I definitely should of been figuring out the screws but I couldn't get the pristine silveryness of all the stripped parts off my mind this morning. With the anodising gone it left behind such a flawless finish on all the parts that they appeared to be truly silver. I know aluminum is silver but I was incredibly worried that it was starting to look like a silver themed build (MSI Titanium style) rather than the raw natural finish i'd pictured.
 

 
Not a great before and after since I carelessly splattered the untouched backplate but a notable difference all the same.
 

 
On the second I wanted more severe scars as the top corner is most exposed in the build so the logo was partially sanded off.
 

 
Following that the whole backplate was buffed with scotchbrite and WD40 creating really fine uniform scratches and hiding the sanding marks.
 

 
Then these and another handful of various sharp precarious items were thrown in a bag with the backplate to rapidly add an array of scratches and dents.
 

 
At this point the texture was perfect, just like you would expect from unfinished well handled sheet metal. So time for a little detailing.
 

 
Nothing so vulgar as 1080Ti, just the serial numbers from each card.
 

 
Already feeling much better about transforming the remaining aluminum to a suitable character! The much heavier motherboard parts i'll be trying something a little more extreme and the blocks a little less so. I did also find time to browse screws but yet to actually order any, i'll check out what my local supplier has befitting my ideas and go from there.
 
JR

 

Super speedy update of some more detailing coming to life.

 

 

 
Holes added to the motherboard heatsinks. I didn't re-anodise it, this is another heatsink after my first attempt at this didn't quite cut it, but was proof enough that I liked it. Being such a bizarre shape it was tricky to set up. Also i'm swapping the Z170/270 style IO cover for the simpler earlier X99 cover, I think it works better, all text will be removed anyway as it's just not period. 
 

 
Another simple bit of lathe work, the knurling removed from the 90° rotaries, so they are now ultra clean like the other fittings.
 

 
Lastly i've started the vast mission to get all fasteners looking correct. The GPU block will go back together with double M4 nuts and washers locked together onto little studs. This was by far the most time consuming tweak as the top hole on the GPU block had to be drilled out big enough to fit a modified 7mm socket in to tighten the nuts. But it works neat, many more screws to go until all philips/hex socket are banished. 
 
JR

 

 
A huge chunk of the project is now complete, the graphics cards, a pair of 1080Ti FE equipped with heavily modified EK Fluid Gaming blocks.
 
Every surface has been stripped of it's black anodizing and worn to a suitable finish, the backplates stamped with serial numbers and fittings turned for ultimate simplicity. The main effort however has gone into changing every single screw from philips and allen key head to slotted and plain hexagon nuts. Rather than bolts I wanted the majority of the fasteners to appear like studs and nuts however they had to fit inside the extrusion so that was a challenge in itself. First the top holes were drilled out to 9mm just enough to fit a modified 7mm socket for the M4 nuts without breaking out of the edges. Then the head was trimmed off several screws to make little studs, two nuts locked together on the end and a washer added. Just the same surrounding the GPU core too with the addition of the original springs. The smaller M2.5 screws of the backplate were replaced with slotted pan head and again but much larger for the terminal blocks. Finding all of those fittings in the appropriate style was difficult enough but finding plain steel was impossible so nearly all of them were zinc plated which I stripped in citric acid. While they were lightly oiled i've no doubt that they will one day oxidise just like all of the exposed aluminum, I don't intend to fight that and am very much looking forward to a gradual change over time.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Very excited to get the motherboard assembly on this level! Catch you over the weekend.
 
JR

 

After the little glimpses shown earlier in the log the other big lump of componentry is now complete and ready to go back together.

 

 

I was waiting on one little part from EK to put it back, an acetal top from the Supremacy-MX. Which are also normally plexi like the AX part however with the brightly finished bracket and face plate plexi looked really strange.

 

 

Adorned with the 7700k's serial number and fitted to the Classified.

 

 

 

 

As seen already there were several modifications to the motherboard heatsink: black anodising stripped and two rows of holes added. After that it was imersed in acid again, this time much longer to remove the brush marks and slightly roughen the surface. The shape was little too complex to try and scotchbrite it, especially not without damaging the dark nickel plating of the heatpipe. The branding was also removed (chipset band aside) and the M4 studs added to the center piece.

 

 

 

I gave lots of thought to the M.2 heatsinks, with the choice of the stripped Aquacomputer's or Nickel, Black and stripped EK's. After much deliberation I decided against using any at all. Things were looking a bit too silver on the whole, being sat right under the graphics cards I wanted them to just disappear into the board and the simple Predator stickers certainly do.

 

 

 

The boards original IO cover is also absent in favor of an X99 style EVGA part, branding and anodizing removed.

 

 

 

So time to bring the two big pieces together! Such excite.

 

 

 

 

I forgot to mention also, exactly the same pedantic attitude towards nuts and screws occured, the motherboard holes were drill... erm 'cleaned' out to 4.2mm for M4 standoffs and studs all round. Now all the parts are thoroughly dealt with it's time to start attacking the case!

 

JR