Moon Patrol Bartop Build Log

[Fast351]

The final picture (the rest are at the bottom of page 1:  Final Pics)



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It has begun!  I have most of the parts in.  All I'm missing is the artwork and the IPAC VE which is coming slow boat. 

The conceptual drawings:




Here I'm making the first cut on the brand new 4x8 sheet of B2 Birch:



And here are the finished sides:



Big shout out to GroovyGameGear and TwistedQuarter for the T-molding and Joystick/buttons respectively.  They shipped the same day as the order came in and the stuff got here FAST!

Also a thanks to Minneapolis Glass for my custom sized piece of tempered glass.  $25 and dimensionally perfect!

An interesting part of this project so far has been trying to find the correct paint colors.  Nothing seems even close for the base color on the sides.  Then, as I'm walking away from the paint department in disgust at the home improvement store, I spy this:  Rustoleum Maui Blue. 

After reading about all the people trying to match colors, including this thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=113820.0



I found this color.  Judging by some of the stuff I've found online painted in that color, it looks pretty darn close!



A question for you guys:  What do you use for wood putty to fill plywood?  I had some chipping when I ripped down with my circular saw, that will need to be fixed.

Hopefully I will get most of the cabinetry done this weekend. 

[Fast351]

My pile of parts is complete, minus the artwork and the IPAC.



And a fairly complete BOM of the whole thing:



A couple of parts on that list are tools, (slot router bit and roundover bit for control panel) but there are a couple parts missing that I had already like a 12V power supply for the LED lighting and the amplifier, and the plexi for the marquee came from work. 

[Fast351]

Good progress today!

Spent most of the day making sawdust:



I got a whole bunch of stuff assembled:



Close up of the control panel:



A little side view with my drywall square to offer some size perspective:



I ran out of wood screws and instead of going to drywall screws I will make sure I get the right screws to finish it off.  Then sanding and painting!  I got notification that my artwork shipped form GOG, so I can drill my control panel soon too.

[Fast351]

A little more work this weekend assembling things.  No more pictures, but basically in the same place it was in the last shot, with the exception that quite a few of the pieces are actually screwed in instead of just sitting there.

I also started painting some of the pieces that need to be installed separately like the speaker panel and the marquee strips. 

My artwork shows up today, so I should be able to drill the control panel, and finish gluing it together and then putty/sand/paint it for application of the CPO and installation of the controls. 

Some things I've learned so far during this project:

1) If you're scratch building, laying out the design in something like AutoCAD is REALLY useful.  I am able to measure dimensions that would be difficult to calculate by hand.  It is also nice for creating things like cut templates for speakers, vents, etc. 

2) Having full sized printed templates is a very nice bonus for checking your work as you're going along.  It makes sure you have things laid out as designed, and keeps you from making stupid mistakes.

3) No matter what sawblade you use in your circular saw, if you're crosscutting plywood, the top layer will chip.  I tried it first with my regular carbide tipped 40T blade.  Then I went and bought a 140T plywood blade that's hollow cut.  The plywood blade was better, but far from perfect.  The filler I used is called "DAP Latex wood filler".  A small 4oz tub is plenty for this entire project, and only a couple bucks.  Sands like wood, easy to work with, professional results.

4) I was REALLY glad to have a router table, and not just a router when doing the t-molding cuts.  That blade is THIN!  With the table I was able to keep the sides perfectly perpendicular and centered on the plywood edge.  I realize this is probably not an option for a full height cabinet, but if you're routing something smaller than perhaps 24x24 inches, it is really nice.

5) I never understood why a turnkey package ready to assemble from some places are $200-$300.  Because it's worth it.  Cutting all the pieces, while I enjoyed it, is definitely a bunch of work!

That and I should have swept up the sawdust before starting to paint.  Now I need to sand out the sawdust I accidentally kicked onto my work right after laying down a perfect coat of paint. 

CPO is at the post office, out for delivery!  Getting excited!

[ChanceKJ]

I hope this goes without saying but: buy more paint.

I think I hit 32 cans of spray total for FLYNN's, primer, main, and varnish. It was a full 4-Player standup, but still.

Cool build so far. I'll be watching this for sure.

[Le Chuck]

I use bondo for fill but a good hard wood putty will do fine to flush up those edges. Sand liberally to a fine feathered edge.

[Fast351]

A few more things done after work today.

Got the rear door all squared away.  Added a small block of aluminum for the lock bar to sit against.  Then on the bottom I used a real simple solution to center the door in the opening.  I have about 3/16" total clearance between the cabinet and the door, so I wanted to split the gap evenly between the two sides.  Works pretty nice.  You can also see the grill material, which is the same perforated aluminum as I used for the speaker pane, covering the air vents:



I took the Moon Patrol CPO picture from Game On Grafix website and traced the primary features so I could place the switches.  Then I ran a clear plot (plot on a transparent material) to make sure it lined up on the actual CPO.  It did, so I used that to drill the holes for the buttons and the joystick.  Then I puttied up all the seams, and added the latch hardware.  Next step is to sand, prime, and paint.  Then let the paint dry for a few days before applying the overlay:



And here is my first piece that is painted and assembled.  The marquee bracket is still drying because I got sawdust in the paint and had to sand and reshoot it.  It looks really nice.  I'm happy to use Rustoleum out of a spray can instead of having to brush everything:



I think I'll have the project wrapped up in another week or two.  Definitely fun to build one from scratch!

[Fast351]

Some progress to report! 

Got the control panel all done except for the wiring.  Here it is painted before the CPO application:



Here it is with the overlay installed, and the switches/joystick mounted:



Boy that sure looks nice.  Here is a shot of the underside.  The switches are definitely in there tight.  The nuts on the fire/jump are touching, and I had to notch the joystick to get it to clear the P1/P2 buttons:

[Fast351]

Some shots of the interior of the cabinet:

My ebay amplifier.  I'm using one of these in my upright, and they work nice.



Power wiring with DIN rail mounted Phoenix Contact IDC terminal strips:



The power switch, in the same place as the big cabinets:



The monitor mounted using VESA pattern, with the NUC mounting plate shown:



LED strip lighting and my Pioneer 4" speakers.  The LEDs are mounted so they line up with the center of the marquee on an angle cut 1x1 dowel:



Those LEDs do a really nice job lighting the marquee evenly:

[Fast351]

A shot showing the nice glossy paint:



And finally, a shot with the bezel and glass, the whole thing mocked up:



Things left to do:

• Paint the sides
• Stencil the artwork on the sides
• Install the t-molding
• Wire the IPAC
• Install the PC

Hope to see the stencils and the IPAC this week.  I might be playing the new machine by this time next weekend!

[talkgeek]

that looks really nice, well done 

[Fast351]

Squirt one of the side base:

[Fast351]

Spraying squirt 2 tonight!

[wp34]

Sweet!  Where did you get those stencils?

[jaharr01]

3) No matter what sawblade you use in your circular saw, if you're crosscutting plywood, the top layer will chip.  I tried it first with my regular carbide tipped 40T blade.  Then I went and bought a 140T plywood blade that's hollow cut.  The plywood blade was better, but far from perfect.  The filler I used is called "DAP Latex wood filler".  A small 4oz tub is plenty for this entire project, and only a couple bucks.  Sands like wood, easy to work with, professional results.

If you are using a tablesaw you can put masking tape across the cut line.Works great, hardly any chipping.That's tough if you are free handing it with a powersaw

[Fast351]

Sweet!  Where did you get those stencils?

Gamestencils.com!

[Fast351]

Blue stencils removed.  Turned out really nice!

[emphatic]

Really nice.

[Superfrog]

Great looking and detailed bartop 

[LeedsFan]

That is an excellent bartop build!   

It's quite simplistic in it's aim, but you carried it out by keeping to the original design brilliantly. I did the same with my Robotron bartop, but I have to say your build techniques look better than mine.
The underside of the control panel is so neat and clean. I also love how you stencilled the side art like the original. I used silver vinyl on my Robotron and then added artwork that was printed onto clear vinyl to layer over it. It worked well but to do it they way you have stays 100% true to the original. It's little touches like that which set it apart.

You even kept the rear of the cabinet the same with the grilles over the oval air vents. I did the same but yours looks better.

Very well done!  I'd be proud to own that. It's a little beaut!!!   

[Fast351]

Thank you for all the kind comments!  It's kind of a labor of love for me.  I remember pumping hundreds of quarters into this machine, so I figured I needed something to rekindle my childhood

Daily pic, ready for yellow squirt:



Tomorrow I will peel the yellow stencil, and we'll get a good look at how it went.  So far it's looking pretty sweet though!

[Fast351]

The "big reveal" 

[BorgDog]

  That looks awesome!

[johnrt]

It looks fantastic! What a great build! 

[Fast351]

It's ALIVE!!!

(Yeah the wife needs a little practice on it )

[DaOld Man]

Great job!!!
That control panel is beautiful!

[ChanceKJ]

Crazy! great job.

[Fast351]

Great job!!!
That control panel is beautiful!

Thank you!  Shot of rthe underside:

[taylormadelv]

That looks a nice!

[yotsuya]

As a Moon Patrol fan/owner, I have to give you much props. 

[Fast351]

Got the big camera out.  Finished detailing out a few things, including the startup of the PC, custom boot screens, etc...

A good shot of the side art.  The colors came out real close with Rustoleum Maui Blue, Royal Blue, and Sunburst...



A couple of front shots:





A shot from the rear.  Note how close it looks to a full size Williams cabinet.  I even found a moving handle to complete the illusion:



The inside doesn't have much in it.  Just the NUC mounted on a VESA plate mounted to the monitor, an amplifier, and a little wiring...



And service access for the control panel, same as the big machines...



Intel Inside.  The NUC BIOS is supposed to let you replace this image, but I'll be damned if I could get it to work...  Just kept locking up when I tried to add a custom image:



Starting Windows, (C) Microsoft?  I don't think so.  Those paying attention to the details will spy the copyright message



Welcome to Moon Patrol:



My custom MaLa interface, based loosely on John's Arcade's front end:



And of course, it plays Moon Patrol!!!

[ChanceKJ]

I can't stop saying enough about this build.

First, Wicked job on the near spotless cable management in a small space like this. I approve.
Second, NUC for the win.
Third, Art wise, Solid.

Oh, and Preemptive nomination for the 2015 BYOAC UCA next January,  Just sayin'

I keep wondering what this build would be like with an actual Moon Patrol PCB inside.

[danny_galaga]

Great build (",)

[yotsuya]

I keep wondering what this build would be like with an actual Moon Patrol PCB inside.

The boardset is pretty big and wouldn't fit in there.

It's a really nice, clean job over all. 

[Generic Eric]

This picture reminded me of an old show on PBS called The Secret City, where a dude dressed in futuristic attire would teach basic art ideas like symmetry and dimensions etc.

This picture here though, I like how the speaker covering shows a reflection of color.  Also, how wide is this cabinet compared to a fullsize Williams?

[markc74]

Beautiful cab mate. Moon patrol is my favourite shaped cab and this is perfect. Seeing these pics shows how ridiculously tidy it is - it puts the inside of mine to shame!

Love the artwork too. Especially the sideart and how you used stencils rather than overlay.

Seems to me that there's been a bit of a resurgence in repros recently and this is up there with the best of them. 

[Fast351]

This picture reminded me of an old show on PBS called The Secret City, where a dude dressed in futuristic attire would teach basic art ideas like symmetry and dimensions etc.

This picture here though, I like how the speaker covering shows a reflection of color.  Also, how wide is this cabinet compared to a fullsize Williams?

It's about 80% scale.  I let the 17 inch monitor drive the size, the control panel (width inside cabinet) is 19"

[opt2not]

Very impressive build log, and wonderfully executed!  The cabinet turned out great, and I completely dig the choices you made. From the Stenciled artwork, to the serviceable CP, down to the properly wired power and stand-alone Amp!

Very well done! 

[DeLuSioNal29]

Great build!  Unbelievable that you built this so quickly and yet it's top notch craftsmanship!

Now you just need to add Craftymech's SLG:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129344.0.html

Congrats!

DeLuSioNaL29

[yotsuya]

Great build!  Unbelievable that you built this so quickly and yet it's top notch craftsmanship!

Now you just need to add Craftymech's SLG:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129344.0.html

Congrats!

DeLuSioNaL29

Unfortunately, he's not using VGA in his build, so that's not possible.