Picked up a new cab to MAME!

[beerbarrel]

Went up to Atlanta yesterday and picked up this Dynamo cab with Tekken 4. The cab has a few bad areas but I think that they will be repairable. I don't know if it has the original monitor but it has an absolutely beautiful picture. The monitor itself is super clean. It almost looks new. It is a Samsung 25 incher. It is a blue formica. The game was bought in a non working condition but has been working ever since it got to its new home. I don't really like fighting games but I will let the kiddos wear it out for awhile before the crap comes out and the good stuff goes in. Here are a few bad pic but you get the idea. What do u guys think? A good pickup for Mame?

Tracy

[Havok]

Perfect Mame candidate. Congrats on a good score. It's got a great screen, and excellent control panel size for modification.

[Ginsu Victim]

Hell yeah. Great score. I'm jealous.

[beerbarrel]

Thanks guys...I was pretty proud of myself at that. Now, I have to figure out what to do with the outside. Should I try to repair the Formica or bondo areas and paint the cab. Anyone ever paint formica? How does it do?

Tracy

[leapinlew]

Thanks guys...I was pretty proud of myself at that. Now, I have to figure out what to do with the outside. Should I try to repair the Formica or bondo areas and paint the cab. Anyone ever paint formica? How does it do?

Tracy

I've painted Formica. It's fine. If you try to pull it off, you'll have a mess of glue to deal with.

[Havok]

Scuff the surface of the cab with a fine grade sandpaper, bondo what needs to be repaired, and paint. That way the paint has a place to adhere to. If you just paint over it, the paint is much easier to take off, whether you want it off or not.

[beerbarrel]

Do u just fill the areas that are missing formica with bondo or do u replace with new formica? If it sands well I'm going to fill and paint. I also thought about contact paper in black. You guys tried that? I will have to remke a couple of small sections of the cab because they are busted. Thanks guys...

Tracy

[Flake]

You shouldnt have any problems removing the formica if you use a heat gun ($20 from Lowes).  I have also read where people have used a hairdryer.  This process loosens the glue and the formice just comes right off.  Once you have this off get a orbital sander and using fine grit sandpaper sand the whole thing down.  Then bondo the imperfections - make sure you do this in a ventilated areas as the stuff really stinks.  Bondo is fairly easy to use but it will start to set within 5 minutes or so depending on how well you mix it.   Once you have bondo'd up everything go ahead and resand everything again.  Once it was sanded I used a spray gun to apply the paint.

Overall, its a relatively easy process to fix up the exterior is you dont like the way it currently looks.  This is the process I went through.  It takes a little bit of time but honestly it looks like it came off an assembly line. 

Good luck

[Kajoq]

Where in Atlanta did you stumble upon that?  I'm going down in a couple weeks to visit my parents/go to a Street Fighter Tourney and  I've been sort of trying to convince my dad to snag a cab for me to screw with when i go back home.

Go Jackets!

[beerbarrel]

It's kind of a long story, but I picked it up from a guy in Marietta that lives off of the square. I saw that he had a Defender coctail on Ebay that did not sell. I sent him an email about it and he said that it was still available and to give him a call. I did just taht and when I went to get it he had others just sitting around in a warehouse. Next thing you know I had it. 

Where in Atlanta did you stumble upon that?  I'm going down in a couple weeks to visit my parents/go to a Street Fighter Tourney and  I've been sort of trying to convince my dad to snag a cab for me to screw with when i go back home.

Go Jackets!

[beerbarrel]

You paint right over the particle board?

You shouldnt have any problems removing the formica if you use a heat gun ($20 from Lowes).  I have also read where people have used a hairdryer.  This process loosens the glue and the formice just comes right off.  Once you have this off get a orbital sander and using fine grit sandpaper sand the whole thing down.  Then bondo the imperfections - make sure you do this in a ventilated areas as the stuff really stinks.  Bondo is fairly easy to use but it will start to set within 5 minutes or so depending on how well you mix it.   Once you have bondo'd up everything go ahead and resand everything again.  Once it was sanded I used a spray gun to apply the paint.

Overall, its a relatively easy process to fix up the exterior is you dont like the way it currently looks.  This is the process I went through.  It takes a little bit of time but honestly it looks like it came off an assembly line. 

Good luck

[Todd H]

I think I'm jealous. I've been looking for a cabinet to MAME in Georgia forever. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Where is the best place to look around Atlanta?

[beerbarrel]

Contact ebay seller    (david.countryman) it is where I got mine and I'm sure he can hook you up. I think he posts his # on ebay ads.

Tracy

[Todd H]

Much appreciated.

[Visitor Q]

Looks nice but the price is what would be the biggest factor for me.

[beerbarrel]

250....working

[Flake]

You paint right over the particle board?

You shouldnt have any problems removing the formica if you use a heat gun ($20 from Lowes).  I have also read where people have used a hairdryer.  This process loosens the glue and the formice just comes right off.  Once you have this off get a orbital sander and using fine grit sandpaper sand the whole thing down.  Then bondo the imperfections - make sure you do this in a ventilated areas as the stuff really stinks.  Bondo is fairly easy to use but it will start to set within 5 minutes or so depending on how well you mix it.   Once you have bondo'd up everything go ahead and resand everything again.  Once it was sanded I used a spray gun to apply the paint.

Overall, its a relatively easy process to fix up the exterior is you dont like the way it currently looks.  This is the process I went through.  It takes a little bit of time but honestly it looks like it came off an assembly line. 

Good luck

Well the cabinet I used was a Killer Instinct cabinet and pretty sure it was MDF.  I know its not particle board.  I would bet yours in the same.  After you have it sanded and bondo'd I would apply a layer or two or primer but yea after that just paint right onto the wood.  If you have it sanded well enough (orital sander is a big help) it will look great.

Here are some pics of my cabinet prior to adding the CP to give you some perspective.

[Jack Burton]

Damn, that is my favorite all time cabinet design.  Street Fighter players like me would kill for one those cabinets.  You could probably easily sell it if you posted it on shoryuken.com

Seeing it modified and turned to MAME lets me feel the same way that most guys do on here when someone puts SF2 in a Defender cabinet.

[Ummon]

Tekken 4 uses a VGA monitor doesn't it? Or it might be a tri-sync.

[Jack Burton]

Well, it's a conversion to Tekken 4, so it might just be set in 15khz mode.   I doubt they would change monitors unless they had to. It was originally a capcom cabinet, seen here:

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1148&image=1

or perhaps more specifically it might have been one of these:

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1148&image=2

since the marquee looks like those.

[KDOG]

Check namco arcade used games. The list aren't very accurate just call to see if they have it and if any of the places are close to you go by and check them out.
http://www.namcoarcade.com/game-sales.asp

Also there is super auction coming up in Nov around the Atlanta area. They haven't set a location  but you can find a good deal there.

[beerbarrel]

I know guys! It's hard to get a break. No matter what the cab, somebody does not want you to mame it. I figure that it has already been converted so I'm out of the woods there. It is not for sale because I like it. I gotta Mama one sooner or later so this is my guy! I was just wanting some general info on the cab. I got to Mame it.


 

Tracy

[Zeppo]

Well, it's a conversion to Tekken 4, so it might just be set in 15khz mode.   I doubt they would change monitors unless they had to. It was originally a capcom cabinet, seen here:

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1148&image=1

or perhaps more specifically it might have been one of these:

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1148&image=2

since the marquee looks like those.

Yep, that's exactly where that cabinets came from.
I was working at Dynamo when they first started producing those games for Capcom.

[Todd H]

I know guys! It's hard to get a break. No matter what the cab, somebody does not want you to mame it. I figure that it has already been converted so I'm out of the woods there. It is not for sale because I like it. I gotta Mama one sooner or later so this is my guy! I was just wanting some general info on the cab. I got to Mame it.


 

Tracy

I wouldn't worry about it and just MAME that sucker.

I sent the guy on eBay a message but he never replied. I'm going to keep trying.

[DantheApe]

what are your plans for the game board(s) since it's obvious that the game works?

[beerbarrel]

Have not thought about it too much. Right now, I'll let the kids wear it out until I get time to work on it. Need the MB?

what are your plans for the game board(s) since it's obvious that the game works?

[DantheApe]

sent ya a pm

[Jack Burton]

Even though it hurts, I gotta agree, this is one of these best cabs ever made for MAMEification.  Nice big monitor, sturdy, huge control panel, great speakers, JAMMA, it's all already there. 

I doubt you really could do better than it.  At $250, it's a dream compared to spending thousands on a custom built MAME cab.  Even in it's current state, you could slap a J-pac and PC in there for $100 and have one of the highest quality MAME cabs around. 

*jealous*

[beerbarrel]

Welp, I found out something new about this cab. It is not formica at all. It is Melamine MDF. I guess that is more like a thin PVC covering. I'm assuming that it paints like Formica. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

[Ummon]

Street Fighter II is sprite graphics - 384x224. Tekken 4 is 3D graphics and runs at 640x480. Unless the monitor is a multisync, it was switched.

[beerbarrel]

So what does that mean for me if I want to run mostly CGA games? Monitor still usable?

Street Fighter II is a raster game - 384x224. Tekken 4 is a 3D game and runs at 640x480. Unless the monitor is a multisync, it was switched.

[Ummon]

You can do two things:

- you can go ahead and run them and see if it syncs or shuts down

or

- you can try to identify the monitor and find its specs.

[beerbarrel]

I need to pull that heavy Bas... out from the wall and have a look I guess...thanks!

[Jack Burton]

I'm just gonna chime in here and say that even if this is a 31khz only monitor, you will still be able to display low and medium res games on that monitor in MAME.  It will simply scale the image up in the same way as if you were to play the game on your PC monitor at 640x480.

So no worries if you were thinking you will have to get a new monitor to play all the games you wanted.