoot the final photos for the CMWS 2017!

 

Until then, mod it till it bleeds, then mod it again!