Project update:
I have just approved production of the final part, the cases, one year and a day after the official announcement of the project on 3/31/23.
The factory estimates that production and final assembly of completed inner assemblies into the cases will be completed by early May now that the cases have been approved. If they can pack everything on the container shipment by mid to late May, then by July these could start going out.
After spending many months, the factory has achieved an excellent match both to the IBM Model F original 4704 and IBM beam spring off-white/beige color as well as to my reference IBM Industrial Model M industrial gray case color. As mentioned earlier, the texture will be a smoother, slightly more modern one, much less bumpy than the (also nice) 4704 keyboard texture.
These same colors were also approved for the beam spring cases, which is why the beige color was a compromise since the IBM beige color varied noticeably among the different powdercoated Model F keyboards and beam spring keyboards in my collection.
From top to bottom: Top photo: NOS F50 (I plan on listing this for sale soon - please PM or email me if interested), approved off-white/beige sample F122 case (sample inner assembly plate not painted), IBM original beam spring keyboard. Bottom photo: approved industrial gray sample case, NOS IBM Industrial Gray Model M case.