[GB] DCS SMRT R2 - Additional matching LAE/novelty kit!

[Piperaceae]

DCS SMRT R2

News
September 30, 2026: Matching LAE/novelty kit offered
September 20, 2026: GB Launched

DCS SMRT is back, and better than ever for its R2 debut! Designed by Piperaceae, SMRT is a classic colorway with a modern twist. This run has some slightly different kitting than R1, but is sure to instill vintage vibes no matter what you put it on!




Vendors
I'll update this as store listings go live.

CN: TypistClub
EU: KeebSupply
OCE: Toro Studio
KR: GeonWorks
SG: IlumKb
UK: ProtoTypist
US: Divinikey


Dates
GB begins September 20, 2026 and runs until October 18th.

Signature Plastics's production line is pretty busy these days with all the recent DCS sets running. Target ship date is Q2 2027.


Colors and Materials
Manufactured by Signature Plastics. All keys are ABS doubleshot except for the LED keys, which are UV-printed.

Colors are stock. GSX light grey alphas, BBI blue legends and accents, YY arrow legends and accents.

Mods are now GG grey instead of GTD. GTD was semi-translucent, and that made the edges around the mod legends in R1 slightly blurry. GG is very close, but more opaque, and should minimize that effect. It's also a tad closer to OG Wyse mod keys.

The difference between GTD and GG is small - similar to the natural variance between resin batches - but may be noticeable if you intend to mix and match mods with R1.

Mod color comparisons between R1 and R2, along with a vintage Wyse key:
     


Kitting and Pricing
US prices listed. Prices will vary by vendor.

Base Kit - $110

Includes blue accents, true HHKB support, and terminal ISO coverage.

Accent Kit - $35

Yellow accents, Vim arrows, blue bars, and Windows 3.1-era mods.

Numpad Kit - $35


LED Kit - $11

Legends are UV-printed.

Split Bars Kit - $15


40s/Ortho Kit - $50


10u Accent Spacebar - $7

Note that this also matches DCS UFO's navy blue!

UK Kit - Bundled

ProtoTypist exclusive, included with the base when purchased there.


Board Renders









Matching Add-On Kits
Sneakbox has matching BAE keys available in BBI blue, and YY yellow in their store. They've also expressed interest in offering a light grey 10u bar in the future, but no promises yet.


Saber Keebs has a GB for matching LAE and novelty Hjälp keys in their store. LAE was something I wanted to offer for 40s folks, and longtime followers of my work will be familiar with my obsession with the Hjälp key. Combined with the blue and yellow accents, Hjälp lets you theme SMRT to match a certain Swedish big-box retailer that shall remain nameless.
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[Piperaceae]

Just an update that work is happening on getting a matching LAE key made through another vendor, along with a surprise little novelty kit. Stay tuned!

[dvorcol]

GLWGB!

[Piperaceae]

Thanks! And thanks for the help fixing the thumbnail zoom!

[IBMweMissU]

Woo, LED kit! nice! just hope the mod color diff doesn't trigger ocd 
10u & BAE might be fun too

[Piperaceae]

Yeah, I hope the color difference will be very minimal. I'll post more about the LAE key when I have news! I think it and the tiny novelty kit will wind up being combined into one little ball of weirdness for logistical purposes.

[Piperaceae]

Longtime followers of my work will recall that I previously unearthed the "Hjälp" key in SP's DCS legend archives, and attempted to include it in DCS Lil' Lav. Why? I just thought it was fun, and I love digging up vintage oddities and bringing them back in modern designs.

That effort didn't work out, but I didn't give up on making Hjälp hjäppen. (Lil' Lav itself will return as a 40s-only set next year.)

With the group buy for SMRT R2 now running, I approached Saber Keebs and pitched a small GB of novelty Hjälp keys, noting that by using the blue and yellow SMRT accents and swapping out the Help key for its Swedish counterpart, you can stealthily re-theme the set to that of a certain big-box purveyor of meatballs and hex wrenches.

I had also wanted to offer a LAE key for SMRT, but couldn't get it into the official 40s kit. We wound up combining Hjälp and the LAE key into a single add-on kit, and thus, Hjälp/LAE was born. Two different flavors of weird, subsidizing each other.



Hjälp/LAE Kit at Saber Keebs

Row 2 Hjälp only comes in blue, since 40s got forced blue accents and no yellow keys, and I expect most users will swap it with Do. Row 1 gets all the color variants.

This will likely ship around the same time as SMRT R2's official kits (Q2 2027), since it's piggybacking on that manufacturing run.