Mod of the Month - April 2008

Way of the Warrior

by Scirocco
Worklog

"...And now for something completely different."

We may have some pretty grandiose builds to start off the month, but that doesn't mean there weren't any good old-fashioned top quality mods. One such accomplishment is already doing a round of battle over at the Modshop, and I figured it was worth a good look here, too.

Way of the Warrior by Scirocco hasn't been a vastly complex mod, but part of its beauty is in its simplicity. Inspired by the comic by the same name, Way of the Warrior takes everything that's right about the TwiceSeven cube by Mountain Mods and tweaks it just a bit to make it better.

Little details abound in the case, all of which seem so tiny in and of themselves, but play a bigger part in the overall theme. Hard drives, power buttons, fan grilles and other little alterations help change the entire feel of the case without a large overall alteration.

All of the fans on the TwiceSeven case have been given a bit of a makeover – U-channelling and grommets have been added to reduce vibration, and grilles have been added along with a bit of AC Ryan Hexx mesh for a clean overall finish. All of this sits in front of red UV Blackfire AC Ryan fans.

Speaking of the fan grilles, if you're ever looking for an easy way to get your mesh to stay in place then take a tip from Scirocco – a little bit of clear double-sided tape works a treat for securing mesh. A few bits along the inside of the fan grille and it was ready for mounting.

Little details abound on the case, including accenting or hiding pieces by simple moves. For instance, rather than leave the hard drives with their bright and distracting labels, Scirocco used black vinyl sticker and a hobby knife to make them blend in – without voiding a warranty should the drives need replaced. All of the wires were also given a good sleeving and heatshrink treatment in black to make them uniform, and switches were polished 'til it hurt.

The Zalman rheobus bay insert did everything that Scirocco wanted it to, but looked like everything that she didn't. So, she ripped the faceplate off of it and drilled new holes in a spare bay cover from the case. The final version looks like it could have been a stock addition to the case.

Last but not least, Way of the Warrior required a window – which required a Dremel, which is actually quite a drawn out saga in and of itself. Fortunately, the window has been cut and quite elegantly completed with a rendering from the manga. Though the system ended up having to be air-cooled for the Modshop competition, we'll be looking forward to seeing the watercooling make its way inside soon.

So, how will the watercooling look? What happened to the Dremel? What's that about glitter-glue and coloured foils? And how did she do that lovely looking side-panel? All these details and more can be found in Scirocco's rather entertaining and quite eloquently written worklog, which should be your next stop after this article...

...and perhaps after you take a couple minutes to go vote for Way of the Warrior by Scirocco as the Mod of the Month for April!