As I'm intending to have 2 cabs for myself, I've been building them so they are easily swappable with whatever system I want to run MAME on (PC or MAME)... As I have a few PCs hanging about I think I may well build both cabs with this idea in mind... I agree with you Chris2 - it is a nice suggestion - one worth investigating!
Jack Burton - I know I've bodged the one shown a bit but this was the first kind of cab I've ever built - since collecting the rest of them I've seen this as a 'practice' cab - we encountered a lot of problems with the shape of the inside of the cab (it is extremely tight!) and I hadn't been around these forums much when I was building it!
The fibre glass isn't all that thick but the sticks don't look odd or feel uncomfortable at all - I'm pretty happy with how they are - and there isn't much I could do about this anyway without making it look like a dog's dinner... the fibre glass is also really stong so I have no concerns about stability either! I may consider replacing the sticks with something different - any suggestions for something better?
Totally agree with the comment about the buttons - the buttons as they are, are admittedly a shambles - but with doing this I know how to ammend them next time. They aren't actually that uncomfortable and they are still easy to utilise but as you say they can definately be improved!
The steering wheel idea has crossed my mind and I would like to do it (I have a very good Thrustmaster wheel which could be modified) but with all these other ideas buzzing around my head I'm going to have to prioritise - can't have all 10 cabs in my house!

I'll definately continue to consider possibilities about potential projects though so keep those ideas rolling in!
As for the steepness - I know people keep saying about this - but I've just been tinkering with setting up my Xbox in the cab for a trial run (gotta say the built in speakers on the touchscreen monitors pack a real punch - first time I've ever tried them!

) and the buttons and sticks are fine - not so great for tall people but that has more to do with its not a massively tall cab but on high stools they are perfectly comfortable and easy to use... okay, so its not quite a traditional look for a cab but these are based around traditional cabs - we were discussing it over lunch today and to build a flat panel would really ruin the cabs and I don't think it would improve it enough to warrant it.
So far the plans are (ever think I should have posted this in project annoucements?) 2 player Xbox cab (which I have just tried and works amazingly well!) with players 3 and 4 having infa-red pads. And another that is a poweful PC-based cab - again 2 players with 3 and 4 having pads of some sort... possibility of a trackball on this one too... Then weighing up the options of how to make the 2 cabinets talk to each other so that it can be used as a dual screen system too! Sounds good to me and I don't see it being too difficult to achieve!
