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EX's Kitchen Cab (so has to match the kitchen!)

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ex_directory:
I built my cab a while back but as soon as it could play Mame development stopped - abruptly ;) Then I added a keyboard and mouse and hooked it up the hi-fi and the cab got a lot of use as a jukebox and for surfing web. Meanwhile the cab was in the kitchen and I was getting some serious agro from the missus :angel: because to her it was unsightly :blah:

Only recently found this forum, doh! Would have saved me some time and mistakes I am sure - really great to see the cab building community is still so active, so many home page links are dead these days gives you a different feeling!

Being here has inspired me to complete the cab, so here goes.

Original design:
- Wanted it to be like the Double Dragon II cab, spent months playing that cab and always liked the sloping monitor with the high sides. Was also a fan of the simplicity of the Centipede cab, small control panel etc. Not being a wiz at wood work, opted to go for something in between the two. The pointy CP on the DDII cab would have been impossible to copy.
- Wanted to be able to swap in/out control panels with ease. Had ideas of steering wheel CP, joy plus trackball CP and two play joy CP.

What I have to work with:
- Got an old 21" Mac CRT from work, big enough to play vertical games.
- Got an old coin door from Ebay, had working S10 coin mechs and takes 20p and 20p tokens.
- Bought a new Creative 2.1, wanted a sub for Defender, also has the wired mouse for volume control which was perfect to integrate into the cab somewhere.
- Built a custom PC, nothing out of the ordinary, but poked one of the molex connectors out the back for power for the cab.
- Imported an Act Labs PC Gun, wanted to be able to play Time Crisis (PS simulation) and HOTD3 (PC version).

Time for new requirements:
- Has to be 50's style, (yes I know not in keeping with the arcade period but...) so I can get permission to keep the cab in the kitchen.
- Add some new features (TBD) while keeping it understated.
- Oh yeah, and finish the cab this time.

In reality, I built one CP, two player joys, and can't see myself doing the steering wheel version, also now contemplating putting in trackball but original design meant the CP is not that big (24" by about 6" deep) which I would change if I could go back. Probably making it 1-2 inches deeper.

Step 1: Choose a 50's design - see next post
Step 2: Prep cab parts, apply design
Step 3: Rebuild cab
Step 4: New control panel
Step 5: Can't think that far ahead

Ex

ex_directory:
Step 1: Design

I am no artist so struggled here, spent ages looking around the web at retro sites looking for artwork. In the end put something together myself, some retro shapes and the word jukebox in 50's font which looked ok.

What became clear is that I needed an option to change the artwork at a later date, i.e. when the kitchen gets redecorated! I have already spent ages making sure my cab is configurable by having removing parts so why not removable artwork.

So my thinking was cover the whole thing in laminated self-adhesive vinyl, then add more self-adhesive vinyl on top of that for the artwork, which hopefully will peel off easily at a later date.

So all I needed was a base colour, started looking at colours we have in the kitchen, duck egg blue, praline, browns and then had an idea, how about a smeg fridge in cream, very fifties.



This could be the only original thing i do here with my cab, make it into a fridge! OK, so clearly a cabinet can't be a fridge but I am thinking stainless or aluminium parts on the cab and shiny cream all over. When I then finally come up with some artwork I can put this on the sides plus some subtle bits on the CP.

So I found a local printer, spent a while printing up swatches in various creams and after a bit of trial and effort settled on a cream colour of which I had 11 metres by 900mm made up on laminated self-adhesive vinyl. That's was one hell of a commitment so I needed to be sure the colour was right!

waveryder:
The smeg fridge is more a psuedo fifties design. Have you thought of looking at 50's dinners for inspiration?

ex_directory:
Step 2: Prep and apply

So this is where I am today, I have covered some panels with the vinyl already and it is coming up looking great, the laminate gives it the shiny finish which I hadn't really thought about but this is just like a laquered fridge!  :)

I started out thinking I would need a spray adhesive, but found this actually reacted with the adhesion on the vinyl and didn't give such a good 'stick'. So now just using the vinyl.

I spent ages prep-ing the MDF, one coat primer and a really good sand to make it as flat as possible. I am slightly stretching the vinyl around corners, over sides etc and onto the back of each panel.

With offcuts I have also added vinyl to the inside at the base as I seem to recall my coin door panel was more off than on in the early days.

:pics coming soon!

ex_directory:
Hey waveryder,

To be fair, our kitchen is more psuedo fifties design as well. But your right!

I have spent ages on the 50's diner sites, and got a few ideas from there for the cab side art. Actually going to buy some bits for the kitchen to help finish that off too.

Since deciding on the base colour I decided to leave the sideart design this until later. I find it difficult to visualise what will look good and have a tendency to put off difficult jobs - like originally finishing the cab! Once I have the cab built I am hoping for more inspiration.

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