Maximum PC

Here are some misc graphics/labels designed for Serenity, these were displayed on cargo, equip or interior features of the ship. Some of these should look really cool distressed on the case.







This case mod will be a tribute to the "firefly" Sci-fi series and SERENITY movie. I will draw my inspiration from interior shots of the "firefly" ship. Imagining if the PC was field equipment used by the characters. The case I'll be using is Corsair's 400R mid tower. Here is their product page, http://www.corsair.com/pc-cases/carbide-series-pc-case/carbide-series-400r-mid-tower-case.html



Made switch box for mounting a pair of fighter pilot toggle switches, this will be mounted on the top handle of the corsair 400R

Switch plates for Red Fighter Pilot Switches, http://www.mnpctech.com/spdprtToggle.html





Bending toggle switch box







Sorry! to anyone anticipating this to look like the ship, or see a model of the serenity glued on top. My tribute is inspired by visual elements from both the movie and series that appeal to me, in particular "Our Mrs reynolds" episode, which has great scenes of Serenity's bridge. (and christina hendricks) To me, the charm of the Serenity is the mixture of Old West and industrial tech, and sometimes these elements look hobbled together. You can tell the Set builders delved into Ebay for salvaged Electronic and Ham Radio parts. I also love how everything is distressed from use and weathered. The ship's control panel is a mess...lol



It will be colored to match the panels from firefly's deck, then distressed and weathered with Copper accents, graphics from interior of firefly will be airbrushed.. side panel was created from interior of an old Dremel carry case, with wire loom, 5" conduit, 3.5" fan controllers, misc wires, misc LEDs bulgin panel LED...





Round Modders Mesh for the grills in the side.

http://www.mnpctech.com/moddersmesh.html



Bare with me on this part, it will make more sense when I've taken more pictures of the panel. I'm making a junction box for the panel, from an old bezel top.. imagining the box suffered damage from some type of accident and caught on fire.. Gumdrop LED is cracked, one of the black wire looms will be disconnected with have melted wires exposed.. I'm still deciding on what looks right, as I go along.. I plan to head over to Home Depot's Plumbing aisle tomorrow for some copper pipe, hopefully I can get .25" diameter, maybe buy a pipe bender, (probably don't need one) and emulate whats I'm only guessing is coolant or misc fluid lines? (it's all pretend..lol) from lower right panel in this photo. I keep telling myself "need more copper implemented)



after heating and bending the plastic into box... I reflected to myself "Make due with what you have on hand, and improve your skills"



Dremel had a snack... The effect of having caught on fire at one time will be added with paint later



One of the black wire looms will be disconnected with have melted wires exposed..

Copper tubing and fans installed...







http://www.mnpctech.com/xbox_360_window_trim_molding.html





Access panel progress ....with mangled vent ..heh...Did you ever see the episode "Our Mrs Reynolds?" ....Christina Hendricks sabotaged the control panel on the Bridge, the wiring was pretty bad...lol
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Worked on the bezel and Mini Toggle Fan Controller faceplate today, now showing a bit of usage.... (wire bristle brush...hehe)



dabbed Aluminum Silver paint around the I/O openings, then lightly scuffed it with scotch brite pad, to create illusion of exposed steel beneath the paint...



progress work on top panel... the tape over the switch will be cherry on top, when everything is assembled

The Arabic label from the Serenity Blueprints.. confirmed from friend, it states "Danger" so I applied it over the intake fans on the access panel...

you've gotta have "BLUE SUN" implemented too! This Fan Grill design is by Roboduck! and will be milled from 3/16" aluminum. This will mount on the rear exhaust for the 400R chassis.

.... still work in progress. I'm learning new tricks as I move along as well. I will fine tune the weathered and distressed effects, so they're not a stark contrast to everything else atm. It's a process of creating first, then breaking it down. I'm focusing on 1 element, let that process cure, then go back to earlier stages...like the Switch holes for example, I'm still working on making them look worn and smooth, not scratched up. I'll post progress photo of those next.

I added just a dab to the fan controller box on the right panel...

You're killing it bro. This looks like it belongs in the enterance to Disneyland's Star Tours.

That looks wicked!

Thanks for the comments guys! I applied Silver Aluminum paint around the edges of the I/O holes and Toggle switches, to create the illusion of steel being exposed from underneath over time...

Next step is fine tuning the weathered and distressed effects with an Airbrush

Last night I went over my initial weathered and distressed paint effects with an Airbrush. Anything that contrasted a lot, I muted with Matte Black, like the fan blades, copper tubing, decals, shiny toggle switches on the fan controller and screw heads. I also airbrushed the edges of Silver Aluminum paint, which I used to created the chipped and scratched paint beneath.

Ok, this is that weird cut-out Before...

In the firefly verse, "Shiny" is slang for "cool" "great", "neat", "wonderful", etc.

Nathan Fillion



"SHINY" plate design for 5.25 Optical bay cover will be milled from 3/16" thick Copper, and lit from behind

Going over areas of the right side panel with airbrush, using Flat Black, over saturated with Thinner.. to weather or "mute" some of coloring in the decals, wiring, and smaller copper tubing

I should have the top grill finished tonight. I will try experimenting with heating copper for different surface effects too.

talk about SHINY, the Blue Sun 120mm fan grill, designed by Roboduck! this will go over rear exhaust fan.

The "Serenity" Kanji 2x 120mm fan grill is cnc milled from 1/4" thick Copper. It was Flame colored with Acetylene Torch.

..Ok, for the lower two 5.25 bays, installing Alphacool's LCD, 240x128 Pixel Blue Negative. Making a "distressed look" overlay applique for the screen. LCD will have Heads-Up Display with current system stats, Logos and images from firefly, including the Allied Spacecraft Crest logo, all programmed by Toby Kirkby aka tobyak ...and best quotes from the Serenity Movie and firefly series, like "Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram ship for no apparent reason?!" :duh:

fyi: performance-pcs sells the Silver version of Alphacool LCD for $50 less than Black one, so save $$$ and paint it Black!

Flamed Copper "SERENITY" in Kanji, 240 grill installed.... knicked & painted socket head screws and dry brush painted the inside / outter edges of the grill....

Here is the BLUE SUN 120mm fan grill, weathered just a tad, before mounting over the slightly abused factory rear exhaust...

UPS misrouted the LCD, it won't arrive till Monday.I had rare opportunity to bring the PC over to Radar Studios for Brian Garrity to take photos, but it had to be tonight. So, to fill the three empty bays, on limited Holiday time today, I'm gonna improvise and use Honeycomb Modders Mesh over the factory 5.25 bay covers, which fits overall theme nicely. I'll paint them Copper and applied "weathered" effect too.

I arrived at the shop after Turkey Time, I had 2 hours to mod before I had to be at Brian's studio for photos. 1st thing, Finish the Honeycomb Modders Mesh 5.25 bay cover, then paint it Copper. Next thing was painting the 1/4" thick Copper "SHINY" plate with "aged" effect. For the 3rd open bay, I grabbed an Logysis 5.25 Bay Fan Controller. I knicked it's bezel edges and the screen with my Dremel and a cutting discs, then painted the edges Silver, for an exposed metal effect. Once everything was installed, I did final touch-ups with a paint brush. I glanced at the clock, I had 10 minutes before 7pm, and took these two pics of these mods with my phone, before leaving for Brian's studio.





More to come!