Author Topic: The Golden Ticket - Wonka cab (updated pics 04/22/07) (Read 16139 times)

Thurman · « **on:** July 24, 2005, 03:20:27 pm »

As soon as I moved into my house 2 years ago, I knew that I would have some sort of arcade cabinet in it at some point. When you walk through the front door, off to the right is an unused closet area which happens to be just about the perfect size for one. Well about 6 months ago a friend showed me his Mame emulator on his laptop and then the light went off..... I was going to build some sort of arcade cabinet!

After a few days of browsing around at cabinet ideas and designs, I stumbled across the BYOAC forums, went out and bought the book, and there hasn't been a boring day since. My cabinet is still a work in progress (and from what I've read, will ALWAYS be in progress, haha), but I've finally got enough done to show and tell. So here we go.....

Thurman · « **Reply #1 on:** July 24, 2005, 03:23:50 pm »

The first thing I did was brainstorm about possible themes for the cab. I sat down and thought about the stuff that I loved as a kid and the stuff that I still love now. Then I remembered Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and I knew that was the perfect theme for my cab.... it's colorful, magical, and it's something that would take everyone back in time a little bit. Perfect!

So I took a few days doing some mockups and color schemes. The two images that I just could not get out of my head were Gene Wilder's bemused expressions throughout the movie to go along with his velvet purple jacket. So I had a pretty good idea how my marquee and color scheme would turn out. And I decided to name the cab "The Golden Ticket".......

Thurman · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2005, 03:46:38 pm »

Well since I don't really own many power tools, I knew that building a cab from scratch was not really going to be an option at this point. So I started shopping around at all of the local arcades and checking the classifieds for an empty or non-working cabinet. My budget was $50 max for the cabinet. After a few weeks, nothing worthwhile had turned up. But I was in luck.... there was going to be a Super Auction in a few weeks only an hour away. So I had my plan.

This was my first auction and wow did I have a good time. Just checking out all of the games and watching all of the action was worth it. But after an hour or so, I noticed that none of the games were being sold in my price range. So I wandered out back to relax for a minute when I saw it..... a row of broken down cabinets!! Jackpot! I went back and waited, and waited, and finally the auction moved out back ("had to get those out back before it got dark", haha).? After some intense action, I brought home a busted up Ray Storm for $1

The frame was in pretty good shape, the glass and bezel looked good, the marquee light worked, and you can see that the front panel had been broken into and was in bad shape. But I had my cab!

Thurman · « **Reply #3 on:** July 24, 2005, 03:53:25 pm »

A few bonus pics so you can see the front panel and the "quality" work that had been done under the control panel.

Thurman · « **Reply #4 on:** July 24, 2005, 04:07:20 pm »

Once I started removing the paint, I realized that I was working with a converted TMNT cab. Once again.... perfect! I'm a little taller so I have problems when the marquee hangs right over the control panel. I like it to be recessed a little and the monitor angled back pretty far.

I could see a little burn-in on the 25" monitor that came with the cab, but I was hopeful that I could get it working and see how it looked. No matter what I tried, I could only get a flatline (pic below). Also, I'm no electrician and I didn't want to mess around with the monitor too much. So I just removed it and I'll have to come up with a plan later.

Thurman · « **Reply #5 on:** July 24, 2005, 04:30:07 pm »

Once I got it sanded down and looking a little better, it was time to focus on the control panel. I decided to go with 2 Happs 49-ways with the GP-Wiz49. I like the longer throws and wanted to keep my joysticks versatile.

I built a demo control panel in order to test out the joystick and button layout. I'm glad I did this because I put the 2P buttons closer to the joystick and if I play on that side for more than about 15 minutes, my wrists get really sore from turning them outward. Also, I still need to get a trackball (I'd like to find a purple illuminated one) and I also need to design some artwork, but the basics are all there.

So now that I had a working control panel, it was time to set this up for some games!! Here's a few pictures from the first day I had it up and running in the garage. You can see that I still don't have the monitor mounted; it's just sitting in a shelf behind the cabinet. Plus I cut out the broken section of the front panel.

Thurman · « **Reply #6 on:** July 24, 2005, 04:35:45 pm »

It was time to pretty up the cab. So I moved it inside for some painting and t-molding. I primed, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, then painted again.

Thurman · « **Reply #7 on:** July 24, 2005, 04:36:37 pm »

And here's where it stands today. To be continued.......

nullb0y · « **Reply #8 on:** July 24, 2005, 06:24:22 pm »

thats prety cool...

xonix_digital · « **Reply #9 on:** July 24, 2005, 08:22:08 pm »

Dude, That is coming out so GOOD!. I'm STOKED on the talent in this forum!

-=XD=-

Fig · « **Reply #10 on:** July 24, 2005, 09:44:42 pm »

Very nice Almost looks good enough to eat (wanka bar)LOL

Minwah · « **Reply #11 on:** July 25, 2005, 05:29:39 am »

Quote from: Fig on July 24, 2005, 09:44:42 pm

(wanka bar)

!!!

Thurman · « **Reply #12 on:** July 25, 2005, 03:12:41 pm »

I've had a request to show my FE layouts. I'm using Mamewah, and when the FE is opened you hear Wonka say "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams." Then you can hear some soft music in the background but can't really tell what it is. But after a few seconds you hear....... "Oompa Loompa, doompity doo...." I have it looping through the 4 Oompa Loompa songs and everybody seems to really like hearing them while browsing through the games.

Each emulator has it's own Wonka layout. Here's a few.......

Thurman · « **Reply #13 on:** July 25, 2005, 03:13:20 pm »

1 more

Clonedsheep · « **Reply #14 on:** July 25, 2005, 04:17:59 pm »

Wow Thurman, It's looking real good. How about for the sideart "lickable wallpaper. Your visitors will want to lick the sides of your cabinet to see if the snozberries taste like snazberries!

kenmelk · « **Reply #15 on:** July 29, 2005, 12:04:05 am »

Thurman, I sent you a PM please read it over and let me know, your CAB is AWESOME and you FE is just plain incrediable!!!!!!!! I need to have your front end, I am a HUGE WONKA COLLECTOR!!! Let me know what you think, I sent you me email address so we can talk.
Thanks and AWESOME job,
Ken

CJK · « **Reply #16 on:** July 29, 2005, 06:48:24 am »

What a fabulous project and a great, original theme! I am a huge fan of the original Willy Wonka, so your artwork and MameWAH layouts are particularly appealing to me!

Great job!!!

-- Chris

DaveMMR · « **Reply #17 on:** July 29, 2005, 08:00:10 am »

Man, that is one sweet looking cab. I love the Wonka theme and artwork. I cannot stop looking at it.

ChadTower · « **Reply #18 on:** July 29, 2005, 09:58:04 am »

If he wanted lickable wallpaper, it would have pictures of Reese Witherspoon on it, not Gene Wilder.

UndeadMeat · « **Reply #19 on:** July 29, 2005, 10:53:40 am »

I'm with everyone else on this one. Your cab is looking awesome! Keep up the great work.

UndeadMeat

kenmelk · « **Reply #20 on:** August 02, 2005, 12:28:17 am »

I need this frontend!!

kenmelk · « **Reply #21 on:** August 02, 2005, 12:28:50 am »

I need this frontend!! Is there a way that i can get a copy of the wonka skins and music you have??? I LOVE THIS FRONTEND!!! Please hook me up with a copy!

I do not mean to beg, but this is FREAKING AWESOME!!!

Thurman · « **Reply #22 on:** August 02, 2005, 10:42:42 am »

Thanks for the compliments guys! I'm glad you're enjoying the theme because I knew that it worked for me. I'll be sure to post updates as they happen. Up next..... mount the monitor, add a coin door, and I'm still deciding if I want to add a kick plate. It's only been a few weeks but I've noticed a bunch of dirty footprints on the bottom of the cab!

Ken - I've PM'd you and I can hook you up with a few items from my layouts, not really a problem. Another option if you wanted your own original layout would be to grab screenshots from the movie and then add a little artwork using Photoshop (which is what I did). I'm no graphic artist but I did what I could.

KenToad · « **Reply #23 on:** August 02, 2005, 03:09:17 pm »

Hey Thurman,

Nice work. I'm a little late catching this one. I sporadically check the project announcements section (just to see if anyone bumped my projects

). You've done a great job. I really like the theme and especially the purple.

Also, I noticed the marquees you have for the console fe layouts. Where did you find those? I have the boxes and cart scans from screenshot archive.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
KenToad

Stobe · « **Reply #24 on:** August 02, 2005, 03:17:36 pm »

$1.00

I would have paid twice that!

As soon as I started reading this thread, I said to myself:

"Self, I sure hope this guy finds a way to get the Oompa Loompa Song in that cab somewhere!"

Nice work!

-Stobe

Thurman · « **Reply #25 on:** August 02, 2005, 04:59:19 pm »

KenToad -

I actually made the console marquees myself. I have title screens for all of the games so I just went down the list (about 35 games for each console), cut the title off the title screen, and reshaped it to a marquee size. It wasn't too much work so I'd say that each game took me less than a minute. I'd be happy to share either my small collection of marquees or the complete list of title screens.

Since NHL 94 is a favorite of mine, that marquee got special attention and is a picture that I found while browsing around.

21up · « **Reply #26 on:** August 02, 2005, 05:43:25 pm »

Hi THURMAN
great job you make it sound easy in photoshop.
cheers peter

ras2a · « **Reply #27 on:** August 02, 2005, 07:45:42 pm »

Fantastic Cab !

juggle50 · « **Reply #28 on:** August 02, 2005, 08:09:32 pm »

Man that's a cool cab. If you do a kick plate I think you should think about ordering one in brass about a foot high and do an engraving of the golden ticket from the movie. Could be expensive but it would sure look cool. Nice work

AceTKK · « **Reply #29 on:** August 03, 2005, 02:23:33 am »

Awesome cab! And the poster above me had a great idea.

-Ace-

dennis808 · « **Reply #30 on:** August 24, 2005, 05:08:28 am »

Nice looking cab (and a lucky find I might add), original theme.
For the kickplate you could use some yellow plexi, (same color as the molding) or clear plexi with some artwork behind it...

And personally, I think a cab needs a coindoor, even if its not used, the front door looks so big and empty without one...

Harpal · « **Reply #31 on:** January 23, 2006, 09:55:47 am »

that is a great cab good idea.........

Fig · « **Reply #32 on:** January 23, 2006, 12:03:24 pm »

Any updates on this cab? Final pics or still WIP?

c64rulez · « **Reply #33 on:** January 24, 2006, 03:40:47 am »

Simply delicious cab and a brilliant marquee. The purple looks dazzling. I hope you made some progress and would very much like to see how it came out.

Thurman · « **Reply #34 on:** January 24, 2006, 11:19:18 pm »

I'm still here! I've had a few things happen over the last few months that have slowed down my progress on the cab, including taking a new job. But I have added a new coin door, and am in the process of adding a Golden Ticket kickplate. Plus I'm working on a fresh new marquee and control panel artwork. Stay tuned for updated pictures!

Fig · « **Reply #35 on:** January 24, 2006, 11:49:23 pm »

Cool cant wait to see it

Harpal · « **Reply #36 on:** January 27, 2006, 07:28:20 pm »

Quote from: Thurman on January 24, 2006, 11:19:18 pm

I'm still here! I've had a few things happen over the last few months that have slowed down my progress on the cab, including taking a new job. But I have added a new coin door, and am in the process of adding a Golden Ticket kickplate. Plus I'm working on a fresh new marquee and control panel artwork. Stay tuned for updated pictures!

i would love to see the "golden ticket kick plate"

CartmanDP1 · « **Reply #37 on:** March 02, 2006, 07:45:08 pm »

wow great idea, just watched this movie the other day. Cab and marquee look great, and I really like the layout. I have to think that the oompa loompa song would get annoying, but its a good novelty. Makes me want to make my cab less generic. Can't wait to see the finished pics, great job.

yfdgricker · « **Reply #38 on:** June 26, 2006, 03:42:11 pm »

Humm, it's June. Anymore work done on this cabinet? I want to see the kick plate

Crafty · « **Reply #39 on:** June 27, 2006, 12:13:47 am »

Quote from: yfdgricker on June 26, 2006, 03:42:11 pm

Humm, it's June. Anymore work done on this cabinet? I want to see the kick plate

I Concur

Photos Updates???


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