Mod of the Month - July 2009

the golden sail

by Sonnenschein
Worklog: Here

This one's certainly received some attention in the office recently. Sonnenschein's the golden sail is a totally unique mod which has clearly had some serious work put into it as well plenty of forethought. Sonnenschein has some pretty clear ideas about what his new machine should offer too- he's not too fussed about weight but noise and performance are key factors in the golden sail's design - as little of the former and as much of the latter as possible!

It should also be unique with plenty of the wow factor. Well it seems he's well on the way to achieving all three goals.In the shape of a sail, the golden sail will feature a custom made reservoir which stretches round the front of the case. There's an impressive 3D rendered video of the scratch build in Sonnenschein's log too which is well worth checking out.


Above we can see some early renders of the golden sail. It's just as well Sonnenschein won't be taking it to LAN parties - apparently he'll be gilding gold to the inner surface of case. It's our guessing it wouldn't be at his desk when he got back with his pizza and can of red bull. The renders look awesome though and we love the gold effect shining through the windows next to the black exterior.


The large tube reservoir that is to be mounted to the front of the golden sail had to be bent to shape. With some advice from several forum members, Sonnenschein used over heated sand to warm the tube and then bent it to shape. To stop the sand scratching the inside of the tube he fashioned a cover from fabric. He then filled the tube with the hot sand which made it more flexible. After a few tries it worked!


Feeling thirsty? Clearly Sonnenschein likes his apfelsaft! Apart from being a healthy juice drink it's also come in handy when making the mould for the case which was fashioned out of many different pieces. These were then cut and sanded to shape ready for creating a mould for the fibreglass shell. The shape finally comes together although this is just part of the mould.


Above the mould is made using plaster in two seperate sections. On the right the sections have been made out of fibreglass using the mould as a template. Sonnenschein also painted them black although recently in his log he mentioned he prefers white so the golden sail may end up as a different looking beast to the original renders!

This one is going to look great when it's done so make sure you head over to Sonnenschein's project log to check out any updates. If you'd like to vote for him, head over to our forum..