PiDP-1 - Operator circuit board & Spacewar controllers

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I am comfortable soldering diodes, resistors and jumpers onto circuit boards these days, so had no real difficulty soldering these components on the main circuit board. I bend leads 'by hand' using my small pliers (see the tools page) and use green tape to hold a whole row in place to solder. I like having resistors line up as well.

Installing the LEDs was not really difficult, except I discovered that although I counted 119 standoff tubes (3 times) when the kit came, and kept them stored in a ziploc back until today, I managed to drop/lose one! I decided to continue and just not solder that LED until later.

I decided to do this because I realized reading the instructions that the circuit board with LEDs and switches is meant to be moved from rack to console as desired, meaning once everything is soldered in place it's a unified system. I was certain (and later confirmed) that soldering LEDs now would still allow me to remove/reinstall the ottopanel (and display panel) as needed to revisit soldering requirements.

I used clipped LED leads to create ottopanel tabs as per instructions. I started long and taped them in place, then soldered them and bent up the excess and clipped it off. They look good. I have noticed that it pays to be carefull with the ottopanel once these tabs are installed as I've managed to bend them a few times installing the switches.

The small circuit board holds 8 larger switches, and support components. I soldered these as with the main circuit board.

The spacewar controllers require diodes and tac switches (little pushbutton switches), which I soldered to both boards.

I have noted some discussion as to proper wiring of the 9-pin jack and wires, so decided to defer the final assembly of the spacewar controllers until I have the rest of the kit completed.