Material: MDF or Plywood (Cabinet height: 81.5", Cabinet width: 43.5", CP width: 48", CP depth: 16")
Monitor: 39" LED LCD TV
CPU: Pentium D860 w/ 8GB DDR3, 1 TB HDD and 100GB SSD
XBOX 360 (RGH) w/ 2 MadCatz hacked pads
Controls: 4 x Seimitsu LS-32, 1 or 2 x Zippy joysticks, Arcade Prime Push Buttons, Happ Trackball w/ Optiwiz
Coindoor: 2 x 2-Player coin doors from Twisted Quarter or similar.
Art/Theme: TBD
Issue #1: Material
I have 3 4'x8' sheets of 3/4" MDF at my disposal. They need to be flattened out a bit, as they've been sitting in a humidity controlled environment. A friend of mine has a home-made CNC that cuts up to 4'x6'. With some time and luck, I'd like to recreate everything in AutoCAD or similar (currently mocked-up in Illustrator). I like the light-weight aspect of the plywood. I play on doing vinyl graphics from GoG for the side panels, and the control panel. Everything else will be painted.
Issue #2: LCD Rotation
I'm going back-and-forth about rotating the LCD. I've seen some excellent implementations, but I'm not sure I want to spend the time/money on it. Are other emulators (demul, TTX, etc.) able to be scripted properly? I've been setting up everything with Hyperspin, but have seen a few decent MALA themes and would consider switching. If I do decide to rotate the monitor, I'll return it to landscape orientation before going back to the front-end. Vertical themes are not currently an impedance.
Questions:
1) Will a 20"x25" Shmup be overwhelming at ~24" distance?
2) I got a flush trackball and would like to do vinyl overtop without doing a plexiglass panel. My joysticks have standard length shafts and I'd like to avoid buying extended ones. I'll be top-mounting and routing the CP 1/16" or so to smooth everything out. How do I apply graphics over the trackball mount and the joystick plates?
Thanks in advance for the support and encouragement. This has been 16 years in the making (ever since my last run to Putt-Putt fun and games).