Project Candy Cube - Water and Air !!

[Colossous]

I'm finally starting work on my Mountain Mods Opti 1203, i've had the case for 6 months but i was finishing other things and i've spent hours staring at this damn box planning and visualising what i could do to it ! The final plan is quite minimal compared to some ideas i've had, i want it to look neat and tidy inside as well as showing off the simplicity of the cube shaped exterior. I'm going to attempt to hide as much as possible cabling wise with stealth covers and the use of Aluminium mesh and acrylic whilst having one watercooled loop cooling the Q6600 and 8800 Ultra (on a Thermalright PA120.3) and the chipset on the Asus P5k deluxe air cooled with heatsinks and Thermalright HR05 ifx North and South bridge heatsinks. There will be a total of eight 120mm fans (including two Scythe Kama Bays in the 5.25" bays of the OPti) so i'm hoping for good temps whilst not overloading with tubes and wires !
I'd like to say a big thanks to Tom at Chlled PC who supplied most of the parts and went to the extent of sourcing parts he does'nt normally stock, and to Bry at Hangar 17 for his support !







Fistly, theres a few things i did'nt like about the MM. The side panels are 1mm aluminium with a large acrylic window (i bought the case 2nd hand so these panels were allready with it) i found them a little flimsy so i'm going to make new ones out of acrylic. The powdercoat whilst looking good and is well finished for the cause is not really what i wanted for this project. I thought there was quite a bit of orange Peel effect on the finish so i thought i'd try flatting on one of the spare side panels to see how it would look !

You can see the orange Peel below :-



1000 grit wet and dry :-




Then 2500 grit, you can see the paint is flatting (not yet polished) :-





And with a little elbow grease !





It was at this point that i knew i wanted the case painted. This little piece had taken an hour to do (at my 1st time trying ) and you know how big these cases are so weighing up my total lack of skill in the fine finish painting arena and the ideas i had for the case i went to see the professionals which is where the case has been for two weeks and i'm about to leave to pick it up, i'll be back later with a totally different case and i cant wait to show you guys as i saw it pre laquer and its a bit mad lol !!
I'll leave you with a shot of some of the components to squeeze into the box !

[Nate P.]

Wooo, can't wait for more!

[disruptfam]

nice!!! more update's!!

can you take some close-ups of you ek g80 wb please mate... i dunno if i want the acrylic or acetal!! pics please!!

cheers

[MountainMods]

[I][COLOR="Navy"]Fistly, theres a few things i did'nt like about the MM. The side panels are 1mm aluminium with a large acrylic window

Correction - the aluminum panels are 1.65mm exactly.

[Baron]

Ive seen a little teaser and...

[L'enFer]

the more times i see beautiful UFO cases the more my wish to get one of them .

[Colossous]

Correction - the aluminum panels are 1.65mm exactly.

Apologies guys, like i said i got the case 2nd hand and they were'nt in the best of condition, i love your cases and realise it sounded like a flame when i read it back !!
Disruptfam, uploading pics now to photobucket and i've taken one of the EK block for you !

[Colossous]

nice!!! more update's!!

can you take some close-ups of you ek g80 wb please mate... i dunno if i want the acrylic or acetal!! pics please!!

cheers

Not the best pic (its dark now and its the camera's built in flash !) but it gives you the idea dude !

[clone38]

Stop it you and get me some piccys

[Colossous]

Ok, the case is back in my grubby hands and WOW did these guys do a good job !
The case was flatted 1st and the guys applied a thin layer of this crazy rainbow finish sparkly flake (best seen in sunlight !) before applying candy red paint and rolling clingfilm on it whilst the red was wet to give a marbled texture then lots of laquer and flatting !!
I saw an American custom car with candy red paint way back in the day (over gold instead of black as here) and it had to be this finish for me !! The weird thing is it seems to change colour and texture from every angle and with different types of light and it made it hard to photograugh along with that mirror shine !! I'll let the pics speak.........





And with flash (see how it changes !) allthough you'd swear it was without the flash !







And mobo tray out !



And again, a different look in different light !



And so the work begins, more updates soon. Any suggestions then fire away folks !

[MountainMods]

Apologies guys, like i said i got the case 2nd hand and they were'nt in the best of condition, i love your cases and realise it sounded like a flame when i read it back !!
Disruptfam, uploading pics now to photobucket and i've taken one of the EK block for you !

No worries, just wanted to make sure the material thickness was accurately stated.

That's a beautiful looking finish you received, btw!

[phelan1777]

While I am not a fan of the cube, she looks damn sexy in red.

[RockfordFosgate]

Very nice color & paint job men

[Colossous]

No worries, just wanted to make sure the material thickness was accurately stated.

That's a beautiful looking finish you received, btw!

Thanks folks, i'm really chuffed with the finish, now i have to do the interior justice !

[Baron]

That looks freaking aweomse Rich.


Glad the case is serving you well.

[disruptfam]

sexy!!!

[_Slim_Shady_]

Holy crap! Very nice effect with the paint!

[Vice]

That paint job is incredible.

...Just switch those blue thumbscrews for black ones, and your good to go!

[welshtom]

Amazing

[Nate P.]

AMAZING job man!

[happychappy]

Subscribed

[Colossous]

Cheers for the nice comments folks !
I'm working all weekend but will try and get some small jobs done (got a load of sleeving to do !!) and the last lot of parts are on the way so i can start on the case interior !!
Lol, the old blue thumbscrews are there as temps Vice, i have some nice anodised red ones to go with the case but the blue ones were good whilst the painting was underway !

[AliG]

looks great. All you need is phase and you'll have the three major 24/7 coolers!

love the paint job, combine it with the right cathodes on the inside for the coolant and you'll have a definite 1337 computer!

Only thing I'd have to gripe about would be the galaxy power supply, there are better out there, especially since you obviously have quite a bit of money, but otherwise looks good

[Sparky]

that paint job is amazing!

[Colossous]

looks great. All you need is phase and you'll have the three major 24/7 coolers!

love the paint job, combine it with the right cathodes on the inside for the coolant and you'll have a definite 1337 computer!

Only thing I'd have to gripe about would be the galaxy power supply, there are better out there, especially since you obviously have quite a bit of money, but otherwise looks good

Cheers Alig, the theme for the interior is black and red also and i've put a lot of thought into lighting it, thats the hard bit to visualise till you see it in action so there may be some changes !!
Lol, I'm a chef so not the richest of people !! I bought the case 2nd hand from Baron on here and the paint work was'nt as crazy a price as you'd imagine, the guys who did it were really cool and were interested in the novelty of it instead of their normal car/motor cycle work so i think they went easy on the estimate - maybe worth you guys trying a similar approach ! Its the culmination of about 6 months planning and aquiring bits i guess !!
Its my 1st watercooling build (in at the deep end lol) so i think phase is too far away lol !