Taking on from my post in the discussion section
HERE there seemed an interest in me documenting my WIP on this site, so here is the thread!
Also, no point covering old ground; details of this project to date are in the link above and via my website
www.modded-by-bacteria.com . I have started a blog using WordPress which is far more suited to my needs than the website, so my intention is to leave the website alone, update the rest of my project here, then get to work on my blog site, prior to product announcement on the web.
So, let's take it from here:
My case halves are made from vacuum formed 2mm thick Plasticard (Styrene). I spent literally hours on my case backing section sanding it totally smooth, the result was worth it. Used the original HUcard slot, hot glued in place and filled with putty, then fine crack Polyfiller; gave the case a through sanding. Small holes and slots are made via small files, which are indispensable for this type of project work.
Once ready, I spent about 2 days spray painting the case backing with red spray paint - it took many, many coats before the grey of the cart slot and green of the putty became red. In this state, you have to be very careful handling the case as it picks up fingerprints really easily. The case was left for a full day to completely dry out, then a fairly think coating of Crystal varnish spray paint was applied, to seal the paint allowing for handling, although not enough to be "final". The reason for this is that if the surface is too shiny/varnished, decals don't stick or stay on. Fine balance.
Added decals, using clear waterslide paper. This material is quite expensive at about £3 a sheet of A4, but if you are careful and frugal, one sheet will last for several portables. You just print to it via your computer printer, let it dry, then coat with spray with varnish to stop the ink running when submerged in water. Once dried, cut the decals to size, put into water and when the thin clear plastic starts to separate from the white paper backing, just place the decal onto your case. You can still move the decal about for a short while, while it remains wet, then press on with a piece of tissue to set in place.
Then, two or three fairly thick coats more of the Crystal varnish spray paint applied to finish the job, and the case left then for a day to set hard.
Below are some pics of the final case shell, prior to installing the guts of the system. You will notice that I cut a slot above the HUcard slot to power the system on? There is enough space here for a small switch. It was a balance as to which way around to put some of the decals, my logic is that you see the decals on the side when the system is upside down, eg when inserting a game; however the recharging jack and headphone jack need to be the other way around as you use those when the case is face upwards.
Hole for a home-made eight pole double throw switch, to select between American and Japanese games. The other holes are for a triple throw switch on each side for the three speed button settings.
Logos; and headphone jack and recharging jack. The larger hole is just big enough for a headphone jack to protrude.
Although I am using a PAL TurboGrafx, which outputs in composite as standard, the quality of composite is ok but not brilliant. I am going to use a Logic 3 PSone screen instead of an official PSone screen as the screen size is bigger and the image is even better; although the Logic 3 screen is only RGB input. Connecting RGB to the Logic 3 screen looks nice but the image scrolls, which means the signal needs to be amplified; in this case, just the C-Sync line. Interestingly, the official PSone screen (which I also tested) would need all four lines amplified as nothing shows on the screen apart from waviness.
To tap off the RGB:
And to make the amplifier (assuming just the C-Sync amplifier is needed as the picture on the Logic 3 screen is good otherwise):
