This project is being done as a Xmas present for my 2 nephews, They just love to play on my Upright and Cocktail cab's when they come over.
Why?:Well I built my cocktail cab 6-7 years ago it gave me great satisfaction, There was little info and hardware around at the time I built it back then. Certainly next to no Aussie stores that you could buy stuff thru or at least I knew of at the time.
Anyway I upgraded Mame to a later version and added faster CPU etc and that broke my ArcadeOS and just got sick of play with it and did nothing with it for years the 1st nephew was around 1yr's old at this time and up until he was 7 he had never seen it going. Seeing he had gotten to the age he could play without me worry about him braking it or the like I thought ---Cleveland steamer---! I should get this thing working again. So after a few weekends of redoing the software and hardware side of my Cocktail cab it was up and running again.
This rekindled my whole enjoyment of retro gaming once again, I then bought an 26" upright Cabinet off ebay. I started to visit Aussie Arcade and loved dmworking247 and spacies work or their bartop's and thought what a great idea, Its not a LARGE project like a full upright cab (which take up too much room anyway) and something that can fit happily in either nephews bedroom
(maybe some fights over this in the future)
Why a DK Jr cabinet?:1: GFX availability was the first priority DK Jr Marquee,CPO,Bezel and Side art are all available.
2: Cabinet shape. Based off an arcade upright cabinet with the bottom cut off (coin door/kickplate).
The DK jr cabinet seem well suited to sitting on a bench and the angles and curves aren't that hard to work with and i like the classic look of 80's cabinets and artwork.
I think "Junior" is appropriate given its a small version of the upright.
Oh and If you haven't seen the "King of Kong" Doco do yourself a favor it's a Great! The guy uses a DK Jr upright cab to play DonkeyKong on.
Parts needed or things yet to do:1: Orange Laminate
(I have and now have used)2: Black Top Ball for Joystick and Red 20cent Back lit Credit Button
(I now have from Ozstick)3: If i should go 48 in 1 or Mame PC
(48 in 1 for now, Might do a PC later for it) I Went for PC as the 48in1 was pretty average at best.
4: What type of light i will use in the marquee
(Got a 12 volt 300mm twin tube light from Super Cheap Auto)5: Get some White and Black T-Molding and Slot Cutter
(Got the T-molding from Gamedude and Slot Cutter from Trades Direct)6: Where to have Speaker/s and or Ventilation.
(Speaker I've decided will be the same as the original with small routed slots on the front, Air Vent is open @ the botton and 10mm holes drilled in top of the rear Access Door)7: Get Speaker/Amp
(I'm using a Amp/Volume Module pulled from a Logitech 2.0 PC Speaker set)8: Learn how to use illustrator to make changes to the Artwork.
(I've made what I think is the final changes to my Artwork before Printing) (Thanks to spacies and MetalSkin for their Insert Coin Artwork)9: Who and where to get Artwork Printed.
(Ordered and received Artwork) Bezel from
www.mamemarquee.com and the rest from
www.somaprint.cn10: What Plastic to use on Control Panel,Bezel & Marquee
(Perspex is on order) From local Glazer.
11: What and where to find some Chrome or Polished bolts for CPO
(I now have some Mirror Screws)
List may get added to or edited as i progress with the project.
Any comments and or suggestions are more than welcome
DK