MAME Lightning Cab Project (22 pics added 4-1-07 + 18 more 4-2-07)

[Anubis_au]

But, on the other hand, these metallic painted buttons do look friggin awesome! Put some vinyl decals on them, I'm sure they'd look awesome... do you think you COULD put vinyl decals on top of painted buttons, or they'd remove the paint when you tried to remove the sheet?

Also, curious as others to see how these painted buttons last over time...

[Duake]

Looking good. I have a few questions for you -

1. What material is the sideart?

2. Do the buttons work well still?

Keep your eyes out for a keyboard with trackball like this one -
http://www.ioffer.com/i/USB-mini-KEYBOARD-w-TRACKBALL-mouse-20112291

The sideart is actually just really heavy stock that I printed myself.

All of the painted buttons work flawlessly. They don't stick or are tacky in any way. Since there's a clear coat on the buttons, the only way to have the paint rub off is if you scratch them.

But, on the other hand, these metallic painted buttons do look friggin awesome! Put some vinyl decals on them, I'm sure they'd look awesome... do you think you COULD put vinyl decals on top of painted buttons, or they'd remove the paint when you tried to remove the sheet?

Also, curious as others to see how these painted buttons last over time...

I could put vinyl decals on them, but I'd rather they just stay solid.

I still have a number of little touches that I'm going to implement before I'm totally done. Rest assured that I'm going to focus on getting those done rather than playing it all the time. The good thing is that it's in my mom's garage so it's out of my line of sight. Ha!

[javeryh]

Looking good - I'm curious as to how you applied the side art?  Did everything overhang the sides and you cut them back?  If so, how? 

[Duake]

Looking good - I'm curious as to how you applied the side art?  Did everything overhang the sides and you cut them back?  If so, how? 

I printed my sideart out on a large printer that's roll fed. I made the art in Photoshop to size @ 150 DPI so it would come out correctly. I also made it a little longer and wider than the cab itself and just put the MAME logo where it wouldn't get cut off. I basically spray mounted the paper to the sides and smoothed it out as best I could. I then took a brand new razor blade and held it against the edge of the wood and just followed the contours of it.

I believe there's some sort of coating you can put on top of the paper that will actually make it like a laminate. I'll have to read up on that more though.