I started this project six months ago with the goal of modding a Space Invaders Deluxe cabinet and turning it into a MAME machine. I was very happy with the results.
When I bought the SID cabinet, it was almost completely gutted. The only parts left were the monitor, mirror, and cardboard backdrop with blacklight. I tracked down the coin door, speaker grill, and control panel from a few online sources. The original SID CP had only a few buttons, so I used it as a reference model and hired a woodworker to build a new CP based on my new layout with extra buttons and joysticks.
I was going for a retro style when I created the control panel and bezel. My inspiration was the 1983/1984 cartoon series Saturday Supercade. I couldn't find any high quality images of this cartoon out on the Web, so I used my graphic design skills and created my own illustrations based on scenes from the show.
I have installed Happ competitions sticks and True-Leaf Pro buttons from Groovy Game Gear. The bezel backlighting comes from four 12-volt LED modules. The computer is running Windows XP with a Maximus Arcade frontend.
Overall, this project was incredibly fun. I learned a lot about arcade cabinets in the process and have even more respect for classic gaming than before. I'm looking forward to hosting a game night at my house so that others can enjoy playing classic games as they were intended - on an arcade cabinet.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read my post. I welcome any feedback or questions you may have!