Homemade Fairchild Channel F Controller Labels (L & R)

[+KylJoy]

I decided to make some controller labels for one of my Fairchild Channel F console's controllers since the original labels were missing. The original controller labels from my other Fairchild Channel F consoles appear to be a metalic-silver with a black overlay. I used a metalic-silver foil and black overlay for my reproductions.

 

Original Controller Labels:

 

Homemade Controller Labels:

 

I think they came out OK if I do say so myself!

 

Let me know what you think!

[e5frog]

Not bad, not bad at all. But they look too good.
Did you scan the originals?
It's a pain to remove these if you want to get those loose plastic pins rattling inside the knob... and it looks terrible when they are worn.

AFAIK the originals are a light yellow tint - a bit more like golden foil. Printed letters actually looks stamped/printed by the thin surrounding line, like a lot of the print on cartridge labels - old time printing process. That is the main part of character in gold color then a thin black line and an even thinner gold line.
Original also has a plastic film on top - they built things to last back then. Sometimes you see tiny tiny golden dots where the black color didn't stick.

But it looks very authentic as long as you don't compare them side to side.

The bunch of unused controllers (NOS) I recently got (from a Swedish one man online electronics store - the entire stock of them) are the Channel F II / Luxor VEC type - so they don't have any print - just the gold foil (with plastic film on top). The Nordmende actually has silver colored stickers - placed on top of the original ones... lazy b*stards.

If you had some plastic film or tape with a nice yellow shade - it could look even more like the originals.

Very well done, see if you can take it a step further.

[e5frog]

I put one of mine on the scanner to show what I mean, with a light enough touch of the printing press you won't get that kind of pattern, they tried to avoid it back in the day - today they try to mimic it instead... or so I have heard.

Anyway, behold:


I wonder if that type of printing "error" is where the VIC-20 cart number font comes from...?

Edited August 16, 2018 by e5frog

[+KylJoy]

My original controller "L" and "R" labels on multiple consoles do not have as much off-set printer error (or whatever it is) as what you showed. They look more like this:

 

 

You are correct about the slightly gold tint. I can replicate that. I just don't have a mathing foil right now.

[e5frog]

Yes, yours has a lot less of that.

Excited to see the next version.

[e5frog]

I'm missing these stickers for a set of SABA videoplay 2 sticks. It's the crappy ergonomic version...

It's pretty much the same as the ones for ITT/Ingelen Telematch Processor as well as the TV plug-in "COLOR-TELE-MATCH-cassette 3" tank game.

 

On a side note... the latter has a red and blue controller with a smaller knob on the packaging, I guess they made that before the rest.

 

I was considering taping foil to a paper, run it through the laser printer and then some adhesive plastic on top...

 

Found an image finally:

Edited March 23, 2019 by e5frog

[e5frog]

Any more of these made?