@pixelpusher convinced me to finally put my Class80 together over the weekend.
More photos, aesthetic rambles
Growing up in the beige era, the light indicator module was basically a must for me. The LEDs are white, but all it took to get the classic green was a simple mod:
Just a folded bit of scrap adhesive signage vinyl between the daughter board and light-pipes. Folded both to darken the lights a bit with more material, but also to keep the adhesive off of the module. Any colored film will work for this purpose, though - doesn’t have to be sign vinyl.
I have a bunch of this stuff left-over from my days in the industry, but some local sign shops will give their scraps to local crafts-people for free. This piece was way too small for a sign, but perfect to put the retro-flavored cherry on top of my keyboard.
The left-most label is a bit distorted - I could have a replacement made (also from a sign place) but it’s minor. A bit funny the derp made it on to the final product, but no biggie.
To finish-off that mod, I covered the other caps-lock indicator LED (under the key itself) with a small strip of matte black vinyl still on the backing paper:
I tried Red Samurai on it - looked nice, but wasn’t quite for me:
I bet it would look great on either the black or red versions of the case.
Speaking of case, I think the details are very nice on this one. A pet peeve of mine is afterthought seams - none here - every line is clean and deliberate, and the material quality is excellent.
Before that I tried a theme based on an artisan I’d gotten for this keyboard:
While the forehead design on this keyboard would be at home on any beige era piece, it’s actually a specific reference to original Game Boy cartridges:
Along with the bottom weight on this keyboard…
…it seemed only fitting:
Fits the theme like a glove, but after seeing it, I decided it might look better on a little stand nearby on the desk than on the keyboard itself. I settled on the optional stock PBT dye-sub set sold alongside the keyboard. I wish there were scooped homing keys, but that’s a nit-pick - I think it’s a very fitting set, at least for this beige version of the board.
So far I’ve been using the hotswap PCB, FR4 plate, Staebies 2.1 polycarb stabs, and Gateron X linear switches that I’d originally bought for this build.
They feel nice and smooth, plenty smooth enough for me to use as-is. Travel sounds fine, too. They have another quality that in any other circumstance I’d immediately want to address, but that at least fits the theme here: very ring-y springs. I haven’t decided if I’m going to tune that out or not. 
I’ve also got the polycarb plate to try, as well as a soldered PCB which I intend to use plateless. Between the two PCBs, I can freely switch between three mounting styles; top-mount from the plate, gasket from the pcb with a plate (with or without standoffs), and gasket plateless.
The solenoid is way too much fun - and honestly, so is the beeper, which isn’t half as annoying to me as I’d expected - I kinda like it. It would absolutely drive coworkers nuts, don’t get me wrong
This really is quite a fun keyboard - I bought it for one of the gimmicks, but it really is an excellent custom omitting them completely.