Six Nasty SSK Steel Plates... now in assorted flavors!

[phosphorglow]

(...also also: it's official. The barrel frames will be painted to match the plates. It must be done.)

[CookingAppliance]

Love the look of that, the red is nice and subtle but noticeable enough.

Great work!

[phosphorglow]

[Muirium]

Yum! That yellow and black "wasp" especially!

What are the backsides like? I ask as a gentleman…

[scottc]

Fantastic!

[Muirium]

We should do a European GB for these someday!

[vivalarevolución]

Sexy. So how did you paint the barrel frame without getting paint on the barrels? Paint with keycaps on or something?

[Game Theory]

Wow! Amazing paint jobs!

[002]

These are so cool and I love the subtle touch of a coloured backplate. There are a few Topre special edition keyboards with coloured plates (blue or red) and they look great but they don't "pop" as much as yours.

[Muirium]

Show us them with caps on, Phosphor! The YYY Ducky Shine 3's red plate is barely noticeable when covered in caps too. Hopefully the tall M caps will expose a bit more below!

[phosphorglow]

Sexy. So how did you paint the barrel frame without getting paint on the barrels? Paint with keycaps on or something?

^_^

I made some special little boots out of the rubber tube inside a garden hose to cover them.

[phosphorglow]

Yum! That yellow and black "wasp" especially!

What are the backsides like? I ask as a gentleman…

Heheheh!
Here ya go:

Show us them with caps on, Phosphor! The YYY Ducky Shine 3's red plate is barely noticeable when covered in caps too. Hopefully the tall M caps will expose a bit more below!

Aaaaand here ya go:



The brighter colors definitely worked better, and the yellow looks friggin' sweet since it has one piece keys which have a smidge more spacing between them.

More soon! Lots of photos to organize!

[Muirium]

Oh man, am I getting the appetite for some of these! Top notch workmanship, you bloody wizard!

The yellow one had black barrels (which look even better with that new colour around them) is that how it was manufactured?

[phosphorglow]

...and for kicks and grins, here's the original state of that orange one:

[Muirium]

You're like a tsunami party in reverse. Definite magic involved. I don't need to roll an arcana check on this one.

[phosphorglow]

Oh man, am I getting the appetite for some of these! Top notch workmanship, you bloody wizard!

The yellow one had black barrels (which look even better with that new colour around them) is that how it was manufactured?

Heheheh! Thanks! ^_^

Yup - the majority of M's had black frames and barrels, between '89 and '92 you start seeing more pearl white frames.

[phosphorglow]

You're like a tsunami party in reverse. Definite magic involved. I don't need to roll an arcana check on this one.

Hahah. Model M resurrection is my mutant power.

[Muirium]

Indeed! If I ever see a lot of IBM guts lying strewn around at random, I'll know who I have encountered. Either I'm getting attacked by an SSK army, or I'm pulling out my wallet! Maybe both, come to think…

Half of my Ms are black inside – coincidentally the Greenock made ones, which is just across the other side of Scotland – and I always thought the pearly white ones were nicer. Until now!

[tlt]

Amazing work and photos. I really enjoy following the transformation from junk to top condition!

[phosphorglow]

Indeed! If I ever see a lot of IBM guts lying strewn around at random, I'll know who I have encountered. Either I'm getting attacked by an SSK army, or I'm pulling out my wallet! Maybe both, come to think…

Half of my Ms are black inside – coincidentally the Greenock made ones, which is just across the other side of Scotland – and I always thought the pearly white ones were nicer. Until now!

SSK Zombie Army. Yes.

The Greenock ones used different plastics too. The frame is actually a pretty soft plastic in comparison to the US made ones. Yay nuances. The white frames are certainly my favorite. And they're easier to paint.

[phosphorglow]

Amazing work and photos. I really enjoy following the transformation from junk to top condition!

Thanks! The junkiest are the best.

[sth]

cool as heck!! these look great, man

[vivalarevolución]

Indeed! If I ever see a lot of IBM guts lying strewn around at random, I'll know who I have encountered. Either I'm getting attacked by an SSK army, or I'm pulling out my wallet! Maybe both, come to think…

Half of my Ms are black inside – coincidentally the Greenock made ones, which is just across the other side of Scotland – and I always thought the pearly white ones were nicer. Until now!

SSK Zombie Army. Yes.

The Greenock ones used different plastics too. The frame is actually a pretty soft plastic in comparison to the US made ones. Yay nuances. The white frames are certainly my favorite. And they're easier to paint.

Yea, I got my hands on my first Greenock. It had a different barrel frame design than the American-made ones of the same era. It did not have those "ridges" on the barrel side that starting appearing on Model M's in the mid 90s, and still are on Unicomp barrel frames. I did appreciate the lack of ridges, because those make it much harder to clean the barrel plate.

[quantalume]

(...also also: it's official. The barrel frames will be painted to match the plates. It must be done.)

How did you mask off the barrels? Looks fantastic!

[Muirium]

Sexy. So how did you paint the barrel frame without getting paint on the barrels? Paint with keycaps on or something?

^_^

I made some special little boots out of the rubber tube inside a garden hose to cover them.

Attention to detail!

[quantalume]

Thanks, Muirium. That confirms it: an insane amount of work went into those keyboards.

[benichka]

Those are really nice indeed... Congrats for the hard work and the great results!

[idollar]

Hi,

I was wondering about the first sentence in the thread ....

Still waiting on new circuit membranes from the printer, but here's a fun sneak peak of things to come.

What do yor mean with "new circuit membranes from the printer" ?

cheers

i$