Straight 8 Skins

From: William Donzelli <aw288_at_osfn.org>
Date: Sun Jan 7 11:30:51 2001

> The two side panels on the power supply would be relatively straight
> forward. They are rectangular, wood which could be covered with a woodgrain
> laminate, and aluminium edging. Little hooks on the back ensure they are
> held firmly to the classic PDP-8 chassis.
>
> The plastic doors would be much harder to make IMHO. We always refered to
> them as plexiglass doors. They are a single piece of transparent green
> plastic, with an opaque plastic top, plastic edging at bottom and aluminium
> strips at the front. I think it is all glued together. The plastic top has
> multiple, long slots cut in it for airflow.

Geoff, if your freind does fabricate new covers for the PDP-8, please
tell him to mark it as a reproduction in a permanent, but un-obvious way.
For example, just a simple note like "REPLICA COVERS: 20 JUN 2001" etched
on each cover, inside, in the corner, in very small letters. This will
prevent some jerk in the distant future trying to sell it as a prototype,
or just paint a clearer picture of the provenance of the machine long
after it has changed hands a few times. Being an important machine
(PDP-8), it will always be valued highly and may greatly outlive its
current owner.

Quite a few years ago, some guys started making replica Audions and other
very early tubes/valves. Some of them are marked, but many are not, and
at least a few people I know have been burned.

William Donzelli
aw288_at_osfn.org
Received on Sun Jan 07 2001 - 11:30:51 GMT