Building Anubis - July 2003
This project came about as a result of building too big of a computer for my wife's desk. When we upgraded her machine from an AMD K6-2/500 to an Athlon machine, we switched from a Baby AT case to an ATX mid-tower, that was too tall to fit under the shelf of her desk. And needing as much storage space in her computer desk as she can get, I decided to get a new case and transfer the system into it.
Her old machine started out inside a CodeGen mid-tower w/4 5.25 bays, which was about 5" too tall to fit the desk without major modification... screw that.
The case I chose is an In-Win A500 from MWave.com. It has a 300 watt power supply, 3 5.25" bays, and 3 3.5" bays. They call it a 'Super Mini-Tower,' which is perfect to fit under the shelf I can now reinstall on her desk.
Over the past year, my wife's been collecting all sorts of Egyptian Mythological artwork and figurines, and has even gotten into quilt-work and ceramics as result. So, I figured I had a direction to go with this. I spent a lot of time at Virtual-Hideout and Blue-Smoke on the galleries checking out the modded cases, and came up with a simple idea for my first 'real' effort. Painting Guard Dawg black wasn't really anything to speak of, I wanted something a little more exotic. So I decided on a sandstone case with hieroglyphics and crypt murals with a cartouche on the top.
I also decided I wanted a lit case, but didn't want to go with a window. I noticed someone had lit a cutout of a crow on the front panel of their case, so I decided to go that route, and envisioned the cover of the Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky album. Then I drew out the 'Eye of Ra' on the backside of the front panel and took the Dremel to it. Had it cut out in no time and took the hot glue gun to the green LED 3-pack. No problem.
Then I pulled the main cover and front panel for the Sandstone paint. After a couple coats of Fleckstone, it was ready for the artwork. The left panel is a rip-off of a clock that she found on e-Bay with Isis, Osirus, & a Pharoah during Judgement Day. I'm a big Stargate SG-1 fan, and the theme of the show ties in with the Egyptian Mythology, so I tossed some of the Stargate 'Chevrons' on the mural as well as one of the 'Stargate addresses,' which I totally made up.
The top panel is a cartouche of her name - which wound up way too big, now that I look at it. Plus, I would've preferred to paint it Metallic Gold, as most of the cartouches I've seen in real life were made of Gold. Oh well.
The right panel is a figure drawing of Horus (left) and Anubis (right) with the Scarab from the Journey - Greatest Hits CD cover (she loves Journey) as well as the Unreal Tournament shield - again, she plays UT and UT2003 like crazy. Maybe this would inspire her. The hieroglyphics are from the phonetic alphabet and actually spell out a message, but I'll probably get my ass kicked if she ever figures it out.
Just a little FYI - the artwork was hand-drawn by me with my trusty Sharpie magic marker, and a set of Pentel color sticks from a local arts & crafts store to fill in the colors. The White areas on the murals were done using a white China Pencil. Nothing fancy about the techniques used here or anything. So, no - it's not a sticker... LOL!
Once the artwork was done, the case sat for a few weeks while I figure out what else to do with it. Meanwhile, I ordered some round cables, for airflow more than anything since I don't plan on cutting a window in the side or anything. Then I got the idea to paint the chassis Metallic Gold. Having done that, the rest of the chassis components (except the power supply - didn't feel like taking it apart) were painted Metallic Gold as well. Then I decided on painting the faceplates of the CD-ROM, Floppy, & Breakout Panel along with all of the bulkhead panels the same Metallic Gold as well. Hindsight would have me paint the bay covers during the process instead of the Fleckstone, but oh well.
Well, that's pretty much it. Nothing major, nothing spectacular. But she loves it and it does look kinda cool, if I do say so myself.
Click on any of the thumbnails for larger pictures - then use the 'Back' button on your browser to return.
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