Welcome guys, to the mod log of my next Project, BF3 .3, there are many reasons why I have entitled this project BF3.3 I might get onto that later
First off I would like to thanks the current sponsors
I will of course show pictures of products as they arrive
Anyways lets kick off with my rough plan of the mod I wanted to do, basically I wanted to make a nice Battlefield 3 mod, this involved one of my misses hand etched master pieces. Being battlefield 3 themed I also wanted to get the camo effect on the case (this may change though), I also wanted to have some sort of realism into and that’s when I came up with this idea.
This was to be my starting block, although I am not quite sold on which camo route to go down, but it will be a desert style one.
The basic idea was simple, strip the level 10 GT side panel down to rework the side panel and rebuild it flush to the top grill to take a full length window with an etch in it, now I know a few will say the green does not look that right with the tan, but green UV is chosen simply because it is best at making the etchings stand out.
Oh the magazine in the side, I should mention that I plan to make this the security key and without it sitting in the slot, the PC power button won’t work.
Ok now we got the basic design out the way, I can start thinking about add-ons and other things to tie in with the battlefield 3 theme, but first I would like to start off with the etch. This process has taken weeks and is created using 1000s of dots to create the shading effects.
Original art work.
So here is how far we got.
One of the best etches she has done yet I think, although it has taken some time, once finished completely I will post up some more pictures of the etching,
Done a little bit of work on the tower
(caption: yes Richi, this is exactly where you should start cutting if I was you, put the dremel in line with the window).. These mod kitties are popping up everywhere, get yours from a cat shelter near you
Measured up the gap between the side panel and top of the upper mesh grill slat, it was 15mm wide sticking out from the top, I had some acrylic rod (square) lying around that happened to be 10mm so I measure up.
This combined with a sheet of 5mm acrylic brings the panel out to 15mm so it will sit flush with the upper grill that lips over. Now that was done it time to start marking up and cut the side panel.
Side panel is now cut , the idea I have in my head is to wrap the etch panel, along the side in Biffenix uv LED strips, the idea is to keep that light separate from inside.
The way the side panel will work is that the etching panel overlaps the hole I cut above, so lights will be recessed once attached to the etch panels edge and should stop most of the glow from the uv lights from hitting the inside of the case. I want the inside to be dark and the etch to pop, but when you open the side panel separate lights turn on. (Just wondering if I should go down the route of pressure switch on this or push switch)
Also done the rough cut for the magazine security switch.
Just a bit of tiding up to do to get the edges smooth, I still have to prep for paint ect, but will need to do that as I get nearer to that stage.
While I was at it I also decided to mock up some keyboard, mouse and headset plan in Photoshop (also subject to change).
Well did not get that much done at the weekend, really as I realised most of my drill bits were blunt, so I had to order some more, 1st bump in the road hit. Still I got on with it and done what I could.
With the 10mm square rod I had lying around I bonded a frame to the back of the extended side panel section, once attached I am going to probably fill the seams between it at the side panel itself so it is one panel.
Side panel build up ready, just need drill bits for mounts and once attached to sand it all down so it’s perfectly level with the side panel edges and the overhanging top grill..
Also something else I thought I would show you which should answer all the questions about why do I want to go desert camo.
Thanks to Vega Force Company (maker of licensed BB airguns) one of the sponsors of this mod for helping out big time with this, I had asked them if they had any shop soiled display models of their MK 18 Mod 1 AEG even a model that had no inners to create a replica of the weapon the soldier is holding in the art work and they were kind enough to come on board.
The idea is to create something like this that was completely unique in the fact the weapon at the top represented the weapon in the etch and the artwork.
Maybe not so bright on the orange lighting I think, but something along them lines, anyway back on point here is a lot of photos of the centre piece I received from them for the project I have added quite a few, simply because I could not believe the attention to detail in their product.
And the addons they were able to supply
Very nice bit of kit and very realistic to a point, before I show you some final pics of it assembled here is another item I managed to source off of ebay for 24.99 GBP! Go figure, yes it is only a replica, but a full metal one for that price was quite a surprise.
Some shots to show the sight actually works, even though it will not be used.
Now putting all together we have the final piece for the top of the case.
I think it is as close as I am going to get to the weapon the soilder is holding in the Battlefield 3 artwork (and also the etch).
Vega force Company make some nice kit and even though it is only a BB gun, the attention to detail on the weapon is superb, you can find out more about these guys and the products the offer at
www.gb-tech.com.tw and if you would love something like this you will not go wrong with the brand. There are some tight laws on BB guns all over the world though and I suggest you look
here for the legality of it all were you live.
Again thanks to VFC (GB-Tech) for supplying the centre piece for this mod who deserve their pimpage.
Well got round to doing some more work yesterday, just mainly got the side panel done
Just got to put some elbow grease into the rubbing down to smooth it all out, Also thought I would try something out and found a little fancy dress item on ebay for a few quid/dollars.
Stripped it down to test placement roughly to see what it looked like (although this can change if it does not look right once the camo is done). Why I was there, I thought I would try a test fitting of the side panel with etch in rough place.
The window will be up a little higher of course once mounted as I did not secure it, just masking taped it in.
Why I was there, I thought I would mock up the HDD tray security system, this was done by using a small sensor switch and a bit of mechano to help keep the enclosure secure when inserted.
A clean up is needed, but I will prep this as well to have it done like the rest, Some one very helpful also pointed this camo out to me, so plan is to do camo like this for the mod.
Until next time guys
My first task was to fill and smooth out the sides for the panel that I had made, this involved some filler and a lot of elbow grease.
Now for the really crazy part…. After all that hard work making it even, you know its Battlefield themed so I have to now try to turn it into a worn used look.
Crazy I know, but I want this desired effect (darker effect in clear areas) to give that worn feel.
Why we are here I might as well show the product that turned up as well, well in fact a few things turned up,
This is the Calibur11 Battlefield 3 Vault for Xbox 360 Slim, by some miracle I managed to convince Calibur11 to supply one for the mod, just so I can steal some parts from it.
This is how it would look on the Xbox 360
It also is made for the PS3, In fact calibur11 make quite a few nifty themed products for both the Xbox and PS3. The second image above should give you an idea of the parts I am going to take from the Donor Battlefield 3 Vault.
One half smoke grenade and of course the Claymore
What is great about these, is the fact as with all the calibur11 vaults all the items and attachments are screw mounted on so you can place them virtually any place on the vault, the best bet is though that calibur11 will be offering the accessories for all their themed vaults separately soon and they have some pretty cool items that I can be seen used on PC mods. Check out what I mean here (
http://calibur11.com/about-calibur11/.
Another small little update with the sponsor packages that turned up.
First up a big thanks to Zotac who supplied the graphics card for this project
I feel so privileged on this mod with sponsors so a special thanks to Zotac for Stepping on board, I am not done yet though time to look at the second parcel that came.
This time from the guys over at EK.
They were good enough to step in a supply
EK-Supreme LTX - Acetal
This came with the necessary mounts for the LGA 2011 platform, one think I noticed from the outset why putting this together (yes I know I only hand tightened the screws and one is not all the way down yet) the build quality is superb. Next in the box was this
EK-FC5X0 GTX+ - Acetal+Nickel
I guess you should know by now that I am going down the route of keeping the interior as dark as I can by using black products in the build, obviously I won’t be able to get everything in black, but I will certainly try. As you may have spotted in the group shot I also have this to put on the card.
This is the back plate for the card, why not necessary, for this mod and the fact I want to keep the insides as black as possible it is perfect, so let us get this on the card.
Next up was the pump.
This is EK’s own branded pump and will be more up to the job; they also supplied a mounting kit with it.
Now things are starting to filter through I can slowly see the project getting its skates on, hopefully I can get the case out and back before the holidays to show you guys some lovely pictures, but until then I will keep posting hardware as it comes.
P.S I might be able to get spray work done by guy that done my level 10, if I can you may see this.
You have to picture it though without the soldier or the writing in the artwork and just the etching with the background.. I am not yet decided it all depends how the camo looks on test panel once done. Decisions decisions decisions…