The 'Unnamed' Project Starts

[daveg2000]

Hey guys.. I dont have a name for this bad boy yet,
but I just got my showcase cab delivered today, brand
spankin new.

I worked with a company right here in WI called
Fun Company Games (www.funcompanygames.com)
and they quoted me a very decent price for an empty showcase
cab, with a blank and custom-sized control panel.

Here are a few pics of it after we got it in the basement (just barely)




...and of course I had to see it in action, so I threw in the TV, hooked up the PC and set an old marquee on the top...



I still have to think up a name for it... I have no idea what to call it.
Working w/FunCompany was great.  I have a few minor details I have
to work out with them about the cab - they were VERY helpful
up to this point... we'll see how the follow up is.

[tommy]

Ive always liked those showcase cabs and saves alot of time already made, what can you fit in there , it looks like a 27"

How much did you pay for that if you dont mind?

 

[daveg2000]

Yes.. it saved me a TON of time...
What you are actually looking at is a huge 32" TV...
It Rocks!!!!!

After Putting together what I would need for parts,
plus payment for someone helping me cut the pieces... I
was looking at about $500-$600 at least - for parts
(and now that I see what they used... maybe more)
They nailed me only $900 for the whole cab,
Including glass, marquee light, speakers, and created
the control panel to my specs.  And they delivered
to my basement for a whoppin $50.. (I dont know if this
is standard, but they had other deliveries in the area this day.)
So, for the extra money I paid, it was well worth it to have
the cabinet professionally made!!  (who knows what kind
of monstrosity I would have come up with... hehe)

 

[dphirschler]

Two names that came to me while thinking of names for my own cabinet: MAMEsaurus and Monster MAME.  Both are suited for large cabs.


Darryl

[Craig]

That looks great. I'd love to have that in my house Just call it 'Big F*cker'

[Bones]

Looks great. Good onya for getting a bargain! 

[oldsage]

What's with everybody making (or in this case buying) showcases all of a sudden?! I wanted to be original...and stuff...

j/k, looks nice, do something cool with it, but not too cool, cause then nobody's gonna look at my project...
(kidding again... i don't want to have to change my name to oldsge, if you know what i mean... )

BTW, isn't that price a little... I dunno, ignore me...

[Mr-Megalo]

daveg2000 - that is a nice bit of kit ! ! cant wait to see it completed

[oldsage]

oldsage - my Megalo 2 (when it was running MAME) IMVHO would have been the ultimate showcase cab

 

yeah... sure... "I'm Mr-Megalo and i have teh best showcase evar!!! OMG OMG OMG!!! My showcase is cool and yorz ar NOT!!! Cuz i'm kool n staf!!!"...

 

j/k, it's obvious my showcase will come out WAY MOR OSOMM THEN U RZ!!!! 

[Mr-Megalo]

oldsage - my Megalo 2 (when it was running MAME) IMVHO would have been the ultimate showcase cab

 

yeah... sure... "I'm Mr-Megalo and i have teh best showcase evar!!! OMG OMG OMG!!! My showcase is cool and yorz ar NOT!!! Cuz i'm kool n staf!!!"...

 

j/k, it's obvious my showcase will come out WAY MOR OSOMM THEN U RZ!!!!

[daveg2000]

BTW, isn't that price a little... I dunno, ignore me...

No, considering I have almost NO woodworking skills, it was worth the few extra hundred bucks to get this thing built for me...
It saved me countless hours and lots of possible rebuilds of parts
that I would have screwed up along the way.

So, In the whole 'Arcade World' maybe its pricey, but not as pricey
as these 'completed' Mame cabinets that people are selling.
(especially the big $5000 showcase units)
I'll have more toys on mine for Less than 1/3 the cost of that.

I dont think its a rip.

[daveg2000]

anyways . . .back to the cab, daveg2000 will this be having any consoles hooked up ?

I'm looking to get a dreamcast hooked up so I can mount light guns, and the fishing rod controller to this thing, and then
will have a DVD player, along with Cable TV running in this thing
as well - so we can have sportscenter on during poker games..

(and whatver else I can think of... maybe my xbox, but I dont want it
to look cheesy with 2 xbox controllers laying on top of the control
panel, and I dont feel like getting into hacking up the XBox at this time)




As far as a name, I was thinking about borrowing from the Homer/jck_strw's Idea of "Compuglobalhypermegacade"
and making some kind of off-chute of this name.....

The longer name just cracks me up...
Even pepole that don't know the 'source' of the name
think that it's funny.
I wrote something down
around here to that effect.... (looking through my piles of paper)
darn... cant find it.. I'll hopefully find it later...

[javeryh]

How about naming it "Showtime"?

[daveg2000]

too..... Eddie Murphy...

[oldsage]

BTW, isn't that price a little... I dunno, ignore me...

No, considering I have almost NO woodworking skills, it was worth the few extra hundred bucks to get this thing built for me...
It saved me countless hours and lots of possible rebuilds of parts
that I would have screwed up along the way.

So, In the whole 'Arcade World' maybe its pricey, but not as pricey
as these 'completed' Mame cabinets that people are selling.
(especially the big $5000 showcase units)
I'll have more toys on mine for Less than 1/3 the cost of that.

I dont think its a rip.

In retrospect, and thinking about my bad construction experiences, i would have done it too if i had the money...
It looks really well done actually, and you probably did the right thing...

BTW, @megalo, i have a weird sense of humor... I'm not entirely kidding when i tell people to ignore me ...

[Fig]

And I thought I was the only one with Video Trivia LOL

[daveg2000]

Here is his 'brother'

[Mr-Megalo]

BTW, @megalo, i have a weird sense of humor... I'm not entirely kidding when i tell people to ignore me ...

heh - thats cool man,  I sold my sense of humour on eBay, got a good price too, 3 skittles and a half drunk bottle of peach schnapps

so . . dave, will consoles ever be graced on this cab ? ?

[Fig]

Thats funny daveg2000 
Did you play it before you mamed it? I played mine for about 10 mins and thought to myself "People payed to play this???"

BTW your showcase looks good 

[daveg2000]

Thats funny daveg2000

[oldsage]

Thats funny daveg2000

[daveg2000]

"SUPER SUPER GO GO EXTRA FUN SPECIAL GAMING GAME PLAYING PLAYERS ARCADE CONSOLE ULTRA ALPHA BETA GAMA UNIT SYSTEM MACHINE FOR PLAY!!!! SUPER HAPPY FUN FUN!!!"

Thats not bad... although I will have to use .075 font size when
making up the marquee!  haha

[oldsage]

"SUPER SUPER GO GO EXTRA FUN SPECIAL GAMING GAME PLAYING PLAYERS ARCADE CONSOLE ULTRA ALPHA BETA GAMA UNIT SYSTEM MACHINE FOR PLAY!!!! SUPER HAPPY FUN FUN!!!"

Thats not bad... although I will have to use .075 font size when
making up the marquee!

[daveg2000]

Hows this layout for the 4' control panel?

I snuck the extra joysticks in for SmashTV which
you dont see too often... otherwise its pretty standard...

Any comments?
I'll probably mounts Dreamcast guns down on the sides of the
front pedestal, and a fishing rod up on the top of the control
panel, above the 3 buttons up center....



p.s. yes, those are purple legos - or duplos in the control panel... those
wont be there in the final design...

[AmericanDemon]

I'm putting the dual joys for Smash TV on my cabinet too.  Its a showcase too.  heh.  I have been collecting the pieces slowly but surely.  Now if I can get my artwork template for cutting....  then it will be golden! 

[daveg2000]

I've been wondering how it would look to have Player 2's
second joystick be one with a button on top, so I can play some
tank games....

Otherwise, if it is just another super, its sole purpose will
be Player 2 for smashtv.

The downside to using the stick w/the button, is that the
panel's 'looks' will not flow as nice.

Anyone else do anything like this?

[tommy]

Hows this layout for the 4' control panel?

I snuck the extra joysticks in for SmashTV which
you dont see too often... otherwise its pretty standard...

Any comments?
I'll probably mounts Dreamcast guns down on the sides of the
front pedestal, and a fishing rod up on the top of the control
panel, above the 3 buttons up center....



p.s. yes, those are purple legos - or duplos in the control panel... those
wont be there in the final design...

Im not sure if i would put so many things on that cab, guns, fishing rod, its a nice cabinet and i think it would look cluterd with too many type controles on it.

I would have it look nice and clean from afar, and maybe when your ready to play you could bring out the other controles, but its yours to do what you like... just a suggestion.

[daveg2000]

I would have it look nice and clean from afar, and maybe when your ready to play you could bring out the other controles, but its yours to do what you like... just a suggestion.

[daveg2000]

I'm trying to think back to my Aladdin's castle days...
I replaced a couple joysticks in my time there, but the manager
mostly took care of the repairs.

Isnt there a way to get the 'supers' to stick up higher?
wasnt it like putting the switch/block on upside down on the bottom
or something?

[DrewKaree]

Dave, you have no idea how freaked out this is.  I'm from WI myself, have a buddy I showed this site to, and his name happens to be the exact same as yours!  I checked out your website, and saw "The boys", and I was thinking....you got a friggen cab and never told me AT ALL that you'd gone and done it....I was gonna call "you" and chew yer ayse out!

What part of WI are you in? 

[markrvp]

Dave:

Looking at the picture, it looks like your control panel is covered in Formica (laminate) rather than Lexan (plexiglass).  Can you confirm which it is?

[Dire Radiant]

Looks like laminate to me. Not specular enough for plexi. Either way it's a really nice finish.

[daveg2000]

Dave:

Looking at the picture, it looks like your control panel is covered in Formica (laminate) rather than Lexan (plexiglass).

[daveg2000]

Dave, you have no idea how freaked out this is.

[markrvp]

Dave:

Since the top is Formica, then router away to recess your trackball mounting plate.  If you do it freehand, you will want to put artwork over the panel to cover up the edges. 

If you are not going to use a CP overlay, then you might not want to recess the TB.  You can cut the hole for the TB and the holes for the plate screws and let the plate sit on top of the CP.  Then your panel top can stay black.

Very nice looking cab.  I am now wondering if I should convert my living room TV into a showcase cab.  Don't know what the wife thinks of that idea, though.

[dphirschler]

I forget if it was the Supers or the other one... but mine are the better quality of the two.  Anyways, they were too high (for my tastes) but I was able to lower them.  I believe I just removed the snap-ring and inserted it in the other slot on the shaft... thus lowering the stick.  You can also lower/raise it based on the thickness of your panel.  Mine is 3/4", but if it were a metal panel, it would be really too high (for me).


Darryl

[daveg2000]

...I believe I just removed the snap-ring and inserted it in the other slot on the shaft... thus lowering the stick.
Darryl

Yeah.. thats what it was.. the ones in the arcade had two
ring slots on the shaft... I'll have to look for that tonight...

[DrewKaree]

Thats too funny.   I'm over in Sheboygan.  Been here my whole life
(I'll probably die here too!)
You were probably freakin when you thought your friend had
twin kids, eh? hahahhaha

Well, until I opened it, I didn't know you had twins, and he has two boys, so that's what REALLY started the wheels turning!

I have an aunt & cousin living there....only thing I remember are landmarks - they live by some factory that's an aqua-blue color.  Uncle used to work at Kohler before he passed, cousin prolly laid the line you're using for broadband.

Very nice stuff.  Did they make your cab custom?  It seems to look different than their pic on their sales site.  Or at least slightly custom, anyhoo.

[daveg2000]

Did they make your cab custom?

[JODY]

Looks nice.  Like the customization you've done.