first cab, a few questions

[mailman3028]

I've been lurking and reading the boards for a couple months now, It's now time to get involved in earnest!
I just picked up a Primal Rage dedicated cabinet. Beautiful 25 inch monitor, working PCB. Only problem is someone yanked all the wiring for the cp(cut at controls and removed male halves of the molex connectors). Ordered .187 connectors, a button wrench and some extra buttoms from The Real Bob Roberts, so should have that sorted out this weekend. Now for the question/opinions part.
I would like to turn this into a mame machine. Is this a rare machine it would be sacrilege to do this to? It is Jamma, so it could be mamed without ruining it either. Has a metal cp, and I would like more controls. Possible to attach my own controls without major damage? It came with an extra NOS cp overlay, so I think any cuts and such can be covered up later.
Art question...I really like the lava artwork that covers the whole front of the cabinet, and I have an idea for a new marquue, but little to no artistic talent. Would like a marquee that looks like the existing one, except change it to "Primal Mame", with the same font. Anyone know of an easy program to trace the letters and alter them, or would custom art from someone like mamemarquees be my only option?
Last question for now, cab has no sideart, just black. I would like a set of the whle cab covering Primal Rage sideart. Have been googling away, no luck. Anyone know of places to look that I haven't found?

Thanks folks, It's amazing the ammount of info on these boards and in Saint's book!

[Crowquill]

What's with all the Primal Rage cabs recently? I literally just finished replying to this one:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63464.0

I'm using one as a JAMMA cab and like it. Everything is easily accessible behind the control panel and the 25" monitor is a definite perk. It's not considered rare at all (or that popular as games go) and I'd consider it a good candidate for MAME-ing. It came with stereo speakers AND a subwoofer, so that's a plus. If yours has the original Neotec NT-2515 monitor, you may want to look at the manual for it:

http://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/monitors.html

I'm thinking about switching my MAME setup over to the Primal Rage cab. My plans currently include building a new control panel so that it's a bit more like Pit Fighter & Rampart. It would also give me the chance to raise up the control panel a little as it's lower than most cabs. Here's what Pit Fighter looked like:

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=788

Trying to find the full sideart will probably be difficult. It was also sold as a conversion kit so maybe you could find the smaller sideart. Mine had battered full sideart when I got it. I pulled it off because I wanted it to be more neutral since I was going to be swapping JAMMA boards in it. I also thought it was a bit too obnoxious in my house.

Mine still has the overlay and front panel artwork because the CP overlay is huge and not easily replaceable and the front panel artwork is proving difficult to remove. I just got a heat gun so I'm going to tackle it again soon.

As far as the marquee goes, you might be able get someone over in the artwork forum to help you out. If you can get a clean image together, then you could have it printed at Mamemarquees.

Here's a pic of mine running Mr Driller 2.

[mailman3028]

Thanks for the reply and info Crowquil!
I do really like the sound system, very loud. Since controls aren't hooked up, alll I can do is watch attract mode, curious what volume it is set at, cuz it's loud.
I think I will make this a mamecab for now, looks like it will be relatively easy to mount nw controls, just remove the metal cp and attach new cp with brackets.