I've finally finished my latest two projects;
I dismantled the original Gaja cab that I built in 2002 and used the guts to make a new slimline Mame cab with a flat panel monitor.
My thinking was that by making a new slimmer cabinet in place of the full size original with 28" tube screen I could build a dedicated Defender replica as well and still use less space.
Both cabinets are built to scale Defender cabs with the back sliced right off. The result is a cab that looks and plays like a full size Defender but is only 360mm from the wall at it's deepest point.
The Defender has a 19" flat panel and the Mame a 20" (which was the biggest I could find in 4:3 ratio).
Both cabs use the excellent I-PAC. The Mame cabinet has 4 - 8 way switchables from Ulitmarc that are switchable from the top of the panel. The red ball top for the Defender is an Ultimarc 4 -8 way switchable with a home made restrictor that makes it a two way.
My original cab was fine but when building it I rushed the finish and was less bothered about the design. These cabs have been built with a higher attention to detail and as a result have a far more "finished" look to them. They are painted in water based satin black (4 coats) which beats the matt look finish my orignal cab ended up with.
Both cabs are fixed to wall for stability. The Defender uses the Party On! front end to switch between Defender and Stargate and the Mame uses ArcadeFX as it is the PC ripped out my 2002 cab.
Overall I'm very pleased wiht the finish and now have more room and two machines - everyone's a winner!