New idea for a funky sideart or Marquee?

[Soulcon]

With a little work and some cutting or routing I really think these little gems could make a very unique arcade system. Just think of the backlite possiblities. I don't know after I looked at a few of there examples it really got me thinking of funky plans. Well here they are!
What do ya think?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/6950/

-Soul

[Hoagie_one]

yeah we used to do nintendo characters that way in paint.  now we can do it physically.

[Excretious]

This is too cool!

[pocketbikez]

that would look really cool made into a full rectangle marquee, sandwiched inbetween plexiglass and backlit. nice find

[Martoon]

Very, very cool!

If you go directly to the PixelBlocks website http://www.pixelblocks.com, it looks like you can get 200 packs of individual colors for $5.50 each, which might be a better option if you have a specific design you want to make (just get the colors you need).

And Stewart Toys http://stewarttoys.zoovy.com/category/constructiontoys.pixel_blocks looks to have better prices than ThinkGeek.  They also have the single-color 200 packs for $5 each, but they don't have the full selection of colors that pixelblocks.com has.

[gprime]

or... make the entire machine out of them!

if i had a lot of time, and money, i would *so* do that.  

[Knoxximus]

I wish I was artsy.....all I can do is compose music

[hunky_artist]

hey! music IS art.... just the kind you hear not see  

[simplygriff]

Cool.  There is a retailer about 7 blocks from my house that sells these.  I may go check them out.  
-G

[Martoon]

Just thinking over some numbers for using these for a marquee (backlit, obviously).  It says they're about 3/8" cubed, and from looking at them, I'm guessing that size is center-to-center when they're connected.  So if you wanted to make a marquee that consisted of a solid sheet of these, it would come out something like this:

Let's say the marquee is 36" X 9".  That would be 96 blocks X 24 blocks, or 2304 blocks.  The prices for the sets of blocks tends to come out to around 2 to 2.5 cents per block, so you'd be looking at $50 to $60, which isn't as bad as I thought it might be.  If Stewart Toys got the 2800 piece set back in stock, you could pick that up for $46 + shipping, but it might not have the selection of colors you want.  I think you might be better off getting the single-color 200 packs for $5 each and getting the colors you really want.

If anyone actually gets some of these, please let us know how they are.

Another cool pic:

[Martoon]

Slight correction to my numbers.  I just did their interactive "Digital Stained Glass" thing on their website with a test 65 x 65 pixel image, and the 65 x 65 block pattern it gave me said it had a size of 20.3" x 20.3", which means each block covers about 0.3123" (a little less than 3/8").  So a 36" x 9" marquee would actually take 115 x 29 blocks, or 3335 blocks.

[snekse]

 

These would make awesome Marquees.  The only thing better would be entire side art out of something like this.  Expensive, but cool as hell.  Do something like a false wall so you can backlite your side art!  How cool would that be?

 

[Soulcon]

You could also make a funky panel for those who don't want Coin Slots. Or haven't been able to find one for there converted cabs. I was thinking of picking about four boxs of the P{roffesional and 2 of the black and white to make things alot easier in color selection. Plus I can make a ton of things for multiplpe arcade systems. Just a thought.

-Soul

[patrickl]

I thought I was having a deja vu experience ... PixelBlocks - Better than LEGO?