Steampunking a gameboy

[Lili Marlene]

Quick note to the mods - if this is in the wrong spot, I'm sorry. If you want me to move most of this offsite and just provide a link, by all means, let me know and I will be happy to comply.

I've been wanting to play around with steampunk motifs for a while, but until now, I haven't been able to come up with something to modify. Something big like the computer was way too big a project to start out, too much of a risk (lotsa money to replace if I destroy it), and not something I could afford to have out of commission while I worked on it. Same went for my guitar, the telephone, and any number of other electronics around the house.

Yesterday, the answer came to me. A few friends and I were in a used videogame store when I saw a gameboy color for sale - used- for a whopping $10. On a whim, I bought it, and as soon as I got it home, I knew what I had to do.

Behold my hapless victim:


A search for "Steampunk Gameboy" yielded the following:
Not quite the look I'm going for, but it's good to see someone modified a gameboy and it still works...
I'm not sure this qualifies as steampunk, but it's interesting to look at, and a fabulous way to waste money!

Anyhow, I thought it might be fun to keep a log of the process, both for fun and in case anyone else might want to try something like this. Wish me luck.

Oh, and by the way, this is all new to me, so if any of you have any suggestions along the way, please feel free to give me some pointers!  

[Lili Marlene]

The absolute first step was to remove the various stickers on the gameboy. There were two from the manufacturer, a few from the previous owner and one from the retailer.

Scraping off adhesive residue is no fun.
Neither is scraping off other random gunk:

But I did all that, leaving me with a (mostly) pristine gameboy.

Originally, I planned to take off the plastic housing. The idea was that I could get a feel fo exactly how thick/thin/narrow/wide various parts of the gameboy had to remain, and which areas I could change significantly to suit my purposes. Unfortunately, Nintendo seemed intent to thwart just that sort of initiative. They use special tri-wing screws...



So until I can get the appropriate sort of screw driver, the project is delayed (but not terminated! I will finish this bugger).

In order to make productive use of this tri-wing screwdriverless lagtime, I decided to experiment a bit with a side-project. Although I intended the gameboy to be my first steampunk project, my first is actually a thumb drive...

From it I learned that black nailpolish is too shiny to mimic cast iron, brass is not a good thing to bend with one's teeth, and superglue is wonderful.  

[Lili Marlene]

reserved heart  

[Lili Marlene]

reserved  

[Nostrum]

I truely look forward to see what you come up with!
Steampunk is always fantastic fun to tinker with, and their parameters are really quite loose. razz

I have an old clear gameboy colour, so maybe I'll give it a try too!  

[DaisukiTsubasa]

gonk that poor gameboy
lol but you have to put the pics up when you are finished, Im curious to see how the experement worked  

[Neonkyat]

This is an ipod, but steampunk nonetheless:
http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/colinthompson_steampunk.jpg
granted, that's a sticker. Might inspire, though

http://www.podcasting.ie/images/features/steampunk.jpg
cool steampunk thing 8D

Hopefully this'll inspire. there's tons more pics i could share, but i'll...stop XD I love steampunk SO much... so very much. But good luck with it! :3 Can't wait to see the outcome. heart  

[Codename Sailor Earth]

What's a steampunk?  

[Lili Marlene]

Codename Sailor Earth

What's a steampunk?

It's a sort of a 'what if' thing... What if technology advanced by leaps and bounds during the victorian age, but cultural and aesthetic standards remained unchanged. It's like stuff out of Jules Verne and Frankenstein and such.
Did you ever see "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?"  

[Silvermoonfall]

Can't wait to see how it turns out! You can pick up a tri-wing screwdriver rather cheaply from ebay. That's where I had to get mine from.

I like how the thumb drive turned out ^_^.  

[Space Kiwi]

I wanna steampunk my iPod...that would be so cool!
Alas, I haven't the faintest idea how to begin.
And I don't want to mess up...my iPod is too precious to me...XD
Naturally, I would definitely mess up. I fail at that kind of stuff.

 

[Emicatmon]

Wow, such an awesome idea.

If I ever were to try that, I would probably kill my precious Game Boy, so I would probably buy another.

Also, here is some more inspiration. I found it a while ago. A guitar, so not really a Game Boy, but still Steampunk and cool.
http://spazedout.deviantart.com/art/The-Villanizer-54056012

Also, I found another one, suddenly, I'm in love. blaugh
http://spazedout.deviantart.com/art/The-Nautilus-Steampunk-Guitar-56954706

I know this is your very first project, but it's something to work towards, aye? 3nodding

There's loads of Steampunk stuff on DeviantArt, take a look blaugh heart

Also, if you don't mind, message me when you've finished it? I don't usually check Guilds. Heh. heart  

[Fianna Reyn]

*__* Nice job with the Thumb drive ~
. o. for the gameboy...I opened up my GBC all the time by using a regular flat kind of screw driver *not the star-shaped one, but the flat, wedge like one* Just add some force *enough so it wont break either, tho it shouldn't*
;D and it should open.

*a little off topic*
. o. aww Dude, that first messed up old Gameboy; that one was I believe taken to war, and it was literally blown up by a bomb. Whats amazing is it still works! I saw it in real life at the Nintendo World at NYC.

*__* Now I'm inspired to do steam punk. Do you have a pic of the thumb drive before you messed with it?  

[Fox Demon Shippo]

How'd you steampunk the flash drive? o.o

PM/Comment me if possible? I'm interesting in doing my own. =3  

[BlueePikachuu]

Oh steampunking a gameboy....... sounds fun! im gunna try it! I tore apart my old digital camera for parts and im going to the DI for old pocket watches to also rip apart.
i love the flash drive btw! oh and i want to know how your game boy turns out!