Project Sulaco

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............​

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

Ahh plasticard my new BFF

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

Prelim sketch (no laughing it was quick lol)



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

Renders of the window (not true colour)

Sulaco inner airlock[/B]



Exterior airolock of the Nostromo

First things first, test fitting



However soon a problem arises, IE the flanges on the surrounds are not symetrical, a minor disaster but not the end of the world. i have a cunning plan.....

First up, covering up that nasty gap between the 2 intakes with a fresh sheet of plasticard, set i place with 2 part epoxy



Then i needed to begin forming it to the original lines of the intakes, without some better tools then i have its time to make use of the sturdy kraft knife and some precision files, making lots and lots of incise cuts to edge my war closer to the main form, the feathering this creates also makees the final cut off much easier





3 Hours later

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





​

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

My two best friends polycement and a scalpel



Blank finished with all the reinforcing in place, and poly is set



Lets break out the sander.... MORE POWER!!!!

Crisp, clean.... and erm.... dusty





Brushed off the dust and debris and glued the blank to the mould floor



Lots of spare plasticard cut in to strips to form the mould wall



Mould all done all ready for the RTV to go in

Everything you need to make the mould

Fill your mould with rice until you have the blank covered to a depth that you feel you want for mould



Pour off the spare rice and empty the mould in to your mixing vessel, then mark the level the rice comes to as your "max fill" level

Place your mixing vessel on some weighing scales and make sure you zero the reading... pour in the Silicone to the fill line.... make a note of the weight





As this is a 1-10 mix catalyst you need 1/10 (BY WEIGHT) so from the note you made on the scales work out a tenth and pour in the catalyst until you reach that weight



NOTE - The catalyst that comes with this brand of RTV is clear, i have tinted it with silicone dye for photographic use and to better illustrate a good mixture







And now we are ready to pour, do it slowly and try to avoid moving the pour stream around to much in the early stage as you will trap air bubbles





Pouring done, let it settle and check after an hour to see if the surface if free of bubbles, if it is not pop them, remember this will become the bottom of the finished mould and must be perfectly flat





​

Time to demould

One of the good ways to see if your silicone is ready to remove from the mould is to look at the surface it will lok tight and will have lost most of the shine it had as a liquid



Another popular but less scientific method would be "prod it a bit"

As with most materials set with a catalyst the thicker areas set first so to be 100% sure that it has set pull away one side of the mould to release the seal if its to soft push the side back and wait another 3 hours



Start taking the sides off our mold, NEVER try to take it out like a jelly mould, the suction from the material will more then likely destroy your blank and mould block before it becomes free



Starting at one edge peel the mould off the blank, this way you break the suction as you go



TADAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Little bit of flashing around the mould edges, very easy to trim off

Here we see the mouse sander in its natural habitat, about to pounce on this basking bezel piece



10 mins and a lot of swearing later (sanded my finger)





30mins more and even more swearing (to annoy the neighbours)





Ready to do the fine sanding ready to box up doe painting later

First up, lets get this side taken apart





Tabs off, lets pop the window out



I will be using 1.5inch cutting discs from MNPCtech



Measuring up the new window bezel and making sure my cut lines are marked well inside the cut.... CUTTING YAY







Deburring



Well that took ages lol, but the results are exactly what i need

I will be using a rough sanding pad for this as i have a lot of material to remove



Whoops



Ahh there fixed, ther was never a huge chunk taken out of the edge... was there *swings hypnotists watch*

[/C​

SUPPLIES



After mugging my deliveryman and fighting my way in to the packing box (cudos on the secure packing)

Lets see now we have.......

The HALE90 (850watt)





Sentry LXE



Blue LED lighting kits

Unboxing the PSU, what's in the box... well ok a PSU... i ment what else





Nice to see a total lack of the typical polystyrene in favour for the non crumbely packing.

Everything in perfect condition

The PSU its self, NZXT have gone for white on the HALE90 series, with the recessed grill and 140mm fan the looks are pretty striking, and of course it IS modular









Plenty of modular cables provided, all have good quality connectors, and with the all black sheathing have a nice uniform look. and all kept safe in a little carry case







The main loom has plenty of connectors all sleeved in black braid





On to the Sentry LXE fan control

Again we have the same foam packing to keep it all safe, no part of the LXEs main unit was touching the box it was suspended in the foam for max protection, so many times have i seen components resting on cardboard after removing the cover package





Main unit is very rugged 5mm alu face plate



sadly i could not get a shot of the screen (camera flare central)

Main PCI, Connectors a plenty here with power, 5 3pin PWM fan connectors and 5 temp probe connectors





They have even included EXTRA temp probes just incase



Also included, screws for pci mount, 8 pin pci plate to control lead, pads to affix the probes and a back up battery

Last up the Blue LED strings, nice little blister pack, in the case of components like these i often see way to much in the way of packaging





In the box we have pci plate, power lead and the string its self, the one pictured is the BLUE 100CM edition, 200CM is available



On the rear plate we have a slider for 3 brightness selections and ofcourse the On/Off switch

BUSY BUSY BUSY, finialy has a chance to get a good run up putting the side pane together and making sure it all fits before final sending and painting

Electrical tape, the modders friend



This was a nightmare to get all the components in place to drill through what was technicialy a sandwich of cast polyester, steel and acrylic

More drilling.. jeez......



Making sure the holes line up for bolting



This could have been a lot easier and faster but with limited resources one hast to think out of the box

Test fitting the bezel



The gaps are intentional, i will be covering them with brushes alu to add a little accent

Tapping the holes for the fan/grill assembly



MNPCtech 120mm overkill grills, Bill Owen over at MNPCtech is making 2 140mm versions of these for me for the top



MORE DRILLING



MORE, MORE DRILLING.......



UUUU thats rough



Most of the forming done, dremel+lap sanding wheel+awesome



Main door fab finished, plenty of adjusting to come but thats the BIG fab done