Oh, did I not mention this?!
I worked out a deal with to make WKL happen, so that’s back on the menu. 
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This literally made my day. First WKL, here I come!
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OMG! WKL is available!!!
Wow, beyond excited now.
Question… will WKL work with normal R2’s?
Or will it only fit JIS 91U’s, 86u’s or some other special layout?
The only way to use an WKL Norbaforce and get both Winkeys blocked is with an 86U, so far as I know. However, you can use the WKL configuration with all of the older 87U-style RealForces, if you don’t mind it being your right Menu key being blocked rather than it being your right Win key.
The only requirement to be compatible with WKL is that the LWin and the RWin/Menu key are 1u in width. Many of the new RF2 have keys in those positions that are larger than 1u (the Ctrl, Alt, and Win keys are all uniform width), so it seems that they wouldn’t be compatible. Or, rather, they may technically be compatible but you’d have wonky blockers that didn’t line up with your keys. 
The only way to use an WKL Norbaforce and get both Winkeys blocked is with an 86U, so far as I know. However, you can use the WKL configuration with all of the older 87U-style RealForces, if you don’t mind it being your right Menu key being blocked rather than it being your right Win key.
The only requirement to be compatible with WKL is that the LWin and the RWin/Menu key are 1u in width. Many of the new RF2 have keys in those positions that are larger than 1u (the Ctrl, Alt, and Win keys are all uniform width), so it seems that they wouldn’t be compatible. Or, rather, they may technically be compatible but you’d have wonky blockers that didn’t line up with your keys.
Ahh I see.
Now the question becomes get a WKL for my 87u, or a normal one for my R2 limited edition?
I suspect the pocket book will have to make a sacrifice so I can get both…
that is beautiful! will there be an option for a steel back plate as well?
All Mark II units come standard with a heavy steel plate powder-coated in either textured black or white, depending on the main housing color you select (I’ve created pairings based on what I think looks best). This is one of the many subtle enhancements over the last round, not least of which is the fact that these are being made in the USA (including even the hand-made gift boxes manufactured in Los Angeles).
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Will there be another chance to buy these heavier back plates in different materials for the round 1 cases?
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I imported a R2TL-US3-IV from Japan.
It helped to know how to interpret the model numbers. I think it works like this:
R2TL-US3-IV = R2 TenkeyLess - US layout 30g - IVory keycaps
or
R2TLSA-JP3-BK = R2 TenkeyLess Silenced Actuation point control - JaPanese layout 30g - BlacK keycaps
Unfortunately, the new R2s don’t seem to be listed yet on Deskthority’s model reference
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The only back-plates that I’ve arranged to sell separately are the stainless steel PVD-coated ones that I offered previously. I do have a couple planned extras of those available, which are currently being produced and due to ship within the next month. Those ended up being fairly expensive, but it’s mainly because they have to be stainless for the PVD finish, and stainless is both inherently more expensive as a material and more expensive to fabricate.
The rear cover plates on the Norbaforce Mark II are galvanized steel, which is feasible since all of them are powder-coated, but it’s still a really nice weight and density upgrade over the Mark I.
Can’t wait brass version. Hope for soon disclosure.
I actually ended up switching to an all-steel version for the high-end option because we had a lot of trouble sourcing billet here in the USA in brass at the large size of the Norbaforce. So I’m going to save the all-brass concept I had for my next project, which uses a much smaller housing footprint.
Here is the uncoated polished steel version. It’s crazy heavy.
I’m also still debating whether to offer an uncoated polished aluminum option as well. I’m increasingly into the idea of more user-maintainable finishes, even if they don’t have a maximally durable coating on them, and aluminum is nice because light scratches can easily be polished out over the years by the owner. While anodizing on top of aluminum is theoretically more durable, traditional Type II anodizing scratches pretty easily too and once you have a scratch, you can’t fix it yourself without getting the whole thing re-anodized at enormous expense.
This whole idea of uncoated finishes grew out of the idea of adding a wax finish to the matte black finish on the Monoliths, which has been very positively received by the owners of those. I personally think truly maintainable, living products (like, say, an old leather wallet) are actually more luxurious and put us more directly in contact with the true identity of the material of the thing itself. I’ve been using a polished aluminum Norbaforce as my main daily driver for the past two months as a test to see how it wears, and it’s my new favorite finish.
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Like how small? Like 4 letters small? 
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appy
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acking
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I ordered the stainless steel back plate for mk2 as I didn’t know mk2 will come with a heavy steel plate.
Apart from aesthetics, is there significant differences in weight or acoustic?
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keyb
stahp.
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