BIOSHOCK Case Mod, part 3

Front panel and drive bays:




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behind the Art Deco door, the front drive bays hold the coolant reservoir for the CPU water cooling, a DVD drive, and a combo floppy drive / flash card reader. A front cooling fan pushes air into the case across the CPU coolant radiator mounted inside the case.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coolant reservoir fluid glows green behind an open-work grill patterned after the BIOSHOCK game logo. The Rapture cityscape is made from brass, copper and nickel silver. The rays forming the background grid are square brass rod, and the entire assembly has been artificially oxidized blue-green.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The DVD drive has a strip of brass rods glued along the bottom edge and a quartz lens with a "MAIL" plate that illuminates when the drive LED flashes. (I replaced the green factory LED with a white LED.) The faceplate is painted gold to match the brass detailing. The final touch for the DVD drive is a stylized "wing" design that is attached to the drive tray. The wing can be seen on the pneumatic mailbox units strategically placed through the game levels. The 3.5" flash card reader was installed in 5.25" drive bay adapter. The only change was to add a couple of brass arches to either side of the reader opening and then to paint the entire plate assembly gold.



 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

The lower portion of the front panel is filled with more leaded-glass in a design similar to a few of Rapture's entrance doors.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An insert is covered with a thin blue-green leather, and a red LED-illuminated push button installed for the system's power switch. The grill over the front fan is taken directly from grills and gates found in the "Neptune" level of the BIOSHOCK game.

Creation of the Neptune Gate fan grill: An image of the gate pattern was scaled to the fan size, and then glued to a piece of brass using rubber cement. Holes are drilled in each section that will be cut out.

The sunburst rays and other open detail are then cut out using a jeweler's saw, leaving solid areas for the central disk and fish.

A dome of nickel silver was shaped and soldered in the center. Fish are cut from copper sheet and soldered to the upper corners.

Details and texture for the fins on the fish and waves are carved with burrs, and then the grill is sanded and buffed to a soft polish.

The Finished BIOSHOCK Case Mod: