The Legend of Mame (updated 06-03-2006)

[Veinman]

After much research, today I finally started building my 4-player cabinet. My favorite game is The Legend of Kage, so I figured I'd call my cabinet The Legend of Mame.

I am very lucky to have a couple things going for me on this project: a brother-in-law that is quite experienced with woodworking (I am NOT), and a father-in-law with a fully equipped shop. Not having to use the jigsaw for everything is a GOOD thing.

My cabinet is primarily based on jakobud's plans, but the panel is based on that of the UA II. Further, spystyle's excellent tutorial is guiding me through most of the process as well. And last but not least, of course the excellent help from all of you.

Lessons learned:
A jointer is a very nice tool to have.
Planning the marquee area can be tricky.
An appliance cart is worth its weight in gold.
Measure, then measure again. After cutting, measure again.

Next weekend work continues. We are estimating 2 more days of construction (not counting painting), so we'll see.

UPDATE: I now have all pics in a coppermine photo gallery on my site. I am working on getting the descriptions back online. The new link is: http://hotseatgames.com/gallery/index.php?cat=3

Here's the finished product:

[Veinman]

I'm hard at work on the control panel overlay (construction can really only take place on 1 day a week since I need my brother in law), but I really wanted to start the marquee simultaneously. Here's the wording. I'm taking the lettering from the original Legend of Kage marquee, and changing it to Legend of Mame. I'll bet you thought I was going to use the Mame logo, didn't you? I don't think so.

However, as much as I love the game, I really don't think its marquee is that cool. Plus, I want to pay homage to as many of my favorite games as possible, so I think that behind the title will be mini-marquees of some of my favorites. I'm planning something special for the control panel, so we'll see how that comes out.

I am not paying any mind to the side art, since that is something that can be done much later.

[rgecko]

Have to say I like that you didn't go with the Mame logo, personally I think it's over done, and can really detract from good artwork, the Marquee is that off a scan you have? did you fade the background on it? also took a look at development, man looks like that thing is coming together pretty fast.

[Excretious]

I'm a HUUGE Legend of Kage fan too.  I say leave as much of the original marquee as possible.  I did a compilation control panel image of all my favorite games and while i was putting in legend of kage images, i was thinking how cool itd be to build a replica of that cabinet.

[Veinman]

Have to say I like that you didn't go with the Mame logo, personally I think it's over done, and can really detract from good artwork, the Marquee is that off a scan you have? did you fade the background on it? also took a look at development, man looks like that thing is coming together pretty fast.  Nice Work!

All I did to get the shot above is to place the marquee image (from klov) into my illustrator file, then take its opacity down to 50%. That makes it easy to trace the artwork into vector form.

Excretious- I'll think about it, but I doubt I will vectorize the whole thing. I'll probably just give it prominent placement in the marquee itself, and I also considered doing its bezel art in the future. Also, check out the NeoGeo game Musashi Ganryuuki, it seems to be the spiritual successor to Kage. I stumbled upon it the other day, and it was pretty cool.

[rgecko]

Guess that answers my second question... Are you tracing it into a vector?

[Veinman]

We put in about 4 hours today. We got the monitor shelf done, and the speaker panel. Part of the keyboard drawer was started but we stopped when I realized that my drawer slides would be woefully inadequate.

Next Sunday we will definitely start the CP. Here's the current status:


I angled the monitor shelf according to Jakobud's plans, but it sure looks steep to me. I know I can fix it by shoring up the monitor if need be, but I hope I don't have to do that. You can see the whole story here: http://www.hotseatgames.com/cabinet/

[Veinman]

You're looking at 4 1/2 hours of work, believe it or not. We screwed up the side pieces of the panel several times. In the end, they don't fit together very well, but it's nothing that copious amounts of wood filler can't fix. Everything is glued and screwed.

I really thought we would get to drilling through the top of the panel, but not today.

[Bones]

You're looking at 4 1/2 hours of work, believe it or not.

I would believe it! 

Looking good.

[markrvp]

Sometimes I find myself just looking at the wood for several minutes before mustering the courage to cut it.  4-1/2 hours sounds about right.

[dphirschler]

That's the point where I am at.  Trying to muster up the courage to cut the speaker slots.  Been looking at it for a couple weeks now.


Darryl

[Veinman]

Today I wanted to drill out all the holes on the control panel top. Not even the lexan. I figured I'd surely be able to achieve that goal. But as it turned out, my father-in-law didn't have the 1.125" bit I thought he had. So, I drilled out the stick holes (1.25") and cut the angles of the top. It came out very well.

Then my brother-in-law got a look at the control panel box that we made on Sunday. He was too disgusted with it to keep it, so we backed out the screws and knocked the sides off with a hammer. This time he was alert (Sunday he was fatigued from diving the night before) and was able to successfully use the miter saw. Check out this angle.


We didn't get the whole thing put together, but hopefully we can pull that off Sunday. I've got to go get the 1.125 hole saw and most likely the matching arbor.

[markrvp]

If you plan to do any more of these, I would get a 1-1/8" Forstner bit instead of the hole saw.

[Veinman]

Is a Forstner bit the same as a paddle bit? I've heard opinions on both sides saying one is better than the other.

edit- never mind, I looked it up. Not a paddle bit.

[Veinman]

We put in 5 hours today, and it worked out great. We got the keyboard drawer done, tore the base off the other speaker, and drilled out the entire control panel, including the Lexan. Working with the Lexan was great, we had no problems.

I did get exhausted counter-sinking into it. That stuff is hard!

Here's the keyboard drawer, with the front not on it. Those are 24" full extension slides.


And here is the control panel top, all drilled with lexan on top.


The best news is that now we are far enough that we don't have to take the cabinet out to my father-in-law's shop anymore. Once I get all the holes filled and we sand, then we will do the T-molding slot cutting. I really can't do that until those things happen since we need nice edges.

[markrvp]

Very nice.  Good job.

[Ghoward]

Do you think your keyboard drawer comes out far enough?

Gary

[Veinman]

  Too far is better than not far enough.

The keyboard shelf really isn't the ideal size, or at the ideal height. Hopefully I can find a cheap keyboard with a built-in trackball since there won't be room really for a mouse to sit next to it.

[markrvp]

Hopefully I can find a cheap keyboard with a built-in trackball since there won't be room really for a mouse to sit next to it.

I just realized you don't have a trackball on your CP.  Do you not want to play trackball games?

[Veinman]

There aren't many trackball games that interest me, and the one that does the most requires 2 trackballs (Cabal). I didn't want to go to the expense for this cabinet.

Player 1 & 2 have Happ Competition sticks. The hole in the middle is a Happ Universal that will be dedicated 4-way.

Players 3 & 4 will be Happ mechanical rotaries, assuming they ever get here.

[Veinman]

Here is an extremely small rendition of the control panel graphics I've been working on. It's my re-interpretation of the Gauntlet control panel, making it more accessible to a Mame cabinet. What do you think? You can check the artwork forum to see full size versions of different parts of the art.

[Felsir]

Great work!

Just wanted to mention this: in Gauntlet, players add health by inserting coins. The way your CP is laid out, wouldn't it behard for Questor to add coins?

Then again, I noticed that with easy access to insert coin buttons the tempation to insert lots-a-coins is too hard to resist to some players...

[Veinman]

As you mentioned, inserting multiple coins is easy. Also, while it may look far, in reality, anyone can reach across the panel without interrupting people.

Barring that, these games are about cooperation. I think Thor can take 2 seconds to add some coins for his buddies.

[M3talhead]

As you mentioned, inserting multiple coins is easy. Also, while it may look far, in reality, anyone can reach across the panel without interrupting people.

Barring that, these games are about cooperation. I think Thor can take 2 seconds to add some coins for his buddies.

Not to rag on your post, but.....why not center the 4 "Start" buttons in the middle of the CP? Wouldn't that make things more symmetrical and eliminate any future snags?

[Veinman]

I could have done that, but I guess I always pictured the middle four buttons being the actual player start buttons, and having the coin buttons on the left. I'm not sure why, probably just influence from what others have done.

At this point I'm locked in, since I've drilled all my holes.

[Veinman]

Did some sanding on the cab tonight. No pics, but everyone knows what wood putty looks like. Hopefully it will be ready to paint soon.

Meanwhile I'm working on my art, and am planning to dig into the intricacies of Mamewah.

My marquee design is basically my own multimarquee, but most of the source art is very low DPI, so they come out extremely small. I'd love some input on this, and if you have any photoshop tips that would allow me to use less marquees, scaled up, I'd love to hear them.

Click the small image for the larger (still low res) version.

[M.A.M.E Power]

I think that the work you are doing is great. But my personal opinion is that is looks a little bit busy to me, it's kind of hard to read the logo.

Have you thought of perhaps lowering the opacity of the background a little in order for the legend of Mame to stand out?

Or you could add a different colour glow effect or just a thicker one.

Just a few thoughts...

[Veinman]

Agreed. I do need the logo to pop out more. Thanks!

[KenToad]

Just wanted to say:  Awesome work, Veinman.  I'm following this one closely.  Maybe I'll even find a use for the Gauntlet art soon, since it's some of the coolest art ever put on a cab.

Cheers,
KenToad

[Veinman]

Today we routed the T-molding slot on the control panel top and the cabinet. It went very well! I also primed the control panel. I didn't have the energy to prep the cabinet for priming.

I need to get my art completed so I can send it off for printing. By the time I get it back, my CP will be completely done.

[Veinman]

My CPO was sent off to mamemarquees last night. Scott emailed me with the FTP info at 10:30 at night! He has been great to work with, answering every question very promptly.

I painted the bottom of the CP and the keyboard tray. I used a brush, and it looks good, but you can see brush strokes when the light hits things just right, so I will hit them with a roller when I paint the rest of the cab. I still need to get the cab sanded, but it has been VERY hot here in NW Ohio lately.

Here's my latest design for the marquee. I walked away from the mini-marquee idea because it was just too busy. The theme of this marquee is "Ninjas of Mortal Kombat", and before you think I'm crazy for putting a MK marquee over a Gauntlet CP, here's my logic- as mentioned, I didn't want my whole cabinet to reflect one game, which makes sense since the first letter of Mame is multiple. Second- the ninjas I chose actually DO connect to Gauntlet, in that each of them associates to one of the colors in the CP.

[Veinman]

Well I'm wiped out, but I got the behemoth down to the basement. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- if you don't own an appliance cart, BUY ONE NOW.

Mine was $70 at Menard's, and it paid for itself in one use.

I did manage to ding one wall, but luckily that wall wasn't even painted.

It's too wide to go in my doorways down here sideways (the entrance to my basement is 4 ft, which is GREAT to have), so it will have to go in frontways, which will be difficult. Oh well.

[AlanS17]

Mine was $70 at Menard's, and it paid for itself in one use.

I found one for $50 at Big Lots. I don't know if it's something they keep in stock, though. I just lucked across mine. I've used it so many times, though. As your  number of cabs increases or you decide to start putting them in hard-to-reach places, you'll find that sometimes working without one is just not possible. I love mine. It's worth every penny (and I'm pretty cheap).

[Veinman]

Today I painted the cabinet. It went very well, and tomorrow I should get to apply the T-molding.

[Veinman]

I got the T-molding installed. I'm not doing the back edge until I get the control panel done since I have to make sure that I have enough.

Hopefully tomorrow I get my artwork back and can finish the CP.

[dweebs0r]

Looking good.  Thanks for the frequent pics.  I am living vicariously through this.

-Dweebs

[Otraotaku]

Yes!, its looking Great Veinman! Keep it up!... 

btw, when your done can you give me some pointers... hehe

[Veinman]

Mounted the tv last night, and the control panel. In doing so, I realized that I should have routed a T-molding slot ALL THE WAY around the control panel top. * smacks head. Minor setback.

[Timoe]

more pics more pics!!!

Get close ups of all  the details
speaker grilles
monitor location/shelf
back of the cab
marquee light mounting

pic picspicspicspicspicspicspcis!

[Veinman]

  Some of that is on the full site here: http://www.hotseatgames.com/cabinet . I don't have anything for the marquee lighting yet because I have yet to buy the flourescent light.

HOPEFULLY tomorrow my art will arrive so I can finally get the CP done. Then I will investigate getting a bezel on there, mounting the marquee, etc.