Rise of the triad, The 2014 Area 51

[AlienALX]

More work done. I was kinda hoping that the M3 tap I bought would be good enough to tap the holes for the bolts but sadly it didn't want to play ball. The hole ended up so large the bolts just fell through. After a lot of thinking I decided to use a trick that Dan posted about a while back where he was using heat to force in motherboard mounts. You drill a small hole, then heat a bolt up and basically push it in. Then you leave it to set. The only method I had of doing this was a soldering iron and a small bolt but it worked a treat ! first up those lovely bolts I bought.



And with them fitted.



Sadly I forgot that I had to do four more holes underneath to hold in the cathodes. Talking of which here is how that works. You can see there are four standoffs that lower them down inside.



There's also a strip in there to reinforce the weak parts

 

[AlienALX]

OK so the cathode screw holes have been done and I have test fitted them.



Flipping them over isn't very exciting yet. Like everything else it will look like complete ass before it is finished.



What I can see though is that light penetration is very good, it's even going through the masking tape. This means my 3mm lines will glow up nicely without being too in your face.

As you can see prep has also begun. This panel and the top panel will need the most work. This one is about 70% there I just need to sand out some plastic weld drip marks (very small)

 

[AlienALX]

OK so today I have been making support brackets and melting screws into holes. Doesn't look like much but took a couple of hours.



And then "tap" the bolts in.



And a quick test to make sure everything lines up and everything bolts in as it should.



All fits as it should, sweet ! so I've broken it down ready for prep

 

[AlienALX]

Finishing the LED-UFO. It took a while.. First I had to solder resistors to each LED then fit the little voltage controller.



It was a little complicated but I got there in the end



Quick test.



And then I left it running for a couple of hours to make sure it was safe. I was worried it might get hot as the voltage reducer is resisting but it seems fine. I mean a little warm but thankfully there are lots of ventilation holes in it any way.



And I'm very happy with it

 

[AlienALX]

Haha another 13 hour day :S I just have so many things to do. Nuts !

Any way I decided to partake in some graphics this evening. Firstly cut a cover for the freshly peeled SSD (note, photos are manky 'cause the light is gone)



Nice and simple. This is the first test of the black chrome and I gotta say, I love it ! it's virtually invisible without light. Like a really dark gray. As soon as the light hits it though it comes alive. Couple of pics, but as I said they're not all that clever due to the light.



And with some light and reflection.



Very happy with that

 

[Dicehunter]

Will you be painting this so it blends in with the case ? -

This is just sexy !

This looks epic !

Looking forward to seeing the end result

 

[AlienALX]

Yeah it's all going to be painted flat black dude Just using up random bits of acrylic I had lying around

 

[AlienALX]

BTW just a quick note. You will notice that I am using what Alienware call "Alien Caret". It's hieroglyphics but does have a symbol per letter of the alphabet.



It will help to translate the messages and labels. First one is easy, the SSD. Yes, I do have a sense of humour

However, some of the messages will be more complex. Later on if Tom is OK with it I may run a competition to see who can decode the entire PC and use all of the stuff I have left over as a prize (lots of modding parts, fans etc). I dunno, just an idea

Either way it'll give you guys something to do and you can laugh at my silly sense of humour.

 

[Dicehunter]

BTW just a quick note. You will notice that I am using what Alienware call "Alien Caret". It's hieroglyphics but does have a symbol per letter of the alphabet.



It will help to translate the messages and labels. First one is easy, the SSD. Yes, I do have a sense of humour

However, some of the messages will be more complex. Later on if Tom is OK with it I may run a competition to see who can decode the entire PC and use all of the stuff I have left over as a prize (lots of modding parts, fans etc). I dunno, just an idea

Either way it'll give you guys something to do and you can laugh at my silly sense of humour.

That's actually quite a neat touch, The lettering kind of reminds me of an old game developer, Team 17 who did Alien Breed

 

[AlienALX]

Ah the creators of Worms Responsible for keeping me and a few chums awake for nearly 50 hours hahaha. Things got real playing that. The rivalry was hilarious

Hahaha I remember the conspiracies going on in between moves. You'd get all pally with a mate and say "Remember that X said X about you..." trying to get him to kill some one else's worms lmao. Thankfully it never came to fists but we got close a few times

But yeah going back to your original question dude there will be almost endless cover panels made. I'm going for detail. Everything will be painted in flat black with black chrome decals, so that it's nice and subtle I'll get some pics of the panels cut and shaped so far in a minute, just to give you a rough idea.

This project is typical me though dude. It's autism at its finest. Looks like a pile of crap and very random and chaotic, then all of sudden it should all come together right at the end haha.

 

[AlienALX]

OK here is what I have so far. IIRC There are four or five more to cut? which will all be for the motherboard.



But to give you an idea of the small details look at this.



I've made a cover for that (the small white one).

 

[Dicehunter]

Ah the creators of Worms Responsible for keeping me and a few chums awake for nearly 50 hours hahaha. Things got real playing that. The rivalry was hilarious

Hahaha I remember the conspiracies going on in between moves. You'd get all pally with a mate and say "Remember that X said X about you..." trying to get him to kill some one else's worms lmao. Thankfully it never came to fists but we got close a few times

But yeah going back to your original question dude there will be almost endless cover panels made. I'm going for detail. Everything will be painted in flat black with black chrome decals, so that it's nice and subtle I'll get some pics of the panels cut and shaped so far in a minute, just to give you a rough idea.

This project is typical me though dude. It's autism at its finest. Looks like a pile of crap and very random and chaotic, then all of sudden it should all come together right at the end haha.

Mate of mine who is a chef has autism, You can put him in a kitchen, Take a look 10 minutes later and it will be pure chaos but then 20 minutes later he comes out with a meal that would make Gordon Ramsay jealous ^_^

OK here is what I have so far. IIRC There are four or five more to cut? which will all be for the motherboard.



But to give you an idea of the small details look at this.



I've made a cover for that (the small white one).

Looks awesome !

 

[AlienALX]

Mate of mine who is a chef has autism, You can put him in a kitchen, Take a look 10 minutes later and it will be pure chaos but then 20 minutes later he comes out with a meal that would make Gordon Ramsay jealous ^_^

Yeah that sounds bang on tbh. My entire flat is chaos atm haha.

I won't be painting here though. Once I'm happy I have all of the stuff done I will take it over to mum's as she has a garden and I've got a little paint set up in her shed I can get out

 

[Dicehunter]

Yeah that sounds bang on tbh. My entire flat is chaos atm haha.

I won't be painting here though. Once I'm happy I have all of the stuff done I will take it over to mum's as she has a garden and I've got a little paint set up in her shed I can get out

Pics man we need pics of this ^_^

 

[AlienALX]

Pics man we need pics of this ^_^

The flat? haha phone is charging. The living room looks like a production line and the kitchen looks like a tool shed

 

[Dicehunter]

The flat? haha phone is charging. The living room looks like a production line and the kitchen looks like a tool shed

No I meant of the painting process ^_^

 

[AlienALX]

No I meant of the painting process ^_^

Oh I see. Yeah course dude I will probably have to use an actual camera though with a cover on because I don't want to wreck my phone

First phase won't look like anything really as it's a KO seal (so seals in anything being released by the plastic to stop it ruining the top coat) then just plenty of priming and sanding before laying on the top coat of black

I'll probably need to stay with mum for a few days to get it all done Her downstairs lavvy makes for a great drying room

 

[Dicehunter]

Oh I see. Yeah course dude I will probably have to use an actual camera though with a cover on because I don't want to wreck my phone

First phase won't look like anything really as it's a KO seal (so seals in anything being released by the plastic to stop it ruining the top coat) then just plenty of priming and sanding before laying on the top coat of black

I'll probably need to stay with mum for a few days to get it all done Her downstairs lavvy makes for a great drying room

I don't know why but I properly lol'd at that ^_^

 

[AlienALX]

That was when I built N-Fenix. Yeah it's funny dude the biggest problem I have due to my anxiety is over doing things. So I will lay down some primer, then get impatient and want to throw on more coats too quickly. I've ruined many things in the past over doing it.

So the downstairs lavvy is perfect because it's well ventilated and it's out of the way and hardly ever gets used. This means I can open the window fully (too small to get in) and just leave things out of sight out of mind.

That's why I've literally allocated days to paint it. So I can take my time. Oh yeah, and the last time I painted something I packed it in bubble wrap like a dildo and when I got home I had a lovely bubble pattern in my paint. /Doh.

I may even just set them all up in the lavvy and then come home and leave them to harden. This paint is Cellulose IIRC and takes a week or so to fully go off. The finish is gorgeous though

 

[Bartacus]

I somehow missed this one for 10 pages! Looking great man!! Love those glyphs! Plus I feel like I'm the only Canadian who ever played Worms. How those games never caught on over here is a complete mystery. SO much fun!