Introducing my VIC 20-B (Picture Heavy!)

Modding and Technical Issues

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Pedro Lambrini
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Introducing my VIC 20-B (Picture Heavy!)

Post by Pedro Lambrini »

I showed a couple of early shots of my modded VIC in the Berzerk thread but I thought I would show it off now that it's finished. Please excuse the quality of the images, I only have an iPhone camera :oops: :

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I have done the obvious and fitted my VIC into a C64-C case and painted it black. So far, so nothing new. However, I have also moved the power connector and joystick port to the back of the unit. I always hated the leads sticking out the side of the case and I think moving them makes the machine look a lot slicker.

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It looks a little rough in the picture but in RL it looks a lot neater! :P I also fitted the uIEC internally - once I worked out the wiring!! Thanks guys for the help!

EDIT: Oh, and I fitted a reset switch in place of the joystick port. :)

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I have also changed the power light. It used to be red but I changed it to a green LED. I have also wired it so that it flickers on and off as the uIEC is accessed. The light goes off as the drive is read and the light comes back on once loading has finished - it's a handy feature as the uIEC's LED's are now inside the machine!

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Having a black VIC is all fine and well but I needed a matching disk drive. Enter the 1581-B!

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I got a flaky unit from eBay and managed to obtain a JiffyDOS ROM from a friend here at Denial.

The finished drive:

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And together with the VIC:

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Not the prettiest picture but it does look a lot nicer on my desk. Unfortunately, the lighting is pretty bad by my desk and the iPhone has no flash... :(

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I also have a matching 1531 Datasette but I thought I'd save a little bandwidth by not showing it here!

This picture really doesn't look great (again, no flash) but here's my favourite bit of all the modding work:

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It's got a glow in the dark keyboard! I am so proud of this aspect. It looks ridiculously cheesy at night while playing my lovely VIC games - it's retro-sci-fi-tastic!!

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I wish I could show this 'feature' off better in real life to all of you but the crappy dark pictures will have to do...

I hope you like my VIC 20-B half as much as I do. :)
"...That of the Eastern tribe being like a multitude of colours as if a rainbow had settled upon its brow..." Daniels 1:3
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

I know the cartridge inside your Vic 20-B :wink:

Very nice modding !!!!
Mega-Cart: the cartridge you plug in once and for all.
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vimfuego
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Post by vimfuego »

Is the glow in the dark keyboard done by LED's or a special paint you can put on? It looks really good.
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matsondawson
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Post by matsondawson »

What a thing of beauty!
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Jeff-20
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Post by Jeff-20 »

We need a modded VIC slide show. Good work.
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Pedro Lambrini
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Post by Pedro Lambrini »

vimfuego wrote:Is the glow in the dark keyboard done by LED's or a special paint you can put on? It looks really good.
It's actually luminous tape. It's quite expensive but worth the money IMO. I initially bought some paint and tried it on an old, broken keyboard but it didn't take to the plastic too well and the effect was a little uneven.

As far as the tape goes, I got 4" wide tape from a stage/theatre suppliers and cut out the holes for the key plungers. It took a fair bit of time and tweaking but it looks so much better than the paint - nad the glow lasts a lot longer too. :)

PS: Thanks for the positive comments guys. The best thing about modding my VIC like this is sharing it with you lot. :)
"...That of the Eastern tribe being like a multitude of colours as if a rainbow had settled upon its brow..." Daniels 1:3
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matsondawson
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Post by matsondawson »

How did you paint it?
I'm wondering if it would be best to take it to a panel beaters and get it painted?
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robinsonmason
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Post by robinsonmason »

Looks fantastic - good work!
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Jeff-20
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Post by Jeff-20 »

Maybe we should sticky a "formatted" thread for modded VICs. The way we did for annual software releases. Let me check if there's room to upload images to the WIKI.
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Pedro Lambrini
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Post by Pedro Lambrini »

matsondawson wrote:How did you paint it?
I'm wondering if it would be best to take it to a panel beaters and get it painted?
I used Plastikote spray paint. A lot of people like Krylon Fusion but it's hard to get over here and it's very expensive. It took three coats and a few hours waiting. It's really a lot easier to do than I thought it would be. As long as you follow the instructions you can't really go wrong and if you do you can always sand it back and start again.

The instructions said either spray the next coat after and hour or wait 36 hours. However, I found the paint took a lot better after the hour than it did waiting the day and a half. So, if you're going to do it I would set aside long afternoon... :)
"...That of the Eastern tribe being like a multitude of colours as if a rainbow had settled upon its brow..." Daniels 1:3
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Pedro Lambrini
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Post by Pedro Lambrini »

Jeff-20 wrote:Maybe we should sticky a "formatted" thread for modded VICs. The way we did for annual software releases. Let me check if there's room to upload images to the WIKI.
That sounds like a nice idea. It would be good to look over other people's work and ideas. I'm sure there are some pretty nice things out there. Schema's Vic springs to mind... :)
"...That of the Eastern tribe being like a multitude of colours as if a rainbow had settled upon its brow..." Daniels 1:3
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Schema
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Post by Schema »

Pedro Lambrini wrote:I used Plastikote spray paint. A lot of people like Krylon Fusion but it's hard to get over here and it's very expensive.
I painted my 64 blue with Krylon Fusion, but I have to report that after several years of use it hasn't held up very well. The original plastic (yellowed!) is showing through again in several places, particularly the corners and edges. Maybe I should just redo it, but it would be nice to have something longer-lasting.
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matsondawson
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Post by matsondawson »

I wonder if a vinyl dye would be effective?
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Pedro Lambrini
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Post by Pedro Lambrini »

matsondawson wrote:I wonder if a vinyl dye would be effective?
I think vinyl dye is regarded as the best solution as it actually impregnates the plastic rather than sitting on the surface as per your standard spray paints.

I only really did this mod to see if I could actually pull off the stuff I wanted to. I hadn't ever seen let alone used vinyl dye so I played it safe with spray paint. Now that it's been 'successful' my next mod will be coloured with vinyl dye. :)
"...That of the Eastern tribe being like a multitude of colours as if a rainbow had settled upon its brow..." Daniels 1:3
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KingTrode
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Post by KingTrode »

That's some sweet looking mod work you have done there Pedro :D
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