screen, and decided to go down that
route. As soon as I found it, I thought
it would make a good custom rain
meter or monitoring screen, then
the game came out with ultrawide
adverts, so I chose to display them
on the screen instead.
My design cues were quite simple- I wanted to make it look dystopian,
and not follow the yellow and blue
theme inside the case, as it was
already on the outside. I just wanted
to create a dystopian/cyberpunk
look inside. I pictured it in my head
and it came out almost 90 per cent
how I imagined it. I also wanted to
get a whole external lighting right
around the setup, using a Philips
Hue setup around the monitors
and desk.
That’s an amazing paint
job. Take us through your
painting process.
Richi: I get a bit silly when it comes
to painting. Firstly, I measured
the panels, which of course
meant stripping off the panels off
including the front one – that was
luckily a simple task with the LianDystopian fiction fan Richi Bowzer spent
a year creating this stunning Cyberpunk
2077-inspired PC, which can boot into two
PCs for two-player gaming, and has an
incredible amount of custom paintwork,
as well as a nifty screen on the PSU shroud
/MEET THY MAKER
Name Richard Bowzer
Age 44
Occupation We b d eve lo p e r
Location Kent
Main uses for PC Graphic
design, web development,
gaming, dual-gaming and
learning videography
Likes Any dystopian
shows and films, gaming,
tech, PCs, football and
airbrushing/painting
Dislikes Musicals, curry
and heights. I will go up
to high places, but I won’t
be happy about it!Cyberpunk
Two 07 7
Readers’ drives
What inspired
you to build this
Cyberpunk 2077 PC?
Richi: I’ve been a fan
of the whole dystopian
theme for a long time- I even enjoyed the
updated Blade Runner
film! I read the Bruce
Bethke books when I
was younger, and for
me he is the founder of
the whole dystopian
future idea. I also
have a huge collection
of cyberpunk and
dystopian future
wallpapers, so
when the game was
announced, a mod on
this theme was always
in the works.
I wanted to include
a screen as well, but
too many modders
are rocking the 7in
ones now, so I went on
aliexpress.com and
found a 14in 1,280 x
390 mini ultrawide
Li Dynamic 011XL, as it has screws
holding it in place rather than rivets.
I then wet-sanded all the panels
with 800-grit sandpaper, so the
etching primer could bite into it.
For the back panel, I made a
stencil (I make all my stencils with
a Silhouette Cameo 3D printer – one
of the best investments I’ve ever
made), to mask the design. The
panel was then coated with two
coats of Createx Pearl Silver, Pearl
White and then Pearl Red. After the
paint hardened, I sanded the panel
with 1,400-grit sandpaper to scuff
the image and give it a worn look
and feel – I even sanded a bit of the
anodised aluminium around the
paint to add to that effect. The other
panels were first coated in yellow
with a hint of lime 2K paint, then
two coats of lacquer to protect it.
I custom-designed the stencils in
my very old copy of Photoshop, then
used my Cameo to plot them out. I
laid out the stencils, and then put
down my own mix of Createx Pearl
Green, Pearl White and Pearl Blue,
again then sanding them down
with 1,400-grit sandpaper to makeMODDING / READERS’ DRIVES
nd decided to go down that
soon as I found it, I thought
make a good custom rain
monitoring screen, then
e came out with ultrawide
so I chose to display them
reen insteadwo
ud
Li Dynamic 011XL, as it has screws
holding it in place rather than rivets.
I then wet-sanded all the panels
with 800-grit sandpaper, so the
etching primer could bite into it.
For the back panel, I made a
stencil (I make all my stencils with