sfelock
New member
Well hello there!
First off I want to say a huge THANK YOU to TTL and OC3D for selecting me as 1 of 5 people to participate in the Fractal Modding competition. http://forum.overclock3d.net/showpost.php?p=866787&postcount=30
My inspiration for this build came from work. I am a firefighter and absolutely LOVE my job, it's my life. So I started thinking, "How can I make this build firefighter themed and still keep it within my overall colour scheme?" That's when I decided the exterior of the case would resemble the exterior of a fire truck. Now, you're probably thinking fire trucks are only red, right? Wrong, fire trucks are actually all different colors, so I decided mine was going to be white, with blue striping.
Then I decided I would take the back of the case, the part no-one ever usually see, and paint it to resemble the back of a fire truck with chevrons in the trucks colour scheme. If you don't know what chevrons are, here's an example:
with all that inspiration, I went to sketchup for a render of the paint. Before the render police come to arrest me, the case featured is not a Define S but a Define R4. I'm no good with building replica renders and frankly was only using it for the paint scheme.
Once the parts arrived I dove right in! Man this case is nice, plenty of room to build, nice clean design, sturdy and heavy (doesn't feel chincy). In fact, every component I received felt oddly heavy for what they were...maybe I am just used to working with cheap hardware? Never the less, I can't wait to start assembling everything!
There was a slight change of plans from the original build plan. Due to some strange legal issues, (which i researched and they certainly are a bit strange) they were unable to ship the Kelvin S24 to me because, well, 'Murica LOL. But never the less I haven't given up water cooling of some sort in this build, I'm just not sure where I am going with it just yet.
Call me impatient, but I worked opposite of most. When the case arrived, first thing I did was strip it down to the frame. I wanted to know how hard it would be and what all needed paint and how hard it was going to be to cover the whole thing. Not to mention, the hardware going in this build is coming out of the daily driver PC, so I need to fit hardware when I can afford my PC to be down for a day or 2. (Yes there are standoffs in every hole, don't want to get paint in the holes.)
Transplant List:
Intel i5 4690k
AsRock Z97 PRO4
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2133mHz 2x4GB
XFX Radeon HD6970 x2
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
HDD x2 500GB
Undecided
CPU Cooling
So stay tuned for more updates, I am awaiting a package containing some stuff I had ordered, then the modding will be on. I have ordered acrylic for the SSD mount but something happened and they lost the whole order, refunded my money, so now I must re-order that...love the mail system sometimes!
UPDATE:
Started painting some brackets, toying around matching my 3rd sleeving color.
Only to find that it is nearly impossible. With the local hardware store carrying this as the closest color match.
Also Drilled for some accent LEDs in the front of the case. Used a couple existing holes and widened them, but had to drill a couple as well.
Started painting panels last night.
Takes a mess of white to thoroughly cover the black.
UPDATE:
Doing a little sheet metal work this morning. Waiting on my package of LEDs etc. to arrive so I can test fit the system.
Adding the striping today. Man I LOVE THIS BLUE!!
UPDATE 10/28/15:
Tried a little acrylic bending for the SSD mount.
Also repainted the other drive mounts because I hated the original blue I painted them.
UPDATE 10/29/15:
Spent most of today and a lot of time earlier in the week taping, retaping, and realigning the stripes on the back. Finally I am happy with it and just waiting for the kiddos to go to bed so I can spray a few coats and peel the tape before it sets and I replay my earlier mistake.
UPDATE 11/2/15:
I decided to paint the I/O plates on my graphics cards to match the blue I've put all over the case. They don't look mint just sitting here, but wait until they get installed against the white.
UPDATE 11/8/15:
Ok so I forgot to snap some in progress shots while I was working because I did this at work, but, I took apart and paint led my old H60 to match the rest of my build.
UPDATE 11/12/15:
The new RAM kit showed up. This kit is really going to match the system better than the old red kit. Had to sell some of my old parts to fund it but it was worth it.
Also powered the system up to make sure I didn't kill any components during the tear down and modding of the GPUs and CPU cooler. Also wanted to make sure the power supply, fans, and ram weren't DOA. I must say, I am very pleased overall with how it's turned out.
I am still waiting on the acrylic for the PSU shroud to arrive, Hopefully sometime this week. Then I can bend it, cut some slots for cable routing holes, and mount the SSD mount in place. I had to ditch the bent SSD mount due to clearance issues so I've opt'd for a bolted through style mount that will mount to the top of the PSU shroud, near the front of the case.
First off I want to say a huge THANK YOU to TTL and OC3D for selecting me as 1 of 5 people to participate in the Fractal Modding competition. http://forum.overclock3d.net/showpost.php?p=866787&postcount=30
My inspiration for this build came from work. I am a firefighter and absolutely LOVE my job, it's my life. So I started thinking, "How can I make this build firefighter themed and still keep it within my overall colour scheme?" That's when I decided the exterior of the case would resemble the exterior of a fire truck. Now, you're probably thinking fire trucks are only red, right? Wrong, fire trucks are actually all different colors, so I decided mine was going to be white, with blue striping.
Then I decided I would take the back of the case, the part no-one ever usually see, and paint it to resemble the back of a fire truck with chevrons in the trucks colour scheme. If you don't know what chevrons are, here's an example:
with all that inspiration, I went to sketchup for a render of the paint. Before the render police come to arrest me, the case featured is not a Define S but a Define R4. I'm no good with building replica renders and frankly was only using it for the paint scheme.
Once the parts arrived I dove right in! Man this case is nice, plenty of room to build, nice clean design, sturdy and heavy (doesn't feel chincy). In fact, every component I received felt oddly heavy for what they were...maybe I am just used to working with cheap hardware? Never the less, I can't wait to start assembling everything!
There was a slight change of plans from the original build plan. Due to some strange legal issues, (which i researched and they certainly are a bit strange) they were unable to ship the Kelvin S24 to me because, well, 'Murica LOL. But never the less I haven't given up water cooling of some sort in this build, I'm just not sure where I am going with it just yet.
Call me impatient, but I worked opposite of most. When the case arrived, first thing I did was strip it down to the frame. I wanted to know how hard it would be and what all needed paint and how hard it was going to be to cover the whole thing. Not to mention, the hardware going in this build is coming out of the daily driver PC, so I need to fit hardware when I can afford my PC to be down for a day or 2. (Yes there are standoffs in every hole, don't want to get paint in the holes.)
Transplant List:
Intel i5 4690k
AsRock Z97 PRO4
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2133mHz 2x4GB
XFX Radeon HD6970 x2
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
HDD x2 500GB
Undecided
CPU Cooling
So stay tuned for more updates, I am awaiting a package containing some stuff I had ordered, then the modding will be on. I have ordered acrylic for the SSD mount but something happened and they lost the whole order, refunded my money, so now I must re-order that...love the mail system sometimes!
UPDATE:
Started painting some brackets, toying around matching my 3rd sleeving color.
Only to find that it is nearly impossible. With the local hardware store carrying this as the closest color match.
Also Drilled for some accent LEDs in the front of the case. Used a couple existing holes and widened them, but had to drill a couple as well.
Started painting panels last night.
Takes a mess of white to thoroughly cover the black.
UPDATE:
Doing a little sheet metal work this morning. Waiting on my package of LEDs etc. to arrive so I can test fit the system.
Adding the striping today. Man I LOVE THIS BLUE!!
UPDATE 10/28/15:
Tried a little acrylic bending for the SSD mount.
Also repainted the other drive mounts because I hated the original blue I painted them.
UPDATE 10/29/15:
Spent most of today and a lot of time earlier in the week taping, retaping, and realigning the stripes on the back. Finally I am happy with it and just waiting for the kiddos to go to bed so I can spray a few coats and peel the tape before it sets and I replay my earlier mistake.
UPDATE 11/2/15:
I decided to paint the I/O plates on my graphics cards to match the blue I've put all over the case. They don't look mint just sitting here, but wait until they get installed against the white.
UPDATE 11/8/15:
Ok so I forgot to snap some in progress shots while I was working because I did this at work, but, I took apart and paint led my old H60 to match the rest of my build.
UPDATE 11/12/15:
The new RAM kit showed up. This kit is really going to match the system better than the old red kit. Had to sell some of my old parts to fund it but it was worth it.
Also powered the system up to make sure I didn't kill any components during the tear down and modding of the GPUs and CPU cooler. Also wanted to make sure the power supply, fans, and ram weren't DOA. I must say, I am very pleased overall with how it's turned out.
I am still waiting on the acrylic for the PSU shroud to arrive, Hopefully sometime this week. Then I can bend it, cut some slots for cable routing holes, and mount the SSD mount in place. I had to ditch the bent SSD mount due to clearance issues so I've opt'd for a bolted through style mount that will mount to the top of the PSU shroud, near the front of the case.
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