>>BLACKOUT<< A Year in the life.

[MYX]

CPO Part 2
I spent several days just looking at the CPO. It looked so nice. I did not want to cut into it. I just wanted to look at it. But a CP is worthless if there are no buttons, tb, or joys. Finally, I gave in and cut out all the holes. I cleaned and recleaned my plexi and started to put it on. Then I pulled it off and recleaned it again. I put on the plexi and saw all sorts of crap on it. So I cleaned it and recleaned it. Friggin magnetics...

[MYX]

Speakerboard Art.
I wanted the speakerboard to follow suit with the side art and CPO. So I taped up the Speakerboard.

[MYX]

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[MYX]

Sideart pt. 3
I originally wanted to do the CP design on the side. I have been watching my recipts totals increasing and increasing. So I decided against a lasercut stencil. I decided to freehand it. (MISTAKE) I taped up the sides and sketched out the design. Then I used a Xacto knife to cut out the design. Not only did it not do a good job, I now had super fine scratches on the side. D'oh! So I started looking at the side and thinking about what might look cool. I liked what I did for the speakerboard, so I decided to go with the angular thing on the sides, and front. Tape, tape and even more tape. Then tons of masking. About 3 hours later I was ready to paint. Wohoo. One thing that struck me as odd and a little scarey, but on the front, in the center I have a hole for the cab on button. (circle) when I was doing all the taping I made a couple of angles at the top. Then because of the side angles there was a straight line across the triangle. Now, I did not see this before I painted it, but the triangle with the circle looks like the illuminati symbol. :0P

[MYX]

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[MYX]

And the result...

[MYX]

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[Timoe]

HOly Corolla!

Your CP looks fantaboulastic!

I love the art and the layout.  Whats with the white buttons are they special white buttons or something?

The speaker panel is nice too.  I like that its painted.  I've always wanted to do something like that.


Do you have any tips for dealing with that plexi "magnetism"?



edit:  oh and sorry I interupted your massive update.  I thought your were done already.  I didnt know you did the whole cabinet. - wow

[MYX]

I have now moved it inside to the game room for assembly. WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!

[leapinlew]

Very Very cool! Looking Great MYX. More pics and more details!

[MYX]

HOly Corolla!

Your CP looks fantaboulastic!

I love the art and the layout.  Whats with the white buttons are they special white buttons or something?

The speaker panel is nice too.  I like that its painted.  I've always wanted to do something like that.


Do you have any tips for dealing with that plexi "magnetism"?

1. Thank you.
2. White buttons are GGG Ice. They may get changed out for All Translucients, but I need to see them lit up first.
3. Magnitism issues... I use a twin Montfolk Klactalchrisminabulator and rub it gently on the surface while applying Blisterox Antimagnitism ointment all over it. Usually works within the first 120 years of rubbing, but you have to keep it perfectly clean in the process.

[vrf]

This is really a beautiful cab. Colors are great, and they fit that that awesome profile very well.

Very nice work!

[theCoder]

Your transition from yellow to orange looks great.  I think I know how you did it, but for the record, could you please explain.

Thanks

[mccoy178]

That is one sharp looking cabinet!   An alltime classic for the painting alone.  Wonderful job.  Absolutely wonderful.

[Havok]

You are truly the paint master...

 

[escher]

Absolutely fantastic.

[MYX]

Your transition from yellow to orange looks great.  I think I know how you did it, but for the record, could you please explain.
Thanks

Started with yellow and did a really solid coat. While it was still wet I got the orange. I stood at the back of the cab and aimed forwards. This way the back got the main blast and overspray would follow forward. I moved the can forward to go down the line, but always kept my angle. As I got closer and closer to the front, I got further and further away from the cab. Then I repeated with red. Then I did the whole cycle over again for touch up. The yellow i just gave a blast right at the tips (This time with an angle a little ways back) so the paint would spread. I then blended with the orange and finished the stripe with the red on the other end. While sprayning I kept the can spraying. Not small little bursts. Bursts caused a real distinction between the colors. Constant spray was the trick. Also bursts sometimes caused big specks of paint to come out which can f up yer paint job.

Things to mention...
1. This took a heck of a lot of tape.
I went through 2 rolls of the 2 in. tape, nearly 2 rolls of the 3/4 tape, almost 1 whole roll of the paper tape (has light adheisive on 1 side of the tape and just paper on the other 4 in wide). 
2. The middle color (orange) ran out the fastest. I thought it would be the red.
3. when I used black on the sides and speakerboard I went VERY sparingly.

[missioncontrol]

one hell of a paint job on that cabinet....

[leapinlew]

MYX -

On my driving cabinet, I painted stripes instead of sideart too. My thought was it would be cheaper than printing sideart and still look cool. Overall, I loved how mine turned out. I'm loving how yours turned out, but I can't help but wonder what the overall cost break down is. It LOOKS expensive!

Also - where did you land on the marquee? Last I saw (before all the tragedies) was a blackout marquee and you were contemplating the font. 

[MYX]

Also - where did you land on the marquee? Last I saw (before all the tragedies) was a blackout marquee and you were contemplating the font. 

See THIS Post. I Decided to keep the blue shift. If you look at the K, I elongated the upright bar to make it stand out more like a K. It is not perfect, but the 3d guy at work and the graphics guys liked my solution. I like it, and so does the wife, so I can sleep easy. 

Right now I am installing all the stuff into the cab. I have a vacume hose run through the coin door and everytime I drill, I kick it on to keep dust to a minimum for easier clean up. It is amazing how much dust is attracted to things you do not want dust to get on or into.

EDIT:
I do understand that the marquee does not follow the CP or side art in theme, but it does follow with color. I think that having the bars like on the CP or the rays like on the sides and front would be too much. Being it is a wash of all the colors used it sort of ties it together. (well at least in my brain it does.)

[gamecreature]

I think if you added a few horizontal lines the marquee would match the rest of the design prefectly.

[psychopanda]

Those colors are so vibrant! I'm completely wowed at the end result! 

[MYX]

I think if you added a few horizontal lines the marquee would match the rest of the design prefectly.

Tried it several ways. (check a few posts above the previously mentioned post)
I also tried the bars from the CP in the background and it all distracted from the whispy stuff. 

[Crafty]

Looking amazing

I like the painting on the sides to tie in with the CP and marquee..

All those layers and masking/unmasking sure looks time consuming but definately worth it in the end...

Thanks for the updates and photos 

[theCoder]

Thanks for the lesson.

[jcroach]

Thanks for the speakerboard pixs.  Those gave me a lot of idea.

[DigDreams]

Awesome!  You do some mean work with a can of spray paint and some tape. 

I have enough trouble just getting the paint to look good, let alone do something like that. 

- DigDreams

[gmunny]

Fantastic Job!  I love the paint job and all the pics of the cab, cp and speaker thingy. 

[Kremmit]

Let me be the 82nd person to say that the paintjob rules.

[fiscap]

Looking great! I really love the color scheme.

I also admire how you battled through your little mishap. We invest so much time into these projects and when something like that happens, you just want to quit and give up - way to persevere.

Keep up the great work.

[Knievel]

Holy Crap! Was just doing a Taito cab search and stumbled upon this beauty, NICE WORK!

Don't know how I missed this one before but keep up the good work, I'd love to see the final product.

[MYX]

Yeah, I am getting there. I will be doing another mega post soon.

[leapinlew]

Yeah, I am getting there. I will be doing another mega post soon.

I can't wait to see it. I want to say hurry up, but I'm afraid you literally will hurry up and kill yourself or the cabinet! 

A word of advice! Do it in word or something... Nothing worse than losing your update because of a problem posting. I post often because I take lots of pictures and talk a lot. I think it would be too much to read if I did it in mega posts.

Keep up the good work! I'm ready to see an actual functional monitor.

[MYX]

Yup, the last mega posts were done in word. For easier posting and eventually I want to build a web page. Then it is all typed.

[MaximRecoil]

So I got the monitor in to test placement and angle. It looks great. So far the brace is firm and seems secure. I am still a little nervous as that is a $180 monitor on a $17 brace.   
So I was running around measuring the bottom and top to make sure it was centered and all that. Then I went to shut the door. Um the door wont shut.
WTF!!! I took into account for the depth of the monitor all the way back to the end of the stem. I did not take into consideration... The damn monitor frame shelf!!! The darn thing sticks 3/4 in. outside the back of the cab. I am totally befuttled. AND I DON"T EVEN USE THE WORD!
So it looks like I will be looking at a steeper angle. ---meadow muffin---! I really wanted a laid back monitor. I am worried that if I have to make the angle steeper that it will be hard to look at as the monitor will be a very low vert monitor. I was too frusterated to really give it a look over tonight. I will look at it again tomorrow.
 

 

That looks familiar. I recently bought an Ikari Warriors (Dynamo HS-1 "cut-corner" cabinet) from a local operator on here and it had a WG K4900 monitor in it with the triangular shelf-mount type frame like yours has. The back door would not go on it like that. That is the way it was when he got the machine, it didn't even have a back door with it.

Fortunately, K4900's were available with more compact frames, and he had a frame from a different K4900 that he swapped onto it and he also had a spare Dynamo cabinet door and all was well.

I have a Victory Road (sequel to Ikari Warriors, same cabinet) that still has its original K7000 in it and it has the same style of compact frame that the operator swapped onto the Ikari Warriors' K4900 for me.

So anyway, maybe more compact frames are available for your particular make of monitor?

[MYX]

No need, once I went Horizontal with the monitor, it fits beautifully. Thanks thogh.

[Santoro]

MYX, I am really impressed. I don't have much time to browse projects lately so I just saw your cab now.  The artwork is first-rate, very retro.

[Havok]

Where's the mega update?

 

[MYX]

Yeah, I have been trying to get the dang thing done. I am held up with the FE issues.
Trying to get LEDWiz working with FE with GPWiz49 with some flavor of MAME. Will I use Johnny5, Will I use Atomic FE, will I use Dragon King, Will I be able to make MAMEWah make it go..... And on and on and on... My brain hurts from trying to read everything, keep it straight from FE to FE. Trying to understand how to write batch files. Trying to understand ... There is a lot to take in. 

Plus, I am waiting on a marquee retainer from Arcadeshop. Should be here on Friday.  Guess, I should just put up what I have as of now. I will try to start writing it up tonight. Then I will post. Sorry.

I wanted to be done by now. Sounds whiney, but I really do want to be done for a while. I want to have a few weeks of not having to think about how to configure this or that. I am getting a little burnt out. I have put so much detail into places that folks will never see, so the places that they do see will be that much more over the top. I do not like just "good enough". If I have to re do something again to make sure it rocks, then I will. Call it a little ADD mixed with OCD mixed with trying to be a perfectionist. I want it to be a fully polished piece upon completion.

I have the same issues at work. I like my videos to have many layers to them so there is something new to see when watched more than once.

[MYX]

Ok...finally I am doing the update. I have made a LOT of progress since the last major update. I am feeling very good about how it is turning out. So, After getting the cabnet it's self finished, I hauled it upstairs to my gameroom. Then began the process of installing the gutz. It seems to be a fad on the board to use your Air Hockey table as a staging area for anything and everything that gets done in the game room. Well the same is true here. I stacked everything I intended to put into the cab here. Although soon enough it all made it's way onto the floor to the point where no one could walk through there. I eventually would get so frustrated with the mess that I would stop everything and clean the whole place just to repeat the cycle again.

EDIT: BTW, There are just far to many distractions. My ADD side keeps getting wrapped up in other things. Part of the delay was the WIKI. I started playing with that and lost several weeks. I decided that I was not allowed to play with the  WIKI until I was finished. This is a little sad because I started a whole section that is really sad looking right now so I really need to get back in there to clean it up. Then there is church. I go to it and am involved there. I do sound there and am in a men's bible study which takes time. Kids and family take time (actually they have to come first) So many times , planned to work on the cabinet and something would come up with the family. I have gotten in too much trouble for letting the cab come first. The cab became an obsession. There really is a sickness that sets in when you start to see progress. You get excited and want to work on it that much more. I have been late to work (on more than one several a lot of occasions because I just wanted to finish just one more thing.

Somewhere in the flow of things I went to two arcade auctions and bought some stuff. This was a side track because most games from auctions require some TLC. So that diverted me several times. Plus, I have been repairing some stuff that a friend of mine bought.

I also got side tracked by the software dilemma. Once the thing was able to produce a picture I have been modifying and tweaking and trying to learn how to make MAMEWah, PowerMAME, PowerMAME32, Atomic FrontEnd, and DragonKing work. They all have their cool sides. Once I got my head wrapped around MAMEWah the others seemed easier to play with, but trying to understand the bugs of each...well. The pictures that you will see in a little bit are shown with MAMEWah.

I have been desperately trying to use PowerMAME because of the 49 way support and the LED stuff (not to mention many other cool things). Infact I bought so much stuff based around PM that I had to make it go. I also liked MAMEWah because of the quickres utility and the ability to skin the thing however I liked. Now I am finding out that most allow this though. So I have to figure out a resolution solution. because it seems that MAMEWah uses the resolution info to pass to MAME it does not change what MAME wanted to do if set on auto. When I am PowerMAME32 I can not seem to get a good resolution setting on anything. I have 2 49 ways with GPWiz49s and a LEDWiz. so far I love both. They play well the GGG LEDWiz with the ICE buttons are fantastic together. I have gotten many beautiful colors out of the RGB LEDs. They are nice and bright in a lit room, and are over the top in a dark room (in a good way). So I just have to figure out how to make it all play well together.

I do not remember how I found TigerHeli's link, but he has a page for the set up of auto select for the GGG GPWiz49 with a 49 way joystick. LINK This will take care of the 49 way issue, but I still have to figure out a better way of programming animations on for the LEDWiz. Being a video editor and lately leaning more towards motion graphics and animation, I am frustrated by the LEDWiz interface. In after effects you have total control. In the LEDWiz app you are fairly limited and it is cumbersome. No don't get me wrong. I love the app as it is the only way to program the thing and I have done some very nice stuff with it, I wish it was easier to use.

I am really leaning towards Atomic Front End because Youki will be adding LEDWiz support, but I still have not been successful with getting it fully running. I am getting to a point where though not totally finished, I feel I can work on the config of this thing to get it totally playable.

Right now in order to play it at all I am using PM32 with is nearly blinding to look at on a CGA monitor at 640 x 480. but that is the only to see everything I need to see if I go into menus n such.