Kikboxes is starting another new project. This case is another Lian Li P7 just like the case we used on the Spitfire project. I like this case for it's simple construction, light weight and wide open spaces. It's the perfect case for a Mural project such as the one we did with the Spitfire.

We have a tight timeline for this project with no more that 4 weeks to come up with an idea and execute all the mods and paintjob but we love a challenge! The Kikboxes team is accustom to tight deadlines so this should not be a problem. For this project Adam will be doing a full airbrush and I will be doing the mods.

Ophidian
So, what the hell is project Ophidian anyway? The word Ophidian means "snake like". With this project we are going after what I would describe as a gothic monster type of theme. The look will be very dark and creepy. The plan is to let Adam's fantastic paint skills and imagination run wild so my modifications will be pretty low key.

As always, we will be starting with the paint and then I will carfully apply my mods. I will be cutting out the front of the case to allow better airflow. I will also be installing a blowhole in this case and replacing all the fans inside the case. Some special lighting effects will be installed on the bottom of the case along with a unique set of wheels.

Here is our initial list of parts...

1 of these guys


3 of these dudes


1 of these beauties


4 green LEDs

2 of these


1 big sheet of 1/4" cast acrylic (clear)

and four of these


That's the parts list for now but as I said earlier we always start with the paint first. SO LETS GET TO PAINTING!

I was going to wait until next week to start posting the work log but people seem interested so screw it...we're posting now!

I have seen Adam do a lot of cool stuff, all you have to do is look at our past work logs to see some examples, so I was excited to work on a project where we could finally let him set the tone. A while back we were hanging out in his studio and he showed me this piece of MDF he had painted. It was red and black and appeared to have the texture of leather...well, not exactly leather. Imagine you skinned the Devil...okay, imagine the Devil LET you skin him. Oh who am I kidding, imagine the Devil skinned YOU, turned it inside out and then let it roast on the grill for about an hour. Am I making any sense?

Anyway, we both agreed that he had come up with a crazy, totally unique finish that we were going to have to use eventually. The opportunity arrived a bit sooner than we had expected when Adam informed me that we would be using it on this project. As the project began to take shape I came to realize the Adam has some very scary things lurking inside him so I will no longer be visiting his studio after dark!

Okay I will just have to show you.

Naturally we have to start with primer. Adam used white primer on this case because we are starting with a base coat of red. We want the base coat to be really bright and vibrant so white primer is a must.



Following the primer he does the red. Now, just so we are clear, I cannot tell you what shade of red paint Adam is using because he some times mixes paints to get exactly what he wants. He has done this on many occasions but I don't know what he added to this paint cuz it hurts my eyes!



Once our red paint has dried Adam begins texturing the case with black. How he does it is his trade secret so don't ask, however I think it involves killing at least 3 chickens. Here is the end result after the texturing is finished.





TOMORROW: Building the beast
We will show you the concept drawing for our monster and the real airbrushing begins! Stay tuned!

So let's start airbrushing! It's always good to have at least a general idea what you are going to do before you pick up that airbrush. So Adam sent me this sketch that was originally called "Troll". We talked it over and eventually decided that some kind snake or lizard dude would be cool. I guess it was the old D&D freak in me that took over!

We call him "Steve" and he is some kind of scaly guy with eyes like a snake. This character was not taken from anything specific by came right out of Adam's head.



With a concept in hand, Adam started by painting the outline of the Steve in white. The white acts as a nice base for the color he adds later and can also be left to show through for highlights as the painting develops.



After the white base come the shadows. The key is to add paint in layers enhancing the details with each application if paint.



Finally Steve starts to come together as the colors are added. Throughout the process Adam is able to nit pick his design and make subtle changes. Finally he lets the case sit over night and looks at it with a fresh eye in the morning. This is the final chance to make changes.







Don't forget the tail!





The final result is pretty stunning! Steve’s rips his way out one side of the case while his tail sticks out the other. I am always amazed at the depth Adam can create with nothing but paint!:eek:





STAY TUNED NEXT WEEK: Clear coat and polishing
Plus some more close up shots!

So the paint job has been completed. Before he applied the clear coat Adam made a few more enhancements to the design. Take a close look at the shadows and you will see how the addition of some purple highlights makes the painting look as if it were UV sensitive.

The last step in the painting process is to apply clear coat to the project. Clear coat is what gives the final design its punch. Not only do we get a glossy finish but the clear also creates depth. Clear coat can be added in many layers to give the piece the appearance of being dipped in some kind of clear resin. For Ophidian, Adam has added several layers of clear coat and then polish.

Our clear coat finish is exactly the same type of finish you would apply to a car. This makes it very tough and protects Steve the snake dude from scratching. It also means that we can clean and polish it just like a car. To get a nice rich shine Adam has applied Turtle Wax and used a hand held buffing wheel to really shine it up.














Check out our high resolution pictures!

High Resolution - Shot 1

High Resolution - Shot 2

High Resolution - Shot 3

High Resolution - Shot 4

COMING UP NEXT: MODS!

I am starting the structural mods tonight. There should be a number of additional posts tomorrow showing my progress. Before that gets underway there are a few more items to paint. The radiator grills are getting the treatment along with a small piece of aluminum that will become the Kikboxes and Xoxide logo plate.

The process is the same as with the case:

Primer





Paint



Secret Sauce



Here is the finished logo plate. Adam has hand painted both logos using a very samll pinstriping brush. I will be riveting this logo plate in place on the inside of the case.



POSTING TOMORROW: Installing grills and beginning case wheel mods.

Mods are underway. Now that we have our finished grills I can start the installation of the case fans. I am replacing all the fans with 120mm green LED fans. I am also adding a third 120mm green LED blowhole fan. I plan on installing it the same way I did on the Spitfire case. The Lian Li P7 has this great front bezel that is just deep enough to house the entire fan frame...if you remove the air filter. Yes, I am taking out the air filter!





I selected these grills for a couple of reasons. First, they are very sturdy! Keep in mind that these grills are made of thick steel. Just drilling out the screws holes can dull your drill bits. Not only do I like the substantial look and feel of these AC Ryan parts but I like the grill design. Since Steve the Snake Man is trapped inside the case, I wanted grills that would give the impression of bars. These grills feel like cage doors or reinforced windows. They have an industrial look to them and are easily transformed to gothic with a little fancy painting.

Anyway, pretty straight forward mods. I am taping off the pieces so I don't hose up the paint job. I Marked the holes and cut them out with the Dremel. I am using hex key machine screws for mounting the fans and grills. After everything is fitted I will remove the grills so I can paint the screw heads and the wheel frames. I think this style of screw is much more interesting visually.













I am placing the blow hole slightly forward of the existing 80mm fan mount to allow room for the PSU. I have an old Xconnect I used for testing. This case will not be sold with a power supply so I wanted to make sure we left enough room for even the bulky Xconnect cables.

OOOPS! Don't forget your safety glasses!


Test fitting
I ran out of nuts so I was not able to mount the blowhole fan just yet. No worries, I have ordered more and they should arrive today.











Shiny
Just wanted to show off this finish. It's textured but Adam still managed to get a shine that will reflect objects in the room.



NEXT UP: Wheel and lighting mods

I am putting Polyurethane wheels on Ophidian. They roll smooth and quiet and won't leave black marks on the floor or desk like standard rubber caster wheels.





I like these guys because they are uber easy to take apart and paint.:biggrin: Installation is very easy with 4 bolts, a washer and a nut on each wheel. This install will be slightly more complicated because I mounting them over the top of a sheet of 1/4" cast acrylic.

The wheels I am using for Ophidian will mount the same way as wheels I have used in past projects. These red polyurethane wheels are [url="http://www.kikboxes.com/kikshop/product.asp?intProdID=34"]on sale in the Kikshop[/url] in sets of 4. You will need to get your own bolts, washers and nuts. I recommend rubber or nylon washers and acorn nuts to dress them up a bit. 1/4" or 3/16" should do the job and you can vary the length depending on the demands of your specific chassis.



In this project I used a long enough bolt to go through a stand-off, 1/8" of mirrored acrylic and then capped it with a acorn nut.

We have the Light Bus ready to install. This was a bit of a trick but it turned out really cool.

We removed the acrylic cover from the Sunbeam and then Adam applied his painting techique in reverse so that it would show through the acrylic properly. It was easier to apply the paint to the back side of the acrylic rather than try to mask off all the buttons on the control panel. However, this meant first applying the black paint, then the red and finally the primer.

The techique worked like a charm and the thick acrylic cover gives the control panel some really nice depth.

Well, as the due date for project Ophidian nears I have been kicking it into high gear to complete my mods. I pulled an all nighter last night but it was worth it as I was able to complete nearly all of my work leaving only my wiring for today.

Here are some pics of the project in progress:

As I mentioned in previous posts, I am painting all the screw heads and the wheel frames while I am at it. I think the small details make all the difference.







I am fitting the bottom of the case with a 1/4" thick sheet of acrylic. I am using cast acrylic for its clarity. This feature has 2 functions, I plan on using it for a lighting experiment and also as a window feature on the bottom of the case. Anyone who has ever followed any of my work logs knows, I like floor boards on the inside of my cases. I just think they look sharp. However, for this case I decided to do something a bit different, I am cutting out the bottom of the case and creating a large window that will allow light from the fans to spill out the bottom of the case.

I have to start buy cutting the acrylic. This is the only sheet I have so I cannot afford to screw it up. If you plan on cutting acrylic I suggest using a jig saw. Get a blade with the finest teeth you can find. I like to use my bi-metal blades as they have very fine teeth. I run my saw at maximum speed and move nice and slow. Cast acrylic is particularly brittle so you need to take your time.

I use 2 Irwin clamps and a nice straight board to create a fence for my saw however I have found that my work comes out much better if I do it free-hand. Just 2 cuts and I have a piece of plastic that is a precise fit to the bottom of the case.







Before I can cut the window I need to mount my wheel frames. I need to be absolutely sure that I have all the screw holes for my wheels accounted for prior to cutting the window. When planning a project I have found that making a step by step list is the best way to avoid costly screw ups. I usually prepare a list of each step in the mod and the order in which they should be carried out.



I need to drill 4 holes per wheel and I will be using the same bolts and nuts to mount the wheels that I used on the fan grills. After drilling the holes for the wheel frames I am better able to plan my floor window cuts.

I am creating a nice big oval window between the back set of wheels and the hard drive cage. I start by punching 2 big holes with a 4.5" hole saw then I connect the 2 holes with my Dremel. I cleaned up the edges of the cut with my Dremel and a file.







The next step is to prepare the acrylic sheet for mounting. As part of my light feature I am putting LEDs in the acrylic with the hope of transmitting light to the edges of the plastic to create a rim of green light around the bottom edge of the case. I am placing 4 green LEDs in the acrylic and concealing them below the hard drive cage. With all of my lights concentrated at the front of the system I am going to need to polish the crap out of this plastic to ensure the best light transfer possible.

I started by drilling the holes for my LEDs. I am using a 3/16" plastics drill bit. This will give me the right size hole for a 5mm LED. I will need to expand the hole slightly to allow the back edge of the LED to penetrate the plastic, for this I am using a universal bit. I placed the holes in a staggered pattern. Since these LEDs are going to be hidden under the hard drive cage I did not worry too much about precision and just eye balled it. Once my holes were drilled I used the acrylic as a template and drilled corresponding holes in the bottom of the case.









Polishing plastic takes some time but if you have the patients there is a big payoff. I like to shape things by hand whenever possible and on this case I wanted the acrylic plate to have nice beveled edges. I clamped my belt sander in my bench vice and began to work the plastic one edge at a time. Using 120 grit sandpaper, I was able to quickly get the shape I wanted. With practice, you will be able to get nice even beveled edges on all sides.

Once the bevels were created I moved on to wet sanding. Using 400 grit sand paper and water I sanded all the rough spots out of each of the edges. It took about 40 minutes of alternately sanding and dipping in water to get the nice smooth edges I was looking for.



After wet sanding I moved on to polishing compound. Many people like to sand with finer and finer grits but I have found that my Casewell polishing kit allows me to skip these steps. Using a medium grade compound and wheel I am able to achieve a glassy finish. I followed that with a polishing rouge that's the consistency of lotion. Following this final step the acrylic is smooth and clear as glass. Polishing in this way is a messy business but you will get a super high shine.











After completing the acrylic plate I trimmed my window with rubber "U" channel and then mounted the acrylic plate by sandwiching it between the chassis and the wheel frames. A few nuts and washers and the mounting is complete. Mounting this acrylic was not without its problems, I had to mod the plastic mounting brackets on the front of the case in order to make everything fit properly.













Finally I have everything together! In retrospect, I think I would have gone with black wheels if I had it to do all over again. The last step for the night was to slip a PSU into the case for testing and remount the fan grills with our newly painted screws.













Okay it's 4:15am...time for bed. Next post: wiring and testing

Almost done! The last part of the Ophidian project is to do my custom wiring for the LEDs and then clean up and test.

The wiring is very simple. I am wiring 4 2.1 volt 5mm LEDs in series and then running them to a single channel on the light bus. To do this I need a 3 pin molex connector and according to my calculations at 150ohm resistor. I have done a fair amount of wiring so this goes pretty easy. A little soldier, a little heat shrink tube and I am ready to test.





To test the lighting and fans I am shorting the power supply so that I can run it without a Mobo. Once this is done I run a rat's nest of cables just so I can get everything hooked up. I discovered a small issue with the light bus but had it fixed in 5 minutes. Looks like everything is working.





My acrylic lighting actually transmits more light to the back of the case than I expected, I am very pleased with the results. The effect is subtle but its there.







The last step is to clean up the wire mess so that when I take the nice studio pics of this case the inside looks as good as the outside.



The final crowning jewel is the logo plate. The plate was created by Adam for this project and features hand painted Kikboxes and Xoxide logos. A little JB Weld and its done.









Stay Tuned for Studio Pics!

Selection of Gallery Pics for Ophidian
Because of the highly polished finish on Ophidian we had some difficulty taking pictures off the case. Even using a light box we still ended up with reflections and sun spots! It just a testiment to the finish on this project. The case has several coats of clear coat on it and has been buffed and polished with Turtle Wax.

We used a black drop cloth to help defuse some of the light, it also have us richer looking pictures! A big thanks to Mark for all the photography help. Also a big thanks to everyone for your comments! We appreciate your support for this project and look forward to cranking out the next one.


Project Ophidian

This is probably my favorite case on the forum, I really love the paint job and the vents. Great work.

Just stunning Stu!
And a beautiful worklog.

I thank you both for your comments. I think this project is kind of under rated. There were not a ton of mods but I tried not to ruin the impact of the paint job by cutting the hell out of the case. Some times simple is better.

Sometime simple is excellence