AzTtec

Like I mentioned on my original submission, the release for the door may be somewhat modified from my drawing. I may just make it part of the ruins and make it accessible to a finger to press on it.

I think the key areas may be easily hidden behind some special "stone" that is removable, maybe with an embedded magnet to keep them in place.

I do still want to wholly contain this rig's functionality/versatility by keeping the front slots, perhaps modifying the location of some of the buttons or omitting them as needed is all. And I think having the headphone hanger still available but a large sculpted item would also be a nice touch.

Pros,Cons,input all accepted! I'll post an abridged version, no need to repost everything I've done, maybe you guys get the highlight reel.

I did a little Mayan man/chief and added some fun to him, a pair of headphones and a game controller.

I had to redo a transfer, kinda easy to redo, just lightly sand off the old one.

Lots of detail. LOTS.

--------------------

And several days later, more details, just taking every carving line and having to bevel the edges takes a decent amount of time. Then there are several altitudes I'm working within the object as well, trying not to mess it up as I go along.

There's more to it than just cutting away what I don't want. Sometimes I have to work at different depths, and with different textural styles. But mostly I just scratch away, a millimeter at a time.

The dust gets everywhere, I do wear a particle mask most of the time though.

Since I can't blow the dust off the object, and I can't use a paintbrush most of the time to dust either (it will wipe away the transfer marks I haven't etched yet), I use our kid's booger sucker bulb from when she was an infant. It's got a new life, and I'm so very glad I never threw it away!

Here's a side by side comparison of the level of detail I have achieved with the one on the left, vs. the etched one on the right.

And a close up, I love cheap macro extensions for SLR's

Thanks for looking!

The next two "rings" finished. The little flower design things were pretty fast due to the repetitiveness of them. And the little animal sections, also kinda fun. I've got better at using a Dremel with just a sewing needle in there for a faster foam removal technique. It has sped me up a tiny bit, but also removes so little material at a time that it's hard to make noticeable mistakes.

On to the final part of the calendar. The Thermaltake logo (not only being a requirement) looks pretty good in there, don't you think?

Okay! FINALLY done with that portion. Arguably the hardest part is over. I hope. The rest should be as good looking I hope, but not nearly so labor intensive on a single piece. At least... as far as I know. The green stuff is putty, some of the joints were a bit farther away than I wanted and I kinda want to fill them up a tiny bit on the weaker areas. I'm sure after I get a base coat of paint on the job it may need some more touch-ups.

And a good close-up shot of the Tt logo. Which I'm very happy to say came out great, even the little turned out!

Minor update, I've been trying to get everything to fit together well, and still make most of the stuff removable as it was intended. The area in the front where the handle, the face and the large slide in side panel has been a logistical nightmare. There's 5 pieces that all converge on one space and it's been tough, to say the least. I did get to work on the handle. The snake I originally drew there is as close as I can make it to my original intent. But I think with the way it's going to convert into an element on the front of the case it will now become a stylized wing, like Quetzalcoatl. Maybe I'll draw feathers around the neck area like he's depicted as well. I'll sketch that up and see if I like it.

And an upside down shot. Just to prove the strength of this Balsa Foam to everyone. Here it is, on it's head.

And here is the calendar, face down on a table. (It's pretty resistant to compression, but of course run a finger nail over the surface and it's trashed.) I did have a piece of poster board under it to be able to slide it around on the table.

The front is mostly built. The drive bays will all be removable still, but carved as well. I will probably have all the rest of the foam attached in place over the next two days. I need to get the HDD bays and around the window. I decided to keep the window. Not really sure why, I just like having the portal to the interior available.

Here's the front button area, I'm still working on integrating all of that into my design. I did make a big stone button for the power though. It won't stick out so tragically far when I'm done with it. But it will be hard to miss.

And you can't forget the necessity of child labor, but always remember, "Safety First!"

Sorry for the slow going at the moment. Lots of other things to do as well, but I keep plugging away.

I mentioned before that this stuff makes a

LOT

of dust. Never is this more apparent than when you are working in an apartment kitchen, with a Dremel. It's really why I've been working mostly with

hand tools on my mods to date, anything else and I really should be in a garage/studio or something similar.

But I did manage to go from this

To this!

Grooved and channeled into a good position.

I'm working on the front as well. Also I couldn't help myself with the "snake" on the handle area as well, I wanted to change the idea more into a stylized Quetzalcoatl, so I put a ring of feathers around the neck area. They turned out decent.

Just a couple more days of adding foam bits and then the rest of the carving begins. Boy it's gonna be a close one! My competition's mods are already looking great! See you guys in a couple days! Next Update,

I think this is supposed to be Quetzalcoatl's mom, ain't she a looker? Continued down the side, and I have yet to finish the tail area at the bottom.

I'm also working on something creative around the HDD release buttons.

I didn't like them in standalone form even after I carved them. So I built a channel hat they sit behind. Helps protect them, and I can fit my pinkie in there still. Even though you can use a pencil eraser if needed,

They are pretty tough.

Back to the side continuing with the Quetzalcoatl theme there, I brought the design down the side much like in my initial drawing, but I added a stylized wing.

Overview of my faceplate.

And the bromeliad I did on the front, similar in design on the calendar, since I already did about 20 of them, why not 3 more really huge ones?

And a fun little guy meant to cover the key area. Not sure how I'm going to fasten them yet. I still favor a magnet idea. Maybe with a tether to keep you from losing them. Not sure yet.

Okay, now back to carving! Haha, thanks guys! Small update, but LOTS of carving there. I got all the drive bays done.

The HDD release area is getting some more crafting on it as well.

I wanted to make them like the below pic, at first, but it was too hard to grab them and pull them out.

So I had to cut the grab rail out and back set it. did some more plastic grinding and filing along the way.

More detail shots, this took about an entire day. But it's done on that area and moving on!

And then I moved back to the calendar side to finally finish that up. This part I'm so very happy with I might even have to etch a signature on the area.

I came up with a catchy name for the mod.

More pics tomorrow. I'm almost done with the carving and should be able to move on to painting it in the next few days. Good thing too, since I've only got less than 2 weeks before it's due back to Thermaltake! Well, except for a tiny little device to operate the side fan louvers, and to add something to the feet as well, I think I'm finally done sculpting.

The next part is kind of critical now, as I would like to lay paint on it, but without destroying any details. So several thinned coats is probably the way to go. I also need to prime the exposed black areas still, but

there really isn't much of that left, is there?

A sliding mechanism to cover the lock on the side. It's actually still removable if you take off the side fan cover. I like to engineer things like that.

And a FRAG count for our little gamer guy. (I saw a picture of a wall that was all skulls like this, and thought this was a good place for them.

Finally did something around the window area.

And, of course, the fan is still going to be operational, as well as access to the removable fan screen.

More details.

Thanks for looking! Thanks again guys. It's fun and it's also a huge pain, but worth it in the end I think. Flipped the case over, took off the feet, dropped the screwdriver right into the base of the little guy there and sheared a huge chunk off. lol. Oh well, a little patch work and some change to add weight to hold it in place.

The completed foot, really simple. I couldn't envision anything more complex there, it's not the best place for fragile foam products.

Then I wanted some little magnets for the front lock cover I'd made. Luckily I found some, inside of my daughter's old refrigerator magnet toys. It was perfect, inside is a little magnet and a little sliver of metal.

I glued one to each place I needed, and then made a lanyard out of a zip tie. it's flexible to get out of the way, but goes straight into the machine. (Totally out of the way of anything! I got lucky there.)

Then I spent a couple hours using compressed air and a vacuum to get 99% of the dust out of there. What a pain in the butt. Now, it'll get primer on the exposed black spots tomorrow. As well, I'll probably do a base coat of a thinned black/brown color. On with a couple progress pics.

I used a primer on all the metal painted and black plastic still exposed on the entire unit.

Here's a black(ish) wash coat that I applied to the entire project. It lays into all the cracks and low spots to really give them depth.

This is ick, and it's what I'm currently battling to hide. It's just an unfortunate choice of patching that I'm slowly trying to figure a way around.

Another unfortunate thing is the different hues of paint right next to each other in places like this. I may have to re-shoot it all one color and then work the whole area over, trying not to lose detail in the process.

Then drybrushing details.

And with different light.

And finally, as initially intended, I was thinking about moss, and vines all over it. This is just a tiny test of it. but I'm not sure if I'd call it over the top or not.

What does everyone else think about the moss, too much "realism"? I'm thinking about just making it paint effects instead of actual bits of stuff glued to the outside. Thanks, I'm looking into the water runoff damage thing. But for the most part, the stuff I showed where it might be needed, has almost disappeared. On to the good stuff - another major update.

Here is a few happy detail shots of the successful drybrushing effect I'm getting.

I also decided last night that I no longer liked the lock cover on the door. It was a sliding piece, and it never really sat well with me. SO I redesigned it to be exactly like the one in the front. Piece of cake.

Here's the easy way to use that moss stuff, in case you ever want to use it yourself. I used a small paintbrush to apply some simple PVA/Elmer's type glue.

Then pack the foam into the area, don't be shy, you can press it into place or just sprinkle it on, if your project is laying relatively flat.

Then just wait, and use a larger bristled brush to remove the excess, into a bag/container for reuse.

I then wanted to make some vines. This was problematic, I tried using paper, yarn, string, glue, and a couple other idea. They all kinda failed for one reason or another. Then I tried to use hot glue. This seemed like a good idea. I tried making some onto foil, but they stuck to the foil. Then I tried wax paper... stuck to the paper, then the glass tray from my microwave. They stuck too well to that also. I ended up drawing vines directly onto the places where I wanted them. And painted it to see if I was headed in the right direction. Happily, I believe I was.

I needed leaves, for the vines to look somewhat less crappy. So I made some out of Super Sculpey, then hot glued them down and painted them.

I also needed to do the other side door fan. I think this turned out really well so far. **DESIGN MOD TIP*** As another idea. This stuff (hot glue) is pretty neat as a design material. I wanted to make a mod with veins on the outside of it someday. (Veins, just vines without leaves). The clear sticks of glue I'm using really scatter light well also. They would look pretty amazing lit up.

And some leaves added.

And base coat. Time to let it dry.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is light at the end of my tunnel! This mod is almost done I think!

I was approached by Shannon (of Thermaltake USA, if you didn't already know, a great guy) who let me know that he'd be happy to provide me with a KB and mouse of my choice to give a shot at making complimentary pieces for my AzTtec mod. I really can't say enough about these companies that sponsor us, they really are taking a chance just on our "ideas" sometimes. He sent me the Challenger Pro

And the Standard Black mouse

Both of them I have played with and they are of exceptional quality. It's almost a shame to tear them open and mod them... almost. He gave me the units quite some time ago and I've only just now been able to start in on them. I think it's all going quite well at the moment though and I should have them done in only a few short days. The idea is to have them available at the CES in Vegas which, as many of us know, is only next month!

Taking it apart was fairly easy. The keys popped right off with my fingers, they do provide you with a key puller, but I just pulled them off by hand anyway, it's a tiny bit faster. The mouse was a bit tricky, but again it's all just press fit together, you just have to work on the thing to pop it apart.

I did some back cutting on the foam to get it to fit the funky contours of the mouse and the KB parts.

And I did the same thing with the keys, but it's all pretty routine to me by now. the work is flowing and it's like I never stopped using this stuff.

I had to back cut the keys.

Then separate them from each other after the glue dried.

File and shape them, kind of doing that randomly, I don't want it too polished.

And after patching up any minor errors that comes from doing what I just did 104 times... I set them aside for carving time later.

I also back cut the mouse, it's curves are more pronounced and I'm going back to angular/block style to make another Quetzalcoatl type head.

***Also I'll drop in some boxing procedure pics of the AzTtec mod. I did use the original box, but heavily modified. ***

My mod does fit, but the front and sides rub on the cardboard so I started by cutting the box down it's corners to "flower" open it so to speak. Then I could extend the bits apart a couple inches to allot for new packaging foam. This is a combination of original foam bits, saved molded packing foam bits from other things (I don't throw them away), and some soft and easily compressible "furniture" type foam. It all looks and feels pretty tight and secure now. It should arrive in one piece!

I used the pullover idea (it's my old LCD TV cover bag). Thermaltake's cover that came on it originally still fit; but the material gets caught up in the foam, they aren't compatible.

My local UPS store had a box big enough to house the modified Tt box easily, and with room at the top left over. Plenty of room to fit the keyboard and mouse!

I'll post more tomorrow, I will not be working on it on Christmas, we have guests or something and I need to clean up my mess... oh well, It should be done before the new year anyway. Hopefully before my next project arrives fr me to start on on Tuesday the 27th (haha).

Thanks for looking, and Happy Holidays to all!

Okay, here's the mouse. I'm hoping that on painting and details I can cover any defects I created. It's tough covering something with so many compound curves with a straight board-hard material.

But I still have all 5 buttons covered and working.

The keyboard I'm kind of at odds with. I carved every key, and some bas-relief stuff along the hand rest area. But I kinda like the upper part plain. I may just make a brick/block pattern on the upper area, but I don't think I'll go carve-crazy.

The stuff I've found, that works right out of a can seems to be a type of thinned down varnish. It does in one coat exactly what I needed it to.

I tested it out on a piece of scrap, there's no melting/warpage at all. I have 4 places on the test board. The top is uncoated, and then each level there is from one to three coats. I tested every one afterward with a finger nail scratch test. The second and third coats do add a marginal increase in protection over a single coat, but then you begin to fill in the foam structure itself and it loses it's stone-like texturing. So it looks like one coat is going to be sufficient.

That's all for the moment, I'll sit and look at it for about a day and decide if I want to do more carving or just get into paint and detail to finish it soon.

Thanks for looking, Okay folks! I DID end up scratching out a few more designs along the top bar. It just didn't feel right looking so plain up there. (And I missed the UPS guy dropping off another case project (COMING SOON!), so I got to spend a bit of extra time on it. It looks better. I didn't get around to attaching the little nifty keyboard fan. So I left it alone. No biggie, it's not missed.

And then the same painting techniques I used during the creation of the case, dark basecoat, and yellow ochre drybrushing. Not to mention the moss additions in tiny spots. It helps cover mistakes and it really rounds out the authentic look.

The keyboard pics were a bit out of focus, but such is life shooting indoors in San Francisco when it's super foggy outside. The mouse pics came out a lot better.

It looked really cool lit up too, Alas those pictures must come later, as I already boxed up the whole package and shipped it off to Shannon @ Thermaltake. It still gets a trip to be featured at the CES Vegas show and I ws cutting the deadline kinda close. Again, I have had such a pleasure doing this whole project, and all your wonderfully positive comments on it, guys and gals. I hope that I can recreate the same fun and enthusiasm in my future modding ventures.

**Thus endeth the next chapter of AzTtec - The Mod **

Thanks for looking! seem so hard to play sc II with this keyboard xD Source : http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=215949