Thanks for all the feedback, guys.
Word of advice and you wont see this till after you build it, following those plans is going to give you a monster of a cab. You will find out you won't need half of that real estate for your controls.
Don't go crazy on your admin panel as well rdowney had alot on his and i copied it and i dont use half of em.
You base doesnt have to be that deep as well, unless its just the look you want.
The 24" monitor might be making the cab seem bigger than it is. The cabinet is only 24.5" wide (not counting the CP), and the base is 25" deep. I'll put up a pic with some other cabs for size reference later on.
I'm not going to have a separate admin panel, just coin-up and start buttons for each player.
I like the look of the base as-is. I'm not really into the super-slim look. I initially had the whole body a couple inches deeper, but found that I could fit both sides on one sheet of plywood/laminate if I slimmed it down a little. As a nice bonus, it ended up looking better (to me) slimmer. I tried even slimmer but didn't like it as much.
I made a pedestal and included console games. I used pretty much the same controls as you. The u360's don't feel anything like arcade controls. They lack that specific feedback you get from a normal joystick. I regret getting them, especially when I don't even play console games on it. I end up using a controller on the couch. It is pretty crazy to spend $300 more on PC hardware in order to emulate 1 or 2 games on the wii, and also downgrade the arcade controls in order to play them. It's great to have it all in theory, but you may find yourself regretting it like 99% of people who do it.
As far as the trackball goes, the distance from the ball to the screen is short. You are going to find yourself uncomfortably using it in order to stop your hand from hitting the wall of the screen. The P2 joystick is also going to get in the way for those aggressive trackball games, because you are going to paddle the trackball using the side of your hand and will not roll it exactly strait head on.
You can build what you think you want, but there is a reason why people are constantly bringing up these points and trying to persuade you to do otherwise. The joystick will be the biggest casualty in all of this.
I appreciate your thoughts, TW. I've read posts from a number of users on the U360s, positive and negative. I recognize that the U360s represent a compromise with regard to feel, but so far I think the tradeoff is worth it to me. I haven't played many arcade games in the last 20 years, so I'm not expecting a certain feel from the stick. I also like the 4-way/8-way switchability of the U360. They're not the only ones that do this, but it's a feature that I'll use.
On the other hand, I haven't actually used a U360 myself. Can you describe the aspect of their feel that you dislike?
As it's laid out now, the trackball's bezel is 9-3/8" from the back edge of the CP. I could move it back another 3/8" without expanding the CP box -- 9-3/4" from the glass. What distance from the screen do you recommend?
The trackball is 2-3/4" from the P2 joystick, laterally. Diagonally, it's about 3". That'd increase a little if I moved it back 3/8" as noted above. I see what you mean about the joystick interfering with a sidearm thrust. That might have to be a compromise I'll have to deal with, but I'm open to other ideas.
I like the profile of your cabinet. It is very similar to my Tron cabinet which was also inspired by Knievel. You CP looks roughly the same size as mine and I don't find it to be overly large--although I did cram a spinner and Tron stick on mine.
Having said that I'd have to echo rablack97 a little and suggest that since you are using an LCD you consider a slimmer cabinet. If you are happy with the look keep it as is. Your proportions are classic.
Thanks, 34, I like your Tron Legacy build! I tried modeling mine a little slimmer, but ended up liking it at this size.