Nintendo cabinet build with undetermined theme

[gingecko]

I'm not sure of the proper way to paint the inside of the slots. I taped mine off and spray painted the inside before I started painting the panels. I think if I had sanded out the inside of the slots a bit better and maybe primed beforehand, it would have turned out better. They are certainly not an easy surface to paint though.

[javeryh]

I don't think the insides of the slots got painted on the original Nintendo cabs.  I'm reasonably sure mine is bare wood but I'm not home so I can't check.

[opt2not]

I don't think the insides of the slots got painted on the original Nintendo cabs.  I'm reasonably sure mine is bare wood but I'm not home so I can't check.

Mine is on my DK Junior.

[javeryh]

I don't think the insides of the slots got painted on the original Nintendo cabs.  I'm reasonably sure mine is bare wood but I'm not home so I can't check.

Mine is on my DK Junior.

That's interesting - mine is not.  Just checked.

[UnclearHermit]

I don't think the insides of the slots got painted on the original Nintendo cabs.  I'm reasonably sure mine is bare wood but I'm not home so I can't check.

Yeah, I meant to post that earlier, but I checked a bunch of photos from other cabinets and it seemed like sometimes they were bare wood and sometimes painted.  I did wonder if the painted ones were where they've been repaired/repainted over the years and the slots got done at the time, but I decided to go down the paint route either way.

I haven't had much time over the last couple of weeks, but I've put a first coat inside the slots as a bit of a test, using a cotton bud as my "brush".  It's thin enough to get inside the slots, so just a case of dipping it in some paint and then moving it over the surface.  I can put it on a lot thicker than with spray, which helps with the soaking in on the MDF edges.  I'm planning to sand and put a second coat on before deciding what to do next.  I might finish off with one coat of spray depending on how it's looking.  The paint, incidentally, is just some pre-mixed kids paint that I found lying around in the house



After first coat:

[UnclearHermit]

I'm not sure what I'll get done over the winter months with it being generally cold and dark, but I need to start planning what this thing is going to BE other than a bunch of unpainted wood.

As I mentioned previously, I do need to get hold of coin door/marquee brackets etc. etc. so if anyone knows a UK source then PLEASE let me know.  For any other UK builders out there who have imported from the US, any hints or clues about postage and import pricing?

Beyond that I've got to think about:
- Theme/colour etc.
- Arcade monitor vs LCD panel
- Controls

Much as I'd love to build an arcade, in reality this is going to be a single machine and quiet possibly stored in a garage that's not exactly warm and welcoming.  So I need it to play more than one game (but not ALL of them  ) and I have to keep in mind I do actually want to use it and not spend all my time repairing it. So, initial thoughts:
- A vertical monitor, because more games that I care about are vertical.  I'm looking for the early 80s stuff that I grew up with (PacMan/Mr Do's Castle/Mappy/Bomb Jack).  Downside is that I miss horizontal stuff that I care about, like Popeye, which ironically is the only Nintendo game in the list I just mentioned.  Okay, so I'll probably play DK on it, but it's not my favourite game.  In reality I'm not going to get a correct model monitor for this in the UK, and I'm a bit nervous about the damage my garage would do to an arcade monitor anyway.  Plus I have to think about the weight, since I don't have monitor bolt holes in the cabinet yet (although, as I mentioned many months ago, I don't quite understand how battens can't support a monitor if battens are ultimately supporting the whole cabinet weight).  All in all an LCD is going to be MUCH easier and less long-term pain, but I do worry that it's going to look rubbish.
- Theme/colour is tricky because it feels a bit odd to make this look like a DK cabinet and then hardly DK, or to theme it as Popeye with a monitor that can't play it.  Any thoughts/inspiration here is welcome.  I did consider going down the Fixit Felix route since that's the right orientation, but I'm not a great lover of the cabinet artwork.
- I need something that can handle 4-way and 8-way, just given the small list of games above.  That rules out the Nintendo standard joystick for these cabinets, but I'd like to get as close as I can.  I could create a couple of control panels, and I'm considering doing that at some point anyway to allow two-player games.  But I don't want to be swapping panels every 5 minutes, so a switchable joystick like the Servostik is attractive.  Any thoughts on how this would look compared to a Nintendo joystick.  I mean, it's a shaft with a ball on the top, but any real-world experience?

I'd love some input here.  I'm at the stage when I can still consider all options, and I don't have any strong opinions yet.  Thanks!