My first cab, need advice

[durak]

http://koti.mbnet.fi/starr/arcade/
Go to the url first so you will know what I'm talking about, thanks.

The cabinet itself is in good condition and won't need any restoring (for the time being at least). But I'm kind of lost with how to mount a monitor there and what to do with the control panel.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=18049

The way explained on that thread would be optimal of course, but I don't think I have the skills nor do I wan't to open up and modify a monitor. I'm on a tight bugdet, so I'm probably going with a 21" pc monitor, or if it won't fit in there, then with a 19" one. I take it I have to build somekind of a shelf there for it, but as I'm completely new to these things, I'd rather have your opinion and advice on what to do.

Then the control panel. I'd rather keep the original one, but then I'm facing a few problems. First, as you can see from the pictures it's in a quite steep angle and might be quite hard on one's wrists when playing? And second, it's quite small and would become very crowded. I was thinking of mounting a wooden panel under it, mounting the controls (joystick and 6 buttons for both players) on the wooden panel and then cover the whole thing with vinyl or something.
The compugame logo fits the theme and looks good enough, so it's stays.
Again, opinions and advice very much appreciated!

[spystyle]

I like your cab! I wonder if it was a baby Tempest...