Project Announcement: Super Spacefortress Macross - 100% Complete

[yotsuya]

Looks like the control panel experiment was successful!

[yotsuya]

Button fitting!!!

[Le Chuck]

Wow, those things just fit right on in there don't they?


Looking great, keep up the swift progress!

[yotsuya]

Thanks, LC. It helps when you can plasma cut your own. 

[talkgeek]

looking good, can't wait to see the artwork going on 

[yotsuya]

OK, finalizing the artwork. Here is the original plan.



However... I saw this photo of a mockup cockpit. I've been wanting to incorporate the arcraft design in there somewhere...



So I took my favorite part of the design and added this to my mockup:



Thoughts? I'd probably paint on the black parts, then use a vinyl decal for the emblem.

[Le Chuck]

Option 2 for sure. 

If you could drop out the starfield background and blow the character and gundam up to full skin making the most of the negative space around them with that black bar across the bottom it'd be over the top sweomes. 

[jdbailey1206]

Option 2 for sure. 

If you could drop out the starfield background and blow the character and gundam up to full skin making the most of the negative space around them with that black bar across the bottom it'd be over the top sweomes.

+1.  I would also blow up your characters and gundam but keep them on a muted starry background.  And have the emblem in the same place.

Your bezel came out nice!  Mat board?

[Le Chuck]

Option 2 for sure. 

If you could drop out the starfield background and blow the character and gundam up to full skin making the most of the negative space around them with that black bar across the bottom it'd be over the top sweomes.

+1.  I would also blow up your characters and gundam but keep them on a muted starry background.  And have the emblem in the same place.

Your bezel came out nice!  Mat board?

Would also work.  Do both side by side so we can judge 

[yotsuya]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'd rather not go full size side art. I'm shooting for late 80s kit style. I wasn't even planning on doing the bottom part at first, but I really want to shout out to the original ship. Plus applying full size artwork sucks. 

I still need to finalize how I want to do the other stuff. I may have to leave out the numbers and just have a black bar if it's too much trouble. I like the look even without the emblem/bar, but this would be a bonus. We'll see.

Your bezel came out nice!  Mat board?

Yep. Traced from a thrashed Centipede bezel, then cut out and assembled. Fit like a glove. It was blue and in my Centipede. I took it out, lightly spray painted it, and it's good to go.

[yotsuya]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---! No pressure!

If you've ever wanted to get your hands on the long-forgotten arcade classic Turkey Shoot, you're in luck. The ultra-rare Williams-produced game from 1984, which involves wasting villainous turkeys with a light gun, will be available for play at ZapCon 2014. Ditto for similar rarities like the practically Paleozoic 1972 mechanical shooter Haunted House, the 1982 pinball game Thunderball, and the Japanese import Super Spacefortress Macross.

[wp34]

Option 2.  That thing looks bad ass.

[Le Chuck]

Boy the more I look at it the more I like that mockup cockpit, doing the sides with dark grey and white paneling with that black boarder and logo across the bottom would be pretty sweet, - you wouldn't even need the Super Spacefortress art, just maybe tuck in that banpresto logo. 

Also, I'm not certain that graphic from the mockup is actually round.  I know it's at an angle so perspective is off but it still looks ovoid to me and the round one in your graphic doesn't look quite right.  Might want to smoosh it a bit. 

[yotsuya]

Boy the more I look at it the more I like that mockup cockpit, doing the sides with dark grey and white paneling with that black boarder and logo across the bottom would be pretty sweet, - you wouldn't even need the Super Spacefortress art, just maybe tuck in that banpresto logo. 

Also, I'm not certain that graphic from the mockup is actually round.  I know it's at an angle so perspective is off but it still looks ovoid to me and the round one in your graphic doesn't look quite right.  Might want to smoosh it a bit.

Trust me, bro, it's round. I grew up on that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. 

Remember, not only is that cockpit at an angle, but the walls of the cockpit are curved as well, skewing it.

[Slippyblade]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---! No pressure!

Haha!  You got a New Times callout!

Last time I saw something like that, a group of my friends called the "Dark Ones" were planning a backyard kegger.  They got a "what to do on Friday" callout in New Times...  600 total strangers through my friend's backyard later the cops finally showed up.

[yotsuya]

+1.  I would also blow up your characters and gundam but keep them on a muted starry background.  And have the emblem in the same place.

For shits and giggles. Not planning to do this, though. 

[jdbailey1206]

+1.  I would also blow up your characters and gundam but keep them on a muted starry background.  And have the emblem in the same place.

For shits and giggles. Not planning to do this, though. 

Jerk.   

[yotsuya]

Well, you asked for one! 

[talkgeek]

I like it (though would remove the chick in the centre [that way can see more of the spaceship), slide the guy to the left a bit, and drop the red head a few inches so her elbow was inside the console section) - shame you aren't using it 
 
.. in fact if you don't plan too - would you mind if I used as a theme on an old cab (similar shape) I just scored ?   


.. yes this is an attempt at reverse psychology 

[yotsuya]

Not at all! I do all this for the community. Once it's done, you can certainly have it.

[Le Chuck]

You have my address.  I expect the starfighter patch to be on its way.  I'll be by my mailbox. 

[yotsuya]

You have my address.  I expect the starfighter patch to be on its way.  I'll be by my mailbox.

Hahahaha! I have some spare 10"x10" Starfighter decals from my first cab...

[yotsuya]

OK, been in contact with Lucian045 on here to do some printing for me. He's created a proof, and it looks great.

[yotsuya]

It's raining here in Phoenix, so I got to stay inside and do some stuff...

[BadMojo12]

Nice work; I have to fill in some buttons on the very same type of CP; what is the JB weld method that you did?

[yotsuya]

Nice work; I have to fill in some buttons on the very same type of CP; what is the JB weld method that you did?

Hey there!

What I did was create a new panel layout in Illustrator, plasma cut it out of sheet metal, and then JB Welded it to the old panel. On the old panel, I cut out holds big enough to accommodate where the new controls would be, so that way they would be directly attached to the new plate without obstruction. My next step will be to use Bondo to eliminate the edge/seam from joining the two panels together.

[yotsuya]

Bezel:

OK, so I wasn't planning to do a bezel, but I took some guidance from the Centipede bezel and made a minimalist one using some assets from Macross. I worked in the instruction cards (after cleaning them up), replaced the Centipede logo with the UN Spacy logo, retained the shape of the lower part of bezel, and added screw elements that are Macross-centric. I'm chuffed enough by it.

[pbj]

That looks like black Domo Kun with a bowtie

[yotsuya]

Once I cut out the green, it'll look tight.

[pbj]

It's your money...

[jdbailey1206]

 Quit playing with your joystick! 

[yotsuya]

It's your money...

I prints for free, homes. 

[yotsuya]

What I like about this community are the suggestions people offer. Sometimes they're great. Sometimes they're best left unsaid. I have a definite vision for this cabinet, but I've also listened to feedback. My homeboy jdbailey1206  suggested bezel art, and while I wanted to keep it simple, it did get the wheels turning. I took some elements from the Centipede bezel, worked them into how I wanted an original simple bezel (and I mean simple, it was going to just be two instruction cards, and that was IT), and went with it. I had some time today, so I put it together...

[yotsuya]

I'm pleased with how it came together. Home Depot had a 24x24 piece of 1/8 whiteboard for ONE WHOLE DOLLAR. I used it, fleshed out how big I wanted the opening to be, routed it out, used some Easy Tack I had to put the print on the board, and I was set. So my bezel ended up costing me $1.

BTW, it looks a little hazy in the photo above because I still have the protective covering on the plexi.

[opt2not]

Oh man, I really love the way this is turning out. 

[yotsuya]

Thanks, bro. ZapCon is about a month away, but I should have it done well before that.

[talkgeek]

I think you've nailed the look you were wanting - well done! 

[yotsuya]

I think you've nailed the look you were wanting - well done! 

Thanks, my friend. I'm quite chuffed so far.

[yotsuya]

Been a fun few days. I've been messing with the monitor setup since I finished the bezel, and I noticed an issue. After Macross would run for a few minutes, the K4600 monitor would develop a wave to it. The wave would come and go in intensity, but it was always there.

I took the monitor to a repair party a few weeks ago to get recapped, but that didn't fix it. Interesting enough, I put in a different JAMMA board and it was solid. Also, when I hooked up the Macross PCB to The Troubleshooter, it was solid as well. I even reflowed all the solder points for the connections on the K4600, but no luck.

I shot an email to Buffett at KLOV, who's a monitor guru, and he told me that some games just don't like certain monitors, which I had heard before. He suggested trying a different monitor, so I took the K7000 out of my Centipede, recapped it (I'd been sitting on the cap kit for months), and put it in the Macross cab. I put the K4600 into Centipede and hooked them both up. I'm happy to say that after a little tweaking, both of them look great! Macross is solid, and so is Centipede. I really lucked out there.

I put in my order for the Side Art with Lucian on here today, and I started the Bondo work for the control panel. Almost there!!!

[orion]

Did you check the edge connector at your game PCB? Replace fuse holders? Pac cabs are notorious for this and the wave you are describing sounds like it could be power related. Enjoying this thread, used to enjoy this show back in the day.