[IC] DCS Islander

[zhol]

DCS ISLANDER
IC FORM | IC FORM 2 | DISCORD

that's right! it's another DCS set originally designed by someone else, now it's more expensive, and the kitting is a kick in the teeth. the runner might be abusing your sense of fomo in one way or another, they clearly don't have enough friends/clout to run what should be a private group buy, and the IC was slapped together in half an hour, but by god do you love Gorton font.

vendors and pricing details

vendor: me. paypal goods and services invoice. if enough people tell me they'd buy into this, I order 50 sets (plus a few extras to cover possible errors) with my own money. i wait for a few months. they show up at my apartment. i put them into boxes. i take pictures of all of them to prove they exist. then, you buy them from me.
target price: $123 USD + cost of packaging & shipping to you
target MOQ: 50. this is a reasonable number of packages for one person to ship. if, for the grace of god, there are far more people who want this than 50, then I'll find a vendor to help out.

if you think the target price is rough, believe me, I know. i'm trying not to be greedy. with current kitting, the quote I have got back from SP is about USD $118/set at 50 MOQ. if re-kitting brings the cost down, then i'll provide a corresponding price drop.

colors?

the color chips from SP that I'm considering using are:

• VCO for Green
• BGU BGQ for Blue
• WCK for Alpha keys
• TGV or TBN for legends

that being said, I've got a package of color chips on the way that I'm going to be using to compare to some source material to get as nice of a match as I can reasonably get with the reference material i've got. I've got multiple options for the green, blue, alpha color, and legend color to work with, in case one of those happens to be a bit better. i'll provide photos to compare each to the reference material.

kitting

that's right, it's a KRK render! the kitting render is by no means a reflection of what you should expect from a finished product, and is just a basic sketch to get things figured out conceptually. it'll be subject to change to address what customers want and what I can stomach for price. you can expect re-renders for if kitting changes and when I can point out how render doesn't quite match what I see IRL.

notes:

• will make sure to request use of the "thin" legend mold for the quote key
• thanks to ankit, this has the good 6u stab placement! will make note of this in production order

there's a lot of support missing from here in order to keep things aggressively cheap at this low MOQ. i get that the choices to not include some keys will rightfully annoy people. here are some kitting decisions/excuses explained:

• I think F13 can be filled by an artisan you own, R1 Delete is only physically required 1800s (split backspace can be fulfilled with pipe-tilde), and isn't a necessity when R1 tilde is there.
• DCS concave minibars aren't comfortable, and are expensive to add - this is kinda hard to justify when the kit is already this expensive, and the margins are razor thin. If you do need minibars, iirc WCK should be a decent match for WS4, so you can supplement with bars from Zimo, Camping, Maestro, Dandy, etc.
• lack of DCS minibars also informs lack of Alice B.
• lack of mod pipe and mod tilde is a constraint that I feel is handled enough by there being legend compat for alpha pipe and tilde. alpha tilde on split backspace boards is what I ended up liking more after having my ivory hhkb pro 2 on my desk for long enough.
• 11u+12u+13u support over minivan is a reflection of my own tastes (I want to fit this on bully). to be honest, I haven't seen that many minivan layout boards be released in the past year or so, but I have seen a lot of Vault35 owners over the past year.
• my gut check says this being fulfilled out of the US is going to scare off a lot of ISO users to begin with, and I don't know if ISO users would come out in genuine conditional support of this as much as, say, 40's would. prove me wrong, the IC form is there for you!
• gotta have the 6u bar. yeah I know it's expensive, but I gotta have it.

if enough people come into the IC form to yell at me to change kitting because there is something genuinely stopping them from buying it, I promise i'll hear you out.

thanks

• dom, gggggg, kok, chippy for kitting advice
• cuteasheck, the render champ
• abec13 for hearing me out
• you, dear reader, for making it to the end

to-do & updates

• take photos of color chips when they arrive
• re-render to match color chips when they arrive
• re-kit and adjust pricing when quote adjustments come in
• address IC form response

changelog

• Correct 1.5u R2 backspace legend
• Fixed banner image with correct blue modifier color

[ankit]

yea im down for like 2

edit: does that 1.5u backspace legend actually exist? any chance of replacing w/ text only like alchemy

[zhol]

edit: does that 1.5u backspace legend actually exist? any chance of replacing w/ text only like alchemy

ahh balls that might be on me, that's my bad. we may have used legend from van backspace, i'll ask render person for another fix. i need to check with melissa just in case, so if it doesn't, then text-only is definitely the move.
edit: edited kitting render to show text-only backspace

[stidal]

how much is 123 usd in bells

[white_rabbit]

Form filled, will buy

[tactilesbad]

dcs is goated consider me in

[redheadexpress]

gimme

[fin756]

islander in dcs + gorton legends count me in

[mr_foggy]

in

[twitchytheinsideman]

nice.

[twitchytheinsideman]

based purse caps lock text-icon user

[Misfortune]

Down for a set

[dededecline]

that's right! it's another DCS set originally designed by someone else, now it's more expensive, and the kitting is a kick in the teeth. the runner might be abusing your sense of fomo in one way or another, they clearly don't have enough friends/clout to run what should be a private group buy, and the IC was slapped together in half an hour, but by god do you love Gorton font.

Honestly based IC post

[tuesdaygloom]

Filled out IC, can we get text mods only?

[Kokaloo]

all the fighting i've done for minivan... and for what..... support for keyboard layouts i actually like? phooey!

[MisterBananaRat]

I'm ngl I've messaged Abec a few times about re-running GMK Finer things. I miss his work 

[MIGHTY CHICKEN]

adware support neware or where is adwad

[ZavaZ86]

Perhaps you should look at the former small moq run dcs sets that have ran lately and take a look at that kitting instead of this weird 40% cope stuff...

[illusixn]

I agree, buy organizer who is covering upfront costs should forgo support for the boards they intend to use the set on in favor of uh

[Kokaloo]

I agree, buy organizer who is covering upfront costs should forgo support for the boards they intend to use the set on in favor of uh

Show Image

see i agree but he keeps asking me if it's ok to remove the 40s 1.75u shift and i'm like bro you need that one!

[aicyborg]

I agree, buy organizer who is covering upfront costs should forgo support for the boards they intend to use the set on in favor of uh

Show Image

I think your anger is misdirected here.

[illusixn]

I think your anger is misdirected here.

[paperassgasket]

Any 10u avail?
I just picked up a rack of bars from Muji/Carter preorder but no WCK among them.

[aa212121]

Any 10u avail?
I just picked up a rack of bars from Muji/Carter preorder but no WCK among them.

Yes please, a WCK 10u will go with VoC, Zimo, Camping, Maestro, Dandy, etc.

[Faraday]

oh hell yeah

[Nevrest]

This is hecking cute. Love it!
GLWIC 

[Exquite]

I love these two shades of green and blue. They are the same but different spontaneously. LOVE THIS!

[zhol]

updates

IC data

Here's what I've figured out from IC:

• 18 people are demanding R1 Delete. This will probably be added into base.
• 21 people are demanding F13. This will be added either into base, or possible extension kit.
• 18 people are demanding Alice B. This will probably be added into an extension kit.
• 6 IC entries requested Numpad as an option. At MOQ 10, this is around $95 factory price. I don't think people are going to show up at this price point.
• 1 IC entry and two posts on the GH thread requested 10U support. Seeing how the numpad played out at 10 MOQ, I don't think the 10U enjoyers are going to show up for how much this would cost at MOQ 5.
• 1 IC entry requested a spacebar child kit. That's not enough for me to even consider seriously.
• 1 IC entry requested 1.5 Super keys (with corresponding correct colored Alt 1u key). This will be in a possible extension kit.
• No explicit requests for mod pipe came in (but one reddit comment). One request came in for mod tilde.
• 50% of people are neutral on which homing keys to keep, and only 22% want both sets. 38% seem to want dot homing in any scenario. Dot homing keys may be moved out onto an extension kit
• Two IC entries request novelties - an entire novelties kit isn't something I can support at this tiny MOQ, and I'm not going to ask abec13 to gimme novelties SVGs for free. I can maybe sneak in one novelty into an extension kit, or as F13, depending on how pricing goes down.

I did a little bit of rekitting and requested for re-quotes - here's how things play out:
* Base kit was modified to remove homing dot keys, 6u bar, minimal 40's, and has R1 Delete, and a novelty key for F13 - this turns out to be about $120-ish factory cost.
* Numpad costs $96-ish factory cost at 10 MOQ. I'll let that sink in for the numpad wanters.
* An extension kit including greater 40's support (12u+12.75u+12.5u), extra 2.25u shift for 660m/660c support, 6u bar, 1.5u supers, Alice B, homing dots costs about $52 factory cost at 25 MOQ. Seeing how much the other minimal extension kits from sets like Reaper, WOB, SolDark, I will definitely cut down a fair amount of stuff If there's conditional support for an extension kit.

There will be another IC form coming out later asking how people would want to decide between old base, new base, and more adjustments. Stay tuned!

color chip matching

These were taken with an iPhone 13 Mini, once indoors with windowsill lighting, once outside on a slightly cloudy day - I have no studio lighting setup. The transform from HEIC to JPG, and subsequent upload to imgur probably crunched down a bunch of the detail, but hopefully this gives you a relative sense of how close you should expect colors to be.

Anyway, VCO is the winner for green. WCK stays for the alpha color. I forgot that I had BFQ until after my lunch break finished, but I think it's a better match than BGU or BHU, which is a bit on the greenish side. I need to get another chip for the brown though, I made a mistake with the first order. My bad y'all!
I

Filled out IC, can we get text mods only?

Sorry chief, but I like the way icon+text looks too much on Gorton font to change it now.

Perhaps you should look at the former small moq run dcs sets that have ran lately and take a look at that kitting instead of this weird 40% cope stuff...

Thanks for the suggestion! Looking through your post history, I can tell you're a fellow DCS enjoyer full of sincere insights and suggestions! I looked through SoWaRe Revival, I looked through Superweld (RIP), I've looked at the greige set that Pontus ran, I've looked at the three DCS sets that Faye from the Matrix server has put together, and looked at the constraints they were working with at the price they were targeting, looked at the physical compatibility they provided for their price and considered the affinities towards certain layouts that those designers had. Then I saw that DCS Unicorn is $160 in-stock, and decided that what the original base kit provides for $123 is acceptable enough for your average DCS enjoyer.

NE ISO AVAIL ?

More people asked for Minivan support than Terminal ISO. I think when I asked the ISO users to prove that they'd come out stronger than 40's in OP, they thought I was bluffing.

[azhdar]

NE ISO AVAIL ?

[WholesomeDucky]

Never bought DCS, I'd be in for a set on this if it runs

[twitchytheinsideman]

updates

IC data

Here's what I've figured out from IC:

• 18 people are demanding R1 Delete. This will probably be added into base.
• 21 people are demanding F13. This will be added either into base, or possible extension kit.
• 18 people are demanding Alice B. This will probably be added into an extension kit.
• 6 IC entries requested Numpad as an option. At MOQ 10, this is around $95 factory price. I don't think people are going to show up at this price point.
• 1 IC entry and two posts on the GH thread requested 10U support. Seeing how the numpad played out at 10 MOQ, I don't think the 10U enjoyers are going to show up for how much this would cost at MOQ 5.
• 1 IC entry requested a spacebar child kit. That's not enough for me to even consider seriously.
• 1 IC entry requested 1.5 Super keys (with corresponding correct colored Alt 1u key). This will be in a possible extension kit.
• No explicit requests for mod pipe came in (but one reddit comment). One request came in for mod tilde.
• 50% of people are neutral on which homing keys to keep, and only 22% want both sets. 38% seem to want dot homing in any scenario. Dot homing keys may be moved out onto an extension kit
• Two IC entries request novelties - an entire novelties kit isn't something I can support at this tiny MOQ, and I'm not going to ask abec13 to gimme novelties SVGs for free. I can maybe sneak in one novelty into an extension kit, or as F13, depending on how pricing goes down.

I did a little bit of rekitting and requested for re-quotes - here's how things play out:
* Base kit was modified to remove homing dot keys, 6u bar, minimal 40's, and has R1 Delete, and a novelty key for F13 - this turns out to be about $120-ish factory cost.
* Numpad costs $96-ish factory cost at 10 MOQ. I'll let that sink in for the numpad wanters.
* An extension kit including greater 40's support (12u+12.75u+12.5u), extra 2.25u shift for 660m/660c support, 6u bar, 1.5u supers, Alice B, homing dots costs about $52 factory cost at 25 MOQ. Seeing how much the other minimal extension kits from sets like Reaper, WOB, SolDark, I will definitely cut down a fair amount of stuff If there's conditional support for an extension kit.

There will be another IC form coming out later asking how people would want to decide between old base, new base, and more adjustments. Stay tuned!

color chip matching

These were taken with an iPhone 13 Mini, once indoors with windowsill lighting, once outside on a slightly cloudy day - I have no studio lighting setup. The transform from HEIC to JPG, and subsequent upload to imgur probably crunched down a bunch of the detail, but hopefully this gives you a relative sense of how close you should expect colors to be.

Anyway, VCO is the winner for green. WCK stays for the alpha color. I forgot that I had BFQ until after my lunch break finished, but I think it's a better match than BGU or BHU, which is a bit on the greenish side. I need to get another chip for the brown though, I made a mistake with the first order. My bad y'all!
I

Show Image	Show Image	Show Image
Show Image	Show Image

Filled out IC, can we get text mods only?

Sorry chief, but I like the way icon+text looks too much on Gorton font to change it now.

Perhaps you should look at the former small moq run dcs sets that have ran lately and take a look at that kitting instead of this weird 40% cope stuff...

Thanks for the suggestion! Looking through your post history, I can tell you're a fellow DCS enjoyer full of sincere insights and suggestions! ;D I looked through SoWaRe Revival, I looked through Superweld (RIP), I've looked at the greige set that Pontus ran, I've looked at the three DCS sets that Faye from the Matrix server has put together, and looked at the constraints they were working with at the price they were targeting, looked at the physical compatibility they provided for their price and considered the affinities towards certain layouts that those designers had. Then I saw that DCS Unicorn is $160 in-stock, and decided that what the original base kit provides for $123 is acceptable enough for your average DCS enjoyer.

NE ISO AVAIL ?

More people asked for Minivan support than Terminal ISO. I think when I asked the ISO users to prove that they'd come out stronger than 40's in OP, they thought I was bluffing.

If you had dedicated voting options for numpad, 1.5u super, 6u, mod pipe tilde, novelties… people would have voted on it.

I for my part haven’t requested novelties specifically. However if presented that option, I would have voted towards it and would have bought it.

[zhol]

If you had dedicated voting options for numpad, 1.5u super, 6u, mod pipe tilde, novelties… people would have voted on it.

I for my part haven’t requested novelties specifically. However if presented that option, I would have voted towards it and would have bought it.

You are right in the sense that I did not provide enumerated options for every single kitting improvement, and this was a small mistake on my part. At the bare minimum, there was a large response text in the IC form in case there needed to be a surge of people who needed to point out there was some oversight on my end so I could adjust as necessary. I explained in OP why I was hesitant to ask for mod pipe & mod tilde; 1.5u supers (and possible movement of 6u from base) to some hypothetical extension kit was put as an option. But there are some things that become extraordinarily more difficult when working at this MOQ. A novelty is maybe possible, if people are willing to stomach the spike in base kit price. But novelties, as in plural? A whole kit? For something, that if run today, would be lucky to have 50% of base kit MOQ guaranteed? You are asking me to disabuse myself of the idea that I should waste my money sparingly, and instead waste it wantonly to create a kit so expensive only the richest kings in all the land could consider buying, if only for a fleeting moment.

The same goes for numpad. It is not a sin to request numpad - shooters shoot, after all - but you have to understand why I would initially think including it may be difficult for both buyers and the runner. I am not intentionally trying to exclude those users, but the MOQs I'm working with make things difficult. There are six requests for it. If everyone in the IC who claimed they would buy it did end up showing up, it would be a miracle, so let's assume those six buyers are included in the miracle: at that point, supporting those buyers would cost $175 per numpad kit. How much support would arrive for numpad if I provided the option on the IC form, and guaranteed to buy it when it ships to my doorstep? Expecting response to double if I provide the option in the IC is maybe a bit reasonable - 12% of IC responses include numpad, vs the 21% attachment rate on DCS Reaper, or 27% attachment rate on DCS Paperwork. Using these attachment rates from sets that are working with sales numbers 4x-6x larger than what I think is reasonably possible for me is fairly cheaty, but it's the only data I have to guess around where attachment support lies. I've already done us the favor of assuming that would happen to get the quote at MOQ 10, leading us to a numpad price of $97 - still a ridiculous amount of money for me to demand from people. If you could somehow believe that the response would not only double, but quadruple instead, and I buy out a few extras to achieve an expected ~50% attachment rate, then we can reach a price break to get it down to $47 factory price. The price is no longer laughably high, but still nightmarish.
In the next IC response form, I will include it as an explicit option, and if 20 more people are found who are willing to buy numpad for $47, I'll give you your numpad kit for free.

[zhol]

• 1 IC entry and two posts on the GH thread requested 10U support. Seeing how the numpad played out at 10 MOQ, I don't think the 10U enjoyers are going to show up for how much this would cost at MOQ 5.

alright me wrong - someone crazy to offered to buy out 10U to MOQ 10, which by their numbers from previous quotes works out to be not much more than 10$ USD per bar. get in here

[twitchytheinsideman]

If you had dedicated voting options for numpad, 1.5u super, 6u, mod pipe tilde, novelties… people would have voted on it.

I for my part haven’t requested novelties specifically. However if presented that option, I would have voted towards it and would have bought it.

You are right in the sense that I did not provide enumerated options for every single kitting improvement, and this was a small mistake on my part. At the bare minimum, there was a large response text in the IC form in case there needed to be a surge of people who needed to point out there was some oversight on my end so I could adjust as necessary. I explained in OP why I was hesitant to ask for mod pipe & mod tilde; 1.5u supers (and possible movement of 6u from base) to some hypothetical extension kit was put as an option. But there are some things that become extraordinarily more difficult when working at this MOQ. A novelty is maybe possible, if people are willing to stomach the spike in base kit price. But novelties, as in plural? A whole kit? For something, that if run today, would be lucky to have 50% of base kit MOQ guaranteed? You are asking me to disabuse myself of the idea that I should waste my money sparingly, and instead waste it wantonly to create a kit so expensive only the richest kings in all the land could consider buying, if only for a fleeting moment.

The same goes for numpad. It is not a sin to request numpad - shooters shoot, after all - but you have to understand why I would initially think including it may be difficult for both buyers and the runner. I am not intentionally trying to exclude those users, but the MOQs I'm working with make things difficult. There are six requests for it. If everyone in the IC who claimed they would buy it did end up showing up, it would be a miracle, so let's assume those six buyers are included in the miracle: at that point, supporting those buyers would cost $175 per numpad kit. How much support would arrive for numpad if I provided the option on the IC form, and guaranteed to buy it when it ships to my doorstep? Expecting response to double if I provide the option in the IC is maybe a bit reasonable - 12% of IC responses include numpad, vs the 21% attachment rate on DCS Reaper, or 27% attachment rate on DCS Paperwork. Using these attachment rates from sets that are working with sales numbers 4x-6x larger than what I think is reasonably possible for me is fairly cheaty, but it's the only data I have to guess around where attachment support lies. I've already done us the favor of assuming that would happen to get the quote at MOQ 10, leading us to a numpad price of $97 - still a ridiculous amount of money for me to demand from people. If you could somehow believe that the response would not only double, but quadruple instead, and I buy out a few extras to achieve an expected ~50% attachment rate, then we can reach a price break to get it down to $47 factory price. The price is no longer laughably high, but still nightmarish.
In the next IC response form, I will include it as an explicit option, and if 20 more people are found who are willing to buy numpad for $47, I'll give you your numpad kit for free.

I understand that. However, I think that dvorcol has posted a good take on the question whether or not to include a numpad in the IC for DCS Superweld.

In the end it is going to be your choice whether or not to do it. I just wanted to share my opinion on the topic.

Personally, I do not need a numpad.

If you could include a single 1u r1 novelty (for F13 or as an extra) that would be a very nice touch though.

[Nevrest]

While I do not personally use a numpad I'd rather have it with all my sets than not.
Firstly, down the line I might change my mind, or get into a new line of work that would make a numpad more handy.
Secondly, while I might be in the minority here,I sometimes lend sets to friends and some of them might want numpad.
Third, I just like the flexibility if I ever were to sell the set down the line, as some might not buy a set without numpad.

[mr_foggy]

kit this set as you please, I'll buy regardless. as long as it covers a 60 or TKL I'm more than ok. just let me buy it, I'm still hurting from the superweld incident 

[zhol]

IC FORM 2

thanks for filling this out, if you do. r1 delete and f13 moved into base kit, and more maneuvering to include a possible novelty, or break some stuff out to extension kit, 10u and numpad polling. tell your friends and so on

[twitchytheinsideman]

IC FORM 2

thanks for filling this out, if you do. r1 delete and f13 moved into base kit, and more maneuvering to include a possible novelty, or break some stuff out to extension kit, 10u and numpad polling. tell your friends and so on

does the novelty option mean to completely replace one keycap?

how is the new base kit with much less keycaps as expensive as the previous one?

[Dmitri]

Ima island boi

[ZavaZ86]

Still hoping for some basic ISO support in the basekit.

[nFaiz]

How could u not support numpad zhol

[zhol]

Still hoping for some basic ISO support in the basekit.

How could u not support numpad zhol

buy those kits out and it'll happen.

banging my head against novelties right now. mister novelties did a good job, but with how tough this pricing is, there's realistically only room for one of these. unless...

[iamtragic]

gyroids are pretty sweet