Richi

So let me tell you a little story, I have to say I am absolutely in love with the paintwork… but I do have one big problem with my build.. Because of the use of flakes and such I found it so hard to photograph it was madness, depending on the light angle towards the build it just is completely different colours, but anyway here goes and I hope you guys enjoy it. Phew thought I would break up the photos so there is a space for you guys to read why other photos load The front featuring the illusionist figure, and yes the same applies all other the case, its just crazy how this paint job reacts to different lighting. I so love this paint job, and thanks to the guy that done the art work I went with for the paint job for teaching me to spray with candy red. Lets take a closer look around them skulls shall we. You may be noticing now how the red has gone to a deeper blood red with light to the side of the case!

Thanks guys

OK so a small but quick update on the assembly work on the rig, some bits have failed to turn up. But I must soldier on despite this and make a few changes to the layout inside. Main thing left to do is to sort out sata cable tiding, and clean everything up, I hope by some miracle some things turn up before final photo shoot later on .. let’s hope they do, if so sata drives can be moved to original planned location, if not oh well we all have to adapt. Stay tuned.

Something came up that made this have to go one hold.... lol no not another mod, just waiting on the model of the f1 car.

Ok back onto the mod, a few minor things for you guys to look at, first a very very small little add on, why it may be pointless due to the fact it will be hidden with panels on, I have got a bit rectal about the smaller details in my builds, hence the cable routing I posted earlier, I could of easily just left the wires out as they would not have been seen down there, but in reality I would of known they were messy.. This feature is nothing major but something I wanted to try. So why it is only a piece of vinyl added to the rad it has a little trick up its sleeve. Yes the vinyl has a heat reactive ink that changes through quite a few colours the warmer it gets, so if you like a small rad temp sensor . Also on today’s agenda was to prep the graphics card ready to go in the build as it will be all put together soon, the only problem here was I got bored just looking at the GPU block so soothing had to be done that side tracked me lol… Just a small little detail added, that you might be just able to see once rig is complete but hey, even the devil likes small details on a build even if you can’t see them. Now let us take a little look back at the acrylic piece that separates the mobo and the rest of the build. I do not like the joined together pieces looking so different and why it is another part of the build that won’t be seen, it has to be tidied up. That’s better, it looks a lot more uniform than it did after a few minutes on the acrylic scraper. Expect a lot more updates as I get nearer and nearer to the end of this build.

Ok before I post another little update, let me show you what turned up yesterday. A very nice box from Tt eSports department, going top left to right we have the Ventus X Mouse, TT ESPORTS SHOCK 3D 7.1, The POSEIDON ZX Illuminated – Brown Switch Edition, The Hyperion Headset Stand and the TT ESPORTS THERON PLUS+ mouse that is compatible with the smart Tt eSPORTS PLUS+ software that can monitor stats.. I have yet to try this headset yet, but I do have to say I love the volume and control on the ear piece, one of my pet hates with headsets is having to reach down and find the volume control when gaming yes there is a clip, but I don’t personally use those so it makes a nice change.. also one grip I personally had with the previous headsets of Tt was the comfort, but these seem to feel like a soft sponge on your head, which is a good thing. I also actually like the headset stand as well, why I saw these sort of things as a gimmick, having a packed desk has made me change my mind, simple but effective. Moving on to the mice. The name says it all with this one and the Ventus X is designed for those of you that suffer with sweaty palms. Having a vent were the main part of you palm would sit is a good idea, I remember back in 2006 a guy actually modded his mouse to put a fan in because of sweaty palms… ewww. The TT ESPORTS THERON PLUS+ mouse is designed with a bit more style in mind and as you can see has a very glossy finish (not for the sweaty palm crowd). But overall quite pleasing on the eye, with this mouse though I would have to use the weights as it feels to light for my liking. The keyboard is actually quite sold, I dropped the thing getting it out of the box and there was not a mark on it, although I do have to say I prefer a blue switch to the brown switch cherry… having said that they do have a blue version, so there is plenty of choice. I have to say a big thank you to Tt eSports division for sending over the goodies thank you.

Thanks, got quite a bit still to do and waiting on stuff still from one of the sponsors

Ok last time we were looking at the state of the cabling in the rig, well its hectic trust me, here are some shots of it. This is quite serious to me so I thought I would try something different that I normally would do, just because of the space in the case. I think the picture tells the story some black trunking, yes trunking should sort the mess out, let’s see what I ended up doing. I actually quite like this as it gives it a much cleaner look than cable ties, it’s the first time I have used trunking ever in a PC but I think it works… To Be Continued

Ok so today is a mixed bag of things I have done, first up is the Res mount, due to the infinity mirror design I have I will be placing the res inside that area. So placement is important too #### do you see the wire mess inside the case, don’t worry I have a plan for that, but back to the res. This is the placement area I have chosen the reason being is I want this on its own to be the inside of the infinity mirror, I want it to be visible endlessly. To give you an small example of what I mean. With a double sided mirror acrylic piece in between motherboard and res, you can see the effect I am going for, this means outer windows need one way privacy mirror film.. (ignore blurry pics I did not want to take the protective film off and wont until the last minute). Now the hardest job on this build lol. Yep that’s right putting the mirror film onto the panel is the hardest job, only because I have a lovely white cat that meant I had to order extra film as the first few attempts were failed due to #### cat hair… GRR little git he he.. anyway this time it was more effective and I will post some pics up to show you final result with window in panel tomorrow. To be continued…….

Yesterdays work just involved a bit of test fitting of components, also had to make sure I would cut the slit out of the mobo tray I need to, hence measuring it up. Not much room on the other side really but hey it will do for what I want… also not too sure on rad placement for second rad, but I am sure I will decide. Now the trick here will be to turn that small space down the bottom of motherboard into a huge one, so what do I need to do that? That’s what I need, some mirror acrylic… grabbed your interest yet? To be continued……….

So today I am going to prep the CPU block for what I want to do, the block I chose as mentioned previously is the Pacific W2. As you can see the block has Thermaltake’s logo on there so for my plan I have to remove that. To do this I get my trusty tray out and use 1500 wet and dry sand paper, with plenty of water to minimise the scratches, also I have to be quite light handed as I am not trying to key it for paint but just get the paint off. Now it’s nearly off we move over to the 2500 grit wet and dry and lightly again with plenty of water until we end up with this. Block prepared, will polish with acrylic polish to insure I get any minor scratches left out, but I will be posting more soon.. keep watching.

So back again with a small little update for you guys, first off the goodies that arrived for this build As you can probably see I have enough parts for the build including 2x RL480 radiator, also included is some hardline, a Pacific P1 pump (which is a good old trusty D5 with a silent kit and variable speed control) also a T11 res to go with it. Also I have a Pacific PT20 which is a res pump combo for the cheaper budget and probably ideal for a smaller cooling loop. I also opted for the Pacific W2 waterblock which was designed by Swiftech for Tt and to be honest it was I know brainer as it is one of my favourite blocks (I’ll show you why later on today). Now as my build is red and black mainly you will probably think that the choice of water being blue is a bit strange, well the simple reason is I wanted to be different due to the fact every one that has red and black normally goes down that route inside. I have done it myself on a previous build so I wanted to be different this time round and went with blue coolant and blue fans.. It might not even work but we will have to see. I have to say a big Kudos goes out to Gigabyte who supplied me with this motherboard for the build the Z97MX-Gaming 5. Yes I chose a Micro ATX for this build would you believe it in a case this big, there is a reason for that as you will see later in the build, read the specs of the motherboard here.. Many thanks to and a shout out to OCZ who supplied 2x 240gb Vector 150 SSD’s for the build, full specs of these drives can be seen here. Not forget Avexir as well who supplied me with 4 sticks of 4GB DDR3 blitz 1.1, the details of which can be found here. Massive thanks goes out to XFX for supplying the R9 290X Double Dissipation model for the build, for more info on this card click here. Last but not least is Scan international who not only stepped up with the CPU, they also supplied the various other parts for the build, including gpu block, as well as the lighting and some small bits and bobs. Take a look at their website here, they are not called Scan international for nothing. Lastly and not least I am going to leave you guys with a sneak peak of the paintwork on the case. I am in love with the paint job, were most of my budget has gone, red candy paint and flakes are not cheap at all.. so the case with paint job is the most expensive part of the build. Stay tuned (or website checking) as more posts will be going up.

Sorry it’s been a while since an update, I have had a big delay in waiting for the model to actually be shipped to stores, now saying June!!! Such a bad delay that I thought I would get a few things done in advance and even took the opportunity to be entered into a case mod competition on another case. Anyway I suppose I can start stripping down the case anyway. Having case number 44 of 500 adds to the theme a little and fits within it, having already done this in a previous build I already know it’s a very daunting task. Not really an easy task but we have to start with the basics. Also worth noting here are the sticky strips, best bet is to make sure you heat up the area on back panel to loosen the glue on the strips, which will aid in lifting the back panel off. Now Just a case of stripping out the front bays… I really hope the other half does not turn up soon. After getting this far its best to stop really, don’t want to really mark up the cut for the radiator until the model is here or I get a reply from minichamps about measurements of it, so I thought why not get to painting a few things as the warmer weather is here. Custom rad grills turned up also so I Thought it was time to give a few things a rub down and prep for painting. Primer down, and I did manage to do the single 120mm rad grill. So I have the colour matching to the logos on case done and I will be matching the radiator and other grills to this colour as well, then colour sanding, matt lacquering and smoothing down, so stay tuned, will be posting a few more things over the next couple of weeks.

First thing I had to do was completely strip out the case, simply because I had to prep it and get it ready for paint. First priority for me is to strip out the case itself, this is quite a simple task and made very easy thanks to the way the case was designed. Now that was done I only had to do the one outer modification that was needed and that was to cut a window in the other side panel so both have a window, however I only wanted a top window in this side so it was time to get out the trusty Dremel. For those of you that are thinking about cutting a panel my best advice is to mark it up with tape and then use the Dremel at a slight angle for best results, also let the tool do the work and don’t force it. Once that was cut, it was just a simple case of removing the grill to be left with this Nice a simple, obviously before getting ready for paint I will have to file the edges down of the cut a bit, but first here is what the new cut panel looks like on the case. New window done and ready, next time I will post a teaser of paint work, but without the candy just to give you an idea of imagery… and why building I will blur it out just to keep you waiting until final shots. So get ready for the ride and enjoy the Illusionist.

Welcome to another project I am doing at the moment (other build is F1 themed) for the Thermaltake Invitational 2015 Mod completion, my theme for this build is Illusionist, I am either going to go big or go home and try to create an illusion with the innards, it might not even work, but that’s my risk. First let me start out by saying a big thank you to my sponsors for this build, first up we have the main sponsor of course. First off let me start off with a big thanks to the sponsors that jumped on board. Website/Facebook/YouTube Thermaltake obviously who are organising the competition and for supplying X9 case and a whole range of products from the Case, cooler, tubes and rads as well as the fans. Website/Facebook/YouTube A Big thank you goes out to Gigabyte who is supplying the motherboard for this project. Website/Facebook/YouTube A big thank you to XFX for supplying the 290x for this Project Website/Facebook/YouTube Not forgetting OCZ who supplied the 2 x 240GB OCZ Vector 150 SSDS for the build. Website/Facebook/YouTube Massive thanks to AVEXIR for supplying the memory kit for the build Website/Facebook/Twitter Big thanks to V1 Tech for the custom grills and GPU backplate Website/Facebook/YouTube Thanks to Dremel who seem to step up on every build and supply me with accessories and tools. First up the case, we have all seen it – the Thermaltake X9. It’s completely insane size wise, but has all the room you need for multiple loops, with extra-large radiators. So be prepared to laugh at my demise or join in the fun as I try to make an illusion happen inside and enjoy the roller coaster ride we have of creating a build within one month. Specs: · Case - Thermaltake Core X9 · CPU - Intel i5 4690 · Motherboard – Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 · Graphics – XFX R290X · Memory - 4 x 4Gb Avexir Blitz 1.1 – 1600mhz · Hard Drives - 2 x 240 Gb OCZ Vector 150 SSD’s So let me give you some idea of what I am about to create, my plan is to make themed case, with not much done to the outside (unless of course you class a custom candy red paint job as custom). Most of my work is going to be done to the insides really creating separate compartments for Motherboard and GPU and thus making it a bit of an illusion depending which side you are looking from, one thing I should point out is I will be trying things with reflections too, Just to see if I can achieve a certain effect. This will either work or fail but hey you don’t do anything in modding without trying. Enjoy the build all.

So following on from the card a small care package also turned up from Bitspower, all the stuff I needed and the blocks for the GPU’s. Items were various connectors, more than shown in pictures, as well as 2 very very nice Nickel Finished In Golden reference 980 GTX blocks. I went for white back plates though so I could customise them like I have the GPU block, also got the pump heat sink and shroud for the build in white. You can view all of the Bitspower range here So waiting on the model to cut the case, I decided to get the white back plates done why I was waiting, here is what I done in Photoshop. So taking that design and laying it down was not as easy as I hoped, but after a few attempts on left over gold colour backplate this is what I was left with. I am very happy with how they came out and the tie in with the CPU block well, I was going to add the red and yellow parts of the Lewis Hamilton 2014 helmet, but thought I have the tubing and fluid that will use that colour coordination anyway. Will be posting more regular updates as more and more bits arrive.

So back again with a small update, #### model is still delayed and only ships from factory on April 4th, so why I am still waiting let’s take a look at what I could do why waiting first of a lovely donation from my sponsor Nvidia here is what arrived. I got really lucky with this build and nvidia kindly sent me 2 x 980 GTX’s for the build, for more information on this card click here. Here are the specs of each of the cards if you have not seen them Specifications Note: The below specifications represent this GPU as incorporated into NVIDIA's reference graphics card design. Graphics card specifications may vary by Add-in-card manufacturer. Please refer to the Add-in-card manufacturers' website for actual shipping specifications. GTX 980 Engine Specs: · 2048CUDA Cores · 1126Base Clock (MHz) · 1216Boost Clock (MHz) · 144Texture Fill Rate (GigaTexels/sec) · GTX 980 Memory Specs: · 7.0 GbpsMemory Clock · 4 GBStandard Memory Config · GDDR5Memory Interface · 256-bitMemory Interface Width · 224Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) GTX 980 Technology Support: · Yes (4-way)NVIDIA SLI® Ready · YesNVIDIA G-Sync™-Ready · YesNVIDIA GameStream™-Ready · YesGeForce ShadowPlay™ · 2.0NVIDIA GPU Boost™ · YesDynamic Super Resolution · YesMFAA · YesNVIDIA GameWorks™ · 12 APIMicrosoft DirectX · 4.4OpenGL · YesCUDA · PCI Express 3.0 Bus Support · Windows 8 & 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Linux, FreeBSD x86OS Certification Display Support: · 5120x3200Maximum Digital Resolution* · 2048x1536Maximum VGA Resolution · Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI, 3x DisplayPort 1.2 Standard Display Connectors · 4 displaysMulti Monitor · YesHDCP · InternalAudio Input for HDMI · GTX 980 Graphics Card Dimensions: · 4.376 inchesHeight · 10.5 inchesLength · Dual-widthWidth Thermal and Power Specs: · 98 CMaximum GPU Tempurature (in C) · 165 WGraphics Card Power (W) · 500 WMinimum System Power Requirement (W) · 2x 6-pinsSupplementary Power Connectors Will be following this with another post today as a very nice bitspower package turned up.

doing a few more small bits today, but I thought i would share a rough render of the plan I have, there will be some differences in the final build (extras added) and the internals is not final. Just wanted to wet your appetite with what i am trying to achieve.

Another small update, decided to etch the radiator side as I received it in raw format (uncoated). I changed the template style to something else, this is what I decided to go with So time to wait for misses to go out, into the kitchen and get the tattoo power supply out and start working. Now how I do this is dip some lady face cotton pads in salt water squeeze them out a bit (so they are damp not saturated) and then place them over stencil, then connect the negative to the rad and positive to copper plate and leave resting on pads (used bottle to keep it pressed slightly) left for 10 minutes on each side then swapped the negative and positive over to push some particles back into the etch. Enough done into the metal with the 2014 world champions being deeper than the rest. A Little rub down with a brillo pad to get rid of the surface stuff. The Thermaltake’s upside down I know, but there will be a plaque placed over it, or filled in, not sure yet. Leaving the particles on place in the etches, the reason for this is once I have painted the radiator as there not really solid in there I can scrape out the etched parts easier, then fill with black. Rough example of what I am going for, that’s all for now will be back with more updates soon.

Update, here is one of the goodies that turned up for the project, the MSI X Power X99 AC motherboard. Of course that’s enough of box shots, time to move over to the motherboard itself. Rear panel connectors, the gapped area on the left is for the optional Wi-Fi module (which is included in box) Plenty of connections down at the bottom of the board, also the all-important m2 turbo slot that I will be utilising. Love the internal USB port for this build as it gives me an internal port to wire the USB – powered and operated F1 style display. Sata ports and USB 3 port on 90 degrees on the right hand side (which is great about time these chunky USB 3 ports were like this, also you may have noticed there is also a sata express port in there (far left). This is for the WI-Fi module that I was mentioning earlier, before I show that connected let us take a look at the accessories bundle included with the motherboard. Ill list these off for you – with the specs after Included in the box is · M-connectors · OC fan stand · Delid Die Guard · OC plate · LN2 bracket · SLI bridges · Wi-Fi module · Wi-Fi antennas · Driver discs · USB flash drive with drivers · USB/SATA I/O bracket · SATA cables · Cable labels · V-check cables · Case badge · i/O shield As well as the manuals too, here is the Wi-Fi module and I/O shield installed Here are the specs of the motherboard itself CPU • Supports New Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Extreme Edition for LGA 2011-3 Socket Chipset • Intel® X99 Express Chipset Main Memory • Support eight DDR4 DIMMs 2133/2200(OC)/2400(OC)/2600(OC)/2666(OC)/2750(OC)/3000(OC)/3110(OC)/3333(OC)DRAM (128GB Max) - Supports Quad-Channel mode - Supports non-ECC, un-buffered memory - Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) Slots • 5 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (PCI_E1~E4, PCI_E6), support up to 4-way mode - 1-way mode: x16/ x0/ x0/ x0/ x0 - 2-way mode: x16/ x0/ x0/ x16/ x0*, 16/ x0/ x0/ x8/ x0** - 3-way mode: x16/ x0/ x0/ x16/ x8*, x8/ x8/ x0/ x8/ x0** - 4-way mode: x8/ x8/ x0/ x16/ x8*, x8/ x8/ x0/ x8/ x4** • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot (PCI_E5) * For the CPU that supports 40 PCIe lanes ** For the CPU that supports 28 PCIe lanes Storage • Intel X99 Express Chipset •10x SATA 6Gb/s ports (2x ports reserved for SATA Express port)* - SATA1~6 support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 - SATA7~10 ports only support IDE mode and AHCI mode. - Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology (Windows 7/ 8/ 8.1) • 1 x SATA Express port* • 1 x M.2 port, supports M.2 SATA 6Gb/s module* or M.2 PCIe module up to 32Gb/s speed** - M.2 port supports 4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length module - M.2 PCIe module does not support RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10. * The SATA Express port/ SATA5~6 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 SATA interface module in the M.2 port. ** Intel RST does not support PCIe M.2 SSD with Legacy ROM. USB • Intel X99 Express Chipset - 4 x USB 3.0 ports available through the internal USB connectors* • 2 x ASMedia ASM1074 Chipset - 8x USB 3.0 ports on the back panel • ASMedia ASM1042 Chipset - 2x USB 3.0 ports on the back panel * Internal JUSB1 connector supports MSI Super Charger. Audio • Realtek® ALC1150 Codec - 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio - Supports S/PDIF output LAN • 1 x Intel I218-V Gigabit LAN - Dual interconnect between the integrated Media Access Controller (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) • 1 x Intel I210-AT Gigabit LAN controller WIreless LAN • Wi-Fi/Bluetooth expansion module with Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 chip. - Supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band (2.4GHz, 5GHz) up to 867 Mbps speed. Bluetooth • Wi-Fi/Bluetooth expansion module with Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 chip. - Supports Bluetooth v4.0 (includes BLE* and Bluetooth 3.0+HS) * BLE: Bluetooth Low Energy Internal I/O Connectors - 1 x 24-pin AT x main power connector - 1 x 8-pin AT x 12V power connector - 1 x 4-pin AT x 12V power connector - 1 x 4-pin flat AT x 12V power connector* - 10 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors - 3 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 5 USB 2.0 ports) - 2 x USB 3.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 3.0 ports) - 2 x 4-pin CPU fan connectors - 5 x 4-pin system fan connectors - 1 x Clear CMOS jumper - 1 x Front panel audio connector - 2 x System panel connectors - 1 x TPM module connector - 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector - 9 x V-Check connectors - 1 x GO2BIOS button - 1 x Power button - 1 x Reset button - 2 x Base Clock control buttons - 2 x CPU Ratio control buttons - 1 x OC Genie button - 1 x Discharge button - 1 x Multi-BIOS switch - 1 x OC Genie mode switch - 1 x Slow mode switch - 1 x Base Clock step swtich - 1 x PCIe CeaseFire switch - 1 x 2-Digit Debug Code LED - 1 x Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module connector * Provides additional power to PCIe x16 slots Back Panel I/O Ports - 1 x PS/2 port - 2 x USB 2.0 ports - 1 x Clear CMOS button - 10 x USB 3.0 ports - 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector - 2 x LAN (RJ45) ports - 5 x OFC audio jacks Thanks to MSI for sending this as a sponsor, matches my plans and happens to be the perfect board for this build.

Sorry i did not get email notice from forum, but thanks for commenting, more updates coming soon.

Back again with another update with one of the extras for the build, this time the info screen, ill throw out a few pics first then give you some info on it. I was lucky enough to be able to get Leo Bodnar involved in my project and grab a racing, rpm gear and info display, (this one is called the SLIF1). For those of you not familiar with Leo Bodnar products, head over their website here to have a look. Here is a bit of info. “Leo Bodnar is a designer and developer of universal joystick/game controller PCBs, simulator force feedback steering systems and supplier of components such as push buttons, rotary encoders and switches. Being based at Silverstone UK - the home of British Motorsport has given us the opportunity to work closely with and meet the needs of race teams, drivers and simulator manufacturers.†Basically if you have a simwheel of any kind it is highly likely that you will have some Leo Bodnar electronics inside it somewhere, be it a controller board, a toggle switch, buttons, info display to rotary dials. They even supply their SimSteering FFB System many teams participating in race series including F1, GP2, F3, LMP1, LMP2 and WTCC. So not a company to be sniffed at and experts in what they do. Why some of you may be asking that display is all very good, but it would only be useful for when playing sim games or racing titles, Step up both Leo Bodnar Electronics, AIDA64 (and myself (although I done the easiest part and was just the middle man) passing USB protocols between Leo Bodnar and AIDA64 and thus the outcome was that AIDA64 who are known for producing a good piece of software to do small benchmarks, give full system status and pretty much everything there would be to know about a system its running on was able to get the display working as an info display, from CPU temps, usage, gpu ect ect… they were able to offer support for these devices (Newest version of AIDA64 now has support for these type of displays). To take a look at AIDA64 and what it can do for you visit the website here. Anyway back to the SLIF1 display, here are quite a few pictures of what is possible, you are limited to the 4 characters on each side of the info display, but here are some examples. This will be getting mounted to one of the 5.25 drive bay covers and will be hidden behind a tinted screen, so it’s only visible once the pc is on. Also I don’t want to leave you hanging with just a few pictures, here are a few videos of it going through the motions. This video is going through the options i have to display on the device and info it can pull This video is more featured around CPU usage (loaded up a few things to get the rpm LED's and gear info in action). I have to say a big thanks to Leo Bodnar electronics and AIDA64 for making this extra possible.

So now that was done time to put the replacement 44 on and put it into the block, here is the end result of final block design. Well happy with how it came out in the end, time to move onto the next item on the agenda the 5.25 bay F1/racing style info display.

Just a small little update on the block, took the white back out and spent a while adjusting the still I rise stencil, and then placed it on the white backing for the Swiftech apogee XL block. Now the still I rise looks a lot better without the missing parts of the script, I thickened the lines that were not cutting right due to the thin nature of them. Just got to redo the 44 now.

So why waiting for a few bits to turn up one thing that did was the Swiftech Apogee XL block, that is now a personal favorite of mine, it does its job, but thanks to a nifty little lighting system can make some nice touches to a build.. especially if you have a vinyl plotter. There are a variety of colour choices to be had, as seen above to light the rig, I could have gone simple really and just done the red 44 from Hamilton’s car, but not being someone that likes to take the simple route I decided I would do a mock-up of what I was thinking and basing it on his crash helmet as I wanted to have the case more themed around the Mercedes F1 car. My first attempt was using a regular font to create Lewis’s moto Still I Rise, although the mock up is just that I was not happy really and I wanted it to be more authentic than this so it was time to try and make a version of his font that would work. I knew I would not be able to get it bang on as the font is curved slightly on his race helmet. Now that’s a lot better, let us see how it looks with the lighting behind it Now this I like, I will have to make a few slight adjustments to the cut, to make the finer lines not as thin and remake the 44 so it is easier to lay down, but the second mock up is in the right direction I believe. I think getting the still I rise just right will take a few attempts as getting a vinyl plotter to cut stuff small enough to fit on one of these blocks is no easy task. Also actually picking the design out after cutting is a embarrassing moment as you soon realise why you working on something so small you look up and your misses starts laughing at you because you gone a bit screw eyes lol.