FINALLY! Star Wars Cockpit Measurements

[modessitt]

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE POSTING!!!!

Who's excited?

Okay, before we get started, I'd like to ask everyone to refrain from posting in the thread until I give the links to the off-site album of all the photos.  I've planned it out and the links will be in post #13 (this is #1).  Thanks.

I'd also like to thank my wife who gave up 4 hours of her Saturday to help me do this.  You can see her in the background of a couple photos.  Without her help (and forbearance) this would not have been done.   

So,  what is all the hype about?  This:



What a babe!  I guess this would be a good time to mention that the only digital camera I have access to is a 3.2 megapixel, so the pics may not be as high-def as some may wish.  They are all 2048x1536.  A few pics came out a little blurry, and I will be retaking them as I can.  Also, don't worry if you can't read everything in the photos, as it will be clear when you see the larger picture in the album.  These are more for reference and comments.  Get the proper info from the pic in the album.

Here's a little something for those who think it's important:



By the way, I now understand why it's taken someone this long to tackle this.  This cabinet is put together with about a million screws and nails (mostly hidden from the inside) and I soon gave up trying to remove the canopy, although my wife got a good pic of me trying:



The designers of this cabinet must have had an aversion to hard corners, as every corner was a curve.  In order to make measurements, I had to find a reference point.  Hopefully it's understandable.  This is what I came up with:



Finally, both sides are the same, mirror-imaged.  One side has some damage as you can see below.  For this reason, almost all pics (except where noted) are of the right side as you sit in the game.  You can easily flip the picture to get the opposite side.  All art is exactly the same, except mirrored.



By the way. the width from the outside edges of the base is 25-1/2".  The width from the outside edges of the canopy is 24".  The width of the inside edges of the base is 23-3/4".  Since this is a constant throughout the cab, most pictures won't include this information.  Thanks for reading.  Now on with the pics.

[modessitt]

For reference, the section of the cab with the monitor will be referred to as the back or rear, and the section with the seat will be referred to as the front.  If you're wondering how big this cab really is - and want to know if you'll be able to fit it in your gameroom, this will give you an idea of the size of the game.  Width is mentioned in the post above:



Here is the rear portion of the right side.  There will unmodified photo's in the albums for those who may want to use this as a basis to reproduce artwork:



And here is the front portion of the right side:

[modessitt]

This post will reference the inside of the cockpit area.

Of course we need something to sit on.  This is the base of the seat where we plant our butts:



And where we rest our backs.  Note that both speaker grills are the same size and evenly spaced on the seatback.  I only measured the outsides of the speaker grills.  They are mounted flush into the seatback, so whatever kind you use will need to be mounted that way.  You can see through the grill the cut-outs for the speaker, and I figure you can do it however you want.  Also, was there a cushion or something here originally?  There are small holes up the length of the left and right sides but no screws or bolts in thos holes.  Just wondering.



Here is the area between the seat base and the inside floor.  the speaker grills are the same size and spaced the same way left-to-right as the other speaker grills.



Here is the area for your feet.  It is covered in ribbed rubber matting.  Notice the metal plates holding the two side portions together.



Here is the kick panel below the control panel.  The angles may not be obvious.  Hopefully you can figure out how to incorporate this, as it's not easy to photograph in detail.



There has been some discussion as to whether the control panel and bezel are the same for the upright as they are for the cockpit.  While I can't answer that, I include this pic of the area in question, along with a few measurements.  Once I remove these items during the repair, I will take a few more pics in better detail for those who still might wonder.

[modessitt]

This is an area above the bezel and partially under the canopy.  It was almost impossible to remove the canopy without breaking the cabinet.  I was able to get this section of the canopy off a little to take some pics, but was unable to get a full pic of this panel.

Here is a crappy, self-made concept of what the panel is shaped like"



Here are partial pics of this panel.  You can see the curves, as well as the portion which fits under the canopy.

The left side:



and the right side:

[modessitt]

Now, the rear cabinet panels.

Here is a top panel directly behind the panel in the above post.  The grill is centered in the panel.  The top portion is a routed inset for the plexi of the canopy to sit flush into the wood.  Set it for the thickness of the plexi you use.

Right after this pic was taken, my wife said, "Did you just take my picture?"  Yep!



Here is the larger panel directly behind it.  The grill is the same size as the other and also centered:



And here is the panel below the back door (if it were there).  If I had been smart I would have measure the inset from the back, as well as the hole for the back door (which is missing from this game).  The Groove is centered in the panel, as is the cut-out for the power cord.  The measurements in the top right corner are for proper positioning on the power switch hole.

[modessitt]

Okay, now we get to the "marquee".  This is what we're talking about.



And this is what's behind it:



It's not much, but you can see the bracing used inside the left:



and inside on the right:



Here is the wood crossbar above the marquee.  Most of this is covered by a metal bracket which, of course, I forgot to measure.



And the panel below the marquee:

[modessitt]

Speaking of the marquee.  This is silk-screened onto the backside of glass.  Unfortunately there is a bit of minor flaking on the edges, although it is mostly behind the mounting brackets and not that noticeable once in the game.

This is glass, probably tempered, which is 3/16" thick.

Here is a pic with no flash.  It is a little blurry, sorry:



Here is the same pic with the flash.  Besides the reflection, this shows the art in better detail and focus, especially the ships:

[modessitt]

Here are some crappy photos of the coin door positioning on the left side.  This seems to be a standard over/under coin door which is used on a lot of games (like Dig Dug, Afterburner, etc...)  I didn't remove the coin door, but guesstimated the size of the hole.  It is perpindicular to the floor.

This pic shows the spacing from the left edge:



And this from the right edge and the base:

[modessitt]

Okay, on to the canopy.  The canopy is made of three separate pieces (on each side) which are sandwiched together.  You can see this from underneath.  Notice that all have their own t-molding on the bottom.



The two outside pieces are exactly the same (except for the cut-outs for the art), but the inside piece has a different shape altogether.  Because of this, there is a single wide piece of t-molding across the top of the two outside pieces to give the illusion of one solid piece.



Because of the difficulty (or inability) of taking the canopy off, I had to measure the pieces and superimpose the shape onto the full-side-view.  the measurements and shape are what's important, not the scale, so keep that in mind.  Here is the shape of the two outer pieces:



Here are the measurements for the inner piece:



Here is a view of that inner piece (the left side - the pic above is for the right side).  You can see all the screws used to keep the boards sandwiched tightly.



As you can see in the above pic, there is a crossbar which provides stability, as well as a centerpiece for the plexiglass.  Didn't notice it at the time, but got the wife again at the perfect angle in the mirror:



Here is a close-up view of how the crossbar mounts into the side pieces:

[modessitt]

Which brings us to the art on the canopy.  Only because the machine is not here, I see that I forgot to measure the spacing for the separate art portions.  Also, there is about a 1/4" difference between the inside edge and outside edge.  It is beveled and appears to be completely through the first piece, so that the art is mounted directly onto the middle piece.

When looking at the right side, here is the left piece:



Here is the middle piece:



And the right piece.  This came out blurry and will be retaken:

[modessitt]

So we need plexi for the canopy.  There are two pieces, both smoked (looks brown, though), and about 3/16" thick.

Here is the flat piece above the monitor:



If you notice there are holes in the plexi for mounting one end to the panel above the bexel.



This is the angled plexi that goes above and behind the head.



If you want to try to create (or have created) this plexi, here are top-side pics of each angle.  You can super-impose them onto your plans to get the exact angles.

Here is the angle between the two longest pieces:



and the angle between the long and shortest side:

[modessitt]

Finally, here are some pics of the interior of the cab.  I will try to get some better detailed pics once I get into repairing this game.  I won't comment on these pics at this time, although I'll be happy to answer questions later.

[modessitt]

Finally!  Post #13!  I hope everyone enjoyed the pics!

As far as I can tell, 3/4" MDF was used throughout this cab.  Also, my measurements were done on the outside.  Obviously, there must be areas where panels will use angled cuts or overlap for joining purposes.  In your planning, make sure you compensate for this, otherwise your cabinet will not join together properly.

Don't forget the width measurements mentioned in the first post for your planning as well.

I'd like to thank everyone from refraining from posting until now.

Here are the promised links!  First to the album showing all the modified pictures shown so far:

http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w7/modessitt/Star%20Wars%20Modified/

And the link to the album showing all the pictures as they were taken originally - unmodified:

http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w7/modessitt/Star%20Wars%20Unmodified/

Hope y'all have enjoyed it!  Drive safe and don't forget to tip your waitress!   

[ChadTower]

 

[CheffoJeffo]

A HUGE props to modessitt and profound thanks to Mrs. modessitt!

That was a nice thing to do!

 

[Zeppo]

Awesome.
This deserves a sticky or a big star or something.

Thanks for all the hard work!

 

[miles2912]

This needs to be put in the Wiki under a Star Wars cab from scratch section.  Awesome job.  If someone decides to make a visio or a cad file of this please post it too.  Talk about the holy grail of arcade cabs...


Don

[zorg]

what to say

a big thanks to you and your wife for this work.

 

[Level42]

 

[JoyMonkey]

[SavannahLion]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, you are a god.

Photobucket?! Get this stuff on Saints servers and we need to zip all the pics and all the explanations up as a megadownload. Better yet, put it on that drive with all the side art.

[ChadTower]

Not many people have access to that drive with all the side art.

I did download the marked up pics, I think there were 52 of them.  I can zip them up and send them along to someone who would be willing to host them as an archive, pending modessitt's approval of course.

[rovingmind]

 

And now my work begins.

Thank you thank you thank you

[rovingmind]

Does the plexi overlap on what looks like a strip of cork?

[ChadTower]

It appears to be just the MDF end grain.

[rovingmind]

It appears to be just the MDF end grain.

Then why the staples?

If you zoom way in there appears to be a gap under it.   Veiwing Canopycrossbar photo

[ChadTower]

Do you mean the yellow strip?  Looks like thin manuf wood there, stapled on to provide a bit of support.  Cork would work just as well.

[rovingmind]

Do you mean the yellow strip?  Looks like thin manuf wood there, stapled on to provide a bit of support.  Cork would work just as well.

Yep thats the piece. 

[rovingmind]

Is it too late to get the panel setbacks? ie. how far in from the edges?

[modessitt]

Is it too late to get the panel setbacks? ie. how far in from the edges?

No, not too late.  I'll get it done soon.

The strip on the crossbar goes between the plexis.

[squirrellydw]

Not many people have access to that drive with all the side art.

I did download the marked up pics, I think there were 52 of them.  I can zip them up and send them along to someone who would be willing to host them as an archive, pending modessitt's approval of course.

I can host them, email me the zip file to squirrellydw at gmail

if its OK with him

[modessitt]

Fine by me....

[modessitt]

Okay, while others are more than welcome to create their own, I have created Zipped archives of the 44 original and unmodified photos and the 50 modified photos.  I have also creates .exe self-extracting archive of each also, in case someone can't figure out how to get a free copy of Winzip.

Unfortunately, I can't post them here, nor do I have my own site to post them to.  If someone whould like them directly from me, PM me with an e-mail address. 

Even zipped, they are still fairly big.  I may not have used the proper compression.  Here are the file sizes:

Original .zip file - 36.2MB
Original .exe file - 36.3MB

Modified .zip file - 34.1MB
modified .exe file - 34.2MB

Maybe someone can compress them better.  Either way, I have them.

[ahofle]

I created you an FTP account on my site...PM'd you the details.  I will host them for you at http://hofle.com/sw if you haven't gotten hosting yet.

Thanks for your awesome work. 

[modessitt]

Thanks!  All four files are now there.  I will add to it as I get more info..... I also have my notes from my measuring still, just in case i need to answer questions.... looks like i may have the game for another week yet...

[HoopstarsGarage]

Great work..!!

Only one thing missing is all the angles for the cuts - without them, it would be very difficult to replicate..

Are you able to use a protractor and measure them up to the nearest degree?


Hoops

[rovingmind]

Great work..!!

Only one thing missing is all the angles for the cuts - without them, it would be very difficult to replicate..

Are you able to use a protractor and measure them up to the nearest degree?


Hoops

The angles for the cuts can be calculated once we get the setback dimensions, they will be included in the final piece drawings.  Since we know the thickness of the material they used (posted earlier) that isn't that difficult of a problem.  The only angle that will be a fudge to fit is the ones on the metal bracket at the seat edge along with a what looks good radius on the corners.  A french curve will solve the radius question when this thing gets plotted full size.

[HoopstarsGarage]

The only angle that will be a fudge to fit is the ones on the metal bracket at the seat edge along with a what looks good radius on the corners.  A french curve will solve the radius question when this thing gets plotted full size.

We have everything we need




Hoops

[rovingmind]

The only angle that will be a fudge to fit is the ones on the metal bracket at the seat edge along with a what looks good radius on the corners.  A french curve will solve the radius question when this thing gets plotted full size.

We have everything we need





Hoops

ooooh thats evil. 

*hiding club* 

where do you live???

[HoopstarsGarage]

where do you live???

Australia...

Can you imagine how much it's cost to get this crap down here??? 


Hoops