I'm new, here is my Ms Pacman restore plan, tell me what I'm doing wrong please!

[quanlee]

I purchased an empty Ms Pacman cabinet. The side art is in poor condition, the CP art is missing, the bezel art is missing, however it has a mint marquee. I know I'm pretty much starting from scratch on this thing, but I had to start somewhere. Why did I buy this one? I wanted a Ms Pacman / Galaga type cabinet, have been looking forever, didn't want to build one myself.

My goal is to have a mame machine that looks like a Ms Pacman, that can play Ms Pacman and other vertical type games, like Galaga, DK, Arkanoid, Centipede and so on.

Here is what I'm planning:

Cabinet
1. Fill Holes and Scratches, Make other repairs, sand, and paint.
2. Try to keep side and front art intact as much as possible, if not paint over.
3. Replace T-Moulding.
4. Possibly replace glass, I have to check the condition.
5. Power everything with a single plug strip???
6. Use powered speakers for sound, mounted in top of cabinet, sound would come out existing speaker grill. I'm not to sure about this idea.

Computer and Monitor
1. Mame using a 500-800mhz computer.
2. 19" LCD Monitor mounted tight to glass with Ms Pacman Bezel. Anyone have any suggestions for mounting?

Control Panel
1. Utilimarc Minipac with opti and harness.
2. Utilimarc Mag-stik plus.
3. Utilimarc Trackball (connect to minipac)
4. Control Panel with Ms Pacman Graphic.
5. Center mounted Joystick (original position)
6. Two or three buttons on the right side of the joystick.
7. Trackball mounted just left of the joystick.
8. two buttons (mouse buttons) mounted just left of the track ball.
9. A black credit push button on the front of the control panel under the 1 or 2 start buttons.

Any suggestions would be great.

[BradC]

If the side/front art are not usable, I think the general concensus is that it's better to strip/remove it rather than just painting over.

[RayB]

What you're doing wrong is not restoring a classic.  heheh 

OK OK ms pacs are a dime a dozen and yours sounds trashed, so besides not restoring it, what you're doing wrong is using an LCD monitor. Not only is it not arcade authentic, but you might not see the graphics very well at an angle. Have you tested the "viewing angle" of this particular monitor?

[quanlee]

Yeah, I have. I have connected it to the pc, and actually played mame games on it, at a similar angle. But I see your point. I should probably investigate further. Is the monitor being under glass going to affect the brightness at all?

This thing was cheaper than a new arcade monitor. Does anyone know where you can get a 19" CRT type monitor these days?

I also didn't want to go through the hassle of a true arcade monitor, I don't know anything about them. I have looked into the ArcadeVGA from ultimarc, but that's just additonal cost, and for what?

Authentic looking pixels are the least of my worries.

Thanks!

[diverdown]

This thing was cheaper than a new arcade monitor. Does anyone know where you can get a 19" CRT type monitor these days?

You can have one of the 10 ive got in my shed for free.  Course my shed is in Australia.

I also didn't want to go through the hassle of a true arcade monitor, I don't know anything about them. I have looked into the ArcadeVGA from ultimarc, but that's just additonal cost, and for what?

I am confused....If you are using a PC and an LCD then you dont need an arcadeVGA card, just a plain old graphcs card.  Which means that you can plug in an old 19" CRT PC monitor and it will work. I have found that all PC monitors come out of their plastic cases and can mount to the arcade machine. You may have to do some manipulatingof  the monitor chassis, depends on the monitor you choose. i.e some monitor chassis are supported (mounted to) the monitor and therefore can just "hang" from the mounted monitor whilst others need to me mounted seperatly to the cab.

[quanlee]

No, I was saying I didn't want to buy an AracdeVGA board, yes I plan to use an old standard graphics card, and a new 19" LCD monitor.

As a proof of concept test, I removed the old burnt arcade monitor last night. With that out of the way, I noticed the two mounting rails are just the right distance below the glass/bezel, to place a 18"x23"x1/2" piece of plywood as a shelf, and set the LCD monitor on it's backside under the bezel. I set the smoked plexi and bezel on top of it, connected it to my laptop, and played a few mame games, and it looked great, even from side angles. It doesn't have the "authentic" looking pixels, but it's bright enough. The smoked plexi and bezel artwork will hide the monitor frame very well, but I may cover the monitor frame with some black electrical tape.

[unclet]

With everyone going toward flat screen monitors these days, it is fairly easily (in my area) to find used 19" CRT monitor for cheap,  Check your newpaper, Ebay (local search) and craigslist.com to find one.