SugarJ's "The Craven"
 

I've always been a fan of Silverstone cases, and I've always watched cases with BTX / alternate mounting schemes with some interest. My daily driver for the last couple of years has been a TJ-07 with a bunch of Murdermod alterations. Updating to an X79 system a few months back cured my building itch for a bit, but after seeing some nice Fortress 2 and Raven 2 builds over the winter when I got a chance to pick up an inexpensive Raven 2 I jumped on it.

Nearly at the same time, a Magicool 3x180 rad popped up on the BST. I know, it was destiny, right? That's what I keep telling the wife. :biggrin:

I like that we're seeing more case colors than black and white posted up in the build logs. I decided to see how well my painting skills would hold up and went hunting for a color. I saw a Dodge Viper a few weeks back in Copperhead Orange, and went hunting to see if I could get a couple spray bombs in the color. Apparently, you shouldn't pick a rare Viper color if you want to find some stock touch-up paint, and custom color spray bombs are about $40 per, at least that I could find. I wasn't about to pay $80 for the paint when I wasn't sure if I was going to screw up the case with my painting skills, so off to Canadian Tire I go.

I'd have preferred a pearl paint, but I found a Copper Metallic on the shelves. I think it looks ok. After 3 coats, here's the first parts in my Copper Raven, known from now on as The Craven:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...4-craven-1.jpg

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...5-craven-2.jpg

The rad is just sitting in there, I was seeing whether I'll have to take out 1 drive bay or 2.

We're putting our home on the market next week, so updates will be infrequent. I plan on transferring my existing parts into this case except for the rad and reservoir, if they'll fit. The Rampage IV Extreme is going to be very tight against that rad and might have to be changed out.

wow that looks sooooo clean!

Very nice, you did a good job on the paint. Take some pics of it outside so the sun makes the paint pop.

About 4 years ago, I went and got paint mixed up into a spray can, it was Atomic Orange found on Corvette. It cost me about $30.00 to have it made up. I also recommend if you haven't you might want to pick up a spray can of clear.

Ooo...that is so....orange! :haha:

Makes me want to paint a case my favorite color, yellow! :haha:

I think you may run in to issues w/ the R4E as well. I think it is too wide of a board to fit. Any other interior pics? Did you cut some of the drive bays out to get the rad to fit?

When it's outside, all you see is the metallic flake. Once I have the panels done, I will take some shots outside.

I was told $35 plus tax for custom colors, which made it around $40 each 12 oz can. And I do plan to clear coat once I'm finished painting color. I probably should have just borrowed my dad's airless gun and bought a pint of Copperhead, but it's a bugger to clean up after and I don't have a lot of room to spray in the garage right now.

The R4E is 10.7 inches from the top of the case to the bottom of the board. I'm measuring about 11 5/8ths to the top of the rad right now, leaving me 3/4 of an inch to fit some right angle SATA cables in. I'm going to look for some pancake or flat head screws as the ones I have in there have a really large domed head. I'm really hoping it will fit, it would be a shame to have to swap it out for a lesser board.

I haven't started cutting yet. I just popped the front and top back on to see how it looked. I will be taking out 1 or 2 drivebays from the bottom. That will leave me room for a double bay res/pump and my HDD cage. Pics will come as I have time to work on it. Not until next weekend, probably.

I have a polarizing filter for my DSLR and live not far from you. (If I recall from the last time I sold something to you) When you get the panels done and you want to take some photos, I could swing by with the camera for you to take some shots in the sun that don't look like a disco ball. ;)

I'm not really a fan of metalic orange on most PC cases, but you've done a good job here. I actually think it'll go really well with an all black interior. Any plans to match component parts to the color?

Thanks for the offer, Caldezar. Yes, I'm still in the same spot so not too far from you. I might have to take you up on it if my P&S skills don't pass the test.

As for matching interior parts, it all depends if my R4E fits. I was planning on changing the coolant color regardless, but if I have to change the mobo I might be painting up some heatsinks as well. :thumb:

Well, in between other stuff I got a few coats on the side panels over my holidays. When I put them on yesterday it showed how uneven my coverage was on the sides of the top piece. So I'll be heading back to Canadian Tire to pick up another can for a couple more coats on the plastic pieces. The color is really growing on me. I want to rip into this build but I just packed up my workbench and tools at home. I might have to bring it to the shop and do some cutting and painting after work. I've promised not to make a mess around the house until it sells. :biggrin:

The kids both went to bed before 7 tonight, so I got a couple hours to work on the case. And my bay res showed up from Dazmode today, 7 days from Ontario to BC and I chose the cheapest shipping option. Kudos to Daz and Natalie.

As mentioned before I needed to do at least one more coat of color before I clear coat. Got the garage cleaned out and my paint booth set up:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...aint-booth.jpg

While I was waiting for paint to dry, I unmounted the drive cage and made the decision on where to cut it off.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...-ready-cut.jpg

That's as close to 3 inches from the bottom as I could get. Why 3 inches? Because Tesla loved the number 3. :biggrin: It was really just because that's where the tape landed.

After cleaning up the garage, threw the panels on to see if I got all the areas where my coverage was uneven. I've got 2 parts to touch up, sigh. Here's a shot from the back. I'm liking the copper and black look so far. It's not so orange in daylight, hopefully I can get a natural light shot after the next coat.


http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...coat-paint.jpg

The specks are metallic flake reflecting the flash back, not dust or anything else. I hope I can sneak in another hour or so tomorrow and get the paint finished and ready for a clear-coat.