[CiP] Charge!

[FrenkieNL]

[CiP] Charge!

New year, New mod.

This time I am building one of the largest mods after my C&C mod. Yet another one with

a Half-Life 2 theme. A lot of mods in this theme-genre are allready made, so I needed to

make something original and unique. In the game we see our main character Gordon

Freeman loading up his powersuit on loading stations throughout the game. So I am

building one of those loading stations as a mod, and I call it Charge!.

I did a lot of homework on this mod, also made a lot of screenshots in the game. After

that I used my just finished CAD knowledge to make a scale drawing of the actual mod.

This way I could use my newly obtained knowledge to a good purpose!

The unit in the game is pretty slim and tall. The first redundant case I got from one of my

clanmates (Thanx Enigma) was not only very heavy, but also in the wrong proportions.

After extensive research I had to admit there was not one case that came close to my

objective. But then Coolermaster came to the rescue: Why not use 2 (two) Coolermaster

Elite 340 cases ? It was so close to the proportions I needed, it was uncanny Thanx

Coolermaster !

Actually using two cases was another lucky strike: I need to mod the top case very

extensively (read: tear it apart ). Why? Because I got it in my head to make the

centerpiece of the Half-Life 2 model also the centerpiece of the computer: The heart of

the CPU will be the heart of the mod. And whats in my head, need to be done:

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam.

to be continued....

[FrenkieNL]

As you can see, the Elite case on top will be severely gutted. The 5,25" bays, the 3,5" bays and the PSU bay all had to go, to

make room for the new mobo position. The I/O shield at the rear is now a lot higher and a lot deeper inside the case. That’s

gonna be fun fixing that

First thing is to establish a solid point for the mobo to hang on. I drilled the rivets out of the original reinforcement bar, and

reattached it again in the new position.

The surrounding of the backshield also has to move quite a bit.

Measurements have to be spot on.

Transferring them to the rear.

There, the first piece is out.

This is how the rear looks now.

Artist impression of the final read view.

[PaPang]

My that is humongeous (gigantic)! Keep up the good work Frenkie, I feel for the poor case, haha

Cheers and Saludos

[FrenkieNL]

Thanx man !

A very important part of this mod is the CPU cooler.

And I found the ideal cooler at Thermaltake:

The ThermalTake SpinQT VT.

It is HUGE !

After I fastened the mobo tightly, I mounted the SpinQT.

It is still inside the case, but not much

This plate of dark acrylic glass is the base from which I am working the mod, also gives me an ideal opportunity to “play†with light and dark where necessary.

Marking the position of the center hole was easy…

But unfortunately I was rushing this a bit too much and made a boo-boo......

[FrenkieNL]

In the bottom case I will store the HDD’s and so on, but First I need a connecting hole for cables and such.

Had to remove the bottom HDD and DVD bracket as well, because they were right in front of my new hole.

This is the bottom of the top case

Let’s dremel the World !

To keep enough sturdiness, I dremeled just beside the imbedded profile.

When I placed the cases on each other….

I noticed that the plastic front was overlapping too much, so I dremeled that also nice and flat.

After this I was able to duplicate the hole in the case below..

[FrenkieNL]

I mounted both cases on top of each other with construction kit.

Next step: the front of the base.

First I'm mounting the sidepanels to both Elite cases.

These will form the base for the new front.

Here they are screwed on, and still untouched.

Marking where the front will come.

This time I didnt use my beloved Vikurene plate but FOREX aka hardfoam plate.

It is a lot lighter then Vikurene, but still sturdy and easy to cut.

First I layed out my main 'blueprint'.

Tried to make use of the plate as efficient as possible.

Cut the parts out with an aluminium lineaal and a fresh new scalple blade.

One of the "crown" parts in paper.

And the same part in Forex.

If I dont cut all the way through the plastic I can bend it a bit.

Just to give a glimpse with the Forex parts.

Started cutting it up, never afraid of cutting too little

These parts wil support the new frontpanel, but on some place I need to get deeper inside the case.

Everything in between is nice, smooth and semi-transparant.

Mounted them again, deburred and ready for a layer of construction kit.

In the top right corner I used a little piece of the original sidepanel and stuck it to the back of the new frontpanel.

All is now mounted with heavyduty construction kit. Now it needs to dry thoroughly.

[asgneto]

Frankie, your project is promising great innovations ...

I'm watching for updates.

[FrenkieNL]

Thanks man, much appriciated !

After is settled, the panel now looks like this: Front.

And the back. Oh and that little cut I made, after I finished you wont see anything of it anymore. Trust me.

Mounted on the cases.

There you go, now use the 'blueprint' again for the markings.

To give the case much clearer 3D dimensions, I am using this foamplate to enhance the frontpanels.

This foamplate is almost 20 mm thick. (about 5/6 inch ?)

Let me show you a specific piece why I use this foam: by using it I can now bend the Forex plates much further back then otherwise.

These three pieces make up the most protruding parts of the front

Now it need to dry thouroughly again before the next step.

(seems like most of my modding time is waiting for kit to dry )

[Papangcun]

Aha Frenkie, you have a jump start on all of us, but I figured that you were preparing for the contest (how did you know back then? ). Nice moves with the acrylic and the sponge. Something else learned.

Cheers and Saludos

[FrenkieNL]

Ola my mexican friend. Come esta ?

Yeahm i was preparing way ahead allready, but waited until Jan 01 to come out, in case competition rules prohibit 2010 mods. As before, I have the whole mod allready in my head, now I need to let the hands do the actual manufactering. Had enough time to gather lots of goodies and knickknacks to make this mod just as I like it to be. Some weird things also: since I chose for the Thermaltake CPU cooler, because it was THE prop to use in this mod, you could say that this mod can't use watercooling. Well, I disagree. If I want to use both, I will. Why ? Because I can ! hahahahaha Catch you later and good luck !