Project TMNT...

[sonudasouf]

Alright, well I wanted to post this when I actually first started the project...But I couldn't due to I was restricted to the "Guests" Board only...So now that I could actually sign up and USE the Project Announcement forums, here goes...

Well as most of you are, I grew up begging my parents for quarters whenever I saw an arcade game of any sort...I however come from the "Chuck E Cheese" and Ninja Turtle Era, Being that I'm only 18, But that doesn't mean I haven't played my fair share of everything from pong to Pac-Man...But yeah, So I decided to build a MAME cabinet after looking a bit into them....But the question was....How?   So I did a bit more research, (Luckily, I work at radio shack and there is a TON of downtime that I have the chance to spend online...)...But yeah, So I read and read...Then over time, I decided I definitely want to build/design my own Control Panel(at first, I wanted to just buy an X-arcade and build a cab...But nope, I wanted this to be custom...) So I put in my order for a USB I-PAC and $58 in
Happ Controls....

Now, for the Cabinet Part....Build or buy one?   hmm....I scoured over craigslist, both LA and Ventura County...However unless I got a Ninja Turtles Cab, I didn't wanna spend much on a WORKING cab, and then tear it apart, so I eventually found a guy with an old Mortal Kombat Cab(which I am now starting to find out it wasn't an original MK cab, but we'll get into that later as I actually peel away more paint...), with no monitor or Boards, it DID have a coin door (Which was a bonus, considering they aren't THAT cheap, let alone shipping) and also had an installed speaker in the roof, below the marquee, with a volume adjust, and a straight hookup to a standard 1/8th jack....So I figured it was PERFECT, so I let him know to consider it sold, and picked it up in a few days...

Alright, So it's at it's new home, my house, and Now what?  Well as you can see in the pics below, it's pretty freakin roughed up...And although it's not in the pics, it DID come with controls on the panel, but they were all pretty old and worn out(Although I removed them before the pics were taken...)...Not to mention it used Pac-Man sticks







You can kinda see another Painting under this...Let me know if you have an idea of what cab this WAS....





























So first things first, I wiped it down...But then I needed a monitor...So i hit up craigslist, and found a 20 inch for $30, which turned out to fit the bezel PERFECTLY(After of course removing the HUGE Plastic casing around it...it's a Sony from 95' and uses 5 RGB style connectors(Basically component) to a VGA...So now we have the monitor...Next...

What theme do I wanna go with?  I gave it some thought, and decided on a Ninja Turtles theme, considering I am "famous" out here for my always wearing Ninja Turtles Jacket, which is Black with green Track Stipes down the sleeves, So I decided on a black cab with Green T-Molding...And although just a 2-player setup for now(Which I will make OVER the existing holes for a control panel), I'll eventually do a 4 player with trackball setup...


Now that I had all that down, it was time to do some wood repairing/gluing, which turned out decent...


And then, I picked up a few supplies at my local Home Depot, which were:

2x4 of 3/4 MDF (For my Control Panel  -$7.37
1 Can Textured Rustoleum Black -$5.97
Spray Can Holder -$2.46
1 Quart Killz Primer (with 2 oz black to make it Grey) -$7.24
1 Quart Rustoleum Satin Black -$7.87
2 Locks for the Coin Door and Coin Cubby  -$8.34 ($4.17 each) (As the original pad-lock way looks kind cheesy to me...and this is for personal use, so there won't be any kids trying to use drinking straws to try to pry it open 

And I lied, I also got a few things from Wal-Mart

1 18-inch Fluorescent Light -$6.96 (for "under cabinets"...But this should be fine "in cabinets"
3 packs of 4 carriage bolts w/nuts -$ 2.49 (83 cents each)
1 Pack of 25 Lock Washers -$.83



And then placed an order through a seller on here, which consisted of:

Wiring kit - $19  (although I get 30% off at radio shack, this is still cheaper...and easier...)
4 PCB Mounts -$2
25 Feet of Green T-molding -$16.75
A New Coin Door eject button -$4.50  (The cabinet only came with one in it...)
2 LED's for coin Setup - $7.58 ($3.79 each)
2 LED Holders at 12 volts - 82 cents (41 cents each)


Then, which was yesterday, I finally had a full day off, and took out the coin door and coin cubby(The part that holds the coin bucket...If you know the propor term, please let me know...haha), took them apart, did a little bondo work and sanding (A LITTLE sanding...cause I wanted to keep somewhat of the original texture, but smooth out the rough parts...), then spray painted them with 3 coats of the Black Textured Rustoleum...And they turned out pretty decent, at least, decent for my first time doing a spray paint job...I also Sprayed down the tops of the screws for the front of the coin door, as the original ones were pretty crappy/rusty, but were still colored black, so I wanted to go black on these as well...


So yeah, I know this is alot to chew for a topic starter, But that's only cause I couldn't post on here before, and wanted to post it once, and in the right forum...As for updates, I should be posting before and afters of painting/repairing soon...So Stay tuned!!!


And if anyone has any questions/comments/suggestions...please feel free to post...Thanks!

[subcriminal]

That cabinet looks a lot like Joust  I'm not sure though but from the colours of the original art and here the white staff runs from top to bottom it may be, have you uncovered any more of that image yet?

[javeryh]

Good luck and take tons of pics!  Also, I wanted black screws too and instead of painting them I used THESE. 
they look great!  I got them from my local hardware store for $0.03 each.

You can see the difference in this picture:

[sonudasouf]

Ohhh...yeah, you're right, it does look like Joust...And to answer your question, No, I haven't yet uncovered more of it...But do you know what the best method is for doing so?   I'm assuming a lighter sand paper, But let me know if you know something different...

As for the screw caps, yeah, that would have been useful to know they were around, haha...But the ones I painted SHOULD be fine...But if not, I'll definitely order those...

Thanks for the input!

[sonudasouf]

Alright, So I finally got pictures of my "New" coin door and coin cubby...I must say, they turned out pretty decent....And aside from that, I also repaired some parts of the cab with glue and Yeah, Today, I focussed on sanding and sanding and sanding...I uncovered The original Sideart....and indeed, it WAS Joust!  It made me pretty excited to uncover the full picture, but yeah, it's a shame I'll have to paint over it soon...Oh, and I picked up 2 more things today...


Target:

Goo-Gone -$3


Home Depot

60-grit Sand Paper -$2
















So yeah, it's finally getting closer and closer....Tomorrow, I'll focus on more repairs and get it ready for the primer stage...Also, I'll have to figure out what to do with the control panel setup...So stay tuned...again!!!!

[MaMeNnO]

Great job on the coindoor.
Looking at the cab... I guess you do not need to worry about what to do with your spare time.
There is a lot to do.

[subcriminal]

I know what I'd do with a Joust cab. Paint it, get the Joust art printed up off www.localarcade.com, modify the CPO for a six button two player setup and MAME it. Shame TMNT is a four player, are you gonna hang a frankenpanel on there?

[javeryh]

Awesome job on the coin door clean up.  It looks brand new!

[sonudasouf]

I know what I'd do with a Joust cab. Paint it, get the Joust art printed up off www.localarcade.com, modify the CPO for a six button two player setup and MAME it. Shame TMNT is a four player, are you gonna hang a frankenpanel on there?

Yeah, I know it is...But For now, i'm just gonna go with a 2 person panel and eventually, whether I make a new panel or make a new cab, go 4 player...But yeah, just for my first cab though, 2 Player is fine...


And Thanks for the coin door comments...I'm amazed myself by the difference...

And yeah, I unfortunately was out and about all day, and the only "work" I did on the cab was buy some screws for it 

But hopefully I'll wake up early tomorrow and work on it, as I go to work at 10:00 till almost 9:00....