For those that are being exposed to the Imperator for the first time,
you're probably wondering what the hell it is. Well, put simply, it's a 1m
long Star Destroyer PC case. (Not finished yet)
22/8/2009 - BlueSmurf;
*blows dust off of html file*
Well hello again everyone. First up I'd like to thank Agg at
Overclockers Australia for continuing to host what must be the longest
running casemod project in history. The site got temporarily lost after
moving servers, but Agg was kind enough to quickly get it back online.
Anyway, over the last couple of years I have largely struggled to find
time to do work on the Imperator, that's not to say that nothing has
been done at all. The reason for the lack of updates is because the work
at the moment is slow, tedious and really not worth taking pictures of.
To illustrate the point I obtained a time lapse camera and took this
video (45MB AVI). As you can see,
there's a lot of activity for no visible progress, until you get a bit
closer as seen in the new
construction gallery.
Now, you're probably all wondering if this will be a new push to getting
this completed. I know Chuck is. I would like to hope so but have to
caution that I'm going to be moving house soon and may not have access
to a shed for a time. So between the upheaval and the lack of an
Imperial Shipyard, I can't guarantee much at this stage.
But I can tell you, I *really* want to get this finished so I can get on
with my life!
10/1/2007 - BlueSmurf;
Sorry for the failure to get an update and some work done. For those who
remember the entry earlier on this page about me getting married, well
this is the one announcing that I'm getting divorced. :( Hang in
there.
15/10/2006 - BlueSmurf;
Yes, I'm still at it. I was out in the shed today, finishing up the
currently installed fibre optics - putting somewhere for the LED's to
go. I'm now ready to begin kitbashing the upper decks. Expect a new
gallery in the next 2 weeks.
3/3/2006 - BlueSmurf;
Thanks to those who emailed me and have been asking if this is still an
ongoing project. The answer is yes it is and I have posted some pictures
of the fibre optic work which has been done over the last few months. So
please check out the latest gallery
here.
I do apologise for the elapsed time between updates, but it has been
difficult to allocate time to working on the model. In the period since
the last update I have got married, and I'm sure a few of you guys can
attest to the time sink that is. :) I'll be trying to get more time to
spend in the shed, as well as resurrect the comics which have proven to
be so popular.
10/7/2005 - BlueSmurf;
Damn. Long time since the last update. You could assume that it means I've
done nothing. Well, that's not entirely true. I have used over 200 feet
of fibre optic filament in the last few months and I'm going to need to
order some more. As you can imagine this isn't an exciting aspect of the
project, so I'm taking a fair bit of time to get through it. Bear with
me, I'll get there eventually. :)
10/4/2005 - BlueSmurf;
Been doing a bit of part time work in the shed, fitting in some Imperator
while working on other things. More fibre fitted to the lower hulls over
the last two weeks, more pictures
here. Should be good
to see the hull lit up in a few weeks time. :)
28/3/2005 - BlueSmurf;
Got out into the shed over the last couple of days, and attacked the
Imperator with a 0.5mm drill bit. To do just the gap between the hulls,
I've used 60 metres of Fibre Optic filament. Check out the Construction
gallery for the latest pics.
24/3/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Hello everyone. Due to personal and work commitments I haven't had much
time to do any work on this project since the beginning of the year. I
also find myself in the position where I can't afford to buy the new
plastic kits required to finish the kitbashing detail. So I'm asking if
anyone out there who has old plastic model kits, built, incomplete or
otherwise, would be prepared to donate them to the project. I'm after
Military vehicles, cars, motorcycles, Naval ships and Sci-fi kits.
Anything really.
If you can help out, email me
here, or pop them in a box and send them to:
Imperator Plastic Kit Appeal
PO Box 2049
Bunbury, WA 6231
28/12/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Ok, finally some progress. You all thought I'd given up on this and that
it would never be finished. Well, alright it still isn't finished.
However I have been doing some airbrushing and the
results are looking
pretty good. Check out the construction gallery for the latest updates.
27/11/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Well I'm back, after riding more than 17,500km's around Australia. I've
been doing some preparation work for the project, cleaning the shed etc.
This weekend I'm building a spray booth so I'm ready to paint after all
of the plastic stuff is stuck to the outside.
6/9/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Many thanks to the people who took the time out to offer their condolences
for Platinum's loss. Anyway, the shed isn't a happy place at the moment
and I'm currently preparing for a holiday. I'm riding my motorcycle
around Australia for 6 weeks, so until I get back, there won't be much
happening on the project front. Work will recommence in November. See
you all then!
19/8/2004 - BlueSmurf;
My constant workshop companion,
Platinum, was
hit by a car two days ago, and today she passed away from internal
injuries that surgery was unable to correct. I still expect her to jump
onto my lap while I'm typing this, as she did a few days ago. When I was
out in the shed earlier I found myself looking for her to make sure I
wasn't going to be locking her in.
In Memory of Platinum: September 2002- 19th August 2004
Our lives and our laps are emptier without you. Sleep peacefully little
fluffball.
5/8/2004 - BlueSmurf;
I have been doing some work, detailed down one side of the hull "gap" for
want of a better description. I think I'm going to need some more
plastic kits to get all of this done. Damn this is getting expensive.
6/7/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Another update. Many
hours.. so many parts.. so much left to go. Yeah, let's make it over a
metre long... nice one Einstien, didn't think this far ahead did you? :)
30/5/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Construction Gallery
Update. Finally I hear you all say. :) Kitbashing has begun and it's
looking like a few good weeks of work gluing little pieces of plastic onto
the model.
11/5/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Ok, the motivation has returned. I've been putting off doing the sanding
of the first coat so I could get on with the kitbashing. I've spent the
last couple of days using a sanding block the size of an ice cube and I've
ordered some more plastic kits for kitbashing. Mod on!
12/4/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Well, I didn't get anything done. I went out to the shed and it was in
such a state I couldn't do anything before having a cleanup. But I did
take a pic of the now painted
model to tide you over until my motivation returns.
7/4/2004 - BlueSmurf;
I bet you're asking, has he been slack? Has nothing been done on this
project? Well, you're partially right. The Imperator has had a coat of
grey/white colour which needs a bit of sanding before application of the
full on external detail. I'm planning on getting some stuff done over the
Easter break, so tune in for an update then.
14/3/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the spraypainting done this weekend,
the Flying Hero's Kit built RV6 flew for the first time today. Well done!
Anyway, I did some kitbashing and a little bit of wiring. Couple of
pics in the
construction gallery area.
1/3/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Ok, a small update covering the last few weeks of very slow and tedious
work has been posted, please see the new gallery
here.
20/2/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I have been busy working on the
project, but it's mind numbingly dull detail work and I don't have enough
pics to make an interesting gallery. However, I'd imagine that next week
the first coat of topcoat will be on and it should start to look like the
real deal. Hang in there. :)
27/1/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Nearly finished gouging the primer out of the hull panel lines. Just the
centre ridge of the lower hull to go, and them I'm into some construction
in the rear engine area. I've done some designs in AutoCAD and I need to
figure out a way to fabricate them. Probably make some quick moulds out of
card/plastic and then resin cast them.
12/1/2004 - BlueSmurf;
Sorry for the delay in an update. It's not that I haven't been working on
the project, it's a matter of not getting the opportunity to update the
website. Damn Guinness, it's evil I tell you. :) Anyway, the Imperator is
now primed and ready for the first coat of final colour. From there we'll
be able to proceed with the final exterior detail, fibre optics and
finishing. A new gallery
with the latest pics is in place as is a new comic.
29/12/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Built the rear engines, which is the subject of the latest construction
gallery. This stuff is
taking a lot longer to do than I expected, but the attention to detail
should pay off in the end. I'm hoping to get the major components primed
in 2-pack later this week, and I'll post another update once everything is
grey. I have also obtained an airbrush for doing the final detail painting
and I'll be setting up a spray booth in the shed. Unfortunately all of
this fun is going to be ruined by having to go back to work next week. :(
14/12/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Pretty much the same as last week, etching the panel lines on the top
hull. It's about 50% complete and should be done by weeks end. The good
news is that from the 19th of December to the 4th of January I'm on leave
and planning to spend the bulk of my time working on the project. So for
those who have been disappointed with the lack of progress, stay tuned.
9/12/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Not much to report this week. Started work on the panel lines on the top
part of the hull - oh joy. To satisfy your casemodding urges, check out
the latest project from CrimsonSky, who bought us the Matrix Rebirth case.
The Matrix: Regenerator
30/11/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Did a lot of work this weekend, finished off the panel lines on the lower
hull and began gluing on the little styrene detail bits. Also posted
results from my initial attempts at resin casting, which turned out pretty
well. Check it out in the latest
construction gallery. There's also a comic for those who are wondering
what would happen to Darth Vader. ;)
23/11/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Sorry for the lack of updates recently, last week I had to travel on
business and this week has been a pretty dull exercise in finishing off
the scribing on the lower hull. On a more interesting note though, I've
started playing with the RTV Silicone and Casting Resin. If there's stuff
of interest I might post an update tomorrow or leave it until next week.
9/11/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Finished off the display stand this week. It's a classic clear plastic,
polished metal look that doesn't compete for attention with the Imperator.
Thanks to the OCAU forum dwellers for their recommendations of keeping it
simple - good call. So, new construction gallery is posted, as is a new
comic.
2/11/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Ok, new gallery is posted containing some work done on the lower hull and
the initial construction of the display stand. I'm still scratching lines
into things, but I'm tired of taking photos of it and I'm sure you're
tired of seeing it. Unfortunately you're going to have to put up with me
complaining about it. :) No comic tonight, but I give you my solemn
promise that I'll put one up in the next day or two.
28/10/2003 - BlueSmurf;
New Construction Gallery posted for Straylight's Rhadamanthus project.
He's possibly marginally more insane than I am, and when you look at his
hull detail work, you'll see what I mean. Cruise into the Construction
page and check out his latest update.
For those wondering where the Imperator is at, I've been working more on
the hull etching, having now pencilled out the entire lower hull.
Currently it's sitting in my lounge room so I can wander up to it at any
time and scratch a few lines into it - it took 4 hours to pencil the
lines, it'll probably take a lot longer to etch them in. It's hard to keep
interest in it, it's tedious work. I've also done the dome for the lower
hull and used the mill to make up some detail parts to cover the screw
heads on the lower hull. Work on the display stand has also started. No
update just yet, I want to get some more interesting stuff together for
the next new gallery. There are some new plastic kits that have arrived
and I have some RTV silicone rubber and casting resin enroute to make
parts for the exterior.
19/10/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Managed to get some more etching done this week, and made a start on the
the IO plate that will sit inside the main hangar. I've also collected a
lot of perspex for use in various areas. No comic this week, I'm dead
tired and I have absolutely no comedic inspiration. :)
12/10/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Congrats to Holden, Murphy and the K-Mart racing team on a great win at
Bathurst. I'll come clean, I spent most of the weekend sozzled watching
motorsport. :) But I did a lot of pencil hull detail. I've also
received some acrylic hemispheres for making the engines and a sheet of
10mm acrylic for making the display stand.
Go Holden!
5/10/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Fired up the mill for the first time today, what a fantastic piece of
precision engineering it is. Looking forward to making the IO plate for
the fighter hangar, the end result will be absolutely perfect. :)
Was at a Paintball game on Saturday (another bucks party) so I spent
Sunday doing more of the hull etchings. Not a very exciting update this
week, but at least there's a comic as well.
29/9/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Mill has arrived, but I don't get the milling bits until next week. Thus
concludes the lesson on the pitfalls of buying tools from Germany. But I
received some plastic kits (thanks to Straylight for his leftovers!) and
some other materials that will be used for external detailing and
construction of the display stand. This week I started etching detail on
the hull. Yay. Fun. New construction gallery and a new comic for your
viewing pleasure.
22/9/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Still no mill, an order of parts and materials is currently the subject of
an Australia Post query and I was at a bucks party on Saturday. So sorry,
nothing exciting to report this week.
19/9/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Another update to Straylight's Rhadamanthus project has been posted in the
construction gallery. From the looks of things most of the painting is now
complete, and he's started getting the PC parts together for the File
Server PC that will occupy half of the ship. Check it out.
14/9/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Unfortunately some materials and the milling machine didn't turn up this
week, so I couldn't make any progress in the areas I really wanted to. But
there was still some other things that needed doing so I went back to what
I do best - making brackets. :)
New construction gallery and comic posted, enjoy.
7/9/2003 - BlueSmurf;
More of the same this weekend. Sanding and grinding. Puttying, sanding.
You get the idea. Ordered a big pile of material to use on the exterior,
such as styrene, aluminium and a big pile of plastic model battleships.
Oh, and a couple of MIR space stations. :)
The new Proxxon Mill/Drill should be here this week, which will allow me to do some of the hull detail that is to hide screws and get to work on the main hangar installing the external IO connectors. So there's a not very exciting construction gallery update and a new comic to tide you over until things get interesting again.
31/8/2003 - BlueSmurf;
No real update this week. It's not that I haven't been busy working on the
project, it's just that what I've been doing is really more of what I've
been doing the last couple of weeks. Sanding. Filing. Sanding some more.
Working on the exterior ready for priming is turning out to be a lot more
tedious than I thought. But without putting in the hard work now, the
final product will be compromised. I've also been held up as a tool I've
got on order hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully this week. :)
I leave you with this thought: Don't let your friends
drink and dremel. ;)
25/8/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Straylight's Rhadamanthus project has been updated, check out the
Construction Galleries for shots of the paintwork and fan exhaust work.
It's really coming along nicely.
24/8/2003 - BlueSmurf;
This weekend was one of excitement and boredom. Boredom in continuing on
with the sanding and surface preparation for painting, and the excitement
of melting aluminium and pouring it into the garden. :) See the
construction gallery to see what we got up to. Comic has been updated too.
18/8/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Sorry for the lateness of this update. But the weekend was pretty much as
boring as bat guano from a website perspective. So I waited until tonight
so I could add pictures of lightsaber construction. :) The purists
will no doubt tell me that the lightsaber is Luke Skywalker's from Return
of the Jedi, and not Darth Vader's. Tough, they don't make Darth Vader TV
remotes. Maybe he doesn't watch TV or he can change channels using the
force. :p
Construction gallery updated and there's a new comic as well. Enjoy.
10/8/2003 - BlueSmurf;
For those who hauled me over the coals last week for the lack of a comic,
there's a new one in the comic section this week. I promise never to miss
another one, just don't hurt me again. ;)
Contruction gallery also updated. Did some more work on the power wiring
and the exterior. Wiring is a fiddly thing to do, so the number of hours
spent this weekend do not equate with significant progress. Anyone who's
ever tried to tidy up the wiring in their PC's will know what I mean. In
other news I've ordered a HDD to go in the Imperator: WD Raptor 36GB SATA
and we now have some RAM as well, 1GB of Kingmax DDR400.
4/8/2003 - BlueSmurf;
New update posted in the construction gallery. Spent the weekend working
on the cooling system and started with the wiring as I needed a break from
pieces of aluminium. There's no better stress release than attacking
innocent bits of computer equipment with heavy duty power tools. :)
No comic this week I'm afraid, I didn't wind up on Sunday until it was
dark and you can't do flash shots of glossy chess pieces. Darth and Co.
will be back next week.
29/7/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Another update to Straylight's Rhadamanthus project has been posted in the
Construction Gallery area. He's just started kitbashing to put exterior
detail on his ship, something that I'm going to have to do at some point
in the future. Unfortunately I'm going to need a lot more bits. Straylight
tells me that he's currently planning the internal PC layout (2 PC's!) and
one of them might be watercooled to fill some of the extra space he has
inside the model.
27/7/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Another busy weekend. Working towards getting the exterior of the hull
finished so that I can get the exterior primed. So more epoxy, plenty of
filing and a bit of dremelling. Construction galleries are updated, as is
the comic page - where you can see the geeky toy I mentioned last week.
Also, received a couple of packages from Rod at
LowNoisePC. CPU
heatsink, northbridge cooler, vibration dampening hard drive mounts, Papst
Fan and a pile of other goodies. I'm looking forward to getting some of
the parts installed next weekend. In particular the fan as I should be in
a position to fire up the PC for the first time and see if my cooling
system is adequate. Thanks Rod!
20/7/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Ok, a much more productive modding weekend this week. A bit of fun with
electronics, some Dungeons and Dragons plus more brackets! Who could ask
for more? :)
Check out the latest construction gallery. You will need to check out the
downloads gallery and the comic for the full picture of the weekends
activities.
I also have a new toy which I'm going to incorporate into the project.
It's sooo geeky that I'm almost embarrassed to admit to buying it, but I
think you'll all appreciate it as a great finishing touch to the project.
15/7/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Sorry for the lack of an update this weekend. Despite the accusations
echoing around the world that I have too much time on my hands, this last
weekend I had to do some work relating to my profession rather than my
hobby.
But, it's not all bad news. I'd like to thank our
latest project supporters, Intel, for providing an
865 based motherboard
and a
3.06GHz Pentium 4 to drive the Imperator. This coming weekend I think I'll
work on mounting the PC internals and doing some wiring.
9/7/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Straylight's project has a new gallery up. Check out the construction
gallery for the latest pics. Black and Decker, if you're out there, this
project needs a sponsor to provide a dust buster.
6/7/2003 - BlueSmurf;
I was wandering around the hardware store when I came across this stuff
called Aluminium Solder. What the hell I thought, I'm sick of brackets and
this gives me an excuse to buy a blowtorch. :) Anyway, after some testing
it turns out the results are quite good, the bonds are strong and I
got a lot of assembly done on the upper decks this weekend.
There's still a bit to do up there and I'm trying to get my head around how I'm going to get the fibre optics installed and do the painting. I'm hoping to sort out a motherboard and CPU in the not too distant future so I can get on with the internal wiring.
I find it quite staggering to think how much work is still to come. Check out the latest Construction Gallery.
29/6/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Ok, I've spent the week working with noxious epoxy and acetone. I've had
to remake brackets because the original ones sucked. I hate rework, but
the end result was definitely worth the effort. Check out the updates in
the construction gallery and the latest instalment of the story in the
comic section.
Also, another member of the OCAU forums has been working on a starship
themed case mod. However the subject matter and construction methods are
about as different from the ones I'm using as you could imagine. Check out
Straylight's "Rhadamanthus" Project, also in the construction gallery
area.
28/6/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Since I started this project I've received a number of offers of support
from within the OCAU Community. The latest is from Rod M who runs
LowNoise PC. He has kindly offered
to supply the Imperator with all of its cooling and noise suppression
equipment. Thanks Rod M!
I'll be updating the site tomorrow night with the weeks activity, which
revolves around magnets and a new kind of bracket. :)
25/6/2003 - BlueSmurf;
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the people at
ATI, who after seeing the
website felt that a case like the Imperator needed to have a kickass video
card. They are providing a
Radeon 9800 Pro for use on the project. A big thanks to ATI for their
support of the case modding community!
It comes as quite a relief, as there have
practically been death threats made against me if I used anything but top
of the line components in this case. ;)
21/6/2003 - BlueSmurf;
Heh. My own news page, who'da thunk it?
Well the website has progressed nicely. Props to Mike for the effort he's
put in and a big thank you to you for visiting. I hope that you enjoy your
time here and that you'll follow the project through to completion.
Generally the site will be updated weekly, or whenever there is something
really interesting happening. I will post notification of significant
updates in the OCAU thread. If you experience any problems with the site,
please let me know.