My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style [Completed]

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Italian77
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My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style [Completed]

Post by Italian77 » Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:30 pm

Hey guys. This is my very first build ever. I just wanted to post my current progress. I am currently waiting for Kite's awesome Circuit Sword to ship out next month. Since I had time, I decided to start working on my shell. I really planned to wait on making this post when I completed the entire build, but I was excited with how it looks so far, so I thought I would share it with you guys. I would love to hear what you guys think.
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fron buttons.JPG
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First I want to give a shout out and thanks to Kite, HoolyHoo, YaYa, VeteranGamer, erik_gee, and of course Wermy. I hope I did not forget anyone. I love this forum. I have learned so much from everyone.

Sorry if this post is a bit long-winded. I started with the classic grey shell, but it had a beige tint to it which does not look much like SNES grey, so I decided to paint it. I have an airbrush and mixed my own colors for the light and dark grey. Here is a pic after I painted and drilled out my holes and cut out the screen. My screen work could have been cleaner, but the exacto was not easy to control. It will all be covered by the screen surround though.
Base Coat.JPG
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Base Front.JPG
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As for the button labels and logo, I knew I did not want to go with waterslide decals. I really wanted to figure out how to make it seem like it was factory printed, so I decided to get some vinyl stencils made. I knew I would not be able to fit the button letters on the right and left like the SNES picture below. I also knew the circle would be too large for the Game Boy.
SNES Circle.jpeg
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I do not have Photoshop, so I did the best I could with Pages on my mac to rearrange the button letters to be on top and bottom. The Gameboy button letters are on the bottom anyway, so I thought it would mesh both styles. This is what I came up with.
Controller Layout Clear.png
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The image looks rough, but when I uploaded the file to the online decal site it took out the weird imperfections. I also made a smaller circle and it let me install custom fonts. So this is what I came up with for my stencils.
Decals.JPG
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I was worried that these decal would pull off my paint. In fact I tested a small section, and it did! So I had to airbrush that spot again to fix it. I decided to put a clear matte spray coat over it. I was going to do that at the end anyway to protect the paint job, but I thought maybe the decals would come off cleaner that way. I got the decals in place and repositioned the button letters individually because they seemed a bit odd. I originally wanted the circle to be entirely on the front face, but when I tried that it was not centered over the buttons and that drove me crazy. So I ended up letting it over-hang on the top and right side just a bit, but I thought that just might work out ok.
Stencil.JPG
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I covered up the rest of the shell that I did not want painted with dark grey and airbrushed over the stencils. This was the scary part. I was concerned that the decals might not have made a good seal and might let paint bleed through. I was also concerned it might still peel off the paint. Even if both worked out ok, then I thought, "How do I get all the small individuals decals off with out scratching it up?" I took my time and removed the individual decals very carefully with a small pick. I was very pleased with the results.
new look.JPG
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New look 2.JPG
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new look 3.JPG
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Now this is where I give another shout out to VeteranGamer and daftmike for the awesome idea to do a SNES cart, except I am going with the US version. I had mine printed in grey resin so that it would have a smooth surface.
mini snes cart.JPG
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Last edited by Italian77 on Sun Jun 24, 2018 9:21 pm, edited 17 times in total.
My first Circuit Sword build - Custom Painted
https://sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=5855

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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom US SNES Style

Post by Italian77 » Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:34 pm

I had a second one printed in black (non resin). I also got a hold of a few sheets of laser vinyl label paper to print out cartridge decals. The quality was nice, and I decided to make them glossy by using the soapy water method on box tape to apply it over the label. The soapy water mixture helped me smooth out all the air bubbles. They are not as nice as YaYa's labels, but not bad for a home printer. They look much better in person.
SNES LABEL - large icons.png
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Snes Dark Label.png
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cart front.JPG
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cart top 1.JPG
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cart top 2.JPG
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carts back.JPG
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Last edited by Italian77 on Fri Apr 27, 2018 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My first Circuit Sword build - Custom Painted
https://sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=5855

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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom US SNES Style

Post by Italian77 » Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:37 pm

As for the rest of the pics below, I wanted to simulate how it may look once completed. I ordered replacement SNES buttons, but I was not happy with how they looked so I swapped them out with the buttons from my SNES classic controller. I think those reflect the look much better. I also ordered a custom screen surround from bluishsquirrel and decals from YaYa.
close up 1.JPG
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overview.JPG
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overview 2.JPG
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left.JPG
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right.JPG
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fron buttons.JPG
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cart in shell.JPG
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surround close.JPG
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Once the circuit sword comes in I will post the completed build. I can't wait!





***UPDATE*** COMPLETED BUILD PICS BELOW

I finally completed my build! I would have finished sooner, but it's been a busy few weeks. Darn job getting in the way of my circuit sword build :lol:. Everything seems to work great. Still playing around with different themes and splash screens, but that's always fun to change up.

I modified my cartridge bracket by adding a lip to go over the back of the cartridge to keep it from falling forward. The first couple of times I inserted the SNES cart it was a little too tight, but it turned out to be a very happy accident. Now I don't need any sort of double sided sticky tape or glue!! Both my SNES cart and Game Boy cart are held into place with the friction from the bracket. It almost feels like a real cartridge being inserted into the system. You can see where the cart is held into place in the first pic below. I might drop the backside of the cartridge bracket down about a mm or so though. It did slightly interfere with the fan mount that I had printed. Thank you to derebbe for providing the stl to the fan mount. I am able to still insert the fan without the mount and hold it in place with with a couple of small dots of hot glue for now.

I also created a wrap-around battery label with the Super Game Boy cm3 logo. A special thanks to 0xF0F0F0 for sharing his label design. I was not sure what needed to be covered with the high temp tape besides the wifi chip, but I covered up a few other parts to keep them from making contact when the case closes. I tried to keep the wires from shifting around and looking clean by taping those down too. I just disconnected the battery for the pics of the inside.
Inside 1.JPG
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Inside 2.JPG
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Battery.JPG
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Image
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Last edited by Italian77 on Sun Jun 24, 2018 9:18 pm, edited 5 times in total.
My first Circuit Sword build - Custom Painted
https://sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=5855

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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by VeteranGamer » Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:02 pm

Fantastic look....
(You had a vision, and followed it through and executed it perfectly)


Definately my favorite CM3 build...

You knocked it out of the park, great work....


.

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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by Italian77 » Sat Apr 28, 2018 1:17 am

Thanks man! I really appreciate that. It was a bit time consuming but it made me learn to be a bit more patient.

I knew I wanted that look but it was your build that inspired me to add the snes cart too. You also helped inspire the screen surround as well.

I’m now trying to see if I can make a bracket to hold both the snes cart and game boy cart into place without glue. The game boy cart would require me to cut some of the back off though.


I’ve been playing around on tinkercad. The first design did not work, but I’ll keep trying.
Last edited by Italian77 on Wed May 02, 2018 8:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by VeteranGamer » Sat Apr 28, 2018 1:42 am

Italian77 wrote:
Sat Apr 28, 2018 1:17 am
Thanks man! I really appreciate that. It was a bit time consuming but it made me learn to be a bit more patient.

I knew I wanted that look but it was your build that inspired me to add the snes cart too. You also helped inspire the screen surround as well.

I’m now trying to see if I can make a bracket to hold both the snes cart and game boy cart into place without glue. The game boy cart would require me to cut some of the back off thought.


I’ve been playing around on tinkercad. The first design did not work by I’ll keep trying.
you've done extremely well....
that extra time is whats needed to get something as good as that, and have something personal to you....
(besides the standard colour schemes are just getting a bit boring now IMHO... too many of them have been done and are about)


the cart in my build is still loose
(but is snugly held in place, due to the size of the 3d print)


gluing the cart in place might not be a bad idea (its a quick and easy solution, especially with a small amount of Super Glue)
i'm going to be gluing mine in, at some point...
but i'm going to have the HDMI out port in the cart, but haven't got around to doing that mod yet
(its the best place IMHO for the port, and will finish my build off)


but learning something new (Tinkercad) isn't a bad idea, even if you don't end up using it....


i know your still in a work in progress stage...
but running a black sharpie (or any other permanent marker) around the inside edge of the screen opening is not a bad idea
it will give it a cleaner look once everything is sealed/closed up


but great work so far....
just the wait for the CM3 now....


.

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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by Italian77 » Sat Apr 28, 2018 6:01 am

Thank for the sharpie tip. I’ll have to do that.
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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by HoolyHoo » Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:03 am

I really like it, great job 😁

Curious on the air brushing. How well do you expect the paint to "stick"? Did you prime it first?

Thanks for sharing.

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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by Italian77 » Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:44 am

HoolyHoo wrote:
Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:03 am
I really like it, great job 😁

Curious on the air brushing. How well do you expect the paint to "stick"? Did you prime it first?

Thanks for sharing.
I actually did prime first. One thing I would recommend to anyone else wanting to do this, is to lightly sand the surface. There is a protective layer on the plastic shell, and it is best to remove before priming. I only did this over the original text on the shell, but I should have done it all. I wanted to keep the texture of the shell intact but the clear coat covered a lot of that up anyway. The hobby lobby by me has a 10 pack of sand paper ranging from 320 grit to 12,000. With a grit ranging that high you can ensure a nice smooth finish. Although I only went as high as 4000. You can wet sand with that sand paper too.
Last edited by Italian77 on Wed May 02, 2018 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
My first Circuit Sword build - Custom Painted
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Re: My First Circuit Sword Build - Custom Painted US SNES Style

Post by Double0EK » Sat Apr 28, 2018 10:22 am

Wow! It looks great! Want to sell your shell?

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