Bacteria's project: "Project Unity"

[bacteria]

Here is the front of the master controller, nearly finished before painting; I need to mount the N64 cart port though which will be at the top section of the controller.





Started making the mould for the vacuum forming for the back of the master controller. Used clay, and just a small amount of water so as to not get much shrinkage. I had a pack of the clay I used before left over, which was handy, especially as the pack, which is about 12mm thick, is the ideal thickness needed. Just placed the bulk of it in place, trimmed the top and bottom, then took some slithers off the remaining piece of clay and using a little water on my finger, pressed the lightly wet clay into place and pressed together.

The clay is left on the case backing, so if it does shrink, I can bulk up the areas concerned when dry; i'm hoping I can part the clay from the controller without hassle. The other reason of course for keeping the clay on the controller during drying process is to keep the shape correct. The clay is in my airing cupboard at the moment, it'll probably take a couple of days to dry out properly so I can see what areas if any need attention; when done, it'll of course need a good sanding session to include a bit of extra shaping too.

[bacteria]

For the keypad overlay, using the rectangle from an Intellivision controller. The calculator keypad I used is a little shorter than the Intellivision keypad but it works fine and is a pretty perfect size. It was placed on the case for illustration, keeping it black.



I'm now in the process of spray painting the buttons black and the master controller's top off-white, I think it's called Antique White as I recall, it's like a light cream colour.

BTW - one trick I used, from experience before, is to paint the case lightly with a brush with white paint, the reason being it adds enough pigment to the surface to mean you don't need so many coats of spray paint, as otherwise you'll find the dark colours of things like the keypad I used and the d-pad plastic will take several more coats to hide; not an issue using a dark spray paint, but is when using light. That's why in the picture above it looks pasty. Before spray painting, you can fill in small gaps with paint, then when dried, give the controller a sanding before the spray painting stage starts!

[bacteria]

Controller is looking utterly georgeous at the moment, just giving it a last coat or two, after that and a couple of layers of varnish i'll post pics of it, either tomorrow or the next day. I think you'll be impressed!

On a different note, I had played some Mario Hotel on my newly acquired Philips CD-i yesterday and was having fun on it, despite the lousy supplied controller. Then, the up on the d-pad seemed to stop working for no reason, so, thinking it might be a bit of grit or whatever, decided to open up the only CD-i controller I have; gingerly. The controller only has 4 screws however they are small hex type ones with a very small surface area, these are truly the screws from Hell! Used my Dremel to cut grooves into the two screws close to the surface to remove them with a normal flat screwdriver, but the other two were deep inside, so cut through thin and small pieces so could see what was inside, until managed to not only clear the screw area but the long plastic struts supporting them, to finally get to the controller board.

It isn't surprising it's too easy to press the wrong direction on the d-pad, the distance on the d-pad contacts are too large, so it's very easy for a different direction to be pressed. One other thing I noticed, was that the d-pad on the front of the controller indicates 8 way, in fact, it's only 4 way.

Ok, this confirms it, the CD-i will be my next console system i'll be modding! Judging by the size of the board potentially, it'll have to sit on top of a different CD system (like did with the GameCube and Amiga CD32); probably a DreamCast, not sure yet.

Talking of such, as you've probably guessed, been concentrating on working on the master controller, going to finish that, make the controller section for the GameCube and also Amiga, then do the Amiga video (finally!).

So, pics of the CD-i controller I was referring to:

[bacteria]

Ta-da! Here's a photo of the case front, completed (unassembled), the case is light cream colour, the buttons and controls are all metallic black.

[lildeemo]

it beautiful

[dsheinem]

Ta-da! Here's a photo of the case front, completed (unassembled), the case is light cream colour, the buttons and controls are all metallic black.

This already looks light years better - good show!

[bacteria]

Thanks, appreciated!

It does look miles better, i'm pleased I remade it; other one looks crappy in comparison!

Nearly finished the clay backing section for the controller, need to sand it to shape and trim as needed, so can do a couple of vacuum formings to test to see how they go. Can also then spray paint the back of the master controller, and then start the wiring up process.

[bacteria]

The backing section is complete; the clay mould has been sanded really smooth and curved to sit on the back of the master controller. This section will be vacuum formed, and will contain each controller per console system, plugging into the master controller.



Toyed with the idea of embossing a Batman logo on the backing, however it is more likely to detract than compliment the looks.

Next step is to modify my old vacuum forming table to fit around this mould and make a vacuum formed piece for it, when I am happy with the result, and made any adjustments to the mould if needed, will then prepare the back of the master controller for spray painting, and while i'm at it, the vacuum formed case backing.

Thinking about it, I can make a stencil for the Batman logo, and spray paint in black...humm...could look far cooler than an embossing...

[bacteria]

Update time!

Vacuum formed the backing part, result is smooth.



Pic of the result, mounted onto a flat piece, resulting in a mini case



(these are the two parts)



Need to make screwposts to secure the parts together, then work out where to make the N64 cart port (interface port) into the master controller backing, then can spray paint that part and start assembly.

[bacteria]

Modsoft (one of the Mods on my forum) made me this awesome logo for my project, which i'll be using on each of the controller sections, probably the master controller and of course on the console.



I'm in the process of spray painting the master controller backing, have prepared two controller casings ready, for GameCube and Amiga; will need to make 18-20 more over time...