Main > Project Announcements
"Captain Arcade" cabinet
BurgerKingDiamond:
Why not leave it 4:3 and then make your bezel to hide the unused screen area? Games are gonna be funky stretched like that.
BadMouth:
--- Quote from: BurgerKingDiamond on November 29, 2010, 10:27:17 am ---Why not leave it 4:3 and then make your bezel to hide the unused screen area? Games are gonna be funky stretched like that.
--- End quote ---
You could get complicated :) and run it in a 4:3 (3:4?) window with a blacked out frame.
Then also have a marquee above or instruction card below (or both).
It would be a PITA to pull off, but it could be done and would be something different.
vidmouse:
I may be going against standard here, but I actually wanted to go fullscreen
instead of trying to black out parts of the screen... it's actuallly part of
the reason I went this route... the cab I currently have has a 27" landscape-oriented
tv in it, and that gives me a picture that is 16" tall.
Since I knew I wanted to vertically mount this new monitor, I wanted to take
full advantage of the screen size... 22" tall. I don't mind the distortion I guess,
just take it in stride as a different playing experience.
I definitely can't mechanically bezel anything off, since I want to use it for
fullscreen pinball as well.
Update on the build:
just picked up an old pc from my mom's this weekend... I need to clean up the
files on it but I think it will work out ok. I'm probably going to update the OS
though, as it's running Windows Me... ::)
vidmouse:
Update:
Some photos of the cab itself.
I'm using an old CP box from my 1st cab with a new panel on top... before I had a trackball
but that's now on my 4P cab. I decided to go w/o one for this cab. It's a little wide for
pinball, but it's actually more comfortable for me.
A closeup of the speaker mount and marquee light. Just some stuff I picked
up at an office supply store. I drilled a larger hole (about 5/8") for the volume
knob. It doesn't go all the way through the panel, after I glue a knob on it it'll
be fine. Wire nuts work great as knobs for this.
You can also see the start of the monitor mount and frame for this.
A little damage occured when I crowbar'd the old speaker panel and monitor
mount off of the cab in order to fit my new bigger monitor. At the time I was
thinking of going with an even bigger TV, but reconsidered after playing around
with a cardboard mockup. Unfortunately I left some big divots in the wood...
tried to get it fixed with some drywall plaster but it ended up being too much.
I have a fix in mind but haven't executed it yet... stay tuned.
vidmouse:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I got a neighbor to help me move the empty cab to my basement, where I can finish the work.
I bondo'd the pieces that were broken before... did a little sloppy job, but with some sanding
and paint it should be ok.
I also finished hand-painting and clear-coating my CP artwork. I based it
off of Space Invaders but it's not an exact match, as I just free-handed it.