Project Care Bear

[TheGreatSatan]

I decided about a month or so ago that it would be nice if my daughter can have her very own computer in her room. I was just going to give her an old 500mhz emachines I have, but then thought that a modded computer would be even better. And the theme? Care Bears, she's a real fan.

So here's the case. 1 nice blank piece.

http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/1blank.jpg

I will be making a huge Tenderheart bear vinyl sticker for the side panel.

http://img44.exs.cx/img44/94/tenderheart1.gif


But that wouldn't be enough of a view of the inside. So I decided that I would draw a heart next to Tenderheart and make it look like he's carrying a balloon.

http://img69.exs.cx/img69/4058/drawnheart.jpg


I stripped the computer down and took everything off.

http://img62.exs.cx/img62/3366/naked.jpg

And removed the faceplate.

http://img59.exs.cx/img59/2072/faceplate.jpg

Then painted it first with primer.

http://img22.exs.cx/img22/363/paintface.jpg

Then with blue.

http://img52.exs.cx/img52/8374/blue_face.jpg

Then I painted the metal frame white. After it dries for about two days, I put all the componenets back in. I painted the CD and Floppy drives to match the faceplate.

http://img7.exs.cx/img7/3246/CB_BLUE.jpg

Then I painted the PSU and the HD rack light blue too.

http://img68.exs.cx/img68/2284/CB_PSU.jpg

http://img23.exs.cx/img23/7752/CB_HD.jpg

http://img28.exs.cx/img28/7735/CB_BACK.jpg

I'm using round yellow (her favorite color) IDE and Floppy cables.

The lighting will be all red. Two red fans and a red cathode. And the fans will be held in with these custom fan screws made by Duck from CMG.

http://img59.exs.cx/img59/5030/Bear_Screw.jpg

And here's the case after it's last coat of blue.

http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/case_balloon.jpg

I made some stencils for clouds, stars, and the Care Bear Castle Care-A-Lot.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/stencil1.jpg
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/stencil2.jpg
Then I spray painted the clouds and outlined them in black.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB1.jpg
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB2.jpg
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB3.jpg

I also decided it would be cool if the case had an LCD, so with my spare, I added one.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB4.jpg
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB5.jpg

Next I killed the lights and took some more pics.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB6.jpg
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB7.jpg
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB11.jpg
Here's one with a custom Care Bear fan grill.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB8.jpg

Here's the pic looking through the Heart window.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB9.jpg

And the top mesh screen.
http://www.oneimagehost.com/files/CB10.jpg

I painted the monitor.
http://img56.exs.cx/img56/7654/blue_monitor.jpg
Then I did the mouse, but still need to do a little more with the outline.
http://img21.exs.cx/img21/2796/blue_mouse1.jpg
http://img34.exs.cx/img34/6141/blue_mouse2.jpg
And I started on the speakers.
http://img31.exs.cx/img31/7185/blue_speakers.jpg

http://img58.exs.cx/img58/7459/completed1.jpg
http://img57.exs.cx/img57/1226/completed2.jpg
http://img43.exs.cx/img43/2641/completed3.jpg
http://img48.exs.cx/img48/2355/completed4.jpg
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/3904/completed5.jpg
http://img34.exs.cx/img34/827/completed6.jpg
http://img37.exs.cx/img37/3535/completed7.jpg:cool:

[Silverstrand]

Great job. This was a very nice gift for your daughter.

The heart balloon cutout is a bit rough though. But nice job overall with having the theme travel with the monitor, mouse, speakers and keyboard.

[Starbuck3733T]

freakin awesome dude! my stepdaughter to be would like it a LOT. my fiancee was the care bears nut when she was little. vintage rocks.

[toby]

Excellent work you did a great job with that, its nice to see something different

[furious trout]

^^^^ what they all said ^_^

Great stuff.

[fivecheebs]

Brilliant :D

I think there is a pic you forgot though. Your daughters face when you gave it to her :)

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

The cloud blow hole is awesome! :cool:

Talking of blow holes some one should make a whale themed case that blows water out the top when ever theres a critical stop in windows. :lol:

[Nexxo]

I never thought I'd say anything positive about the care bears of all things, but I actually think that is a really good theme mod. Love the cloudy top blowhole and the custom screws. It's worthy. B)

Edit: Am I the only one who thinks it's sorta funny that someone naming themselves "The Great Satan" should be doing a care bears mod? Confirms the suspicions I had all along... Care bears are a work of Satan. :lol:

[mnpctech]

I saw this on pimprig. Nice job. Looked like lots of fun :D
My wife and kids luv Peanuts. Hmmm.. Snoopy theme mod would be fun.

[Darv]

Very well thought out and well made :D

Some fluffly trim round some of the cuts might make it neater (and safer) and still keep in with the theme.

[Pug]

Proper job man! Can't fault it myself for a kids' comp (an' I bet she can't either). :cool:
Nice to see the theme carried all the way through.
*feeling of parental inadequacy rears head* :o

Edit: Am I the only one who thinks it's sorta funny that someone naming themselves "The Great Satan" should be doing a care bears mod? Confirms the suspicions I had all along... Care bears are a work of Satan. :lol: Bwahahaha!!

[TheGreatSatan]

Very well thought out and well made :D

Some fluffly trim round some of the cuts might make it neater (and safer) and still keep in with the theme.
That's an excellent idea!

[dutchcedar]

Well this is simply a great gift for your daughter. A great way to show your love, Satan... (yah, that sounds very odd... :blink: ).

:o

[TheGreatSatan]

My daughter's 500Mhz, 256MB PC100 Care Bear computer is too slow. I'm putting in a decent Asus Micro ATX board with Athlon XP 2200+, and 512MB of PC2100 and I might even give her a 128MB Radeon 9700 Pro.

http://img117.exs.cx/img117/2/new_board2.jpg

http://img42.exs.cx/img42/9752/new_board1.jpg



The problem is that the original wiring for the power button is way different!

http://img42.exs.cx/img42/1379/pwr_cord.jpg



I don't have any other wiring in stock for this except a reset button with the cord attached. Can this be used to start the computer up?

http://img42.exs.cx/img42/3404/switch.jpg

[fivecheebs]

yea, any momentry switch with the correct 2 pin connector will work if you plug it into the correct header of course. I have even used a jumper in the past when working on boards on the bench. You conenct the 2 terminals and remove the jumper straight away.

[Starbuck3733T]

yea, any momentry switch with the correct 2 pin connector will work if you plug it into the correct header of course. I have even used a jumper in the past when working on boards on the bench. You conenct the 2 terminals and remove the jumper straight away.

Jumpers are for the unambitious :D I used a screwdriver for 6 months straight!

[fivecheebs]

Jumpers are for the unambitious :D I used a screwdriver for 6 months straight!
haha true ... i just dont trust my alcholic hands sometimes so a jumper with its plastic casing gives me some peace of mind!

[Kickass]

Hi Satan,

I love the case (not my colour ;) ) but superb for kids like ur daughter,

Anyway, the best bet with the switch is to firstly unconnect all the wires from the black piece of plastic with a screwdriver, then trace them back into the panel. If you then put the black piece of plastic over the motherboard header, and follow the manual, you can make a full switch setup which can be removed as one.

This i think is alot easiar than all the fiddly switches.

Hope this helps mate,

Regards,
Spike

[TheGreatSatan]

I got it all figured out. I could've sworn that the motherboard had onboard audio, but that's not working. So I guess I'll just have to get a soundcard.

Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8Ghz)
512MB DDR 333 Kingston Hyper X
9GB Hard drive

Not bad for a Care Bear computer!;) And it boots in 18 seconds and shuts down in 10!!

[FastRedPonyCar]

man that's hard core... not bad

[zer0]

wow thats prety cool for your daughter whats funny is my brother girlfriend would probly kill for that case. (i know some girls never grow up).

good luck with the sound issue.

[TheGreatSatan]

I got it all figured out. I could've sworn that the motherboard had onboard audio, but that's not working. So I guess I'll just have to get a soundcard.

Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8Ghz)
512MB DDR 333 Kingston Hyper X
9GB Hard drive

Not bad for a Care Bear computer!;) And it boots in 18 seconds and shuts down in 10!!I never updated this. I forgot to install the motherboard drivers. When I did, the problem was fixed.

[TheGreatSatan]

The monitor on my daughter's Care bear computer crapped out, so now she's using my 19 inch LCD. Even I'm jealous!

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/226/19inchcb5yx.jpg

[zer0]

so is the new monitor going baby blue too?

[Jewels]

I love it even more with the new monitor, your daughter must feel so proud! :wub: ;-)

[Mr.stubbs]

cool man, i love care bears




damn should'nt of said that

hide!!!:dig:

[GodsUnicorn]

Will you adopt me and make me a Danger Mouse case ?

Pleeeaaaaaaaaasssssseeee !

[TheGreatSatan]

I've decided to do more upgrades just for the hell of it. Really, I think it'll be funny that her Care Bear computer could have sweeeeeet components.

I bought another Kingston HyperX 512MB module to give her a total of 1GB. I'm also thinking of upgrading her 128MB Radeon 9700 Pro with something better. Would anything 256bit, 256MB be better? What do you suggest costing no more than $100?

Do your kids need any parts, Pug?:thumb:

[Pug]

Do your kids need any parts, Pug?:thumb:
I have 80-90% of their rigs up in Julie's attic. :o)
I do need to get hold of some DDR so I can switch boards in one of the rigs here, which would free up some SDR for theirs. Some other stuff too but the main thing is that I also need to rebuild my mod supply before I can even start building them something worthwhile (I lost a lot of stuff in the last couple of forced house-moves). :-(

Thanks for asking tho'. I'll get on it soon. :magic:
:idea: Your monitor mod for this one could merit its own thread you know, I don't think we have one on monitor modding yet. :thumb:

[TheGreatSatan]

When R2 is done I'm taking it back and giving her a 15 inch LCD! :D

[Starbuck3733T]

My daughter just runs a older laptop (P3 mobile/512MB/40GB ) and that runs just fine for her. She loves being able to use it anywhere, even though her mom has to move it for her.