Hi guys!
Sooooo, for the ones who know me, you know that when I got something in mind, I tend to not let it go... Since I was tired of looking for the perfect case, I decided to do something I didn't know I could do... But as previously shown before, I did very like this case I got (also, my apologies, this post will be picture heavy):
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And I had this very clear picture in my head on how to modify it by doing some sort of Frankenstein work, but I didn't know what I was getting myself into....
Here are some progress picture, started by removing the handle and tearing apart the canvas:
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And I roughly measured where I wanted to narrow the case to and started to chop it up (oof I hope there is no vintage case restorers in this forum!):
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Took the opportunity to clean up the brass:
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I also fixed the broken leather strap, by cutting the other one and re attaching it to the missing part. Just a magic trick I learnt with superglue and paint:
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I am not too sure which kind of paint they used at the time, but the lettering wouldn't go even with white spirit, so, had to sand it down:
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After testing out a few types of paint, I repainted the whole case in a brown colour:
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And now, the moment I was dreading the most, especially since the case is so wobbly due to its age, and my poor cutting skill (which by the way, I did not expect the case to be having metal inserts, and that was a real pain to saw down!!)
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I have then ordered some green baize, and worked on the inside, and bought some paint and vintage 1900s travel labels to work on each panel (all labels actually are things that I thought would relate to me, such as places like glasgow, and stonehaven, or one being called 'hook' which is one of my favourite movie!) I made sure I had the overall look and placement right:
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And the final touch, the leather patches that I had salvaged from another trunk I had (really wanted to have old leather, and avoid buying "brand new" leather, if that makes sense. One reason is because I wanted the the overall look to remain the same, and the other is because I am vegan, so for ethical reasons!)
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So here is the final look, bear in mind,
I still have not finished! I am awaiting on some foam (been buying a lot of samples, and cannot find the perfect shade of grey for the inside foam where the grenades are hanging from, if you have any info, I'd appreciate it!) Also need to finish the leather bit in the middle and the gun shelf!
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I also started to 3D print some guns, it is fairly hard to find some good models of Leon's guns, despite of having identifying them all... If you have any files to share with me, that I can buy, let me know!
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I will keep you updated on how I manage to make the shelf, I am hoping of making it out of foam, to keep the interior lightweight, despite having glued back together fairly well, I don't want to risk it to collapse with unnecessary weight haha!
Also, do you guys believe there are patches at the bottom of the case as well? I feel like there are, but I wanted your opinion before adding them up!
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I am overall quite happy how this is looking, I wish the case was maybe 5 cm taller, but I think it captured fairly well the whole look of Leon's case, let me know if you have suggestions!