Main > Project Announcements

A Mame machine in an antique buffet - USB probs solved (I think!)

<< < (12/144) > >>

drventure:
Hey Gatsu

That's an excellent idea and I wish I'd thought of it earlier in the process. I really like that map graphic. The colors might be too much but I could always convert to sepia to tone it down a bit. But doing +real+ cp art at this point would probably be pretty tough.

1) all the controls are mounted, I'm guessing I'd have to take em all off to lay down the art.
2) I didn't really build the panel or tmold with any plex overlay in mind so that all might be a prob (spacing, tmold slot etc).

That said, I've got a pile of ideas going for what might turn into the next project, and the map graphs would be great.

Anyone know a way to cast a globe into a 3" happ translucent trackball<g>

drventure:
I noticed another thread asking about tips and techniques for painting cabs, which got me thinking about how I might address my pushbutton issues.

I've pretty much decided the common button colors just aren't gonna do it for this cab.

I'm thinking
1) rough em up with fine steel wool
2) a Krylon fusion primer base coat
3) a spray enamel metallic 2'nd coat. Possibly a third
4) some aging with waterproof india ink
5) dip it in Future acrylic floor wax for a protective seal coat.

I know that works quite well with models, and Future is floor wax, so it'll take a pretty good beating.

And this cab is going in my home, not an arcade, so it's not likely to take +too+ much abuse.

I've experimented on a single button just to check out the look. I've left the black one in for comparison. Also note this one isn't aged or sealed yet....

Any thoughts?

thatpurplestuff:
That button looks great!  It'll look even better with the india ink and protective seal.  It matches the molding on the bottom absolutely perfectly.  I say go for it with all the buttons!

drventure:
Thanks Purple!

I definitely think it'll be a better with the aging applied. I'll post a pic once all that's done.

The color scheme there is "graphite" for the ring and "antique brass" for the button itself. because of the way these Happ buttons are molded, it's trivially easy to mask off the parts that actually contact  each other inside the button, so there's +zero+ effect on the action of the button from painting. Definitely a happy surprise there!

I'm thinking graphite rings all around, and bright brass (more gold really than brass), antique brass, nickel and copper for the 4 player colors.

Probably antique brass for various misc buttons. Graphite on graphite for the admin buttons (pause and esc) and since the player1-4 and coin 1-4 buttons are already white, i'm thinking I might try to yellow them slightly for an ivory look. I can get more creative on those buttons because they're mounted vertically so they aren't likely to get near the level of abuse that the actual player buttons will.

drventure:
Well, I decided to go for it and refinish all my buttons.

All the various player buttons (7 each, yeah I know, total overkill, but I didn't realize it till I'd already bought the buttons and drilled the holes) I redid in nickel, copper, dark brass and bright brass, then aged each with a wash of india ink.

All the button rings i refinished seperately in a graphite, with an ink wash as well.

Then dipped the button heads and mounting rings in Future (an acrylic floor sealer, a trick modelers have used for years).

It  takes a few days to full cure, but the stuff seems rock hard once it's cured, and since my cab shouldn't get too abused, I decided to go for it. I think the results are much more inline with what I was invisioning than the original bright red/yellow/blue/green buttons.

I'd contemplated making additional mods for some lighting (ala a discussion I had with OND a few days ago). His prototype turned out fantastic, but I'm not sure that would be in keeping with the aesthetic I'm going for so, for now, anyway, lit buttons are on the back burner.

I didn't take many shots of the coin, player x start or admin buttons (just a pause and escape was all I believe is necessary), but they required a good bit more work. You can see them in the last pics.

Essentially, I sprayed them ivory, let it cure, then washed them with a brown and mottled it, so the end result looks a lot like old ivory or possibly an antique marble.

But, a plain marble look just wouldn't cut it. Since these were "admin" buttons (I won't have a coin door in this cab), they won't get bashed much at all, so I decided to get a little creative with them

I countersunk 1/2" holes in the tops of the buttons, blacked the insets and then epoxied gold plated jewelry finding (some convex lacy discs I had around) into the hole for the coin buttons,  and cut the middle of those discs out, and epoxied in some small brass stamped numbers and letters for the Pause, Esc and player 1-4 buttons.

Anyway, here's what I came up with. You can see the copper player buttons in the foreground in one of the last shots.


DOH! I typed all this and now realize I can't upload fotos! urg... Hmm. Well, nuts. They'll just have to wait...

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page