Help with Control Panel (Please!)

[WeaponX]

I'm currently in the process of saving to buy an arcade cab hopefully from an auction.  I'm hoping to buy a 4-way cab and add buttons to it.  I want 4 joysticks (mag stick plus) and 6 buttons for 2 players and 4 buttons for 2 players.  Then across the top 8 buttons, each player will have 1P,Credit...2P,Credit.....3P,Credit......4P,Credit.  Id also like a tracking ball if possible which will almost be used as a mouse along with 2 buttons for that.  I'm trying to figure out how much space on the CP will be needed for all this to fit, so when we do get the money to goto the auction, we can decide on which one to bid on based on the needs of our wants!  I know you guys are great, and hopefully you guys can help! 

[WeaponX]

kinda like this one

[_) (V) (-)]

Your panel can be smaller than that if you get creative with your button placement.

Consider reloacting some of them and maybe even angle the two end sets 45 degrees. You could shave about 10" off the width of that sucker.

[lordtodd75]

If you hide the trackball plate you could move the joystick/buttons on either side even closer without it looking tacky. I too started out making a four player frankenpanel and after my 5th or 6th revision(I dont remember exactly) I did away with the 3rd and 4th player. If I were you I would look up all of the 4 player simultaneous games, there aren't very many. After you have done that I would then decide if you want a 4 player panel. The only reason I really wanted one was gauntlet, to me that didn't justify all the extra room. Plus the damn game wouldn't fit in my living room with a 5' wide panel. Yes I said 5' wide.

Which leads me to my next piece of advice. Make sure it will fit in your house before you buy/build 

[WeaponX]

Yea im actually thinking of buying an old cabinet at an auction or something which has a removable control panel.  My doorway is 29".  Really all I want is 2 joysticks, 8 buttons each, 2 which are the start buttons and the  creditr buttons, and the other 6 being for games.  Also woud like a tracking ball with about 2 buttons to act as a mouse.  Any ideas of a cab that would work?