Paint Mod

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 3, 2007

Hello denizens of techPowerUp forums! I'm working on a new paint mod. I am currently laid up at home for a while, (eye surgery) and as such, I am bored to tears. I decided to take my daughter's PC apart to clean it. While tearing it apart I got that old desire to modify it. As the internals aren't really top-end components, I decided to just do a simple paint mod. Here are some photos of the PC pre-mod.

Chewy · Oct 3, 2007

looks like the drive could use some plastics paint

Im currently working on my project too.. well getting all the right parts to do it.. :O

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 3, 2007

Because the PC is my daughter's, I have no chouce but to use girlie colors. I can, however, go with a theme that is maybe a little more manly. The color choices, straight from my daughter's mouth, are "Green & Pink". Keeping with the color scheme, I chose to go with a flame-job. I made a couple of templates for the drive bay covers, masked off the covers, traced the pattern and cut it out with an X-Acto knife. Hit it with some spray paint, and PRESTO!!! Pink flames for the drive bays...

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 3, 2007

Chewy said:
looks like the drive could use some plastics paint Im currently working on my project too.. well getting all the right parts to do it.. :O

I haven't gotten to that part yet. It is certainly part of the plan. Thanks for the input though....

Chewy · Oct 3, 2007

thats turning into a nice mod.. looking good, I though you were only going to paint the inside, which I though was kinda useless lol

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 3, 2007

Drive Bays and Side Panels

I have completed painting the drive bay covers. Now it's time to move on to the side panels. I masked off both side panels and used a template to apply a flame pattern to the masked panels. As before, I am sketching the pattern with a pen and cutting the masking tape with an X-Acto knife. I am using the least amount of pressure on the knife when cutting, as I don't want to actually score the existing paint. I have already noticed some of the original paint pulling up when I remove the masking tape. I guess we'll see how it all turns out. I think as long as I am careful when removing the tape, I should be alright.

WhiteLotus · Oct 3, 2007

looking good - but what case is that? its nice, simple and plenty of room for extra cooling black! i wouldnt mind having on of those cases myself

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 3, 2007

ARTT said:
looking good - but what case is that? its nice, simple and plenty of room for extra cooling black! i wouldnt mind having on of those cases myself

I think it's a Raidmax case. I bought it like 3-4 years ago. I remember that is was very inexpensive. I'm fairly certain that I purchased it at TigerDirect.

jtleon · Oct 3, 2007

3M makes a good low tack tape....

MrPr3f3ct said:
I have completed painting the drive bay covers. Now it's time to move on to the side panels. I masked off both side panels and used a template to apply a flame pattern to the masked panels. As before, I am sketching the pattern with a pen and cutting the masking tape with an X-Acto knife. I am using the least amount of pressure on the knife when cutting, as I don't want to actually score the existing paint. I have already noticed some of the original paint pulling up when I remove the masking tape. I guess we'll see how it all turns out. I think as long as I am careful when removing the tape, I should be alright.

Any local hardware store should have the low tack tape, which is much easier to cut with the exacto.

Regards,
jtleon

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 3, 2007

jtleon said:
Any local hardware store should have the low tack tape, which is much easier to cut with the exacto.

Regards,
jtleon

Thanx for the tip. I'll have to pick some up for my next mod. As you can see, I'm already a bit committed with the current masking tape. :eek:

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 4, 2007

Uuugghhhh.... Well, THAT Was Stupid.

The side panels didn't turn out as planned. In my haste, I neglected to prepare the surfaces that were to be painted. I think I was hoping that the matte finish was coarse enough for the new paint to adhere to, but really, I was just in a hurry and forgot to do it. :banghead:

When I peeled back the mask, I was presented with probably the crappiest looking flame job EVER. I'll post some pics a bit later when I can bring myself to actually look at it long enough to take a snapshot or two. :cry:

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 4, 2007

Catastrophic Paint Pics....

Well, I finally swallowed my pride and took a few snapshots of the mess I made. Let this be a lesson to any of you thinking about doing some custom paint. Always prep the surface! (Yeah, that's it, I screwed up the paint on purpose to show people what not to do. Sure... Whatever.) Now, I need to strip the paint from the side panels and start fresh. Live and learn. Right?

jtleon · Oct 4, 2007

The Flames look GREAT!!!!

MrPr3f3ct said:
Well, I finally swallowed my pride and took a few snapshots of the mess I made. Let this be a lesson to any of you thinking about doing some custom paint. Always prep the surface! (Yeah, that's it, I screwed up the paint on purpose to show people what not to do. Sure... Whatever.) Now, I need to strip the paint from the side panels and start fresh. Live and learn. Right?

Those look great....got that whole DISTRESSED look going....GREAT JOB!!!
:rockout:

Regards,
jtleon

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 4, 2007

jtleon said:
Those look great....got that whole DISTRESSED look going....GREAT JOB!!!

Regards,
jtleon

Nice point, but not really the effect I was going for there. I apperciate the feedback though.....

Flamingsupernova · Oct 7, 2007

It would be great to see the finished job. That colour looks more yellow than green, hehehe.

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 9, 2007

Hmmm...

Upon closer inspection of the crappy paint job, it seems that I merely jumped the gun on the removal of the masking tape. The paint did indeed adhere to the matte finish just fine, it just needed time to dry properly. So, here's the plan. I'm going to cover the side panels and mask off the flames again. This time I will cut the pattern just a smidge wider (in printing, this is called a "spread") than the original. That way the new paint will completely cover the old. I will post an update in a day or three and let you know how it all turns out. :cool:

oily_17 · Oct 9, 2007

Looking good,more than I dare to do on my case.

If your any good with an airbrush,check these out.

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9195

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tp_IPxJ4POU

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 10, 2007

The New Mask

I have taped and traced the new thicker flames on the side panels. I am planning on cutting the mask tonight. That is, if I can find the time. Portal seems to have made me it's bitch. It's so much fun, I just can't seem to stop playing it for any length of time. The only reason I made as much progress as I have on the mod is because I'm stumped on level 18. :banghead:

Here's some pics of the side panels.

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 11, 2007

New paint!!!

I made some progress on the mod today. I finished Portal last night so I had some down-time before jumping into Episode 2. Of course, a bunch of the above-mentioned down-time was eaten up by searching for a usable link to grab the COD 4 Demo and pulling down the Timeshift Demo. (Damn those developers, releasing so many nuggets of gaming goodness all at once like that...) :wtf:

In between, I somehow found the time to cut the new mask on the side panels and apply some paint to them.

I've found trying to cut an accurate line while only being able to use one eye is damned difficult. It seemed to take forever to cut the flames out. At any rate, it got done, the paint is drying as I type and I should have an update and some pics some time tomorrow. (Actually it's looking more like a weekend update as it is raining here and paint doesn't dry very well in such humid conditions... Damn New England weather...) :shadedshu

Flamingsupernova · Oct 15, 2007

hooray, you;ve done such an excellent job, i want to do that to my current case, you seem to really be enjoying it.

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 16, 2007

Finally Dry

Well, the paint was about as dry as it was going to get here. I peeled back the paint and found that a small amount of the black paint had pulled up with the tape. I was a bit despondant about the fact that this project wasn't going the way that I wanted it to. I do, however, have a solution. I went out to the local arts & crafts store and bought a couple of pink paint pens. My plan is to outline the green flames with the pink paint. I have outlined one of the flames. The paint isn't as opaque as I would have liked and I will have to apply at least two coats of outline paint but, I've found that little problems like this are par for the course. Not to mention, every problem should be considered a learning experience. So, with some patience and a steady hand the flames should come out fairly well. I will post some new pics in a day or two. (Probably more like two or three as I have an appointment in the big city tomorrow to see my eye specialist. Hopefully the prognosis is good and we can schedule a fitting for a suitable temporary lens replacement.)

wtf8269 · Oct 16, 2007

Next time stick the tape on your shirt a couple of times first so the tape loses some of it's adhesive, but not so much that it doesn't hold on anymore.

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 17, 2007

The Pink Outline

I have a couple of pics to present today. The progress on the side panels is going fairly well. I started on the right case panel. I figured I'd practice on this panel because this panel faces the wall in the PC's final resting place. That being the case, I can make my mistakes on the practice panel and nobody will see it. Keep in mind, these are progress pics and I will be fine-tuning the outline with a "Very Fine" tipped paint pen. You can sort of see the results of the fine tip on the ends of the flames.

MrPr3f3ct · Oct 18, 2007

Outline v1.1

I decided that I wasn't happy with the outline. It just didn't seem to "pop". When you looked at the flames, the pink seemed to wash out. So, as a remedy, I have doubled the thickness of the outline... ...and I'm still not happy. The next step, I believe, is to seperate the green from the pink. Maybe a fine point black paint pen? Attached are some progress pics with the double thickness pink. Maybe a little constructive critisism from the community?

joinmeindeath417 · Oct 18, 2007

you should learn to airbrush its fun and it can do wonders as far as depth goes for a good look..i mean honestly you cant make that pain really look any better its always going to look flat get an airbrush!!

Processor	AMD FX-60 2.61GHz Dual Core OC'd to 2.94 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Cooling	CPU - Zalman 7000B Cu LED
Memory	2.5 GB PC3200
Video Card(s)	BFG 8800 GT OC 512MB
Storage	Yeah I got one or two... Nothin' special
Display(s)	MAG 22" Widescreen LCD
Case	CM Stacker 830
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Power Supply	Antec Tru-Power Quattro 850
Software	Win XP Pro

Processor	Q6600 G0 @ 3.2Ghz
Motherboard	Asus p5k-Premium/Black Pearl
Cooling	Luna Block, 240mm rad
Memory	Patriot Extreme PC2-6400 2x2GB
Video Card(s)	Saphire 5850 1GB
Storage	60GB SSD + 2x500GB/1TB/2TB
Display(s)	Samsung 226BW and 50" Panasonic S2
Case	Silverstone TJ-09
Audio Device(s)	X-fi Prelude
Power Supply	Enermax Galaxy Dxx 850watt
Software	Windows7 32Bit
Benchmark Scores	Super Pi 1M 14.333

Processor	AMD FX-60 2.61GHz Dual Core OC'd to 2.94 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Cooling	CPU - Zalman 7000B Cu LED
Memory	2.5 GB PC3200
Video Card(s)	BFG 8800 GT OC 512MB
Storage	Yeah I got one or two... Nothin' special
Display(s)	MAG 22" Widescreen LCD
Case	CM Stacker 830
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Power Supply	Antec Tru-Power Quattro 850
Software	Win XP Pro

Processor	AMD FX-60 2.61GHz Dual Core OC'd to 2.94 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Cooling	CPU - Zalman 7000B Cu LED
Memory	2.5 GB PC3200
Video Card(s)	BFG 8800 GT OC 512MB
Storage	Yeah I got one or two... Nothin' special
Display(s)	MAG 22" Widescreen LCD
Case	CM Stacker 830
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Power Supply	Antec Tru-Power Quattro 850
Software	Win XP Pro

Processor	Q6600 G0 @ 3.2Ghz
Motherboard	Asus p5k-Premium/Black Pearl
Cooling	Luna Block, 240mm rad
Memory	Patriot Extreme PC2-6400 2x2GB
Video Card(s)	Saphire 5850 1GB
Storage	60GB SSD + 2x500GB/1TB/2TB
Display(s)	Samsung 226BW and 50" Panasonic S2
Case	Silverstone TJ-09
Audio Device(s)	X-fi Prelude
Power Supply	Enermax Galaxy Dxx 850watt
Software	Windows7 32Bit
Benchmark Scores	Super Pi 1M 14.333

System Name	Vintage
Processor	i7 - 3770K @ Stock
Cooling	Scythe Zipang II
Memory	2x4GB Crucial DDR3
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX970
Storage	M4 124GB SSD// WD Black 640GB// WD Black 1TB//Samsung F3 1.5TB
Display(s)	Samsung SM223BW 21.6"
Case	Generic
Power Supply	Corsair HX 520W
Software	Windows 7

System Name	Home/Work/Home
Processor	Dual Xeon 5570 / Core i5-2.6Ghz / Dell Vostro 410 Xeon L5430
Motherboard	Lenovo D20 / Dell 4110 / Vostro 410 G33 based
Cooling	stock / stock / stock
Memory	12Gb / 4Gb / 4Gb
Video Card(s)	9800GT 512 / HD3000 / 9800GT 512 PCIE
Storage	Geez Louise - a whole bunch !
Display(s)	CRT Phillips Brilliance 204P
Case	EATX / Laptop / Glorious Dell Vostro 410
Audio Device(s)	stock / stock / stock
Power Supply	stock / stock / stock
Mouse	Zowie, is there another?
Keyboard	Awesome Dell Natural (by Microsoft)
Software	W2K3 Svr / W2K3 Svr
Benchmark Scores	Alot / not so much / Working on it

Processor	Intel Q6600 @ 2.66 gHz Stock Cooler
Motherboard	ASUS STRIKER II 780i
Cooling	4x 120mm Fans, Stock CPU HSF
Memory	Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz 4-4-4-12
Video Card(s)	INNO 3D 8800GT 600/900/1500
Storage	2x SATA-300 320gb WD 16mb HDD's in RAID 0
Display(s)	ASUS VKU 222 22" Widescreen w/ 1.3 MP Webcam
Case	Antec P182 Gaming Case
Audio Device(s)	SupremeFX II HD Audio - PCI-e 1x
Power Supply	Antec NeoHe 650w Modular
Software	Windows XP Pro SP3
Benchmark Scores	11,676 on 3DMARK 06

Processor	Q9550 @3.8
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Extreme
Cooling	Custom water cooling
Memory	4GB Patriot Viper DDR3 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	2x HD4870 512MB
Storage	2x 500GB
Display(s)	3x LG L226WTQ 22" Widescreen LCD
Case	Modded TJ07
Audio Device(s)	On board
Power Supply	PC P&C Silencer 750
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate

System Name	Onus
Processor	E8500 @ 3.95ghz ~1.25v
Motherboard	ASUS P5E Deluxe
Cooling	Scythe Orochi cpu, 5x 120mm Zalman red LED case fans, stock GPU coolers
Memory	8gb (4x2gb) G.Skill PC8000 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	2x ASUS 3870x2s
Storage	4x160gb RAID 0 Main, 2x 500gb RAID 0 media storage.
Display(s)	LG W2600H
Case	Lian Li PC-A70B, painted black and other modded aspects :)
Audio Device(s)	HT Omega Striker. Klipsch RF-3II fronts, Yamaha NS-A222 rears, Klipsch RC-3II center, Klipsch SUB12
Power Supply	Corsair CMPSU-750TX
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64, lots of games, photoshop n stuff.

System Name	SINNAH
Processor	AMD Phenom II x4 955 3.8ghz AIR
Motherboard	ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
Cooling	3 fans of MADNESS
Memory	4GB ADATA XPG DDR3 1600G
Video Card(s)	ATI 4890 1GB GDDR5 memory
Storage	500gb SATAII
Display(s)	23" 1080p Acer H233Hbmid
Case	Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	OCZ StealthXStream / 600W / Active PFC
Software	Windows 7 Professional 64bit

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