Author Topic: Scratch-built Star Wars Cockpit Cab - UPDATE 15/9/13 (Read 92151 times)

NickS · « **Reply #40 on:** June 21, 2007, 04:14:03 pm »

Great work and thanks for your willingness to share the dimensions with the community.

In the mame vs original hardware debate I would use mame. Firstly a high res pc monitor with the contrasts properly adjusted looks very good when playing Star Wars and vector monitors can be extremely unreliable and very expensive. The original boards and other associated parts that would be required are also extremely unreliable and very expensive. And of course with Mame you can turn it into a multigame unit playing Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return Of the Jedi.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #41 on:** June 21, 2007, 05:43:13 pm »

Wow ... I'm absolutely speechless ...

arcadefever · « **Reply #42 on:** June 21, 2007, 06:05:51 pm »

Quote

I'll be hosting everything myself - I have thrown together a quick web-page to document all the work - this will include all plans etc and a VERY detailed build up of the cabinet.. I have glossed over a lot of the more intricate parts in this thread..

Star Wars Cockpit

Hoops

very nice

BrentRadio · « **Reply #43 on:** June 21, 2007, 06:16:22 pm »

You can use a raster tube, I don't think there is such a thing as a vector tube. It's the yoke, rings, and monitor boards that make it vector.

Brent

HoopstarsGarage · « **Reply #44 on:** June 21, 2007, 08:39:42 pm »

In an ideal world I would LOVE to use a vector monitor and the original hardware with a mulitgame setup (SW and ROTJ) but I would need to find a 25" vector monitor.. and they are more difficult to get than the cabinet..

Brent is correct that there essentially isn't any difference with the tube itself but the impedance of the yoke coils which means a change of either the yoke (and then a big setup job for convergence, etc) or a redesign of the Horizontal and Vertical deflection circuits - either way.. a big job..

To this end, I will be running MAME on the cab with a 21" Sony monitor - this way I will be able to play Star Wars and Return of the Jedi plus some PC Star Wars games (ie. X-wing and Tie Fighter) another thought which is still in debate is adding an accelerator pedal to allow me to play one of my other favorite games - Spy Hunter - with a removable shifter mech

I am hoping on getting stuck into the canopy hoops over the weekend.. weather permitting

Hoops

BrentRadio · « **Reply #45 on:** June 21, 2007, 09:12:20 pm »

Or you could get this guy to build you a 25 inch Vector:

http://www.arcadecup.com/

Read this thread:

http://forums.webmagic.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=470153&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

Brent

pin_wiz_1 · « **Reply #46 on:** June 22, 2007, 06:43:46 am »

Hey - great project.

Please check out my own project here in the UK. I recently built a Star Wars upright from scratch:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62824.0

If you need any help just give me a shout!

Keep up the great work.

Brad

ChadTower · « **Reply #47 on:** June 22, 2007, 08:02:51 am »

Quote from: BrentRadio on June 21, 2007, 06:16:22 pm

You can use a raster tube, I don't think there is such a thing as a vector tube. It's the yoke, rings, and monitor boards that make it vector

That's what we were assuming he meant and just used the wrong term. We'll see when he gets that far.

Hell, for this project, I'd say go more than 25". There have to be 27" tubes out there with the same deflection angle. They're probably more common than we think.

Level42 · « **Reply #48 on:** June 22, 2007, 12:32:10 pm »

Maybe a bit unrelated bit I have to share it:

Tomorrow I will go have a look at probably the only Star Wars Cockpit left in The Netherlands.....and maybe buy it

Wish me luck !

(19" monitor, defective of course, but seller claims it plays blind, but I've heared that before when I got my Centipede.....)

rovingmind · « **Reply #49 on:** June 22, 2007, 04:04:00 pm »

For possible shifter and pedals, i'm looking at adding a usb port under the control panel. Easily removed and wont mar the looks.

I have a madcatz assembly to hack.

danny_galaga · « **Reply #50 on:** June 23, 2007, 03:41:03 am »

If your HR is anything to go by, this is going to be an exemplary piece of work (",)

BrentRadio · « **Reply #51 on:** June 24, 2007, 03:57:20 pm »

Hoops,

I know you are busy. When you get a chance can you zipfile the Star Wars pics you have from the internet and send them to me?

You can email me at vaps@brentradio.com

Thanks!

Brent

rovingmind · « **Reply #52 on:** June 25, 2007, 11:14:19 am »

Quote from: Level42 on June 22, 2007, 12:32:10 pm

Tomorrow I will go have a look at probably the only Star Wars Cockpit left in The Netherlands.....and maybe buy it

did you get it?

HoopstarsGarage · « **Reply #53 on:** July 01, 2007, 08:36:39 am »

Well the weather here has been pretty crappy and that means I haven't been able to cut out the canopy hoops:(

So to keep things moving along, albeit a little slower than I'd like, I have started getting stuck into restoring the various metal parts like the control panel, yoke and coin door..

The cab that I got my control panel from was converted to an Atari Hydra and so they decided to completely f#ck up a totally good panel and bore some dirty great holes in it for two push buttons..
Initially I thought that the control panel overlay might of been an original Star Wars but it turned out that they'd replaced it with a generic overlay and then sprayed it black..

The yoke overlay had seen better days as well and couldn't be saved..

So the first step involved removing the yoke controller and stripping off the CP overlay - this was a pretty crappy job as it really had bonded to the metal panel. Once I'd stripped off the overlay, I was left with this thick, sticky glue that took a while to get off as well.. it certainly wasn't one of the more enjoyable jobs.. After all the glue was removed, the panel was lightly sanded..

Next up I needed to fabricate a couple of filler panels to cover up the holes. I spent a little time making sure they were a decent fit after which I then grabbed the mig and welded them in place..

Next up I pulled out the angle grinder and cleaned up the welds and then finished up with the sander to smooth off the rough grinding and also give the filler something to bind to..

To fill any of the imperfections, a skim of filler was smeared over the welds and left to harden..

..and then this was sanded down leaving a really nice, smooth panel. I then shot a couple of coats of satin black over the front and back to seal everything down and give the new overlay something nice to adhere to..

The yoke itself had seen better days with lots of surface rust and scratches..

Internally things weren't much better either - there was lots of rust, dust and 23+ years of grime..

I set about stripping down everything to their basic components and then cleaned up all the rust with the wire wheel - I followed up with a wipe over with some de-oxidene to ensure the rust wouldn't return..

As you can see in both the follow and previous photos, I masked up the sintered bronze bearings after I'd cleaned them up with some fine steel wool.. this just gave them that new look that would further be enhanced once everything was painted. Even the rear bracket was cleaned up even though it can't be seen when installed - it's the little details that count..

I also rubbed down the handles which were VERY scratched - interestingly the right hand handle was quite dented from what I can only assume was from rings. I carefully filed out these dents followed up with a light sanding - the end result was pretty bloody good if I do say so myself.

While the paint was drying, I de-greased all the springs, gears etc and set everything out ready for re-assembly. As you can see, the original manual was invaluable in getting everything back together in the correct order..

The bumpers that limits the pitch and yaw travel on the Star Wars yokes are almost always buggered - the original bumpers turn into chewing gum and the end result is very harsh end of travel.. Although Ram Controls now offer replacement parts for these bumpers, at $40US (plus postage) - this would run out to around $60AUD by the time I took delivery of them for nothing more than some rubber..!! I was determined to find another way around it and so came up with the following method..
On the left is how most of my bumpers looked when pulled out of the controller - pretty much screwed. What I did was take the original nut and bolt along with a "spacing" nut to form an arbor of sorts - this was then placed in my drill press and with the use of a file, the original rubber was removed, leaving nice clean metal.. as seen on the right hand side..

A quick snap of how I used the file to remove the old gummy rubber..

I then took some extruded rubber which I cut into 10mm slices and then punched a hole into each to form a thick, rubber washer - this was then slid over the original metal bumper hub. The result actually works really nicely and at a fraction of the replacement costs from Ram controls - hopefully this can help out others out there..

The end result looks 100 times better than the original piece did and feels a lot smoother and much more crisp.. I am awaiting the overlay for the metal cover for the yoke - I have manage to find a NOS overlay which is on it way down under and will complete this part of the cab..

Havok · « **Reply #54 on:** July 01, 2007, 11:44:02 am »

Nice work!

While you're in there, though, I would replace those pots...

HoopstarsGarage · « **Reply #55 on:** July 01, 2007, 10:09:38 pm »

Quote from: Havok on July 01, 2007, 11:44:02 am

Nice work!

While you're in there, though, I would replace those pots...

I've put them back in there temporarily until I work out what value I'll need for the interface that I am using at which point they'll be replaced with some nice Vishay units..

Hoops

HoopstarsGarage · « **Reply #56 on:** July 01, 2007, 11:38:42 pm »

TINY UPDATE

I had a couple of reports to do for work today so was working in my home office when the door-bell rung - went to the door and it was my local delivery man with a big parcel..

Judging by the USPS stickers, I quickly knew it was going to be my side art

I carefully and opened the box, not wanting to damage the contents to reveal lots and lots of artwork - I'll snap some more photos later (because I really need to finish these reports) but here are a couple of teaser shots..

Note that it's bloody hard to photograph at the moment because they're not flat but initial inspection looks pretty good. The details are crisp and sharp and the colours very vivid - the blacks look very very nice and solid and the blue is just.. well.. sexy..!!

A quick close up..

Hope you guys enjoy them as much as I do...!!!

Hoops

BrentRadio · « **Reply #57 on:** July 02, 2007, 12:35:52 am »

Man, Great job on the photo updates!

Keep doing that!

Brent

Level42 · « **Reply #58 on:** July 02, 2007, 05:08:39 pm »

Great work on the yoke, that info may come in handy

!

The artwork looks amazing. Where did you get it ?

HoopstarsGarage · « **Reply #59 on:** July 03, 2007, 05:17:08 am »

I managed to finish up at work a early today and with the weather being quite nice (for a change) I managed to get a little done on the SWC cab..

First task was to accurately transfer one of the "canopy hoops" onto a sheet of 18mm MDF from the templates and then carefully cut it out - the latter was fairly easy as most of the cuts are just straight with the outer radii will be done one everything is verified..

At this point, I pretty much breathed a sigh of relief because I have been just a touch nervous that the hoops wouldn't mate up accurately to the front and rear halves of the main part of the cabinet.

Because I've been reverse engineering this cabinet and that essentially the side panel set form one great big loop it was critical that not only the cabinet side measurements and angles be spot on, but so is the setback of all the center panels.. Get anyone of them wrong, and things just aren't going to line up - made all the more difficult as I didn't have the sideart to verify..

Thankfully the results are pretty good and comparing to a lot of my file photos, the fitment and position both for and aft are spot on. You can also see that I temporarily stuck the canopy artwork on (with blu-tac) to get a bit of a feel for how it will look - unfortunately the angle that I took this photo on doesn't really show either aspect accurately, but you get the idea..

The next step is to cut out the other 5 canopy hoops and start modifying 2 of them for the canopy. My plan is to then do a couple of trial runs on some scrap MDF to test the routering of the bevel for the artwork cutouts - fun days indeed.

Stay tuned..

Hoops

ChadTower · « **Reply #60 on:** July 03, 2007, 04:25:38 pm »

Mamed for life · « **Reply #61 on:** July 04, 2007, 03:07:09 am »

Wow. This is why I got interested in this hobby in the first place: incredible work. Well done and keep going (bookmarking page now!)!

MfL

dwyzane · « **Reply #62 on:** July 08, 2007, 07:25:43 pm »

This is really looking nice! Great job so far.

amadama · « **Reply #63 on:** July 12, 2007, 10:02:02 pm »

How's the build coming along? We are all pretty anxious here to see how you are coming along (at least I am!)
Alex

blueznl · « **Reply #64 on:** July 17, 2007, 11:03:24 am »

Am I the only one or does a WHITE SW sitdown look much better?

Level42 · « **Reply #65 on:** July 17, 2007, 11:22:48 am »

Yes.

You're the only one.

ARTIFACT · « **Reply #66 on:** July 18, 2007, 01:52:14 am »

Amazing work!! Kudos for all your great projects... I looked thru your centipede one too.

Level42 · « **Reply #67 on:** July 20, 2007, 04:13:32 pm »

Did anyone find the ribbed t-molding for the wide panel parts ?

rovingmind · « **Reply #68 on:** July 21, 2007, 09:10:19 am »

there was a link to some in a different post

theCoder · « **Reply #69 on:** July 22, 2007, 02:29:59 am »

Great project.

What are you planning for the sound system? You can get a LOT of contained sound inside one of these cabs.

BrentRadio · « **Reply #70 on:** July 23, 2007, 04:57:33 pm »

T Molding

http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/2006_master/lg_display.cfm?page_number=33&catalog=otm

Level42 · « **Reply #71 on:** July 29, 2007, 04:21:01 am »

Thanks for that link, but that's not the right T-molding. As you can see it's 1,5" wide. The part of the cockpit covered by this t-molding is 3x 3/4" wide (3 panels on top of eachother). So the original T-molding is 2 1/4" wide. It also has more "bumps" and the outer bumps are really wide.

Check out this close up (I zoomed in on a excisting picture, will take a better one next time I visit my cab).

prOk · « **Reply #72 on:** July 29, 2007, 10:04:09 am »

Unfortunately, you're not going to find that tmold, or even close.. this was a custom extrude for atari back in the day and hasn't been made even similar since.

Level42 · « **Reply #73 on:** July 29, 2007, 01:46:26 pm »

Yeah, I already thought it would be a long shot....the one BrentRadio points to could be used as an alternative as long as you paint the sides of the panels black. Not original, but close.

A shame really, since this is about the worst looking part of my SW CP....

Now, I'm still a guy that doesn't like the word "never"......I already started a weird group-buy here....could we gather enough people to start a run ? We'd need a die for the extrusion and a place that can do this.....
I guess a die could be made by using a good part of the original molding ?

Trebeck · « **Reply #74 on:** July 30, 2007, 12:26:10 pm »

Awesome Job Hoops

-Beck

Level42 · « **Reply #75 on:** July 30, 2007, 01:30:12 pm »

Uhm, unless we get every current Star Wars cockpit owner/builder to team up, I think we can forget about a re-issue of the special T-molding: I checked with a company and making the die would cost about €1700,- and then the T-molding would cost about €2,- per meter......

Level42 · « **Reply #76 on:** July 31, 2007, 02:23:14 pm »

In theory, you could use the T-mold that BrentRadio suggested and then 3/8" T-mold on each side.....
Problem is there is a minimum of 5000' for that size T-mold.....http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/2006_master/lg_display.cfm?page_number=28&catalog=otm

HoopstarsGarage · « **Reply #77 on:** August 06, 2007, 09:54:45 am »

Unfortunately I have been flat out with work which has seen me pulling nearly 80 hours per week and my other projects have be put on hold - once these projects at work are finished (G8 and W200 for the car heads) then I am back into the SWC project..

I have two weeks holidays at the moment but my loving wife wants me to complete a few jobs around the house.. namely 50m2 of floor tiling and the second bathroom renovation..

Gotta keep her happy cause despite the fact I earn 3/4 of the money, she is the banker

Hoops

rovingmind · « **Reply #78 on:** August 06, 2007, 11:14:58 am »

yep, know all about that, for me its painting 3 more rooms of the house, stripping all the wood trim on the first floor, and scraping and painting the fascia and soffitting.

dfmaverick · « **Reply #79 on:** August 14, 2007, 03:28:58 pm »

Quote from: HoopstarsGarage on June 21, 2007, 08:39:42 pm

In an ideal world I would LOVE to use a vector monitor and the original hardware with a mulitgame setup (SW and ROTJ) but I would need to find a 25" vector monitor.. and they are more difficult to get than the cabinet..

Awesome work on the cab, thusfar. I'm jealous. I don't think I'll ever have the room for a Star Wars cockpit in my household.

btw I just happened to be surfing Ebay today, and someone is selling a Wells 6100 that he took out of his Star Wars machine. You may want to do a search.


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