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Galaxian Mame Conversion
csa3d:
After being a regular lurker for the past 3 years, I have finally commited to begining my project.
The goal of my project is to retain the look and feel of an old Galaxian cab, yet be able to play as many games and consoles as possible given the size of the cabinet and control panel. I was really drawn to the shape and artwork of this cab, and plan to keep with the feel and look as much as possible.
This weekend at the Mesquite, TX Super Auctions I picked up the base cabinet for $150. I was originally going to build this unit from scratch, but I feel a bit better having a good starting base for this project as opposed to figuring it all out as I go along.
The cabinet contains a full set of "innards", but will not boot playable. The game has a disturbing speaker hum, but does make game sounds as if the board has booted but the CRT does not come to life.
As for appearance, the sides have minimal chipping around the edges, and are more or less good to go. The front kickplate has waterdamage at the bottom, and some extraneous bolts for coindoor security that need addressed. The coindoor has some slight rust, and some extra holes to be patched, but overall will be a good candidate for reconditioning. The back is actually the most chipped up. Again, it's the back, and me being "particular" will surely fix that as well. The side art is not bad, but not pristine, so I plan to get reproduction art printed and mounted after I sand down the unit. The glasses are in pretty good shape. There are no cracks that I have found yet, and the glass art, while not "spanking new" looks well kept.
One of the main customizations I will be performing to the cabinet is to replace the old CRT with a bright new LCD monitor. Inspired by Edge's rotation LCD system, I plan to use a similar setup to allow me to play vertical and horizontal games with as much screen realestate as possible. I am not concerned about keeping "Old school feel" of the blury screens, but I do want to conceal the new technology inside the design of the old cabinet so it does not stick out like a soar thumb. I will be keeping the original monitor slant of the cab, and am aware of LCD viewing angle warning as well. This paragraph is loaded because I'm pretty sure to get some hatemail from this choice.
Now for some pictures. This is how It rolled back from the auction, and I leave you with my original 3d mockup. I will likely change the 3d mockup as I go along, including the number of buttons and controls now that I have something "real" to guage comfortable playing area.
csa3d:
Here is my original 3D mockup and where I'm heading with this project more or less, plus/minus the exact control scheme.
Knievel:
Like the hinged CP/keyboard drawer idea, very cool.
From the looks of that mockup you have waaay too much time on your hands.
SirPeale:
Here's my Galaxian conversion.
http://www.pealefamily.net/tech/newmame/index.php?cat=7
BUCKETHEAD:
--- Quote ---Here is my original 3D mockup and where I'm heading with this project more or less, plus/minus the exact control scheme
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Very interesting!
I will watch your progress with great interest ..