TRON Lightcycle - Monitor Mod

Well, I had hoped to have more to show this weekend, but my modding plans were thwarted by other things. Sad

I do, however, have pics of the fairings primed. They look ok-ish, but still need some minor touch-ups before I can lay down the gloss black paint. Once the piece is one solid color, the imperfections really stand out. And black paint is the most unforgiving of colors so I have to work the fairings a bit more.

I also got started on prepping the tubes for paint. The ends will be lit via led strips mounted around their centers. So all surfaces will be covered with the exceptions of the ends. First task was scuffing them up inside and out. Got one tube done...

And both scuffed, with the ends taped off.

Painting the inside with white primer. A makeshift sling was created to suspend the tube.

For the outside, more thought was put in to the masking, since some of the ribs will eventually be permanently glued to the tubes. I first had to mark the areas to be masked, so I devised a way to mark the tube by rolling it around while keeping it square to a 90 degree surface (Charles Richter would be proud lol).

Once marked, I could take 1/4" strips of tape and mask those areas.

That's all I got so far. I don't have the led strips yet, so I can't finish the masking. I'm waiting for one more package from Moddersmart that will have the led's, fans, fittings, sleeving, and custom rad (wait til you see this thing!). Thanks for reading!

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

Those tubes already look pretty cool just with blue masking tape Very Happy

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xer0
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

● ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z ● Intel 2600K ● DangerDen cooling ● 8GB G.Skill Trident ●
● ASUS GTX670 ● Patriot PyroSE SSD ● Antec Signature 650 PSU ● Antec Mini P180 ● [ ASUS G73JH ] ●
Picture Association Thread: http://www.pdxlan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7466

Due to the weather, I haven't been able to continue painting the tubes (damn rain!) So in the mean time, I thought I'd show you what I have planned for the SSD's. They will be mounted on the opposite side of the motherboard tray, disguised as the lightcycle engine.

I'll be making a loose interpretation of the real engine, which looks like this:

A view of the engine through the window:

I don't have much space between the motherboard tray and the window, so the mounting will be relatively flat, but with a hint of depth. I marked out the window placement, and arranged the drives in that area.

Here are the pieces designed and cut.

And glued together with mounting holes drilled.

Here are the pieces for the tailshaft portion of the engine. I cut a piece of 4" tube for the curved part.

Clamped and glued.

Done.

Both pieces together.

Both pieces in place on the tray with drives mounted.

Now I can make some paper templates for the three pieces that will connect the two. That will be tonight's task.

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

Ok, I got the connector piece done last night. Smile

First I started making paper templates to get the complex shapes in between the two pieces, but doing individual pieces didn't work out too well. I just couldn't get the angles right.

So I tried making one solid piece. This seemed to work better.

Having transferred the shape to the acrylic sheet, I started cutting it out.

Then I added the bends.

After some trimming and rebending, I think I got it to the shape I wanted.

It fits pretty well in between the two pieces.

Some mockup shots of all three engine pieces in place, with drives mounted and the covers on.

As you can pretty well guess, this will all be lit up in the typical TRON fashion. Next I'll be adding some detail pieces and doing some masking to the covers to get them ready for paint.

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

Moe work done on the SSD Engine...

Cut some detail pieces out of scrap acrylic.

Filed & sanded.

Gluing them onto the base pieces.

Almost done...

Here I made the masking templates for the drive covers using Adobe Illustrator. I downloaded the TRON font for the text.

I taped off the covers, cut out the templates and used spray adhesive to stick them onto the tape.

Then came the arduous task of cutting the masked areas and text.

The drive covers are now ready for paint. I mocked them up again so you can see how the paint graphics line up with the detail pieces on the other parts.

The finished engine will actually be a reverse of what you see here, with the engine being a metallic dark gray and the masked areas glowing blue.

And work continues... Smile

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

Totally sweet dude!

I should have built something with the evil tron red and we could have them fight!

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Good Karma good - Bad Karma bad

I have a vinyl plotter. Next time send me the file and I can do it for you Wink

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Blah Blah Blah

Thanks Bob. Smile

DarthBeavis wrote:

I have a vinyl plotter. Next time send me the file and I can do it for you Wink

Thanks man, that would be awesome! Smile

So I think I got the SSD Engine just about finished up this weekend. Got the parts masked off and painted today once the sun finally came out.

I went with a dark gray hammered finish for the main parts of the engine, to add more of a texture to it and set it apart from the blue fins.

A closeup shot of the textured finish.

Demaskifying the drive covers to reveal the diffused blue acrylic. I primed the underside as well so you wouldn't be able to see through them.

All the pieces back together for a final mockup, and...........

.........the money shot!

I actually managed to get some paint on the tubes as well, so maybe I can finally get the basic frame assembled this week. Then it will all start coming together quickly after that.

Cheers, and happy Easter! Smile

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

That has "FTW" written all over it.

CyberCrist wrote:

That has "FTW" written all over it.

where? I only see Crucial and SSD

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Blah Blah Blah

At first I was like.. "how is he going to make his SSDs look anything like the engine" and then I was like.. oh holy crap that's awesome Very Happy

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Douglas_D
McD

damn dude...

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@ PDXLAN: 5,7,8,9,10,10.5,11,12,12.5,13,14,14.5,15,16.5,17,18,18.5,19,20.5,21,[22]

Me: "Oh let's see what's going on today on PDXLAN forums...Hey, Boddaker's got a new post up, let's see wha..."

Shocked

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/jawdrop
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/pick jaw up off floor

Oddly, I am torn between how awesome this mod is shaping up to be, and the fact that I shouldn't be surprised at all that it's awesome considering who's doing the modding. Boddaker, +1 to you sir.

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Maxim #37: There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "time to reload."
- From The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Efficient Mercenaries
(credit to Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary)

CG||Mjr_Boothroyd wrote:

Me: "Oh let's see what's going on today on PDXLAN forums...Hey, Boddaker's got a new post up, let's see wha..."

Shocked

.
.
.
/jawdrop
.
.
.
/pick jaw up off floor

Oddly, I am torn between how awesome this mod is shaping up to be, and the fact that I shouldn't be surprised at all that it's awesome considering who's doing the modding. Boddaker, +1 to you sir.

^^^Basically sums up every one of my visits to this thread.

lol Thanks everyone for the great comments. I think I'm having the most fun with this build, and it's mostly due to you guys and your awesome feedback. Smile

Ok, more goodies! I couldn't resist getting Razer's TRON themed keyboard and mouse with mouse pad to go with the build. I usually mod the peripherals to fit the given theme of my projects anyway, so this was a bonus And I have to say that Razer did a great job with the TRON design. I doubt I could have done as good a job, or even come close to the level of awesomeness!
Let me just show you with pics:

Even the packaging is cool! Opening the box revealed a thick smoked acrylic cover over the keyboard, with subtle TRON and Razer logos on it.

The keyboard is well-built with TRON style lettering that lights up, and a separate number keypad that can be mounted on either side of the keyboard with the provided connector piece.

Here it is lit up. There are audio connections on the keyboard as well, so I can plug my headphones in right there.

The mouse/pad kit came in the same killer box with protective smoked acrylic cover.

Pure TRON pr0n lol.

And the best part, the mouse pad has an electro-luminescent coating on it that reacts to a special led under the mouse, so it leaves a light trail as it moves across the pad, just like the lightcycle! Very Happy

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

OMG I love that KB/Mouse....

this has to be one of the most epic builds evar. i am just flabbergasted at how amazing this is going to be.
fyi flabbergasted is recognized by spell check.

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Stabby
"i don't use caps."

PDXLAN - 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 12.5, 13, 14, 14.5, 15, 16, 16.5, 17, 18, 18.5, 19, 20, 20.5, 21...
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http://steamcommunity.com/id/Stabby-GDay
wow- sen' jin -alliance- 80 druid- Clock (quit for the 3rd time. i will never return)

Woooooaaaaaaahhhhhhh dude that is totally awesome. Even better than a double rainbow. Razz

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Good Karma good - Bad Karma bad

Going to round out the Tron collection with the Tron Wii Remote? You can pair it to the PC Very Happy

This mod is completely awesome. I'm really impressed with everything you've done so far and I can't wait to see the finished product. Keep up the great work!

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Desktop Rig: Intel DX58SO2 | Intel i7 920 2.67GHz | PALiT GTX 560 Ti 2GB | Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3 | 90GB OCZ Agility SSD + 2TB Hitachi 7200RPM 64MB Cache | Cooler Master 800W Gold Certified PSU

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