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Outer Heaven: Metal Gear Solid themed MAME cab *99% done - art, TV & controls*
Timstuff:
Progress is going quite nicely on my project. I've been blessed with some very beautiful weather this week, and I could certainly have found worse things to do with it than working outside on my cab, even hauling it in and out of the tool shed every day is a pain. I did pay a visit to my local arcade today for inspiration though (6 player X-Men cabinet = awesome). Earlier this week I completely gutted the innards out, which meant that I was now free to start stripping the paint and modifying it. I also removed the monitor rack since I'm going to put a TV shelf inside.
Also, what's unusual about this cabinet is that it actually had two floors. I ripped out the top floor using a jigsaw and a crowbar, so now I should have no trouble fitting my PC inside.
Even though I've ended the my last two work days covered in black dust and with gray boogers up my nose, it was worth it to sand off that awful green-speckled paint job. I just have to use the chemical stripper to get it off of the spots too tight for the electric sander, rub it down with mineral spirits, and then she'll be ready to prime.
Also, although some people out there might want to hang me for what I've done to a Bagman cabinet, I think that my modifications have been coming along very well. In addition to removing the monitor rack and second "floor," the biggest visible change is what I did to the control panel. Instead of having a flush-mounted control panel like before, I actually ended up cutting into the cabinet frame so that I could attach an external control panel. I know this may be arcade sacrelig to some people, but the way I see it, Bagman used a generic cab design anyway, and it's not like there were any real remnants of it to restore it from.
The control panel before:
After:
Here are some photos of the cabinet with my new control box placed on top. Although I was careful in the design stages, a few times I was a little worried about whether or not my bigger panel would fit, but I was relieved to see that it fits perfectly.
Well, that's the big update for today. After I'm completely done stripping the paint, I need to install the TV shelf, and fill in the current speaker holes so I can cut holes for stereo speakers. It needs a few repairs too, with a few spots that need to get filled in with Bondo, and a few spots on the bottom where the plywood is peeling that to be glued and clamped. I'm probably also going to put in a few wood screws, since the cabinet is currently held together with nails, and I don't trust those. Lastly, I need to replace the pathetic old casters this thing has, because I wouldn't trust them rolling through my house. Then, I'll finally be set to prime and paint!
isucamper:
Where did you get that control panel art? I'm a huge MGS fan and I've never seen it before.
Timstuff:
I'm not sure where it originated from, but I found it as a PC wall paper. The largest I could find it was 768p (and that was w/ black letterbox bars) so I had to do a lot of retouching in photoshop after upscaling it to 12" x 28" at 300 dpi. Here's the original.
Timstuff:
Progress has been great over the past 48 hours. Today, I finished up the TV shelf inside of the cabinet, cut out the new speaker holes, and put in the hardware for the new marquee light. I've finally moved my machine from the tool shed into the house, as well. With the speakers, I copied someone else's idea put in some eye hooks on the inside of the marquee area, and I'm using some little bungee cords I bought at Home Depot to strap the speakers in place. I tested it out earlier today, and it worked great. I'm probably going to fill in the original routing for the speakers using bondo.
I'm really psyched, because this means that the major woodworking for this cab is finished. All that I need to do now is fill in the screw holes with wood putty and do a few repairs using bondo and wood glue, and she'll be all ready to paint! I also bought a new set of casters, which I'll probably install when I'm repairing the base of the cab.
I couldn't take very good pictures since it's night and the light's not the greatest, so I'll take more tomorrow. But for now, enjoy these pics. :)
Timstuff:
Yay! Last night, I finished painting my cab, and this morning I put the T-molding in place.
First I coated it with gray primer. Then, I gave it a light sand. I then gave it two coats of black semi-gloss, and lightly sanded in between. I'm quite pleased with the results.
I really like how the chrome-stripe T-molding looks. It was a pain to put in since it's slightly thicker than typical T-molding, but it was worth the extra fuss. It almost makes it look like the cabinet is made of metal.