Tofu 65 w/ GMK Modern Dolch (2019)

Tofu 65 (ISO) from KBDFans

Tada 68 from KBDFans

GMK Screw-in Stabilisers (Lubed)

Custom Acrylic Plate in “Glass Green” from Ponoko

Outemu Skies v2.2 - 90g (Lubed with Tribosys 3204) from Aliexpress (Switches) and Daily Clack (Lube)

 

GMK Modern Dolch by Dixie Mech from Daily Clack

RAMA x MoDo – Grey + Cyan Fill by RAMA

 

Uncoiled Detachable Mini-USB cable Canis Paracord with Clear Techflex and grey heatshrink from Zap Cables

 

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A Modern take on a timeless classic this board exhibits class from top to bottom. It took a bit to sell me on the Modern Dolch (MoDo) colourway, but when I pulled the trigger all the pieces just fell into place.

 

I was a fan of the 65% layout well and truly by this point, and I knew that I wanted to make this board special. The Tofu was a design that was very popular in the wider community leading up to this build. With it's sharp edges, minimalist style, and brass weight I figured it was a good choice, at an affordable price point. I also wanted to capitalise on the accents on the keycap set, and thought that I'd give the ISO (most commonly found in Europe) layout a try. After having used the board for a good bit, the only part that niggled me was the split left shift, it just feels a little too short compared to what I'm used to.

 

The switches were a bit of a two-fold win here. Not only do they fit the theme really well with the cyan housing, and white stem, they are also very tactile. The Outemu's were popularised after people began to notice how the leaf in the bottom housing affects the tactility of the stem, exaggerating it a good bit. I opted to lube them with some Tribosys 3204 lube with a thin coating, and just to make the travel a good bit smoother. Once they all came together, the end result is a very snappy switch, that is a joy to type on.

 

I had the plate cut at the same time as the plate that I used for the Alps64 board, and the “glass green” colour was another perfect fit as far as the theme went. All in all, the only other thing that I would think would make this board just as, if not more, eye-catching would be a polycarbonate case, and some sweet RGB matching the cyan accents. Maybe I'll give the brass weight a polish as well, give it a mirror finish.

 

Considering that the keycaps here set the tone of the build, I feel that there isn't too much write about them. The Dolch colourway was inspired by the Dolch PAC 486, which is a computer from 1989. The keyboard that was shipped with it, sported the two-tone colourway that would become hailed by keyboard-enthusiasts for years to come. In recent years there have been may different takes on Dolch, from Miami (with cyan and magenta accents) and mint (which swapped the legend colour to a subtle mint green), to almost any number of available profiles (SA, DSA, GMK just to name a couple). The “Modern” take on it, brings slightly cooler tones to the Dolch name, and makes it very pleasing to look at; throw the accents in (which are featured in cyan as seen here, and a pink-ish red), and you have some very tasteful coordination. I opted for the RAMA cap, as I loved the cool cyan, and thought the enamel fill was super slick.

 

Yet another offering from Zap Cables, and the colours don't pop as much here, but there are some small cyan diamonds set among a two-tone grey, running the length of the cable; I think the Techflex obscures this a bit, but still looks very much the part.

 

To close it off, MoDo became one of the hottest sets of 2018/2019, and saw a second run in 2020. The second run was super popular, and lead to it becoming the biggest selling set of all time, clocking in more that 4200 kits sold.

Done