Project Sulaco

[tobyak]

Hello All

So, im new here this will be my first of hopefully many project logs,
in the first few posts ile outline the project and whati hope to end up with

Including my inspiration, how im going to get the job done (were talking a low enough budget to make a victorian family cringe)

And hopefully gather some interest for tips, help and some much needed support

I have a background in design and a lot of plastic scratch building from an addiction to 40k in my youth. As i lack a lot of the serious tools i will be coming up with some interesting ways round common problems

By the end of this i shall be hence forth known as "Dremel Boy" or if the cutting wheel slips "The 9 finger Noob"

So watch this space for what could be either an epic tryumph or epic fail... but hell either way should be interesting

First up some of the sources or inspiration, I suspect most can have a good guess from the project name


The good Old USS Sulaco, Marine carrier ship from Aliens




The Atmosphere processors may best reflect the feel, its heavy industry with big lines and chunky details

The case i am going to build on to is the NZXT Tempest EVO


Chunky Styling is allready a feature so it should be a superb platform to build on to

So were going with chunky industrial lines and a plated metal look to it, fan grills currently in design phase (OMG there huge) pics soon


SO why choose an NZXT Tempest evo?

Well lets look at its attributes

For a midtower this is huge.. and that's with a capital HU!
Steel Chassis, sire its not light but it sure as hell can take punishment and support some seriously heavy gear

And of course every ones concern.... cooling... although it has none of the trappings of 20mm fans it sports plenty in the 120mm to 140mm range. for me (A die hard air cooler)
it is perfect, but also sports 5 water-cooling grommets
Did i mention the case was big???
And on a final note... the case is big lol

Side on


Large tinted window and 120m fan with filter. A slight departure from most windows as it is mounted outside the case sitting proud of the side panel, it really helps to keel the case symetrical whilst also gaining a slight amount of extra clearance for the larger aircoolers out there

Inside

Well we are back to "ITS HUGE" no more bleeding fingers from case edges for me, i can in stall my rig in this and use it as a spare room for guests, its clutter free and the HDD racks are tool less and can be removed completly for GFX card space or for controlers to be hidden away behind the front support


Top

Recessed ports prevent them getting kicked or knocked... we all know the pain of hearing a crunch leaning over our pc and viewing the horror of a USB plus pointing 45deg out of the port, well break your ports no longer... and the area infrobt makes a handy dandy place to keep memory cards (well for me anyway)


It has great strong lines and a sharp clean shape, its huge panels leave plenty of space to mod in to/ on to/ over or through, its such a huge case with so many possabilities offered my its strong frame and sheer size that it was a huge headache picking a theme to use

I have been an NZXT fan for years, right back to the LEXA, and we are talking pre blackline edition

So without further boring you all to death (condolences to those who died of bordom reading)

Project Sulaco............

[tobyak]

To compliment my fans for this build (ENRMAX Apolish Vegas blue) I wil be making my own custom grill/intakes


First mock up of the front grills, all hand made form plasticard, sorry no work pics for these at this stage in the build i had not picked up a decent camera



Ahh plasticard my new BFF



All constructed in .5mm plasticard, slightly smaller then you would expect for a 120mm intake

[tobyak]

Some test fitting of some early stage additions, second of the mk1 custom intakes and some fleshing out of the panel layout

Intakes made from hand cast polyester resin in a Silicone RTV mould made form the plasticard master, all other components 3mm plasticard






Finishes intake fresh out of the mould, at this stage they are very brittle, and need to cure for several days, maybe even a month to be on the safe side



Twin mk1 intakes and cutouts for Silverstone media panel, and blue ray drive, layed out to test fitting and space on the panel


And yes i know the intake flanges are not perfectly symetrical.... i have a cunning plan for that later

NOTE, allways use a canister filter mask when working with polyester resin... i did not, took 3 days before i stopped seeing double

[tobyak]

Had some spare time today between work and fending the kids of with a dremel os have doen the prelimiary design of the side panel for Project Sulaco. Very Industrial with big intakes, think of it as a cross between an indulstrial cooling system and an escape/airlock

Prelim sketch (no laughing it was quick lol)


First stage, wire frames and checking the size works for styling
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Materials :

• Window 7.5mm Smoked Acrylic
  
• Frame/Bezel hand cast polyester resin
  
• Banding 5mm alu
  
• Panel 1.5mm alu (building on factory side panel)
  
• Handles Billet case handles from MNPCtech
  
• Intakes Overkill Rings from MNPCtech
  

Renders of the window (not true colour)




Still a lot more design to do before i can start some serious fabrication

[tobyak]

Here is a few more shots of some elements that are driving the design

Sulaco inner airlock


Exterior airolock of the Nostromo


Why have a note on the OUTSIDE of the airlock warning against explosive bolts... if you are outside to be reading that then the bolts are the least of your worries

I am hoping to incorporate some of these details in to the finished design, perhaps not to clean and clinical as in the Sulaco's inner airlock but cretainly with the same sturdy buil

[tobyak]

Next up, giving it that deep set duct that i so wanted to look lik an air con or ventilation unit

For this I had to use several strips and glue then end to end to get the length strip i needed, left to dry for 48hours, a huge amount of time to dry poly ut as the glued join measured 20mm X 0.5mm it needed to be solid




Once the epoxy on the reverse has set i can go ahead and poly the join between the edge of the duct and the top sheet, i have allowed some extra material to remove later, I am sure all of us would rather need to remove more rather then find we had not removed enough

[tobyak]

WOW hot day, wish i was outside but needs must, i simply haft to get these flanges fixed. The flanges on the corners were not exactly symetrical so i had the idea to raise the whole section and build a fake box on top of them to the exact shape i wanted, once drawn up and measured the gluing was easy, BUT they are only attached by there ends until i can get the side pieces put together

[tobyak]

Small update today... well for this morning, may be more later

Attached the flange sides, the beauty of this is you dont need to havean exact shape, you use the join to guide your cut



Finished with all flange sides added ready for first coat, as i am using plasticard for the main construction i am using a VERY thick application of satin PlastiKote clear over a matt black, not for the final finish but to provide me with a hard shell to work on top of

[tobyak]

Whilst i wait for my joints to dry ive taken some spare time to make the replacement NZXT logo and AMD logo

AMD logo done, a lot less tricky then i expected



NZXT logo almost sorted, most of the letters turned out fine although i am on the 16th letter X


All letters finished with a little plinth to place on


DONE yay!!!!


And yes those letters are 13mm high

[tobyak]

Time to start working on the mould for the window surround, i willl be using a master blank to provide the shape for the finished surround, and will be casting the mould from silicone RTV

or a lubricated alu box (setting resin can get up to 80C and will melt plastic)

Final produce till be cast in Polyester resin



Render of the Bezel i wil be making, caution will be the key here as the polyester resin can be brittle in the cross section i will be working in
[IMG]http://i555.photobucket.com/albums/jj461/tobyak/bezel.jpg[/I