Model 1 #100,000 - Chrome!

[Eudimorphodon]

The sheer RoboCop vibe there, yeah, that’s awesome. Both of my Model I’s suffer from the “paint rubbed clean off under the spacebar” disease that affects all well-loved TRS-80s, it’s going to be hard to resist “upgrading” one of them someday.

 

[alank2]

I think of the phone calls or how something like this was worked out. Did someone at RS call their supplier or somebody else to find out who could "chrome" a special case? Anyway, it would be cool if the people in the know could post about how it all came about.

 

[Bruce Tomlin]

The sheer RoboCop vibe there, yeah, that’s awesome. Both of my Model I’s suffer from the “paint rubbed clean off under the spacebar” disease that affects all well-loved TRS-80s, it’s going to be hard to resist “upgrading” one of them someday.

The first thing I thought about was what the paint would do under my palms, been there done that. If that's real chromium, it might be the only way to get the paint to NOT wear off.

 

[snuci]

The first thing I thought about was what the paint would do under my palms, been there done that. If that's real chromium, it might be the only way to get the paint to NOT wear off.

I have to wear gloves to even move it. It attracts finger prints like I've never seen before.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I wonder what it would cost to have the plastics for one of my Model I systems chromed. (an EI & monitor would look insanely cool in chrome...)

Pretty simple task, actually. Electroless nickel undercoat, followed by electroplated chromium. Heck, you could even do gold plating.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

I have to wear gloves to even move it. It attracts finger prints like I've never seen before.

Yeah, I guess on second thought it has me thinking about tacky chromed plastic robot toys and whatnot and how they end up looking after a few play sessions.

 

[NeXT]

That sounds like a total justification to keep it under a lexan box.

 

[snuci]

General question: Do TRS-80 Model 1s have a lot of Loctite in them? The one screw I thought was rusty was actually coated with red Loctite or some enamel and covered in clear silicone. There is also Loctite in a few other areas. All screws, for one which might be expected, but the top and bottom cases were stuck together with Loctite also.

 

[VERAULT]

That sure is a pretty Model 1. Agreed monitor needs to be chromed.. And expansion interface to match.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

It was normal for Radio Shack to stick enamel on the top of at least one screw, if not all of them, in addition to putting one of the screws under a sticker so they could tell if you’d opened it and voided your warranty. Sticking the case halves together… that doesn’t ring a bell, but it must be said that every Model I I’ve ever taken apart, well, it wasn’t its first time.

 

[rittwage]

That is beautiful... Also, yes the orange/red enamel is normal/common.

 

[snuci]

Thank you for the info. I wanted to take this completely apart but they used enamel on the posts and the keyboard flex cable pretty much gluing it together so nothing would move. I would have to crack a lot of enamel to get to the bottom so I decided that this was as far as I was going to open it. You can see that the top cover (and I am certain the bottom cover) was likely dipped.