Re...Animating The Alienware: Part 2 (The Body)

 

 

After seemingly an endless number of screws to remove, the Alienware Aurora 7500 got disassembled! It's one complex case..... in fact; it's a case within a case. 

 

The number of plastic shell pieces was a little astounding! In fact, just the skin of the side panel alone was 3 separate pieces.. and that's not even including all the various fans, lights, and connectors.

 

In this case (literally) though, it turned out to be to my advantage. It allows for the pieces to be done in the faux carbon fiber look to be done separately and require very little masking! Oh, don't get me wrong: it's still a "pain in the a**", but not as bad as I first envisioned.

Now the trick will be for me to get all this done and put back together without getting confused and forgetting how everything fit and what screws went where!

The reassembly overall went pretty well. We had a bit of a problem getting the hinge of the door just right which necessitated some touch-up, but it's together. I'm generally pleased with the "carbon fiber" effect. If you'll look at the image of the top after the first coat of black versus the final product in the last image, you'll note quite a difference! This time around, I used another technique learned on YouTube; that of introducing a third color ("rubbed Bronze") that seems to really add some depth to the effect. As you can probably tell, the overall look is subtle, which is precisely what we were going for. Just so you know; I used Rustoleum spray paint exclusively on this project. I don't have anything against other brands, and they certainly aren't paying me for this, but I've had good luck with them so I use it.

 

 

Of course, that'll just be the prelude to the main event...... the actual build.