Quakecon 2015 - Staff vs Staff Mod Off: The D.E.A.D.

[tech-daddy]

D.E.A.D. - Doom-ified Engineered Attenuation Device

Used by a long lost scientist at the murderous beginning of what we all thought would be the end. Unknown scientific measurements of the horrible powers that were flowing through the rifts, it was thought that close analysis of the spectral energies would reveal a counter that the science community could use to assist our Marines, and save so many lives. But just as the maniacal scientists that brought his curse upon us were cut short... so too was the noble scientist that tried to stop it.

Preserved in this stasis field... so new was the device and untested its tools, that after it's owner's death... it was found and removed in the most delicate fashion possible... so as to not accidentally activate it. One of the few UAC relics to survive the destruction, it had some how openly rebuked the encroaching infection that we called "Doomflesh". It's power sources exposed and damaged by what we can only assume were the imps and their fireballs, the box is in remarkable condition, even though it appears to have been hit by several fireballs. Flesh merged rocket fragments point to a Revenant attack possible that may have contributed to the impact damage seen. Small arms fire damage bear witness to what was most likely the final, frenzied minutes of heroism as the scientist and (we guess) the military escort, made their final, tragic stand.

[tech-daddy]

OOoooooo, DOOM! Its on everyone's mind!

Starting with the Awesome Thermaltake Core X1, and the lofty ambitions of the above statement, I am going to try and make a strong statement on this build...

First things first.... gotta disassemble the case!


When pulling out the two 5.25 bays, I noted that the quick latch mechanism was easily removed!!



A small bit of pressure in the middle, and the little latching pillars come right out of the mounting holes!!!!

[tech-daddy]

So, in my vision of what I want a hardened case to look like, I needed to make the corners a bit... beefier. So I set out to add a little dimension to the front of the case.

Put the bezel on its side and trace the outline onto the MDF:





Duplicate the outline:


Use the circular saw to cut them down into strips:




Use the jig saw to get to the base details:


Files and sander to finish the cutout:


I then started working on a way that I can shape and mold the corner, so that required more MDF. I cut out more strips to build the corner out over to the adjoining face. This picture is the pieces gluing with clamps:


Eventually, what I will do is sand and shape these corners down to a shape that is more appealing. It will also allow me to better create the battle damage effects that I want. More "chunky" damage is what I am envisioning....

More in a bit!

[XcaliburFX]

Work TD ... Work it brother. Can't wait to see more.

[tech-daddy]

Thanks Vic! Hope all is well on your end of the world. You are in our thoughts buddy!

Moving on into the mod.... remember, this case is believed to have been in the center of a final, frantic attack. Apparently things got *very close, where it is believed that an Imp got close enough to slash at the group, and the D.E.A.D. device took the brunt of that slash. For this effect, I focused on the vent side panel. I then used the Dremel saw:


to pull that mesh out of one of the rectangular areas


I then backed the cut out area with a sheet of styrene. In this case, I did not have a sing sheet long enough to cover this on one piece, so I stuck two pieces together:


I then used a pencil to show the basic path I wanted the tear to follow, then used a sharpened blade (Xacto, razor, etc) to then cut our the center of the tear, then I randomly cut the metal tears for the sides of the main tear back into the material. Then, from the back, I used my heat gun to make the area pliable, and let gravity pull the side walls of the tear down and "out". Used my fingers to add a bit more curl to the protruding pieces of "metal" that resulted from the styrene heating.


I then checked my work against the metal panel, and started preping for fiber glass work to try to make this styrene look more like a part of the case...



MOAR LATER!!!!!!

[tech-daddy]

Hey all! Not a rally exciting update, but it is building up to what I hope is going to look SWEEEEEET!

All of my parts laid out. All of them are a little nervous as I am not telling them who is going to get worked over next... I like to surprise them!


So, in thinking about an Imp's hand, it is 4 fingers. So I try to visualize if an imp managed to get 3 out of 4 fingers on the device, outline it:


Then cut it like the claws and fingers punctured the base. Made some cuts, and bent the metal back:




Ok, so back to the boring piece of MDF. It will be the base on which the case resides. Remember.... the case has sat idle, and untouched for many years. It landed in an area where the Doomflesh was encroaching. And when they found this device, they literally cut it from the ground so as to not disturb the device. So, this is going to be the "ground" under the case. Because the fleshy ground in the came always appears more organic, I need the surface to be undulating.... think, muscles, tissue masses, stuff like that. So, a flat surface just wont do.


Doublechecking the dimensions of the MDF:


Measure out a coverage piece of the fiber glass:


Now, this picture is the base panel of the case. You can see the claw punctures, I also added in corner damage where the base will be ripped away from the main case. In this step, I am visualizing the terrain under the base of the case so that the ground will interact with the base.




Pile up under the higher spots to add support, and to push up through the punctures where the imp fingers came through. To create these undulations in the surface, I'm using cotton balls:




I had to cut the fiber sheet to allow for the peaks of the cotton balls to remain high enough to push through the finger holes of the base


Next update will have more work on the base, additional fiberglass work to build up the base and include some additional design queues that will hopefully lend themselves to a more "lifelike" version of doomflesh....

[XcaliburFX]

Dumplings!

[tech-daddy]

Happy 4th of July! American's celebrate their independence, and I am celebrating by building an independently unique DOOM case!!!!!

Ok, so the doomflesh base, there needs to be an appearance of some sort of circulatory system, so I pondered how best to make this happen. I settled on cotton yarn. Lay it out:


Then saturate the yarn in fiberglass resin:


then use the resin all over the fiberglass to smooth out the fiberglass. Skin texture does not normally contain interlocking glass weave, so I'm covering that all with the natural liquid settling properties of resin. This pic, the resin is totally dry. Looks wet


Another coat:


Same process, but with a little brush stippling on the panel to add in some surface fluctuation. I *really* like how this came out. I will likely do one final light resin coat on the base platform and achieve the same effect:


I have some potential plans for the front fan intake.


Those plans require that this front grating is removed! Ahhhhhh..... much better! Need to file down those sides.


Painting the metal frame bits, Go over them well with a good scrubbing of a sanding pad, to open up that surface a bit. Then a good coating of self etching primer for all the bitsies.








I've actually finished the base coats of paint, olive drab, and top coated them with matte clear for some additional durability. The color is pretty much the same as the self etching primer, so that would be like me reposting the same pics!

Coming up next, after the resin cures, will be the base platform's base color coat, as well as the base color coats for the side panel that is ripped open.... WOOT!!!!!

[tech-daddy]

So, since this is a bulk spray using rattle cans, I started off with a matte cardinal red. Intentionally "overly red" to fight back against the next coats of paint that land on the palette:




I then dropped on matte Cinnamon brown, followed up with a deep brown/rust tone




Ended up here. Will get some sunlight shots tomorrow... but, for a base, this is about perfect!




For reference, here are some reference pics:




So, as you can see, there is still much to be done but the base is coming along nicely!

[tech-daddy]

Hey all!!!! Lots to show, not much time to finish!!!!! OOOoooOOOOoooooo
0_o

Break out the Matte Camo green! Paint up the frame and then hit the second large side panel.




This panel has a bit of the Doomflesh that has grown up the side of it. Veins embedded under the effect. I textured this one slightly to give it a more of a stubbled appearance. In this pic, I am getting tready to paint on some......




Liquid mask!!!!


You paint this on into the uneven edges:




and this is after all of the masking has been pulled.



I then sprayed metallic silver from the back of the hole to get the contracting metal appearance on the inside of the tear:


Then edge dressed all of the tear edges with a silver paint marker:


BAM! Looking sharp! (no pun intended!)



On to the damaged fuel rods. Going old school here. Pulled some old school plasma CCFL's out of mothballs.


The feet on the plasma rods are too wide, so I need to sand them down... and after a couple of passes I had them slimmed down and fitting nicely!


I cut the cable clutter for the power input substantially by splicing the two inverters into one adapter. Much better!



Closeup of the coloring in the plasma rods:


Sketching out where the rods would be damaged in relation to the tear hole. Then used a reinforced cut off wheel on a dremel to cut the hole out of the pipes.


Test fit and ... yeah!!!!!



Now, using my lego ninjitsu, I take the 90 degree elbow and the T,


And cut them down a bit to make them closer together.


Add the long pipes in to the new fittings:


This *may* be the end design of the pipes config. Not sold on it though


Keep it real, keep it fun!
More later!
-=Tech-Daddy=-