Latest update: Keymats are here, how strong will the logo plate be - and pretty cases.

[bubblebee]

While the current revision had been improved a bit, I've seen the previous case in person at Gamescom. And boy, you do see these marks in normal lighting situations. Check the Gamescom thread for some photos that were taken by community members. Though there's the caveat that at least my photos aren't the sharpest and changing lighting in motion makes them more apparent than still images.

If my Pandora is any indication, black paint on black case is not much of an issue. And that wasn't quite the high quality paint job to be honest.

You can't compare the cases at Gamescom with the improved ones in the video. ED states himself in the video that these cases are much better than the old ones.

 

[levi]

If my Pandora is any indication, black paint on black case is not much of an issue. And that wasn't quite the high quality paint job to be honest.

I think this is a good point and deserved quoting out of the last post of the page. The Pandora's paint job is known to be flakey at best, and my silver painted unit is showing through the black in a number of places, but if the paint matches the plastic it's reportedly much less of an issue.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Yeah, I think if the paint is the same color as the plastic, you'll barely notice.

 

[bubblebee]

Yeah, I think if the paint is the same color as the plastic, you'll barely notice.

Therefor I asked ED to show us some scratch and aging tests on the matte case in his next video. So we do not have to guess.

 

[bubblebee]

I can see them clear as day on his YouTube videos without any special lighting...

Oh come on, it's clearly a special lighting. After all, it's clear to everyone that ED sits in front of a single light source and lifts the plastic part into the light at a specific angle so that the marks clearly stand out. You really can not deny that. Here and here are just two examples in the video where you can see it. ED says:" ... if you put them into the light, you can always see these discolorizations ..."

 

[elvissteinjr]

You can't compare the cases at Gamescom with the improved ones in the video. ED states himself in the video that these cases are much better than the old ones.

They are much better, yet there are still marks visible in the video which are fairly similar to what I've seen in real before. What makes you think that these are a complete non-issue now?
The same source who says they are much improved also thinks the paint is necessary for good looks.


Also in general, as we're back on the colors... while coating can likely be done in custom colors at reasonable cost, keep in mind that the whole idea was to have a similar plastic color so if the coating really comes off, it's not as obvious. Coating it something bright is probably not a thing we want here.

 

[TrashyMG]

Oh come on, it's clearly a special lighting. After all, it's clear to everyone that ED sits in front of a single light source and lifts the plastic part into the light at a specific angle so that the marks clearly stand out. You really can not deny that. Here and here are just two examples in the video where you can see it. ED says:" ... if you put them into the light, you can always see these discolorizations ..."

The thing is I will always see it knowing it's there, The light in my room would hit it just right and I will notice it, it would bug me to no end, so I say just paint it... If ED wants to entertain non-painted cases, he should sell the casing separate as spares, but I can see it initially being tedious as an order option as you stated is already pretty convoluted.

Therefor I asked ED to show us some scratch and aging tests on the matte case in his next video. So we do not have to guess.

I would rather have ED precious time outside of his normal day job spent on getting the Pyra ready for the mass production run.

 

[rSl]

I did a render of the pyra in a C64 colour

looks awesome, thanks!

 

[levi]

1) Burnt bright orange paint on black plastic (especially if it chips and buffs off as you use it).

2) Ferrari red paint on top of black plastic (especially if it chips and buffs off as you use it).

Ugh. I hope you were joking there.

 

[levi]

Well, in that case, I hope it doesn't dissuade ED from his quest to find paints that match the plastics, which judging by previous discussions at least the majority of us think is pretty important. I think it's pretty much essential anyway.

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

You know what would also look amazing?

1) Burnt bright orange paint on black plastic (especially if it chips and buffs off as you use it).

2) Ferrari red paint on top of black plastic (especially if it chips and buffs off as you use it).

So if I understand correctly you do not just think that damage looks good but you actually think that damage looks amazing and thus want it to be as noticeable as possible.

Anyway personally I'm still very much hoping for blue plastic with blue paint but I think that black is a pretty safe colour that most people will be willing to accept. I think it's safer than red (a colour which I personally dislike a lot). The C64 colour and gray also seem pretty safe to me. Those seem like the neutral colours. White is pretty neutral too technically, but it seems to me that many people still have pretty strong emotions about white. I guess it just stands out too much to be really neutral to people.

Though white is practical because it helps with overheating.

 

[EvilDragon]

It's really strange that no one mentions anymore that a painted housing is susceptible to scratches and premature aging. Maybe ED is so kind and will give us some scratch tests on the matte case in his next video?

As is the case without any coating. I can easily scratch an unpainted case.
The paint used here was a normal one which is not scratch resistant. The color we use for the final version will be from here: http://www.nextel-coating.com/nextel/default.asp?lng=eng
This is an extra scratch-resistant casing. It just didn't make sense to wait until the color is here but use one the manufacturer had at hand for the test run.

Now we know it looks good, we can order the shells from Uniqueplast whereas the coating company can order the color from Nextel and do a quick test run as soon as it arrives.

This reduces the waiting time.

Post automatically merged: Nov 1, 2019

Which ED has been able to visualize only under very special lighting. I own a SHARP Pocket Computer PC-E500S which I bought for 19 years. The housing has also shrink marks which I can only see at special lighting. Of course this case is not ugly and the case still looks like the first day. But ED's main reason is to show some influencers a flawless housing for at least some days/weeks while their testings. Why doesn't he just give those people a painted case?

If your normal lamp in your house or the sunlight is a very special lighting, then yes.
Because these marks are very ugly and clearly visible under any light. So the only way to NOT see them is without any light

 

[RZR]

And there are some interesting colors....:

Edit: this way better...

 

[olf]

I would go for B21 dark anthracite.
Pitch black (as S139 dark black) tends to attract stains more easily, despite being matte.

 

[Blue Shadow]

ED mentioned in the Video he will probably not use black but anthracite (so B34 pr B 21)

 

[levi]

 

[Silent-Hunter]

I like light grey or stone grey. But that would only work if the plastic is grey too.

 

[bubblebee]

The paint used here was a normal one which is not scratch resistant.

All discussions here about a painting which is not the final one. Good to know.

Now we know it looks good, ...

No we don't, because the samples were not the final ones. The painted cases were just not painted with the final color/coating, as you kindly told us in your current post.

If your normal lamp in your house or the sunlight is a very special lighting, then yes.

I hope you do not want to compare sunlight with normal lamplight here? These two light sources could not be more different. Normal light is usually called sunlight. Everything else is more or less special lighting. Maybe you are so kind and make your discolorization video under normal sunlight ? Then we could see the difference, if any.

This reduces the waiting time.

No it doesn't. We have to wait for the coating company ordering final color and produce, the maybe, final painted test cases. Only then can it be decided whether this paint is suitable for mass production. As I stated/complained in one of my previous posts (here and here), this will quite take some time and money, of course (carefully spoken).

 

[TrashyMG]

@bubblebee, re-read what EvilDragon is saying, he's saying the only way not to notice the shrink marks is to be in a completely dark room, debating semantics of sun or special lamps is pointless.

No it doesn't. We have to wait for the coating company ordering final color and produce, the maybe, final painted test cases. Only then can it be decided whether this paint is suitable for mass production. As I stated/complained in one of my previous posts (here and here), this will quite take some time and money, of course (carefully spoken).

I think at this point, there is no more time or money for testing for suitability, this project has gone on for far too long to go back and get everything 100%. It's already known ED will likely make zero profit from this project, and likely end up still with a bunch of debt. The painted samples EvilDragon has already got proves their painting process works, it should be enough to trust they can do it properly even if it's not the final paint choice.

 

[Xcl4m4t10n]

Dark Black is a color.

Just saying.