X-MEN Arcade *New Cabinet Pic's*

[Knievel]

Building this one for a buddy of mine. It's my usual Dynamo-inspired cab design so I won't go into it.
It's based on the newer X-Men movies, not the comic stuff. Black cabinet, chrome t-mold and blue accents.

Happ buttons, Supers, USB trackball and an Oscar V2 spinner. The chrome sticks are Groovy Game Gear's Versa-Ball sticks, really nice weight to them.
Here's a look at the CP art, print and the finished product...

[BobbyG66]

Excellent job! Nice, clean and shiny!

I like the way you have the eyes looking out at you. Nice placement on the artwork.

[Dire Radiant]

That CP is just gorgeous! /me drools I would have made some shiny metal dust washers myself but that's just me

[namedos]

Very nice indeed.  Not too busy to be distracting but definitely makes a statment.  Are you going to add any text around the controls or leave it as is?  Not that you need to just curious.  Nice work!

[markrvp]

Beautiful, once again.  I love the stainless sticks and the chrome T-molding. 

No pretty glowing buttons?

[IntruderAlert]

Super job as usual Knievel!
By the way, how high res do you need your images to be when printing a CPO like that?
I have some ideas that I've been kicking around but finding HQ pics has not been easy.

[cbmeeks]

Awesome.  Just awesome.

cbmeeks

[tommy]

Love it , one of the best ive seen. 

[nipsmg]

ooh pretty 

[dema]

That's fricking sweet!

[Sinner]

That does look good...kudos...

[Knievel]

Thanks for the comments guys, I think it looks sharp too. First time using the chrome T-mold and I was really impressed with it.


-Shiny metal dustwashers are an intresting idea. I usually like to hide them all together but this unit is going to see a lot of kid-play so I thought it best to leave them on top for protection.

-No text as usual, I like the clean look and people figure the controls out pretty quickly.

-No glowing buttons on this one, just too labour intensive. Maybe if they get those translucent micro's into production.

-Resolution would depend on how sharp you want the CP picture to be I guess. Those images were cut from a 75dpi X-Men Movie desktop I found. I upped it to 300dpi in photoshop. The end result was really nice, a little soft but it works in this case.

[Joystick Jerk]

Looks amazing! A couple questions though. What was the final cost for constructing it? I also noticed that your lexan(I assume) overlay on the CP has no screws in it. Is it only being held down by the lip on the buttons? If so, how does that design hold up over time?

Also, what are you using as the main body of the CP? The edges on one of the pics look rounded, and it looks like a plastic texture.

[Knievel]

Haven't really calculated the cost of the CP. You should be able to ballpark the controls from the list I gave. Then add around $30 for wiring and the KeyWiz, and probably another $30 for the wood/plexi.

I use 1/8" plexi for protection. Lexan is easier to work with but I found it scratches easier. The plexi is also more ridgid, never had a problem with it staying down yet.

The CP body is MDF, routing the corners like that is just one of the many little things I do to make a cab look polished. And that's just paint, although I have wrapped the box in Happ Pica Vinyl before. That stuff is tough as nails.

[Joystick Jerk]

I use 1/8" plexi for protection. Lexan is easier to work with but I found it scratches easier. The plexi is also more rigid, never had a problem with it staying down yet.

Just to clarify, so the plexi is being held down just by the button lips?

And would you ever consider building a CP to be sold? I'm pricing out whether it would be cheaper to buy something like a SlikStik Co2, or just to commission someone like yourself to make a CP.

[Knievel]

Buttons lips yes...and the T-mold to some degree. The holes on the plexi need to to match the button holes in the wood EXACTLY for it to lay flat. If you're having to force the buttons in because the holes aren't perfectly matched then the plexi is going to bulge in places. I router my holes in the plexi instead of drilling them.

I am building complete cabinets for people, locally so far. If you are in Canada we could discuss building a CP. I think shipping to the US would make it impractical.

[Knievel]

Marquee for this one..

[RTSDaddy2]

Wow (wiping the drool from my mouth)...

Man, what a beauty - the control panel is stunning, just gorgeous.

I said it before on here, and I'll say it again. This is what drew me to this hobby...the fact that so many of the cabinets, built with love, are true works of art.

RTSDaddy2

[JonnyBoy]

Another awesome CP. What did you print that overlay on? Just regular paper?

[GameOver]

Nice work!

[Knievel]

The CP was printed on the same paper I always use, some high-end glossy stuff which is then laminated for extra protection and shine.

I'm running Photoshop on a 1GHZ P3 with 512megs of ram, though I used to use 256 without any issues. Maybe your HD is too small?

[Dire Radiant]

I like Paint Shop Pro too. I usually create images there then manipulate them in Photoshop. Unfortunately PSP sucks bigtime at manipulating large images. Something is definitely borked with the memory management. I gave up trying to create a 300dpi CPO in PSP since it would take way too long to do anything and when it did, half the time it would crash. Photoshop is a little sluggish with that size of image, even with an Athlon XP3200+ and 1GB memory but it's certainly tolerable.

[GameOver]

My HD is 120gb, and I adjusted for max swap.  Still slooooow.  REALLY SLOW!  If it was any slower it woulda been going backwards.  I had to back my CP image down to 225 dpi to make it so I didn't throw everything out the window.

Does Photoshop let you apply neat effects like PSP?  Maybe I'll try a free (?) trial of Photoshop & see how it works.  Thanks.

[Dire Radiant]

The nice thing is that they use a compatible plugin architecture so your PSP filters will work in Photoshop and vice versa (usually!)

[Andy D.]

The CP was printed on the same paper I always use, some high-end glossy stuff which is then laminated for extra protection and shine.

You print this yourself? I just assumed you had it done at a printer.
What I don't understand is ...obviously the CP is bigger than 8 1/2 X 11...which is the biggest size paper that will fit into any standard printer I know of....
Do you print on more than one page and join them together?

[Knievel]

No I just meant the same paper that was used for my other CP's. I have a friend who does the printing for me. Your local print shop will have a large-format printer that'll do the job or visit: www.mamemarquees.com

[owenowen]

Thats one beautiful cabinet youve got there!

Any chance of whiping up a quick photoshop tut. for the amatuers among us on how to do those slick shaded sections around your buttons?.......... Please? 

owen.

[Knievel]

Thanks Owen, just sent a PM regarding that tutorial.

[Sinner]

Thanks Owen, just sent a PM regarding that tutorial.

I would love a copy of that tutorial, if you have one...

[Knievel]

Done.
Getting requests for this so I'm adding it to my website, you can check it out there. <

[javeryh]

What are you using on the sides of the cabinet as far as finish goes?  Black paint?  Poly?  Thanks.

[Knievel]

I use a semi-gloss black latex paint from Home Depot, Painter's Touch I think.

BTW I'm going to the owner's house tomorrow. I'll snap some pictures of the whole cabinet.

[Knievel]

More pic's as promised. Cup-holders are on, sideart is still in the works. He's planning on making some aluminum X-MEN logos for that, the newer one with an X inside of a circle. Should be REAL sharp.

[KonkeyKong]

It would be pretty sweet if the aluminum sideart was backlit along the lines of say...one Neon MAME cab.

[flampoo]

That cab is pretty slick! You should consider adding a chromed-out coin door.

[Knievel]

Yea I think we'll probably sandwich a neon ring in there. He wants the sideart to stand-off from the sides anyway, that would do the trick nicely.

Thanks flampoo, I think a chrome coin door would look real sweet. No one I build machines for ever wants one though. Maybe we'll do something X-MEN related down there, it's begging for something.

BTW I had a few people ask about how I got the marquee to glow so blue. It's actually a blue Actinic bulb normally used in saltwater aquariums, another hobby of mine. I used one in my Neon cab as well, matches the glowing buttons perfectly.

[Level42]

Looks fabulous.....but why doesn't the 4-way stick also have a metal shaft and ball ?
Also, I prefer to see a real arcade monitor, but if you use a PC monitor, this is the way to do it.....

Mucho respect Knievel !

[Knievel]

Thanks, the controls were selected by the buyer. It makes a nice contrast actually.

I use PC monitors in all my machines. I went the ArcadeVGA route once and wasn't happy with the results. If you're using your cab for just Mame it's ok, although Vector games look lousy.

My machines are multi-use. You can surf on them, run the jukebox program, play PC games, etc. For me, a regular arcade monitor is unacceptable for these things.

One of the new Hybrid monitors would be the best of both world I guess, if you've got the bucks.

[TimmyB]

Another work of art!

Where did you get your drink holders?

[Knievel]

Thanks.
Those holders are from Canadian Tire. If you're not in Canada you'll have to look elsewhere though.