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Crosfield Edition IIfx (Official?) - Finally, a replacement case!

olePigeon

Well-known member
My poor IIci is out of commission, and my NASA IIfx sounds like a harrier jet taking off. My other IIfx case is literally melted (some sort of chemical reaction between the case and styrofoam), so I've looking for a new case for it for quite some time.

In any event, there was a very interesting looking IIfx on eBay. It's a parts machine. Looks like both batteries went thermo-nuclear and took the entire computer with it. This one had been on there for quite some time. I think they were just happy to get rid of it at some point, because I had been sending them occasional messages, trying to negotiate the price down. I politely explained how it's pretty much only worth it for the case. They finally agreed to $100.

The pictures make it look nicer than it is, it's very marbled from gray to dark yellow. I'm hoping I can retrobrite it to a reasonable color. But more importantly for me, no major scratches, chips, or cracks. It's a clean case.

The coolest part is the Crosfield badge, and I'm a sucker for computer badges. :D It's very cool. I doubt it's an official build like the Drexel, but who knows.

Here's a cool article on the history of Crosfield. Wikipedia's entry is severely lacking. They were big pioneers in the early days of digital imaging and scanning. Attached is a closeup of the nifty Crosfield badge. Don't know if it comes off in the pictures, but it's a nifty mirror finish save for the brightly colored cubes.

I'm really excited to get this cleaned up and transplant my IIfx board and power supply. They've been needing a home for quite some time. I can also upgrade it to dual floppies since my original IIfx only had a single drive.

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joshc

Well-known member
I know how good this feels. It was really nice being able to replace my yellowed IIx case with a real IIfx one, and luckily it was one with minimal yellowing.
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
Turns out the badge is made of copper. It's been plated with what looks like nickle. Then painted. Really fancy badge. Upon closer look, the letter D is a bit banged up. I straightened it out a bit, but I'm no metal worker. Not sure if it's worse or better.
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
Here's a picture of the inside of the case post-rustoleum rust remover. That acid got pretty much everywhere. Both sides of the case and along the front edge, plus bits here and there, and along the edges of the power supply (which is ruined.) I'd just remove the RF/ground shield and use the one from my doner IIfx, but it's been plastic-riveted to the shield. Wasn't sure I wanted to break off all the plastic rivets.

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joshc

Well-known member
I've done a RF shield move from one IIfx case to another. It is possible but yes, you have to twist off each plastic rivet, it's a bit of a job. You also need a tight fit on the back of the case, because the RF shield *is* the support for NuBus cards. I think in your case, that looks good enough as it is, as long as it's kept dry and warm enough it should stay that way too.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
If you wanted, you could probably touch it up with some clearcoat or some other kind of protective layer, and that would prevent future corrosion from forming.

Of course, for best effect you'd have to remove it and paint both sides, so it might not be worth the effort unless you use an opaque product for aesthetic reasons, then it won't matter.

Or, just leave it alone and regard it as a battle scar of sorts – the sort of thing that adds character to a specific machine and is a piece of its story of existence. I suspect in the future, perhaps when we're all long gone, such examples, with cosmetic imperfections such as stains, cracks and chips, will be more highly prized than ones where those imperfections were removed (like patina for antiques; I don't know tons about antiques, but I believe it's the patina that often (but not always) gives an antique much of its value; without it, it becomes just another, undistinguished piece of furniture or whatever).

c
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
Doesn't look too bad with all the rust gone. I was thinking of a black matte Rustoleum. I like the look. Someone used it on a battery bombed SE/30 HDD bracket and I thought it looked great.

I found out that the rear of the machine is banged up bad around the ports. I don't know why or how, but there're large chips out of the plastic around the ADB and serial ports. Makes me sad. :(

Was considering getting an airbrush for painting Macs too extreme for retrobriting. But I've run into the conundrum of how to paint around the lettering on the front of a machine.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
If you REALLY want to cover the letters, I’d get a stencil making machine like the Cricut, use the proper font and size, and make custom masks for each letter.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
Sometimes they have them at the local library make spaces and such that you can use, that’s where I’d look.
 

Trash80toHP_Mini

NIGHT STALKER
That would require buying a Circuit, though.
May not need it or any kind of masking. Since the plate is made of copper, it can't be glued onto the plastics in a non-removable state I think.

Get some very thin wire and fashion a garotte for cutting the badge off. That's how we removed glued down dimensional letters back in the day. Saw motion would be side to side from a low angle. You shouldn't mar the plastics and probably not the edge of the copper much, if at all.

You'll be gluing it back in the same spot anyway. :p
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
@Trash80toHP_Mini Oh no, I got the plate off. Dissolved the glue with some IPA. I'm talking about the silkscreened "Macintosh IIfx" on the front.

I suppose I could paint it, then use a water slide decal.
 

AndyO

Well-known member
There was at one time a 'masking paint' or it might have been gel, that could be used in a situation like this - painted on, then oversprayed, and then peeled off afterwards. I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it!
 
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