Anyone ever gone this BIG???

[flyguy1821]

I will just post some pics right now.  I am sure there will be questions.  For instance what kind of meds I am on.   

[flyguy1821]

okay enough with the buildup, here is the progress so far.  I am always the kid sneaking peaks at the presents before big day! I couldnt wait to post these. 

[flyguy1821]

these are the insides of the back or front, however you look at it.  Also one of 2 seats.  They even have lumbar and side controls! I love toyota.

[papercut]

Yessir... looks like you got yourself a nice little tabletop cab going there!   

Seriously though, Good going!  I take it you're either single, have a nice game room or your wife is awesome.

Good luck finishing the cab!  I hear starting the cab is half the battle and finishing the cab is the other 4.6 halves of the battle.

[Bones]

Man that is gunna be kick ass! Good luck with the rest & post heaps of pics!

[AlanS17]

Yeah I've started 5 and I haven't finished any yet. They say your cab is never 100% done. There's alwasy something else to do to it.

[flyguy1821]

Mr. Papercut, this is a 2 seater sit down cab.  And yes my wife is awesome, although she wont let me do another    The size of this thing is probably 3 times a regular upright. 7 sheets of MDF so far and 3/4 done with construction process.  Most difficult part is designing so it can be broken down to fit through a regular size door.

[ras2a]

This thing is gonna effing' rock !!!!!

[flyguy1821]

Here was my first rough sketch of the unit, no seats obviously but you get the picture.

[M3talhead]

Can I have some of what you're smoking?

Damn, thats gonna be a big fugger! Have you decided on a wheel yet? What are you goin to be playing primarily. PC? MAME? Console? All 3?

ALso, what monitors are you going to use? I'd think for a cab like that, you wouldne want to go with anything less than 33". 

[samou812]

That is one impressive looking cab! What kind of car is that seat from? I

[arcadefever]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i cant wait to see that thing done !!!!

[Clonedsheep]

it's already looking good. wow

[flyguy1821]

For the monitors I am actually using 2 27 inch TVs.  They will be mounted side by side  like many are.  I have a PS2 that will be primary until I can get my PC to stop freaking out and am able to "MAME" it.  (video card problems) 

Can I have some of what you're smoking?

Damn, that's gonna be a big fugger! Have you decided on a wheel yet? What are you goin to be playing primarily. PC? MAME? Console? All 3?

ALso, what monitors are you going to use? I'd think for a cab like that, you wouldne want to go with anything less than 33".

The wheels I am using are both Logitech PROs I believe.  I originally had them design to be lowered from above by an arm but the angles were not coming out right.  The wheels will be mounted to both "boxes" in the pictures and be removable when not playing a driver. 

That is one impressive looking cab! What kind of car is that seat from? I

[Q*Bert_OP]

 


 

[flyguy1821]

I think one of the best features on this is 5.1 upgradable to 7.1 sound.  The holes on the back of the picture are for speakers, 2 - 6 inch midbass.  At the very top of the middle console there is a cutout for a 5 1/4  and tweeter, ( you cant see that part)   There are wires coming out of the boxes to connect to 2 Bass shakers that I installed in the seats.  Hard to see but the black box thing under a speaker hole is a panel amp that I rewired to power the shakers.

[flyguy1821]

sorry didnt attach the picture for the previous

[AlanS17]

I hope you don't plan on making it fit through any doors.

[flyguy1821]

I hope you don't plan on making it fit through any doors.

I actually addressed this before.  The cab can be broken down to fit through doors, that was the most challenging design piece.  To be honest it will fit through a 28 inch door.  Thanks for the concern and attempt to rain on my parade   

[AlanS17]

Raining on people's parades is my specialty! It's a skill that's been finely hones with years of practice. 

Seriously, though, keep the pictures coming.

[TOK]

Wow, this is going to be cool! Don't think I'd even bother with MAME on it. For me, driving games are the low point of MAME, because the good later ones all play like dogs. A console would probably be well suited for this. I guess the downside is that since you have 2 monitors and don't want to play split screen, you might need 2 of them

Two PC's would probably be my choice, since there are just a ton of good multiplayer games like Live For Speed (not a typo). That one is real cool, since you can play 2 up, put the cab on the net and have big multiplayer races. I have 3 PC's and wheel/pedal combo's on my network, and we have a great time with Live For Speed.
Pretty fast machines with good video cards are kind of expensive though. The good thing about MAME is not needing all that. This might be one cab where the price of extra's snowballs way beyond expectations. Very cool project though! There are still some good older PC titles if you don't want to go with high end machines. Viper Racing and Sports Car GT come immediately to mind!

Edit to add: I think I'd also set it up so it'd be configurable to flight sims and Mechwarrior games. Something about Mech games and cockpits that go great together!

[flyguy1821]

I thought about the flight Sim games as well as mechwarrior types.  I have never been into either of them.  I have thought about getting a flight stick just to have and a couple games too.  Maybe I will eventually like them.  About the TVs, I have a splitter that will allow me to run the PS2 and split the screens. 

On the back of the entire cab I am also going to have 2 more controller ports if a 4 player game is played. 

Have been kind of stuck on what to call it though.  Thought about the Dream Machine.  My wife says to call it the widowmaker  because I am spending so much time on it and she is not into the build process.  Shoot me some ideas.

[M3talhead]

Just an idea:

If you decide to go the console route for driving/sim games, might I suggest getting 2 Xboxs or PS2s and using a system link for going head-to-head? This will allow both players to have their own dedicated screens instead of having to "share" the game with half of the screen being taken up by the other player's car/whatever. Just splitting the signal coming from a console to 2 tvs won't give each player his own view since there is no way to divide up  the video signal coming from a console into "player 1" and "player 2".

Only a suggestion.

[flyguy1821]

good idea, I am having some random "disc read error" messages already with my PS2.  I may have to open her up.  When does the PS3 come out?  I might set up the system so that can be added on later.  Not to tough since there really isn't anything that is needed to prepare for that, just space.

[TOK]

I noticed when my buddy and I play Project Gotham and other split screen games on the XBox that it causes a pretty noticable frame rate hit. Do you see that with the PS2 games? Halo is the only other split screen game we played on the XBox, and it got pretty klunky too.

I have a tough time when driving games dip below about 25fps, so I think I'd want to wire up two consoles. A project like yours was one of the first ones I considered when I got a  house, but unfortunately I still don't have the space. Even playing racing games side by side on the 3 machines I have is a total blast. Still has me thinking about re-arranging the room and current MAME cab to make room! 

[flyguy1821]

the splitter I have will divide the signal from the PS2 into 2 signals and amplifies it as well.  It wont, however, split the 1 player on one TV and the 2nd on the other.  I think I misspoke earlier.

[M3talhead]

the splitter I have will divide the signal from the PS2 into 2 signals and amplifies it as well.  It wont, however, split the 1 player on one TV and the 2nd on the other.  I think I misspoke earlier.

No, I understand what you were getting at. I just think that if you're goin o go through all this trouble, you might as well spend the extra $100 on another xbox s each plyer can have teir own dedicated screen. If you want, PM me and I'll let you in on a few Xbox modding secrets. 

[flyguy1821]

What about any PS2 mods?  That is what I have. 

[M3talhead]

Never modded a PS2, but to be honest, the only thing those modships unlock are DVD/Game regions. You'll have to do some research on whether or not the games you want to play can be system linked.

[Jollyrob]

well, that's easy, Gran Tourismo, the perfect game for a cab (as long as you play it in arcade mode) is splittable to up to 6 Playstations


(may I also suggest the newest version of the driving force pro from logitech, its' expensive, but GT4 supports 900 degree steering...yeah,  like your real car, and that steering set AFAIK is the only one to support it)

ps. don't worry, for your older racing games, the Driving force pro automatically switches back to 280 degree or whatever if you put in a game that doesn't support 900

[Timstuff]

Teh sekks!

[Stobe]

well, that's easy, Gran Tourismo, the perfect game for a cab (as long as you play it in arcade mode) is splittable to up to 6 Playstations

Well, then he'd have to build 3 more of these 2 seaters for the full effect!  (Better just start framing up an addition to the house ).

-Stobe

[Havok]

Looks sweet, but make sure you have a way to break it down into sections for moving...

[melarky]

I think you better bold the fact that you've already figured out the whole breaking it down to fit in doors and make it move easier as I can see a lot of people are going to ask the same question over and over.

[toyfiend2004]

either that or people could actually READ the post and not just look at all of the pretty pictures... (which are very nice btw.)

[Havok]

I think you better bold the fact that you've already figured out the whole breaking it down to fit in doors and make it move easier as I can see a lot of people are going to ask the same question over and over.

either that or people could actually READ the post and not just look at all of the pretty pictures... (which are very nice btw.) 

Damn - back off. I missed the one tiny little sentence where he typed that. If you look at the pretty pictures, (which look awesome) it looks like a whole hell of a lot of screws. Is that how you break it down, spend 8 hours unscrewing? Just trying to help a brotha out!

 

[hyiu]

NICE ONE !!!!..... 

when I look at your first pic... I see you have 8 wheels on the bottom...

what is the load capacity on those ?? usually 1 wheel have about 100 lb... 8 wheels can only hold 800... and your cab seems like it'll be MASSIVE !!!... with a 200 lb TV, 7 MDF boards, and all the stuffs there, and then add 2 adults (150 - 200 lbs each) sitting there and shaking and stepping....  the weight distribution might not be even...
(also your ground might not be completely even and put more weight on some wheels....)

I would advise add some more wheels to share the weight....

now... when can you do 1 for me ??
 

seriously... VERY WELL DONE !!!... keep the pics coming !!...

[TurboC--]

Damn man.  Might as well go all the way and add one of those hydraulic platforms they use in the virtual reality rides.   

[SNAAKE]

This will be a dual racing cab ? Very nice work indeed !

[Dervacumen]

Can you give me any hints as to how this monstrosity breaks down into pieces small enough to fit through a 28" doorway?  What kind of latching mechanism are you using to clamp them back together once you move the cabinet pieces inside?  I'm planning a nintendo vs style cabinet, and breaking it in two down the middle would help in lugging it around.