In preparation for Halo 4 multiplayer, I decided I wanted to try the Ben Heck project where he put the guts of a 360 controller into a Duke controller. After talking to an authority on the subject, I learned that it would either take a ludicrous amount of work or would cost me about $1000 to have it made. So, I decided instead to just mod the 360 controller shell to feel as close to the Duke as possible.
Since those chunky handles are what gives the Duke its trademark feel, I went ahead and transplanted them onto a 360 controller. I took the Duke backplate and chopped it down until the handles could be roughly aligned with the frontplate of the 360 controller. I kept the battery pack portion of the 360 backplate in order to both house the battery pack and hold everything in place. Here's the (not quite) finished product:
It's not much to look at, but it feels basically identical to the Duke. Plus, it maintains the superior control scheme of the 360 pad. The joysticks from the Duke just pop right in, and they're a big improvement for FPS gaming in my opinion.
The tape is there to cover up the gaps in the plastic that occur along the seams, rather than to hold it all together. My next step is to replace that pesky battery pack with a lithium ion battery that can be smoothly integrated within the shell itself. That damn thing is always getting in the way.