The very first DCS cadet set, in glorious dyesub pastel PBT!
FEEDBACK FORMNewsNovember 10, 2025: IC Launched•••
OriginsDCS Pastel Cadet began as an attempt to port SA A History of Violets to dyesub DCS. I wasn't happy with the contrast, and started lightening the colors to make the sublimated legends more, well, legible. Once they reached pastel tones, I decided to embrace that and go in a whole new direction - a light and airy version of Space Cadet in bright sky blue and soft grey.
Throughout this design process, I've worked closely with Signature Plastics, who graciously offered the cadet vector art they used to create their doubleshot SA cadet legends for use here. DCS has never had its own cadet legend plates created for it, but gaining access to that art makes a dyesub cadet set possible for the first time.
And in case you're wondering, the spacebars will be ABS. I've chosen shades of grey and yellow that have counterparts in both PBT and ABS, so they'll match up very nicely. No worries about warped or shrunken bars!
Just note that this is not meant to be an exact replica of Space Cadet. There are Mac sublegends, my trademark interrobangs, and other little surprises. See if you can find the Wyse "Do" legend hidden in here! This is supposed to be fun, not a historical reproduction. There are plenty of more faithful Space Cadet sets out there if that's your thing.
A Note About the Legend AlignmentsMore
I've chosen to center the alphas and cadet symbols, which is not without precedent in DCS (see 7bit's early Rounds from circa 2011-2013, which offered centered options). I tried all sort of different legend/sub alignments early on - fully left-aligned, diagonal staggered, and others. But because of the varying widths of the cadet symbols, centering them above the letters yielded the least weird results.
For mono alpha legends like the interrobang and NorDe letters that don't have cadet sublegends, I fully centered them, and also made them slightly bigger, so they don't look like they're floating in a void. This also has an historical precedent, in the SA-style DCS mono alpha legends from those same old Rounds sets.
Is this a little inconsistent? Yes! Have you used DCS before? This is a profile created in the early 80's, with all sorts of weird, conflicting legend quirks accumulated over decades of additions. There are two different DCS lowercase "a" letters used interchangeably in the doubleshot plates! I'm choosing to just go with the funkiness, rather than attempting to enforce an order that would be more cohesive, but look worse.
Geon F1-8X
Keebibi Minimi40
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VendorsSG: Ktechs
More TBD.
If you've a vendor and would be interested in carrying this set, reach out to me here, or message me (piperaceae_) on Discord.
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DatesProbably 3 months after a group buy, given SP's current lead times. Targeting a GB in Q1 2026.
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Colors and MaterialsAlphas are GMC grey in PBT, with sublimated black legends and dark blue sublegends matched to BDH.
Mods are BDO blue in PBT, with sublimated black legends and sublegends.
Accents are YCR yellow, with sublimated black legends and sublegends.
Grey bars are GKH grey in ABS.
Yellow bars are YDA yellow in ABS.
ABS/PBT comparisons. I think these are well within the typical variance seen between resin batches, and very good for two totally different types of plastic.
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Kitting and PricingI'm doing something different, and not getting quotes in advance. I know this will be controversial in some quarters
(waves to Simon), but the price will be heavily dependent on the number of potential sales. Using the example of my ongoing Lil' Lav interest check, its base kit could cost anywhere between $104 and $133 depending on the MOQ. But some people have fixated on that worst-case scenario price, which is unlikely to be the case.
I'm just looking for feedback on the design right now. Do you like the colors? Is the kitting reasonable? Would you buy this if the price was right? Once I know if 50, or 100, or 300 people like this, I can tweak the design to make it affordable at whatever number that winds up being.
Base KitIncludes UK, Alice bars, yellow accents, and basic 40s. All bars are ABS.
Extension KitInclude macro columns, alternates, and accent arrows.
Numpad KitIncludes 108-key coverage.
40's KitBasic 40's is already in the base. All bars are ABS.
Spacebar KitIncludes 3-1-3 and 6u bars, and yellow accent bars. All bars are ABS.
NorDe Kit
Alert Kit
10u Kit10u bar is ABS.
Etc.Want Colevrak? Ergo? Anything else? Fill out the
feedback form and let me know!
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