RESEARCH: Enigma Machine Replica Kits

In this video, Paul Brougham tells the story of how he came up with the idea of creating functional, replica Enigma Machines. See the incredible amount of detail that is put into every replica he makes to make them look, sound and feel like the true Enigma experience.

Enigma machine is considered one of the engineering works of art. There are many collectors and makers who are interested in the original as the replica version of the Enigma machines. There are electro mechanical replica that is very close to the original machine. Also, there are many electronic kits as well as computer simulators as well. I wanted to dig in and find some very well made replica kits.

Crypto Museum’s Electronic Self-Build Kits

• https://www.cryptomuseum.com/kits/enigma/index.htm

• I never seen this kit, but it looks very good. Note that the site provides the dimensions of the wooden case. https://www.cryptomuseum.com/kits/enigma/support/files/case.pdf

Instructables Article on Make-Your-Own-Enigma-Replica

• https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-Enigma-Replica/

meinEnigma - Electronic Enigma Replica

• https://meinenigma.com/

• This is one of the best electronic replica kits that I found that fully emulates several enigma models (M3 used by the German army and Air Force, M4 which is a more secure version using 4 wheels used by Navy/submarines). Although not an exact electro-mechanical replica, it closely replicates electronically like the overall physical dimension, sound effects etc.

• As I have an un-open kit, I will provide the detailed review of the kit soon. (planned for 2020)

Some working demo of the meinEnigma replica below.

This is a short demo of how this electronic enigma replica works. Enigma was a cipher machine developed around 1918 and evolved to be the machine used to encipher messages for the German military during WWII. This machine uses an arduino for processing power. More about this machine at http://meinenigma.com

Quick demo of how meinEnigma works, just the basic functionality on how to set the key so you can encrypt/decrypt something. It does assume you have some familiarity with how Enigma works and what you need to do to configure a key on it.

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