What's new Pussycat too?

I know over the years I've always promised pictures of my house I've been rebuilding, but I always forget. With Andy showing all the remodel work he's done of the past couple of years I finally remembered and decided it was time for a few pics anyway. This is of the laundry/kitchen/living room area which is one big, long, open room with a vaulted ceiling and pictures of my bathroom, which is finished except for wall/floor/window trim and the door will be painted white to match. All the doors in the house will be painted white to match the trim.

I finally have a few days to catch up on my remodeling, trying to finish the kitchen and living room up in time for the holidays. I had hoped to have it finished before the last holiday season, but life got in the way.

Anyway, we are trying to get the flooring in and painting and trim done by Thanksgiving (we have company coming, so the rush is on). Though one thing that won't be done before the holidays is the center island I want to build to give separation to the room between the living and kitchen areas. It will be just the other side of the wood burning stove. So painting, flooring and trim by Thanksgiving. And the wall were the stove and counter are, with the fake bricks will get painted too, and a brushed metal backsplash added all around. I still need to get the hardware (handles, etc.) for the cupboards too.

So that's part of my humble home, for now. Of course it's a complete mess right now, the after shot will be a nice, clean, tidy and finished area. And I'm standing in the living room area, so you don't see much of it in the picture, but I'll show other angles when it's completed.

 

Cheers for those pics, Matt,
Just like us this time last year, it's a race against time to get things just so and how you want em to look so as to be able to celebrate all your hard work with family/friends when we like to get together and eat, drink, be merry and catch up on all the stuff life chucks at us.
You're doing sterling work there on the shower room/bathroom and kitchen as I know virtually all your work you are carrying out yourself on top of everything else you do to keep the home on an even keel and ensure everyone's fine and dandy.
You've also had the recent heartbreak of the loss of your beloved pets so we can appreciate you've had a massive amount of stuff going on.
Wishing you all the very best on hitting your finished work home improvement targets by Thanksgiving, bud.
By my reckoning, you;ve got...
six days, mate...
Good luck, fella!!

 

It's funny sometimes how you don't notice how dirty something is until you see it in a picture! I'm referring to my cabinets under the sink in the kitchen. I need to get those cleaned! A high traffic area by the sink that we rub up against a lot. That's probably mostly from me too, as I wash up my hands , arms and face at the kitchen sink after doing oily, greasy mechanic work. Which is pretty constant with all the machines I have to maintain, in fact, I'm currently replacing the drum brakes on my Blazer, but jumped on the house remodeling while I wait for parts to be delivered. So it's most likely a result of my dirty jeans rubbing the cabinets while washing.

 

Thanks Andy. My brother is doing the painting and helping me with the flooring, but I had to do all the taping and floating as he's never done that before. He also finished painting the metal roof, something that I left half done for a couple of years as I just didn't have time with proper weather to ever finish it. He also finished up the last quarter of the floor insulation under the house I hadn't finished either. But that's it, the rest of the total rebuild (except for the roof, it was still solid) was all me.

The roof, the one wall were the stove and cabinets are, about half the sub-floor and of course the joists and foundation which were also still solid, are the only things left original. I had to rebuild everything else after my uncle let it all go to pot, the drunk he was, living in it for 25 years after my grandparents died. But it would have cost about twice as much if I tore it all down and started all over with a totally new house. I managed to save the roof by rebuilding the outer walls in 8 foot sections at a time, bracing the areas with 2x4 planks and a bottle jacks to hold the areas steady while tearing out the old wall sections and fitting in the new wall sections, so it wouldn't collapse. That was a major task, especially alone, but I did it.

The reason the house is long and narrow (75'x16'), like your town house Andy, is that about 40 years ago it actually was a mobile home. But my grandfather tore it all down to the steel/iron frame, still using that as the floor joists, then built a foundation under it, then built a real house on top of it all. He did it all himself pretty much like me. We plan on adding on of course, and when we are done it won't look long and narrow anymore, even though half of it will still be long and narrow inside.

 

Nice one, Matt.
That was my impression too - long and narrow - but with lots of interesting bits sticking out here and there.
As you say, very much like ours (Brenski's comment once was, wow - that new kitchen could double as a bowling alley, Baz!)
Amazing that this house of yours has had such a rich history of ad hoc add ons and building around existing structures - it makes it quite unique and the time and effort you have committed to make this home for you and making the structure solid and secure.
It's a shame your unc hit the bottle but he won't be the first or the last to fall victim to the demon drink.
Thank god you inherited it and were focused and driven into putting in the damn hard work, using every ounce of your skills, to save the place from total abandonment and probable collapse.
Excellent work once more, Matt - with a little help from your bro - keep it, literally in the family.
Builders would've charged $100,000s.

 

Builders would have laughed at me, said I was crazy and the whole thing needs to be torn down and build a new house. Because it's ten times easier to build new than renovate/rebuild completely. That would have cost me $100,000's. But I took a house that could have been condemned, rebuilt it myself for about $10-15,000, and when completed it will be worth $100,000, $200,000 with the ten acres.

Not that I'll sell, because I like the property, and even though it will probably only ever be my brother and I living here, the land really was inherited by me and my three siblings. But two don't care about it at all, unless we sell, then they'd want their share of course. And it's not worth it for what we'd each get divided for the land, no one could get better with their share. The house is mine though, in my name, and I'm happy to share with my brother since he's helping with everything now, and would have been destitute and homeless otherwise, but the land is the family's technically. But I couldn't get a better piece of property and house for the $125 grand I'd get in the end. I built it to last the rest of my life and for any of my sibling's children when we are gone. I've moved around a lot in my life and I'm done with that.

 

Amen to all that, buddy.
I think we all on here share a total empathy with what you've come through as you aint had it easy (quite the reverse) and had to work like a Trojan to get where you are today in an ever-impressive family dwelling which you have saved from total ruin. Personally, I'm full of admiration for you, pal. You always put your nearest and dearest first and know what's important in this life. Hell, some folk would have cashed in on that land ASAP and disappeared into the sunset with the proceeds of the real estate sale leaving your family to get on and save their own skins and not given a damn. You, my friend, are the salt of the earth and ensure that no one you care about will go without. First class human being and heart of gold, Matt.
Reet, I will begin sending out my annual retro ramblings and festive bits of Christmas computer cobblers NEXT WEEK so as to arrive just in time for Easter 2022 (!?) with you guys who are far and wide, geographically speaking, of this humble Hull abode. So, weld up your mail boxes and nail up your letterboxes as something silly will be heading your ways real soon.
Ciao for now and once more, Matt - great work there on your home. I'm sure you'll be looking real good for Thanksgiving and may all your family have a fab festive holiday and happy New Year ahead.

 

TRAGEDY STRIKES MY 800CX!

I finally was able to find time during a good day to finish the clear coating of my 800CX, All went relatively well, everything turned out nice in the end. After painting all the cases, etc. and allowing to dry too the touch, I put them all up to fully cure for the last 72 or so hours. I brought them in to my Fujilab this evening and I dropped the 800's lid/cartridge door and the brittle plastic shattered (cleanly at least) right on it's hinges where the most stress is applied, and also right on the front cartridge door! So this is turning into a full broken machine restoration and not just a facelift and make-over. So I tried to be carefull, but I'm just not as agile and well-balanced as in my youth!




So now I am going to have to repair them! I'll have to try and hide the crack on the door, once glued, with some more white paint, I think I can make it look like it never happened as it is a clean break and only leaves a hair-line crack visible when held together. I don't know if gluing and touch-up will be good enough for the door hinges, I may have to reinforce them which will be something that shows with the door open, but I may have no choice! Wish me luck lads, as I head forward.

Any recommendations for really good plastic repair glue or resin? I'm planning on a couple of drops of super glue, to hold it tight without clamps and such, with clear Gorilla glue applied sparingly, at the same time down most of the length of the breaks in-between the super glued drops at either end, for what I think will be a better long-term glue, but it takes quite a few hours or overnight to properly cure, then light sanding and repainting.

If you boys know a better way let me know. I generally would use J.B. Weld for case and plastic part repairs or hacks, which I believe to be the best, but that is before any painting is done and I can properly sand it smooth. At this point going that route would require a complete paint removal and restart which I hope to avoid.

I also dropped the top case of the 410 and it cracked near it's front corner, but I as able to glue and touch up before I did the clear coat. It can't be seen unless you look really close. Such brittle old plastic, as they both fell on a rug too. I knew it was brittle and have seen other accidents and shipping horrors.

 

That's nasty Matt, it seems the fate of many an 800 including mine, I dropped it years ago and broke the case at the back and split the spacebar in half..

Here's hoping you can do a near invisible repair..

 

Here, here, Matt/Paul.

I have all kinds of issues with various glues - just lately I've been trying to re-glue broken wood shards and splinters from the bottoms of doors which were recently planed... badly! All that I got was very gluey fingers and the wood refusing to adhere back to the door at all (only to my fingers) but with masses more patience and some UHU, I got there in the end.

Your broken plastic jobs will hopefully heal a darn sight better with the glues you mentioned, Matt

These things happen, mate - don't feel bad about it - just show the Atari Owner world that you will get even and make a better job than ever before.

Hit it, bud (but not too hard!!)

 

I sent off for an American special plastic glue that I mentioned to Matt ages ago, but like the Locktite All Plastics one I found them all so so and some plastics just would not bond (roughened up or not)

 

While I was attempting to glue and set the front corner that broke on the cartridge door, I fumbled and dropped it again, this time breaking the back corner on the same side! DOH!



So, I glued it back too. I decided just to use Loctite brand super glue, the type I've been buying for a couple of years now, as it seems to work for me as good or better than Crazy Glue or other brands and it has a nice squeeze bottle that doesn't clog and dry so easily and I can usually squeeze out the right amount. I figure that normally when it's all assembled, those are low-stress areas that never even get touched except when cleaning.

I have not yet put the screws back on the 410 and 810 as I am still going to add internal LED lighting to them to match the 800CX. That and just details of labeling keys and precision painting the raised text on the computer and drive face and/or side plates to really make it all "pop" but still conservative and ready for business.

I was able to get the most recently broken piece glued back with just a hair-line crack that should disappear with paint and clear coats. The other one, larger and with more jagged edges, I was unable to get in perfect position before the super glue would no longer allow adjustment. So I'm doing a little body work on it to hide the off-set crack line before touch-up painting.

The broken hinges I have decided will have to be reinforced by splints, hidden to the best of my ability on the inner sides of the 6 hinge arms (three on each hinge). Otherwise I fear it will soon break again, with with only glue, from the stresses of the springs when closing. Luckily my door moves smoothly when it opens and doesn't "spring" up, so there will be little stress or shock that way. I will probably try and replace the door though due to the broken hinges, if it were just the corner cracks I wouldn't. I'll work on it this evening.

Otherwise everything else is painted, touched up, clear coated and being left alone for 72 hours to make sure it's properly cured. I have already put the 410, 810, CX85 and mouse back together, as they've had 24 hours so handling wouldn't leave fingerprints behind. But they won't be touch again for a few days. The keyboard is also re-assembled with all the keys getting clear coats. I still have to label the grey and blue keys, but waiting for them to cure.



I am going to have to redo the space bar and one key from the keypad as they got raisin-skinned just in one small spot on the space bar and only on the top of the key. They had been finished and cured for weeks, so I can only figure that the one key and that area of the spacebar were not perfectly clean, some fingerprint grease or whatnot I painted over and the clear coat revealed what would have started flaking and peeling soon enough anyway.

 

Awesome, Matt.

The cool shmule finish you've achieved there on your 810s, 410 and CX85, look absolutely class.

I'm certain that once you;ve glued and re-assembled the 800CX itself, the whole new family will look stunning lined up / stacked-up together.

You are so close to a classic renaissance job here, Matt and don't worry about the odd goof - they say genius is a fine line between one state and another and you are so close now to reaching the great goal you set out to achieve with this re-imagined project.

"Stick" with it, if you'll excuse the pun.

 

I have one small decision regarding the CX85 keypad and the 800's function key color pattern. But first I want to get you guys up to speed on my thinking and logic of key colors for this project.

As you know, I've copied some of the keyboard color layout of the mock-up IBM "Atari" Personal Computer, but have also made some changes I felt looked better. And as far as the function keys go, in the mock-up photo they fall on the binding fold and are 95% hidden and in shadow so one can't tell for sure what color they are suppose to be. I've studied it and the tiny bit of keys I can make out actually look like they are black! If that's true, I didn't want black function keys anyway.

Anyway, at first I had the function keys laid out like the vertical left and right "columns" on the edge of either side of the keyboard. But then I thought too much of that pattern might detract rather than enhance, and I repainted one of the function keys so only the RESET is blue and the rest gray. As for balance it matched the horizontal 4 keys on the upper right of the keyboard starting with the CLEAR key and ending with the BREAK key. And with the 410's buttons I decided to stay grey, except for the recorder button that is often colored orange or red on recorders anyway, so it fit the styling of blue touches here and there, again avoiding alternating blue and grey only doing it where I know the IBM designers chose to do it.

All that was just to get you guys on the same page I am on and understanding my choices. Now to what I want opinions on to help me decide: Originally on the CX85 keypad I decided to alternate the function/console keys to match the pattern of the left and right sides of the keyboard. thinking it would tie it all in better but still not over doing it. But after the clear coat I decided to re-arrange the keypad function keys to match the 800's console key color layout of blue at the top (which is ESCAPE on both) and the rest grey. I moved the blue key over to the top right corner which is the "=" key so the keypad color layout looks "balanced" as an alternative. Should I change back to the alternating color console keys on the keypad? How about on the 800's console keys? Alternating blue and grey like the sides of the keyboard or just blue at the top and the rest grey as I have them now? I need to make a final decision on this before I attach the key cap labels, but am finding it hard to decide. I would have to strip and repaint the SELECT key again, console keys aren't interchangeable like other keys. But I have a space bar and grey button on the keypad that have to be stripped and repainted anyway, so one more key is no big deal.

 

Well, since everybody was busy the last day and no replies to my request about the keyboard layouts, anxious to get this project completed, I made a decision to return the CX85 function keys to alternating blue and gray, like the keyboard sides.

I have finished the keyboard and keypad key labeling. In the end, instead of taking @nysavant encouragement to go with one of my options, doing the arrow key labels black on clear like the other blue and grey keys, I went with the white vinyl decals like the white Qwerty part of the keyboard, still on blue keys, so they are a bit different from all others. The reason I chose not to go with the black on blue, you may be able to see for yourself that there isn't a whole lot of contrast in the colors. And it was difficult to see any of the symbols against the blue. Especially "-" and "=" as well as the underline and bar symbols.

The space bar on the keyboard and the "=" key on the keypad, need to be touched up. I'm waiting 72 hours to make sure the new touch-up coats of paint go on well.

There are a few tiny spots here and there on everything that I will touch up, tiny holidays I didn't see until I was looking at the photographs zoomed in. I'm also waiting for 72 hours for the cartridge door to get it's touch-up painting where I used JB Weld to smooth and even the crack on the door and reinforce the underside and hinge arms. as you can see below.

I do not intend to do any sanding or smoothing the JB Weld on the underside to maintain better structural integrity. But I still have to paint the underside (I forgot) anyway so the JB Weld will at least get painted white so the "welds" will be less noticeable.

The other top corner piece needed no body work after repairing and so painted it. I'm just spot painting in an attempt to avoid having to strip the paint and start over. But I will if I have too. I had removed the masking tape from the name badge and so I got a little over-spray on it. But I can clean it off and anyway the new badge is going over top. The cleaning is so the new badge adheres better.

Once the door and keys and holidays are touched up it will be down to finishing the Fuji badges which I have decided that the metallic Fuji's don't look good with the grey backgrounds and white and grey cases, so I am going to paint the metallic Fuji's blue like the keys and the Atari name. The '800CX' will still be outline white on the grey background and similar for the 810 name badge. I also still need to apply the badge/nameplate to the CX85 too. The last thing will be LED lighting inside the drives.

It should all be complete and re-assembled by Monday.

 

I'm sure you've got the best combination of key layout colours there, Matt.
It's looking great your 800CX project.
Apols for the lack of time but with Bev's dad in hospital after seizures our attention this end is elsewhere right now.
Once that glue's dried and you've touched up and strengthened those hinge areas, this is going to turn out one helluva smart custom job.
Well done in advance, buddy.

 

Me, I'm floating all over the place, having my daughter home for the weekend is always top of my list, then there's stuff with the council and the inlaws just are a HUGE problem.

As for colour schemes / layouts, I'm not your man...I would be the world's most loathed interior decorator

 

I totally understand, I've gone for days and even weeks on occasion the past couple of years without checking in here. I just want objective opinions once in a while when I've narrowed things down to two or three options and was at a point where changes and second thoughts would make the job a whole lot harder.

I will be repainting the space bar and keypad key tomorrow. If it goes well that should be the last of the spray painting. With only name tags/badges and highlighting raised text on face plates and going over everything to inspect for nicks and holidays and anything that needs touching up with a fine brush and a bit of the spray paint sprayed in a small puddle to dip in, to complete it all.

I repainted the cartridge door today, and while not as perfect as it looked before painting, It's good enough to call it repaired and finished. I'll keep an eye out for a replacement long-term. I put the final touch on the keypad (aside from the one key), the Atari/Fuji decal and CX85 designation just like I did with the mouse.

I was working on the 800's name badge on the graphic software also today, I spent too many hours on it and got no where as I kept messing up and couldn't find what I needed in the complicated graphic art program. I'll re-attempt tomorrow just using the built in Microsoft 3D paint, since it all just a matter of colors and alphanumeric text in different fonts and sizes and I can mix fonts and colors on the same line whereas the other software I have to do it all on separate layers and a lot more difficult all around. No more pictures will be posted until it's all complete now. And I know you guys have seen 95% of the transformation already, but there will still be a surprise or two, too reveal.

 

Here it is mates, the pre-world premier of my 800CX. I have to do a bit of touch up still here and there and finish painting the controller jack numbers. And find something better than the double-sided tape I just used to attach the name plates...the name plate on the 810 is pealing already in the pictures I just took! I guess I will have to glue them down.

Anyway, I'll be getting it all plugged in and lit up and take a bunch of angle shot for the big unveil in Atari Age 8-bit forums with a link to the blog I just rewrote in my profile there. I just have to do the final bits and take more pictures.

 

Nice Matt. That colour combo is epic. Great work.

 

As usual Matt, simply epic work my friend...Looks the part..

 

WTF?

As you know, I don't do superlatives.

That is show-room window-busting, green-with-envy-making, solid-gold medallion winners' rostrum achieving, bollock-achingly great, my friend.

The whole look, colour scheme, matching and marrying up of corresponding peripherals so slickly is a sight to behold, me old muckah.

Would you care to swap it for a stock 1200XL with an Oric Atmos riding shotgun/piggy back and a BBC Model B 2nd processor stuck out the user port?

LOL! I'm clutching at retro straws!

Matt, it is a winner in every possible way - our many congratulations from this end, ie. me, Bev and the cat who is purring with approval - you are the cat's whiskers tonight, fella, with that so so cool creation.

Well done, mate.

The Three Kings cannot beat you this Christmas as your creation is a fantastic festive gift to the Atari world to feast their eyes upon.

AMEN.

 

An early Christmas gift from Santa...

 

Matt, apparently there's a new version with colour text mode..See the AA forum..

 

This XMas time seems to be the greatest of the last 10 or the greatest ever to me! Recently I bought from Richard a fantastic Dragon32, already modded with a new stable PSU board and some weeks before Manu added a couple of VTECH Laser 500 to my collection. Well, I bought an AV cable for the Dragon32 but guess what? The unpredictable and mysterious "man in Paris" has been scheming during these weeks and has succeeded in sending me a wonderful SCART audio-video cable for the LASER 500, so now I can enjoy all the beautiful colours and sharpness of the RGB output of this forgotten computer but full of potentialities to be discovered.

So another great XMas present for me, came unexpectedly and thus truly much appreciated. THX