Dragon's Lair / Space Ace Reunion (formerly "Twin Cabinets")

[Jumpman64]

[Updated title to reflect the fact that most of the details in this thread are about my cabinet.  Will make a new thread for the other twin when it's ready.]


Hello, everyone -- pleased to meet you

My buddy Phil and I recently made the trip over to Denver for the Kong Off 2 -- not as contestants, just as fans.  Anyway, we both had a good time and got to watch and meet some amazing arcade players.  AND we were both pretty inspired to build MAME cabinets for ourselves after we got back.





I have assembled a kit from Rec Room Masters for our office break room in the past, but this one he and I both wanted to be a bit more "real".  Lately I've been spending a lot of time on this site learning from the masters and finding inspiration from all manner of different projects, reviews, and discussions.  You guys rock!     So I thought I would share our little story with you as we go.

He has a little woodworking experience, and I have almost none.  So we wanted to find a set of plans that were fairly close to what we wanted (which was just a basic upright cabinet), and settled on the v2 plans from ArcadeCab.com.  That was a almost three weeks ago.  Now we are deep into the builds of both cabinets.  As the process has gone along, we have made a few different choices, so the cabinets will not be identical twins

Anyway, on to the build!  In the first shot we have just taped off the outline for the first side.  We added a small lip to the front for Phil's as he is using a Tankstick and wanted to have that front support on it.  I have allocated a slightly larger budget for my build and am working on a custom panel, so mine won't have this lip.



And here it is after the cutting:



I bought a router for this project.  How come no one ever told me how fun they are?!    Anyway, we used a flush trim bit and made copies of the first side panel.  Phil can be seen here sanding out a couple of rough spots.



Next up we installed the ledger boards.  Also after test fitting his Tankstick we both felt the top of the control panel was a little too high, so we trimmed 3" of wood off the bottom.  I also trimmed another 3" off the back since I will be using an LCD screen and just don't need that much depth.




That's probably more than enough for one post.  I have some info on control panel and themes, but that will have to wait for later

[Unstupid]

Very cool..... I like the grain on that plywood.... Are you planning on painting it or you going to go with the woodgrain finish?

[mgb]

Nice start.
I hope the project works out well. I think it definitely is cool that you're both kinda in it together.
It must be nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off of and what not.

[Jumpman64]

Very cool..... I like the grain on that plywood.... Are you planning on painting it or you going to go with the woodgrain finish?

We are planning to paint.  I am working with the fine folks at GameOnGrafix for art as well.

It must be nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off of and what not.

Definitely!

[sharpfork]

Looks good so far.

I live in Denver so it was a short trip over to 1up for me:


Next time they do a big event, maybe I'll try to organize a meetup.

[Jumpman64]

^ Neat!

Also, some theme art (not final, but close):

[Jumpman64]

"I apologize for the crudity of this model -- I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it"




Cabinets stood up!  Testing the monitor stands out.

[Jumpman64]

CP layout.  Colors are not final.

Despite initial appearances this is a 2-player layout, not 3.  The yellow area has a 4-way dedicated stick and is the main set of controls for 1-player (at a time) old school games.  Anything that needs 6 buttons or an 8-way can be played from the green area.  The red controls are an up-down spinner, 3" trackball, and trigger stick ("Mini Grip").

The main downside to this layout is that you can't rest your whole forearm on the panel while using the trackball.  You can rest the heel of your hand, though.  But I really wanted the 4-way up front and near center.  I think it works so much better for maze & platform games.

All admin buttons will be on the sides in an attempt to clean up an already busy panel.

[PL1]

Pic link not working.

Attempted to copy/paste the URL and it gives this message:

Error (403)
It seems you don't belong here! You should probably sign in.

Can you use the "Attachments and other options" menu to attach the png?

If it is larger than 2048KB, try save as and resize.


Scott

EDIT: Fixed.

[Jumpman64]

Oops!  Should be better now.

[Jumpman64]

Latest art proof:



The CPO doesn't quite match up to my layout, so I'm not sure what's up with that.  But anyway, things are progressing...

The CPO design borrows from Gamester's Arcade Galaxy panel (with permission -- thanks!).

[Jumpman64]

The drawer base needed a little help staying square...




Last night we finished just about all the sawing & routing for both cabinets.  The only thing left is to route the little slots for the speakers.  If anyone has any advice on how to best/properly do that, please do tell!

Annoyingly my 1/4" straight router bit BROKE as we were cutting a groove for Phil's monitor plexi.  It was only the 2nd cut with that bit!   

[Gamester]

Love the side art!

Looks like you guys are off to a great start.  Keep the updates coming. 

 

[Jumpman64]

Success on the speaker slots!   




Okay, okay... yes, I cheated...




As I mentioned in the first post, we have a RecRoomMasters kit cabinet at the office, so I borrowed the speaker panel    From there we just drilled a hole into which we inserted the flush trim bit (wonderful invention) and went to town. 

[Jumpman64]

Had to revise the CP layout.  I must have been drunk when I set it up the first time... 

Now the left/right players are more equally spaced:

[Jumpman64]

My buddy Phil served in the Marines during the first Gulf War and has chosen a Marines theme (art not final):

[Jumpman64]

Primed and ready.

[threedprof]

those two cabs, together, look VERY awesome!  I like the side art

[Jumpman64]

those two cabs, together, look VERY awesome!  I like the side art

Thanks!

Here's the monitor bezel art:



We're in the painting process now.  Hope to do some assembly tomorrow evening!

[Jumpman64]

A comment on monitors.  I'm a little torn.  When I started this project, I didn't give much thought at all about the monitor.  I picked up a cheapo 16:9 Dell LCD and that was it.  Then I started reading this site, and others like the shmups site, etc.  Since then, I've changed it out for another monitor I own, a 16:10 HP which is a very nice monitor, though still not ideal for this purpose.  But it's the best I have for now.

I've thought seriously about switching gears and picking up a real arcade CRT, but my cabinet is 24" wide on the interior, and has approx. 19" of vertical room as it sits currently.  Plus I already shaved 3" off the back so it's a tad shallow.  All that together says: a) the 27/29" arcade CRTs I have found available won't fit, and b) if I put a 19" portrait CRT in there it will be swimming in bezel (5-6" each side).

Sigh.

You live and learn, I guess.  I *could* shave off a few in. of horizontal on the front/back/top panels and probably fit the portrait 19"er, but then there's the fact that my control panel is 35" wide.  That's already ~5" overhang on each side, which is about the most I'm comfortable with.  I don't want it going to 7 or 8"...  Plus the art is already complete... GAH!

Anyway, for now I'm proceeding as planned...and thinking about building a proper portrait cab down the road...

[mgb]

Yeah
A 27" will be a tough fit especially If you made it thin in the back.
 Like you said, you're best going on as planned.
I have a 27" cry and love it but they're just getting harder to get now and LCD is just the necessary solution

[Jumpman64]

Made a lot of progress on Phil's cab last night in an attempt to get it to a playable state for Christmas.




Phil was going to paint it all black, but has decided at the last minute to have some side art printed, so for now we are leaving the sides as they are, which is primed & sanded with 3 grits up to 220.



I'm still waiting on a few things to arrive for mine so it's somewhat on hold for now.  Still sort of bumbed about the monitor, but since I still haven't found a definitively better solution for my predicament, so the plan remains the same:  full steam ahead.

[Jumpman64]

Update:  Phil's cabinet is playable and moved to his house.  After spending some time with it, he's cooked up a plan for how to upgrade it visually and functionally (in terms of the control panel).  Won't get into the details on that but will probably make a new thread for his when there is more to show.

As for mine, some exciting progress today -- moved the cabinet into the house and applied the left side art & T-molding:



Tomorrow I hope to get the other side done and perhaps start installing facing panels.

[Unstupid]

That artwork is ---smurfing--- awesome! 

[SpaceHedgehog]

That artwork looks fantastic 

[Jumpman64]

Thanks!  Yeah, I'm real happy with the quality of the art prints.  Here's the other side:

[Jumpman64]

Starting to come together...








Almost to the point now where I need to put the CP together, but I'm stuck there until parts arrive.   

[ark_ader]

Love it! 

[thatpurplestuff]

Looks fantastic... love the idea of merging these two games since they share such similar art and you've done a great job making it work.  Don Bluth is the man!

[mcseforsale]

Subscribed.  The Blue Pill is a quasi-ripoff of the V1 plans that I got a long time ago.  Grooving on this project.  You may want to SERIOUSLY consider your trackball placement.  Where it is there could make play on things like Golden Tee or World Class Bowling, etc very dangerous.  You'll be stubbing/jamming fingers on your monitor endlessly. 

Here's the build thread from The Blue Pill..

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,117977.msg1250249.html#msg1250249


AJ

[Yvan256]

Wow, amazing cabinets, really nice merging of the two games into the artwork and very good progress on your builds! 

[mcseforsale]

+1!  That artwork is bitchin!!

AJ

Wow, amazing cabinets, really nice merging of the two games into the artwork and very good progress on your builds! 

[Jumpman64]

Thanks for the kind words.  Don Bluth is absolutely the man.  Also, Vlad (via GameOnGrafix), did a great job of bringing my ideas for the cabinet to life.  I would recommend both him and GoG to anyone, though you guys already knew that, I bet


Oh and I am sure you are right about the trackball, but I think it's too late.  I've never played any of the bowling/golf arcade games, but I guess they could be fun.  Sounds like they require you to really spin the ball fast?  I tell ya I probably redesigned that panel layout a hundred times.  No matter what you do, you have to make compromises.

If I was to do it over again I would remove some controls from this cab, and put them on a second cab with a vertical monitor.  I may still do that down the road at some point.  For now, I think I need to just stay the course.

[dgrams2000]

That is looking Awesome.  I am so Jealous. 
Dragons Lair is one of my absolute favorite games.  I actually have the picture you used on the side of your cab as my wallpaper.  Its from one of the comic book covers if I remember right.

Question for you on the screen.
Looks like you are setting up for a widescreen format.
Are you doing a TV so that you can convert the screen to 4:3 mode to get the proper resolution for gameplay?
I am starting to convert my cabinet from a 27" tube TV to an LCD TV... but was testing my emulators on my LCD in my bedroom and didnt care for the LCD 'stretching' the picture when the TV is in Widescreen mode.  Flipped it into 4:3 and the games & Dragon's Lair felt much nicer.

Anyhoo.. The cab looks awesome very nice job.

[Jumpman64]

For now the monitor is a 24" 16:10 LCD.  I'm not super happy about this, but I really don't know what to replace it with.  I'm definitely open to suggestions!

[chopperthedog]

For now the monitor is a 24" 16:10 LCD.  I'm not super happy about this, but I really don't know what to replace it with.  I'm definitely open to suggestions!

Should be easy to find one of these used. http://www.samsung.com/ae/consumer/computers-peripherals/monitors/lcd-monitor/LS21BRBAS/XSG



good day.

[EssexMame]

GREAT cabinet jumpman. I love the art on the side and CP - looks really impressive.

ChoppertheDog,
Why do you recommend this monitor? I'm looking for a 4:3 (or 5:4?) 19-21" LCD monitor preferably with H/V rotation on the stand. Samsung 214T (21") and 948BX (19") seem to have this.

I also hear something of "Power Return" - the monitor will switch back on once power restored, so can all be controlled from 1 switch with the PC etc. Do you know if this has this? It's not a feature that's listed I understand on any monitors and is trial/error.

[rablack97]

For now the monitor is a 24" 16:10 LCD.  I'm not super happy about this, but I really don't know what to replace it with.  I'm definitely open to suggestions!

Should be easy to find one of these used. http://www.samsung.com/ae/consumer/computers-peripherals/monitors/lcd-monitor/LS21BRBAS/XSG



good day.

Not really, these things are quite rare........as they are no longer in production....They have an awesome wide view, I think 170 degrees....

If you do come across one scoop it up quick...

[PL1]

I also hear something of "Power Return" - the monitor will switch back on once power restored, so can all be controlled from 1 switch with the PC etc. Do you know if this has this?

Griffindodd should know.

He used the 214t in his Little Ms. Pac-Man build.


Scott

[yotsuya]

I have one. It does.