If you are even remotely interested in an NCR-80, then go ahead and buy it now.
I have one [R1, gray, WKL (of course) and plateless], and it is exactly what is promised.
It is 'inspired' by the old Cherry design, as you noted. You have to understand, the plateless/mass-produced plastic construction has a logic of its own.
Yes, it's not built like a Filco Majestouch 2. But it doesn't need to be. It never did. From a pure function standpoint, the chassis and non-plate is enough.
It doesn't flex while typing, feels stable enough, plateless is a wonder for Cherry tactiles. [Switches like MX Brown were originally meant to be plateless, half-plate, or soft-plate.] This whole "put it in inch-thick plastic/metal and a heavy metal plate straightjacket" is a modern trend.
Mine is built with Ergo Clears [MX Clears using 63.5 G Progressive Spirit springs, lubed with 3204], C3 V2 stabilizers, and CRP keycaps. The only thing that turned out to be important was to use an old-style Cherry stabilizer for the spacebar. It thocks like mad now, and is as stable as a laser.
The only build-quality problem I noticed was that it seems to rock a bit, or be a bit unstable, when laid flat on a surface. But I think that's a problem with my surfaces, honestly, as my IKKI68 Aurora often does that. I just use the feet, and then it rests stable. Because of the light construction, you don't want to carelessly toss it around, but you wouldn't do that with an expensive custom anyways. Sound-wise [using tape mod] it sounds kind of like wet cardboard, as promised, but much thockier and more delicious thanks to all the tape-modding, PBT and 3204.
https://www.keebtalk.com/uploads/db8059/original/3X/0/e/0e220878e42547a32167bdc4ff590444267f5505.jpeg
