Project SHIELD

Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta - SHIELD.

The intro that gets my blood flowing and my arse on the edge of my seat. The Shield make there way to dominate their oponents.

My first ever mod named after my favourite faction in professional wrestling today. Eyes down, calm, collected dressed in black tactical gear. Not the biggest or most skilled in the WWE but get the job done.

This mod is based inside an Alienware Area 51 case which I have wanted since the year Rome: Total War was released. I have been fortunate enough to pick one up from eBay for £51 and its time to bring this beast back to modern times.

First stop is to strip it completely and get it cleaned up, some of the dust in this is brown and hairy (like a little alien itself)!. I also needed to see what Ive got to work with as Ive got matt black PlastiDip on its way, it wouldnt be SHIELD without stealth black!

It should be done first but since I dont know how I want the case cut for watercooling yet I'm going ahead and spraying it first because Im impatient and cant wait.


Bit nasty


Da heck is that growing?


The naked panel with no Alienware panels


One of twenty LED's in this!


Some custom PCB for LED's?


The face is off













Thats it for now. I want your thoughts and ideas of what you would do to this case (Dont say kill it lol).

The Shield
Their entrance at Tribute to the Troops

subbed!

you'll need to do some work on the cooling first, maybe roof?

barnsley said:

subbed!

you'll need to do some work on the cooling first, maybe roof?

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Yeah the cooling isnt great you only have two 120mm and an 80 on the drive cage pulling air in through the eye. Apparently a company called Precision would be able to cut a roof in but I wouldnt be proud if I paid professional metal workers to do it.

I will take a picture of the rear panel, there is next to no room for cables. Need to put my thinking cap on!

id keep the LEDS but scrap those fans unless they quiet enough, nothing wrong with taking a case you like and making it work and be your own

remember300 said:

id keep the LEDS but scrap those fans unless they quiet enough, nothing wrong with taking a case you like and making it work and be your own

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Yeah those fans are getting binned. Probably noisy and not great performers. Not sure what fans or which colour LED's I will use yet. If I remember right this is set to blue LED's but you must be able to change them in software (dont know if it will work in Win 7/8.1 though). Crazy amount of LED's in this.

I love the case but it needs bringing back to modern times, better cooling and we cant have that bare metal inside either.

Are you going to make a side panel window?

Will have to correct you. It's Lima not Lema. Semper Fi !

Oooooh you said Plasti-dip and cutting so I'm subbed! :lol: Moar!!

subbed

I don't think I have seen anyone modding an alienware case as of yet, so you can count me in on this one

I'm hoping to cut out a window yeah. I'm just not sure how yet, I don't want it to be 'normal' shaped but I have to be careful to not make it look like an eyebrow. It will end up looking like The Rocks eyebrow rather than the mean Shield haha.

I'm feeling the pressure on this, I've only seen one Alienware mod and I know you lot are counting on something nice. Got to get this right.

I also want a custom floor making, that PCB screws into the floor which I don't want on show, a custom floor over it would be nice and maybe seat the SSD's on top of it, sort of like the NZXT H440...but sexier!

Edit: Ooo damn I spelt Lima wrong, cheers for pointing it out!

I love how when you take all the fancy plastic panels off you can clearly see that it's just an outdated (chieftec?) case

Gotta admit though, something about the Alienware cases has always appealed to me. Maybe it's that solid mix of agressive looks and clean aesthetic. Will follow this one!

Feronix said:

I love how when you take all the fancy plastic panels off you can clearly see that it's just an outdated (chieftec?) case

Gotta admit though, something about the Alienware cases has always appealed to me. Maybe it's that solid mix of agressive looks and clean aesthetic. Will follow this one!

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I did wonder what case it was underneath, just with the holes cut in place to fit the Alienware exterior. Aye, to be honest the case looks even more aggressive in real life, I'll try to capture them in pictures because the usual pictures don't do it justice.

I'm going to try and film some processes of this mod as well, in 4K for all you lot with 4K monitors.

Just been cleaning off all the sticky marks left behind on the case from cable ties. Just awaiting PlastiDip now.

Resident fapper watches a lot of wrestling.....

tinytomlogan said:

Resident fapper watches a lot of wrestling.....

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This is supposed to be a boob free zone Tom.

no such thing!
and isopropyl alcohol would be good to clear those sticky bits.
and for the window why not make it alien shaped thats unique.

Work starts Monday morning.

Hmm I dont know. What I was thinking but to advanced for me was I want Project Shield on the side panel, be cool if I could do it in red predator style marks (you know were they dissapear as a bomb timer)?

I'd go for a simple window shape to go with the stealth theme. What about the shape of the case itself, seen from the side?

Feronix said:

I'd go for a simple window shape to go with the stealth theme. What about the shape of the case itself, seen from the side?

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Maybe, I'll need to have a think.

Just having a brew then I'll make a start on PlastiDipping.

Edit: IT'S DONE! Just sat down now at 11:30. Looks great, just letting it dry now. I'll upload pics later.

ShaunB-91 said:

Maybe, I'll need to have a think.

Just having a brew then I'll make a start on PlastiDipping.

Edit: IT'S DONE! Just sat down now at 11:30. Looks great, just letting it dry now. I'll upload pics later.

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I love how plastidip starts off looking awful but a few coats later it looks fantastic :').