# Project Marshlands: A Military Themed Build..



## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

​







Hello guys.

Doing my first ever build project/log and thought I'd post it here aswell.. Most of the hardware are old and second hand stuff so it's not being build for performance.. It is however themed to be a military build so it'll be build around the following..

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX
Amd FX 4100
16GB Corsair Vengeance Memory
nVidia GTX470's
Dont know about the PSU yet, but hoping to get my hands on something powerful enough for both gpu's
Corsair Vengeance C70 (Military Green)

Everything will be watercooled apart from the Sabertooth to keep the color scheme..

.....


Pics of the hardware





...........................................


*Sponsored by:*

Fans sponsored by Akasa






Power supply sponsored by Corsair






Case mods sponsored by Mnpctech


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

First up is the cabling. 

I got some 2.06mm 16awg Eco wire with a rating of 26/0.25..








Also, millions of molex crimps..







Some carefully picked out MDPC sleeving has got my name on it ..


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

I've done a few, but decided that it's just not gonna fit the build the way I wanted, so I'll start over using the new sleeving ..


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Postman came with a handful of items..

Guess what this is 






Something sharp..






Mmmm, another mystery item!!






Maybe the hobby knife can reveal....







Memory also came.. :crazy:






Looks good, but not good enough.. 






Seems my wife was right, nothing would ever get done without her... :rofl:






Some naked pics.






Ooooooo..






Some dirty pics...


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Got the memory sinks all cleaned up and ready. The adhesive was so hard to get off I had to soak them in hot water and rub it off with a cloth. Took me about an hours worth of rubbing!!

One last shot of the before..






To go with the military theme I ordered a couple of cans of "desert sand" from Army Issue, which turned out to be the easiest spray paint I have ever used. No runs or smudges :lovely:






Busy on my self fabricated spray surface!






And the end result :drool:









..........


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Having a quick look at the case...






























Buttons are a bit ........ :-/

But they'll grow on me!! 










Oo la la, once again, Corsair :nod:






Good amount of space for cable routing and management!!


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Tried my hand at SATA cable sleeving, used a lighter to shrink the heatshrink


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Thanks Akasa for making awesome fans ...






Also, something special from far far away..






And a few of these funny fittings!!






Got some sleeving done last night


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Got the 24pin and the fans sleeved tonight using my brand new crimper ..!!

Thought to myself, "Damn this crimper makes me look like a crimping genius!!!"






Some beautiful Commando Green sleeving






Fans done 






A very military style 24pin!










12mm copper tubing seems to be the rarest thing in the UK..


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

A tiny little update..

Packages in the post..






What could it possibly be????






A couple of second hand GTX470's maybe??


















Some "camo" wrap ...










.. and a tasty beveridge 






Back to business...

Radiator mounts






Vinyl wrapped radiator mounts.. 






Back on the radiator..






With the fans..


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## keenan (Jul 20, 2013)

Tiny little teaser


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## micropage7 (Jul 20, 2013)

woowww... nice military theme
and it looks pretty good
subbed..


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## keenan (Jul 21, 2013)

Got a bit of an update after a long weekend of way too much work.. 

Here we see two electronically camouflaged owls.. 






Connected up to see the "bigger" picture .... 






......and trying to fool myself into thinking a £60 camera can take cool pics...







Have a relaxing Sunday everyone
..........


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## shovenose (Jul 21, 2013)

Wow, that's quite nice  In Win Commander III is also a good power supply, I have one in my computer and it's solid, and it would still fit your theme even though it's more desert themed than military green themed..


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jul 21, 2013)

Really nice work


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## Grnfinger (Jul 21, 2013)

very nice


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## de.das.dude (Jul 21, 2013)

subbed.


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## keenan (Jul 22, 2013)

A mysterious package arrived in the post today...


What could it possibly be?






I'm gonna have to take a peek inside!!!!






It appears to be some lovely super cool stuff from Akasa..










All packed out..






But what does these boxes really say??














Inside the very informative boxes..













...................................


I would like to thank Ivan and Alex at Akasa, for being an absolute pleasure to chat with and for sending me this amazing sponsors package!!


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## RCoon (Jul 22, 2013)

WHERES THAT SABERTOOTH. I KNOW ITS COMING!!!
Great job


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## VulkanBros (Jul 22, 2013)

RCoon said:


> WHERES THAT SABERTOOTH. I KNOW ITS COMING!!!
> Great job



Either that or the ASUS Gryphon........


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## BiggieShady (Jul 22, 2013)

VulkanBros said:


> Either that or the ASUS Gryphon........



Gryphon is mATX and with that case and SLI ... not likely. Question is, custom painted thermal armor?


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## keenan (Jul 24, 2013)

Still waiting on stuff to arrive from the US.. :weep:

Got all the cables done in the mean time..


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## keenan (Aug 1, 2013)

Finally got some more stuff delivered...








Some "liver of sulfur" to oxidise the nickel on the Bitspower fittings..






Also received this lovely box.. (Feels quite heavy, wonder what it could be..?)






..........................................


Ooo look, it's something to power these power hungry GTX470's...




























...................................


So many connectors...






24pin and 12V






4 x 6+2pin pci-e






8 x Peripheral (Molex)






8 x SATA








I want to give a massive thank you to Paul at Corsair for supplying me with this lovely PSU, for being so supportive and for believing in me..


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## adulaamin (Aug 1, 2013)

WOW! awesome paint job and sleeving! Keep the updates coming!


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## PopcornMachine (Aug 1, 2013)

Looks very nice so far.


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## keenan (Aug 2, 2013)

Finally some A-TACS time!!

Got a roll of A-TACS hydrographic film this morning..






Nothing magical about this horrible looking over pan, but that's where the magic happens.. 






Not the best result after applying the matte clear cote .. uke:
Seems like it desolved the film! 





Anyway, no take backsies or do-overs so I used a scotch brite dish scrubber and some Tamiya hobby paint to give it a weathered look

Think it's the best outcome of a bad situation..














...............................


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## d1nky (Aug 2, 2013)

wow how long have you been modding for?!

the quality is sublime!


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## keenan (Aug 2, 2013)

d1nky said:


> wow how long have you been modding for?!
> 
> the quality is sublime!



Very flattering, but this is my first ever modding project..


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## keenan (Aug 6, 2013)

Not too much to show so far this week, started with the GPU block and redid it 3 times due to what I can only describe as OCD...


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## keenan (Aug 7, 2013)

Today I am giving the case a weathered look..

My little helper..






First layer of weathering done.. :blush:







Dirty kitchen.... be gone!!!


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## Mindweaver (Aug 7, 2013)

Great job!  This maybe your first mod, but looks like you have been doing it for years!


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## a_ump (Aug 7, 2013)

Very very nice, and i like that fact that you just went with your ram sinks and didn't try to redo. Like my art teacher used to say, There are no mistakes or erasing in art!, you my friend are a great example of this.


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## d1nky (Aug 7, 2013)

more pics inside and out pretty please. like the guy said above, looks like youve been doing this for years!

and dont worry that looks exactly like any other british kitchen lol


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## torgoth (Aug 13, 2013)

amazing keep up the awesome work


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## keenan (Aug 14, 2013)

Hi everyone.. It's been one very busy week so not much to show in regards to results, but I have done some dipping..

Got a CPU block and a 240mm rad to fit in the bottom of the case, obviously they had to get a bit of love!! :loved:

First I had to do some masking to make sure I dont get the base coat everywhere..














My very tidy working area .. 






A massive roll of hydrographic film..






Tools of the trade.






Measured and framed..






Had to get a larger dipping tank so I borrowed my sons toy box 






Some aerosol activator..






Here you can see the film starting to dissolve from the activator..






The results!!


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## PopcornMachine (Aug 14, 2013)

Wait.  Where's the radiator?  I can't see it.

Oh, it's camouflaged! 


Great pics thanks.


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## d1nky (Aug 15, 2013)

Looks awesome man!


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## micropage7 (Aug 16, 2013)

OMG i love this project especially the color

thats awesome you do it cleanly


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## keenan (Aug 25, 2013)

Today I would Like to give a massive thanks to Joseph (Greybeard) and Corsair for sending me this amazing ....... box 







... which contains an awesome little addition to this project..






The Corsair Vengeance M65 Gaming Mouse..






Looks wise this mouse is absolutely stunning and it feels very comfortable in the palm of your hand.. On the top it has the scroll wheel and a response time selector which lets you choose between 1ms, 2ms, 4ms or 8ms..






On the side it has a "Sniper" button that when pressed slows the response of the mouse down to make precise movement easy as pie.. 













On the bottom it has removable weights so you can select a weight that is most comfortable for you..






Been using it for a few days now and I must say, it's outstanding!


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## Kursah (Aug 25, 2013)

Nice work on the project! Too bad you weren't in the states! I own a water transfer printing/hydro dipping business, Montana Hydro Image, and would've been glad to help ya out oin this project before school started...now I gotta step back a little and let my biz partner take over the bulk of it. That ATACS pattern is sort of a pain to dip with at first but like all patterns you can figure out the little details to what makes each one dip well.

I'm honestly not usually too much into the military themes but you have done some very nice and clean work and I also just completed a build in that same case a month or two ago...was super easy to work with and perform cable management along with being tough and easy to carry and gain access to.

Overall very nice work! Thanks for sharing!


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## dannylillhtc (Aug 25, 2013)

awesome pal bloody awesome.......


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## keenan (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks for the positive comments guys.. Kursah, I haven't tried any other film yet, but ATACS is definitely tricky to get a perfect result..

Here's a small teaser..





Will hopefully have some more updates tomorrow...


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## keenan (Aug 28, 2013)

Small update..

Today I had time to play with some plexiglas..






Chopped up bits..






Tools used: fretsaw, needle files and the coolest looking duct tape ever.. :lovely:














Some more chopped bits..






With a "sandy" base coat..





Dipped and weathered.. 














Quickly fitted, just for good measure..


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## PopcornMachine (Aug 28, 2013)

It's a Cammo-GPU!


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## t_ski (Aug 29, 2013)

PopcornMachine said:


> It's a Cammo-GPU!



Where?  I don't see it...


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## keenan (Sep 8, 2013)

Finally got a bit of an update... 

It was about time I got the case filled with something so I started with the rads and tube res.. The tube res is by no means set to go there, just playing around with some ideas at the moment..

Anyway, here we go..























.....and the bigger picture..


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## jasper1605 (Sep 8, 2013)

I must say this is quite impressive.  It's got the same precision and attention to detail as the l3p Desk mod had when he was posting all of his updates.  Good work.


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## shovenose (Sep 8, 2013)

Fantastic! Still think an In Win Commander III would look better than the Corsair PSU you've got in there!

IN WIN Commander III 800 800W ATX 12V 2.31 / EPS 1...


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## keenan (Sep 8, 2013)

The Corsair will soon look better..


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## torgoth (Sep 11, 2013)

keenan said:


> The Corsair will soon look better..



we want more!!


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## droopyRO (Sep 11, 2013)

Very nice, good luck with the project, i was once thinking about converting a case to look like an USAF combat controller radio/sattelite backpack like this http://www.google.ro/imgres?start=7...&page=4&tbnh=190&tbnw=140&ndsp=28&tx=92&ty=66 or this http://www.google.ro/imgres?um=1&sa...nh=203&tbnw=225&start=54&ndsp=29&tx=123&ty=97 complete whit those cool looking antennas. 
Maybe when i will retire from work i will have the time and money to do it


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## Ahhzz (Sep 11, 2013)

Very nice, sharp work.


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## BiggieShady (Sep 11, 2013)

keenan said:


> The Corsair will soon look better..












... yeah, I can't wait to see it done


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## keenan (Sep 11, 2013)

Had a little bit of time today and started on the .... wait, it should be quite noticeable from the rough "blueprint" ..


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## torgoth (Sep 12, 2013)

are those scratches/left over tape on the bottom piece?
also where will these go?


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## keenan (Sep 12, 2013)

Ok, I left the glue to harden over night and did a quick test fit this morning..

Perfect fit.. 





Thinking I should widen the the two "damaged" parts on the case opening side to join them together..


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## Vario (Sep 12, 2013)

keenan said:


> Had a little bit of time today and started on the .... wait, it should be quite noticeable from the rough "blueprint" ..
> 
> [url]http://abload.de/img/img_2243x4you.jpg[/url]









I've been watching too much breaking bad... did you get the blue tint right?


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## keenan (Sep 16, 2013)

I hope to have some more updates later today, but for the time being I will have to leave you in the care of my adorable little project mascot..


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## keenan (Sep 17, 2013)

Got a bit of an update..

After debating an what would be the best color to match "Military Green" I have finally got some results!!


First I did a light basecoat..






Than a second coat and some weathering..






A quick test fit for color matching..














Remember this..?






It now looks like this.. 






...and this..






Final results.. Hope you guys like it..


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## BiggieShady (Sep 17, 2013)

keenan said:


> Hope you guys like it



Ah, It's too much ... and by it I mean just right


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## PopcornMachine (Sep 17, 2013)

Looking very good so far. Almost too realistic.  Was worried your PSU had corroded.


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## manofthem (Sep 17, 2013)

Looks spectacular!   Keep it up; can't wait to see more


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## keenan (Sep 19, 2013)

Had some issues fitting the motherboard with the bulky top rad so I need to replace it..

I did a quick photoshoot early this morning to keep everyone entertained..

























...and the twins..


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## a_ump (Sep 19, 2013)

i like the roughed up look!


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## keenan (Oct 8, 2013)

Hi guys, sorry for the lack in updates, I have been ill the last few days and pretty much spent the majority of them in bed! Feeling better today and done some adjustments to the radiators and also painted the fan controller..

Thought I would do a quick assemble to see were everything's at...


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## a_ump (Oct 8, 2013)

question, i looks GREAT, but id you think of putting some of that goldish/tan color on the outside of the case?


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## PopcornMachine (Oct 8, 2013)

In addition to your extraordinary case work, you take some excellent photos sir.


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## Mathmodding (Oct 9, 2013)

looks GREAT, nice peint jobb
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190090


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## keenan (Oct 16, 2013)

Thanks for the comments guys..

Today I refitted the bottom rad and got the cabling done. Next step is to get the copper pipe measured, cut, bent and fitted...


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## Mathmodding (Oct 16, 2013)

J'm fans for the look of your case


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## HammerON (Oct 16, 2013)

Sub'd for an interesting build
Nice job so far


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## Grey_beard (Oct 22, 2013)

it keeps getting better and better Keenan! keep em coming 

oh btw, grats! just saw *this *. Been waiting for it to get published. Well done


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## keenan (Oct 23, 2013)

Thanks for the comments guys..



Grey_beard said:


> it keeps getting better and better Keenan! keep em coming
> 
> oh btw, grats! just saw *this *. Been waiting for it to get published. Well done



That's excellent!! Saw the facebook feature, but didnt know about the blog.. 

..............


Still no further updates on the tubing as I am having a nightmare of a time with the copper pipe.. I am through all 3 meter of it with no usable pieces to show!

I have ordered another lot of "easy flare" pipe which has a thinner wall, lets hope things go a tiny bit better..


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## keenan (Oct 24, 2013)

Got another mysterious box in the post today..






All the way from Minneapolis .. a place called Mnpctech... 






Looks like a laser cut replacement window for the Corsair Vengeance C70 case!!!!!!!














Complete with replacement grommets..






Definitely impressed by the quality of the acrylic! The holes are perfectly aligned and the finish is flawless!

Also included was a few modding "extras" 


























I want to give a massive thanks to Bill Owen at Mnpctech for supplying this project with this lovely replacement window and also for such an awesome guy.. 

http://www.mnpctech.com/Corsair_c70_vengeance_clear_window_replacement.html


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## keenan (Oct 28, 2013)

Tiny little update for today..

Replaced the standard side window with the one from Bill at mnpctech and started on the plumbing..

Took about 5 minutes to swap and looks outstanding..










First few bends..














....and all the mishaps


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## Vario (Oct 28, 2013)

Nice work with the copper


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## PopcornMachine (Oct 28, 2013)

keenan said:


> Tiny little update for today..
> 
> Replaced the standard side window with the one from Bill at mnpctech and started on the plumbing..
> 
> ...



Tubular!


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## keenan (Oct 31, 2013)

Thanks guys..

.....................


While I'm waiting on the last of the watercooling stuff to arrive I had a go at making some sli bridges..

Definitely feeling the "less is more" feeling with this one.. 










Also had to move a few things around to re-position the pump under the res..






Some more photos..


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## keenan (Nov 2, 2013)

Thanks for all the amazing comments throughout this log guys, I should have the final update coming next week..


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## Grey_beard (Nov 4, 2013)

You've done an amazing job with this build keenan.. a lot of us here in Corsair are very impressed! Superb execution from the very beginning up till the end 

btw, I got your message.. I'll work on it and get back to you as soon that I get an update.


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## keenan (Nov 4, 2013)

Outstanding, thank you so much for the reply Grey_beard!!

It's sad knowing this build is nearing it's final stages..


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## Grey_beard (Nov 4, 2013)

keenan said:


> Outstanding, thank you so much for the reply Grey_beard!!
> 
> It's sad knowing this build is nearing it's final stages..



Like what they say "All good things must come to an end" - But look at the bright side, now you get to wake up everyday and look at your creation with pride and joy..  a sense of great accomplishment.


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## ste2425 (Nov 5, 2013)

Brilliant, love it when people use copper pipes.


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## keenan (Nov 5, 2013)

Grey_beard said:


> Like what they say "All good things must come to an end" - But look at the bright side, now you get to wake up everyday and look your creation with pride and joy..  a sense of great accomplishment.



I know what you mean.. Maybe I'll give it a few weeks while I fight the urge to start a new log 



ste2425 said:


> Brilliant, love it when people use copper pipes.



Thanks for the nice comment ste2435 

........................


Still waiting for the cooling liquid to arrive so I thought I'd keep myself busy..

Went through all the leftover bits and found just what I needed 


A bit of this...






Some of this..






.....and a touch of this..






Results..


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## keenan (Nov 7, 2013)

*Last Update and this build is now finished..*











































Thanks for all the support and motivation from all you guys.. It's been an outstanding experience..


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## jasper1605 (Nov 15, 2013)

Gratz on finishing it!  This is quite the good looking project!


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## d1nky (Nov 15, 2013)

Incredible!


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## keenan (Nov 18, 2013)

Thanks guys, it was a very enjoyable project..


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