Mannequin PC Case
I got bored of having a standard rectangular square sat in the corner of my office running my server at home - so I started looking around, and found something called the Blair Witch Mod. Unfortunately the original site has now disappeared - but there is a copy of the page on a Russian site for those who are interested here: http://mobbit.info/item/2006/04/03/modding-ved-ma-iz-bler
My wife, however, was unwilling to play along with the project, so I used a mannequin bought from eBay as the base ;)
My wife, however, was unwilling to play along with the project, so I used a mannequin bought from eBay as the base ;)
Dismantling Original PC
So, first things first - need to take apart a working PC, ready for fitting into the new, far more interesting, case... It's a recycled one from work that's been replaced with a new version, so it's just a P4 2.8, with 512Mb RAM - a long way from being anything special.
Preparing the Mannequin
There was a fair amount of work that needed to be done to the mannequin before it could be used - the most obvious being a way to actually mount the PC inside. There was a longitudinal seam that was obviously from the original moulding process, this gave a very obvious place to start.
Using a small hacksaw I cut around this seam, with the only issues being the steel mounting points that are meant to be used to secure the mannequin in shop displays. The mounting points in the left leg and neck aren't required, so are removed, and the hole left by the removal of the neck plate is filled to create a power button location.
The nipples that were on the original moulding were also unwanted, so were filed off, filled and sanded smooth.
Using a small hacksaw I cut around this seam, with the only issues being the steel mounting points that are meant to be used to secure the mannequin in shop displays. The mounting points in the left leg and neck aren't required, so are removed, and the hole left by the removal of the neck plate is filled to create a power button location.
The nipples that were on the original moulding were also unwanted, so were filed off, filled and sanded smooth.
Fitting the Components
So now it's time to start turning the mannequin into an actual PC case. I left the mounting brackets in the middle of the spine to affix a plate to hold the PSU, by far the heaviest item in the server, and one that wouldn't be able to be supported by any other method.
The motherboard mounting points (as made in step 1) were affixed to the inside of the case using a mix of epoxy resin and polyfilla, to a consistency of something like blutak.
The motherboard mounting points (as made in step 1) were affixed to the inside of the case using a mix of epoxy resin and polyfilla, to a consistency of something like blutak.
Final stage was to remove all the components again, then spray with undercoat, followed by top coat and then a high-gloss lacquer coat to achieve the desired effect. I just used standard car spray paints to achieve this.
After painting, the PC parts were refitted, and then a cheap chainmail bikini from eBay was added, partly to hold the two parts of the case together, but also just to finish off "the look"....
After painting, the PC parts were refitted, and then a cheap chainmail bikini from eBay was added, partly to hold the two parts of the case together, but also just to finish off "the look"....