Tron/Galaga Tribute

[KevinFlynn]

Greetings programs,

First, I'd like to give a huge shout out to the entire arcade community - from HS and Mame, to BYOAC and everything in between, THANKS! Building my own cabinet has, in a way, completed something in my life.

After thinking of the ideal shape cabinet for me, I thought the classic Galaga was great. Besides being one of my favorites, I love the classic shape.
I am a huge fan Tron which is what was initially driving the whole project. Guess I always wanted both a Tron and Galaga cab.

I have the x-arcade Tank Stick so the inner part of my cab had to be about 30". I decided to make the side panels more narrow (24") as it needed to fit through most doorways. Also, the back 2 wheels are stationary horizontal and the front 2 spin. That way I can move it sideways easily but it won't move front to back when my friends are jamming away on it.

I have 3 florescent lights inside the cabinet, one behind the marquee, one in the whole center to light up my front board, and one underneath for the 'floating' look. I found 5" of translucent blue decal vinyl at a local printing shop. It stuck to the light bulb fine (florescent lights don't heat up.) I mounted it to the bottom and wired it up into the cab, presto!

Helpful links:

I mostly use Hyperspin as my FE. I also have and use Maximus Arcade.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/content.php
http://www.maximus-arcade.com/

I found a carbon fiber vinyl decal on Ebay, usually used for covering car parts. Worked great to cover the sidewalls and inside shelf. It was highly adhesive and cut down very easily. I ordered a 5' by 7' sheet and had plenty to work with. $30. Here's an example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1FT-x-5FT-4D...9eb358&vxp=mtr

I got the Galaga side art on Ebay as well (or just search Galaga Side Art,) $35 per side:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331089241799...84.m1439.l2649

I got a swivel TV/monitor mount from Walmart, here:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ready-Set-...Black/11018955
This mount was perfect. Now, I can very easily rotate the monitor (19"Dell) for the classics.

I was able to Shell Hyperspin with this helpful guide:
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/sh...ed-and-Working!
I was nervous about it but it worked flawlessly. I also shutdown upon exiting HS so the Windows environment is pretty much completely hidden.

Many parts, including the retro Tron joystick, spinner, and more came from GroovyGameGear.com:
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/i...roducts_id=335

The very helpful guide for powering on your pc with arcade button is here:
http://coolexpletive.blogspot.com/20...er-button.html
I have my button slightly hidden so guests don't accidentally hit it. When the system is on, one push of the button will force shut down.

Marquee came from GameOnGrafix.com. Scott is great!
http://www.gameongrafix.com/products...e-dot-techno-1

Every build is unique to its builder and that's one reason arcade gaming is so much fun on a variety of levels, from building to actually getting to enjoy your project. Everything on this cab was done with lots of thought and effort. I may install a bezel at some point if I can figure out how to still allow the monitor to spin. Otherwise, here it is and thanks for looking...
Game on!!

End of line.

[Drnick]

Very Nice, How did you do the front panel, Is it Acrylic with a vinyl print stuck to it?

[TKW4rr10r]

Very cool build. Great job 

If I had to nitpick, I'd say you didn't need the Galaga side art to pay homage, since the cabinet shape does that on it's own. It kind of breaks up the flow, since the rest of the cab has that great Tron theme going on.

But that is one great looking cab. I'd love to see some build pics if you have them. Especially that front panel, which is awesome. Did you do those graphics or GOG?

[KevinFlynn]

Very Nice, How did you do the front panel, Is it Acrylic with a vinyl print stuck to it?

Thanks!!
It's 1/4" Plexiglas I got locally.  It comes with a brown paper stuck on both sides when you get it new.  I drew those patterns on myself from looking online for patterns and watching the movie...over and over.... and then used an exacto knife to cut them out - though I left the sticker material on. 
I then peeled the rest of the whole brown paper (everywhere you see black) and spray painted it black, 2 coats.  After it dried, I peeled the design I had created and used florescent sidewalk paint (found next to the spray paint at any hardware store) to color in the remaining area.  The inside looks like a florescent vandalization from the 80's gone wrong - the florescent paint will go over the black on the inside but you won't be able to see it on the outside.  I simply masked places off per color.  I can post more pics later. 
I then peeled the other side, the outside of the panel so it was nice and shiny.  I drilled holes to install the screws.  I had the Plexi shop cut out the opening for the coin door when I got the plexi.  Coin door was from xgaming.com.   

[KevinFlynn]

Very cool build. Great job 

If I had to nitpick, I'd say you didn't need the Galaga side art to pay homage, since the cabinet shape does that on it's own. It kind of breaks up the flow, since the rest of the cab has that great Tron theme going on.

But that is one great looking cab. I'd love to see some build pics if you have them. Especially that front panel, which is awesome. Did you do those graphics or GOG?

Thanks man!   
I know the Galaga art was overkill but really, when I see it, it lights my heart.  It seems like my favorite bars (like in Boulder, CO) have a Galaga cab.  I dropped in my share of quarters over the years...
And again, I will post an inside pic of the Plexi when I get a chance.

[Louis Tully]

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[KevinFlynn]

[/quote]Coolest front panel I've ever seen. Very creative, man.  This will surely be high on many lists of "things to steal borrow for future projects" Really nice stuff.
[/quote]
Sweet!!  I initially had a Black Light on the inside of the cab but I realized a regular florescent light was much brighter and made the art really glow.  Looks great in a lighted or dark room.  Everyone is invited over!!  BEERS ON ME!!!!!

[yotsuya]

There are some things about this cabinet I really don't care for, to be honest, but I REALLY like the creativity with the front panel and the artwork. Good job.

[KevinFlynn]

There are some things about this cabinet I really don't care for, to be honest, but I REALLY like the creativity with the front panel and the artwork. Good job.

Every cab is unique and pretty much, everything here was done for a reason with a lot of thought.  Realizing it doesn't matter, I'd love to know what you don't like about it.  Thanks!

[yotsuya]

There are some things about this cabinet I really don't care for, to be honest, but I REALLY like the creativity with the front panel and the artwork. Good job.

Every cab is unique and pretty much, everything here was done for a reason with a lot of thought.  Realizing it doesn't matter, I'd love to know what you don't like about it.  Thanks!

Just two small things- keep in mind that I really do like the artwork, so this is all constructive criticism-

A) The exposed monitor. I realize that you want to be able to rotate, and that you're doing it manually, but seeing the brand and all the front buttons is just never pleasing to the eye. It breaks the cabinet illusion.

B) The X-Arcade stick. It could be integrated better. As it is, it looks like it's sitting on a shelf. I've seen some where it's really built in so that you don't notice.

On the whole, it's a nice project, and the artwork again looks great, but I personally think you'd have a hit a home run with the design if you corrected the two above items. You've got some nice stuff going on there, and I think if you could correct A & B,  you'd have a great cab.

[KevinFlynn]

A) The exposed monitor. I realize that you want to be able to rotate, and that you're doing it manually, but seeing the brand and all the front buttons is just never pleasing to the eye. It breaks the cabinet illusion.

I am still planning on putting a bezel behind the monitor (yes, it will still be exposed) but am not sure what to do about it.  The rotating monitor is the issue.  The classics looked too small to me on the horizontal setting.  I love the vertical look even though Dell and the buttons are staring you in the face...what to do?!

B) The X-Arcade stick. It could be integrated better. As it is, it looks like it's sitting on a shelf. I've seen some where it's really built in so that you don't notice.

I like that it's sitting on a shelf.  I can take it out if I need to and could always integrate a different control panel in time.  Also, I like using the side buttons (pinball and mouse) and couldn't figure out a way to drop it in and still be able to use those buttons so, this option seemed like the best to me.
Thanks for the awesome feedback, everyone!!

[TKW4rr10r]

Coolest front panel I've ever seen. Very creative, man.  This will surely be high on many lists of "things to steal borrow for future projects" Really nice stuff.

After starring at those photos a few times I'm realizing a few of us may be "borrowing" this idea  . I immediately started looking at my -someday- Tron resto-mod, but I'm thinking with all the other restored lighted artwork, a front panel like this may cross that line of cool to tacky.

This gives me some incredible ideas for some other projects, though. This is truly a "why didn't I think of that" idea.

[Louis Tully]

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[KevinFlynn]

I have a lot of graqhic art experience.  This is a simple masking/painting/peeling technique I became familiar with as an artist.
I do a lot of paintings besides the whole arcade cab project which has now officially taken me over a year to work on.  I hope it never ends!
Here is an example of my art...

[yotsuya]

KF, I'm glad you took that feedback as positive. The art on the cab is definitely a 10. Great job. 

[wp34]

That front-panel is too cool for words.  Very awesome!  I really need to borrow that for my Tron build.   

Did you take any pictures of the build?

[KevinFlynn]

Here are some inside shots of the panel. You can see where my black paint was pretty thick and the fluorescent is much thinner. I sprayed in the green first because there was more of it and it was more spread around.  I left the orange and blue maasked until the green was fully completed. 
You can tell how I masked off the orange and blue, one at a time with newspaper and scotch tape gently applied, letting all fully dry between coats and color applications.  I used a compass to make the circular shaped lines and cut them out freehand. All straight lines I used a metal ruler. I used the same fine pointed exacto blade to peel the plexi coating so as not to disturb the paint work.

The clear sheet is 1/4" plexi, a panel I made but chose not to use. It's made the same way, just no black coat.
I'm always happy to share pics and advice so anyone, don't hesitate to pm me or ask.

[KevinFlynn]

And here is the fluorescent paint (green shown). Available in a variety of colors.

[yotsuya]

Very smooth, bro.

[KevinFlynn]

And here is my xarcade tankstick with custom spinner, tron arcade flightstick, and vertical mouse stabilizer buttons on either side of the P1/P2 buttons (like for Golden Tee...)

[Xiaou2]

I also agree, the front panel is pretty cool.

 I do have some issues with some of the other choices.

 One thing though... if that is actually UV paint...  then why not light it with a white-blacklight bulb?   The UV glow would be
much nicer than just standard lighting.

[KevinFlynn]

I also agree, the front panel is pretty cool.

 One thing though... if that is actually UV paint...  then why not light it with a white-blacklight bulb?   The UV glow would be
much nicer than just standard lighting.

First, thanks!
I initially had a tube style blacklight but I changed it out to a tube style white light (regular fluorescent) when I was working on the inside of the cab. That's when I realized the regular white tube light made the colors glow 10 times brighter.
This amazed me because those colors are meant to glow under blacklight. The main difference though, while the white light made them brighter, you can also see blemishes in the spray paint job that weren't as obvious with the blacklight.
Basically, its whatever works for you.

And just like all of us, I'm learning things as I go - both through trial and error, and through the very helpful sites and forums.
This is my first cab build. Whether people like it or not, it doesn't matter, especially if others can take or borrow any ideas I've
presented here.  Truthfully, as I've mentioned, I'm looking into a bezel (or just using a bigger TV as I can afford it) and I have more ideas in mind to make the cab better.  I've found it's a great hobby and I enjoy adding to it just as much as I do playing the games.