Pretty in Pink Mod

[Theblackmages]

look at some painting tutorials on google or youtube. you seem to be painting just a bit too close, you need to be spraying a little further back while doing a line motion. thats what I do and it's better. anyway , I love the case! , I might do the interior of my CM690 if I have some time , and dremel out some holes for better wire management :) .

so far so good man! nice case now! glowing pink hehe.

[BALISTX]

Originally Posted by biff

Balistx, gloss might be a better option than flat. I did mine in flat and although I do like the look of flat better it doesn't wear well at all. Scuffs and dings show up much more easily than they would if I'd used gloss.
Just my 2 cents.

Ryan

Maybe I'll use Rhino Lining LOL

[low351]

Thanks TheBlackMages, I've read the tuts I'm just impatient. That's why I started out on this case that's not too precious to me. I wouldn't go for a first attempt on a Silverstone/Lian-Li. I have to learn how much patience I need, and it's quite a bit, spray dry, spray dry. I have been spraying in a horizontal line about 8" from the part left to right overlapping. I just haven't left enough dry time or tried to get too much coverage on the first pass. Rookie mistakes, but that's why I'm learning.

Luckily I'm not trying for a mirror finish on my first attempt. That I'll reserve for my 690. I was actually quite surprised at how easy the gloss black was on the cage. I'd recommend that Armor Coat enamel to anyone, it was only $4 at Canadian Tire and I didn't bother with a primer, just cleaned and lightly sanded and it covers well, probably 3 coats will do it. Bonus, you can still make out the markings, like HDD, M-ATX etc on the cage...

[biff]

Originally Posted by low351

in fact I think it was IN with the kids a couple of years back.

LOL I think you're thinking of the early 90's and spandex!

[low351]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Yeah, life is soooooo much easier here if you use the VBimage host link up top and upload your pics here on the site......... :)

Hmmm, I thought that was broken. I'll use it next time, it makes more sense since if I remove the images from my other sites the old threads will end up X's but if they're stored here they'll always be there.

[low351]

I love to see pictures, I can't get enough. So as promised I'm posting the follow-up pictures to this PINK project whether it hurts your eyes or offends your masculinity...

This is the case assembled after the painting was done. Not A+ mirror finish but passable and way cooler than beige.



You can see the paint stippling a bit on the front, that was pure impatience my friend. I could sand and redo but it's not the intention to have it perfect on this project, just passable.



I got a dremel! "I loves my dremel!" People don't lie though, it's fun and fanstastic for small cuts but you wouldn't want to be doing fan holes all the time with it. I can see why monster mods uses that huge claw/wrench thingy. Much faster or a hole saw.



You can see that I've reused the funnel from my Elite 330 which I removed to accomodate my OCZ vanquisher. With the stock Intel HSF on this Pentium 4 3GHz it works nicely, bringing the cooler outside air direct to the fan.



You'll also note many of the dry run stars on the inside of the panel, I perm markered them and cut from the inside in case I made mistakes. It worked out okay.

I also put in a pair of logisys Cold Cathode blue lights. 7$ from directcanada, 7 dollars! you can't beat that.






I used the Silverstone 92mm fans that have an 80mm mount to get some better airflow in and out of the case. I generally like 120mm fans but this old Antec case didn't have the room on the back even with the dremel. The front fan would have been harder to mount outside like I did if it had been larger. The fans aren't noisy though and they push air well. They also came with rubber mounts to cut vibration noise.






I cut the suckhole, hehe, and the stars out with the dremel, cost me 2 reinforced cutting disks, not bad.



All lit up it looks great. I painted the back of the PSU with a hand brush after installation to avoid sraying paint into the works, plus I didn't feel like disassembling it.





I also took advantage of the dremel to cut out a section on the backside to allow the wired to be routed for cable management.



Here's the result, pretty clean wiring, great for airflow. You can also see how I placed the Cathod tubes and their inverter here. It's a great kit, there's a backplate switch as well if you don't want the light at night while gaming or sleeping.



I'm going to put some glitter on the inside to catch the blue light for effect, it should look cool. My daughter is very happy.



All in all it was a good experience, I learned a bit about cutting and painting, and although this mod is far from a professional one, the experience I gained will help make the next that much closer. I'm thinking about doing my other Antec 1080AMG in black with airbrushed skulls for my son... <grunt><grunt>.

[3.0charlie]

Too many red x's... I want to see all of them pics! I want my eyes to hurt! LOL

[low351]

Hey Charlie, sorry about that, there's nothing worse than a bunch of nub x's showing in a thread. I can't seem to get a hang of how to set the links from my public Picasa galeries, I see them because I'm logged in I imagine.

Can you see them now, if not I'll have to set them up here, it seems like such a waste to double post them though.

[1Tanker]

Good job low351. I have been planning the same idea for my daughters' case(summer project). She's probably older than your daughter(15 in 2 months), but she lovessss pink. As far as quality of paint job... it's such a bright colour, that it's hard for the eye to see irregularities anyways. My daughter wouldn't care if it's a pro paint job or not... she'd just like that i did it for her. I can't wait to surprise her with it... she's going away for a month in the summer(gives me lotsa time), and it'll be all pinked-out when she gets back.

[enaberif]

looks good, but i would have painted the front bezel white not black.. it just looks .. out of sorts.