The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: Aurich on March 25, 2007, 02:00:06 am
-
I'm not one for long ass progress threads that detail every step, but I really gained a lot from other people doing just that over the years, so this is my attempt to give back. I'm deep into my build, nothing here will drag on for months. I'll try and get my thoughts and philosophies out, feel free to skip if you just want pictures, I won't be offended. :)
This is my second cabinet build from scratch. My first was a horizontal cab built around a 25" TV. It had some touches I liked, but overall it was more of a learning experience and I finally decided to scrap it and do a new one that I was happier with. I always said if I built another cab it would be with a real arcade monitor, and a vertical one at that. In my mind the vertical games are the last refuge of the true arcade experience. No home console can rock it properly (the odd tated Dreamcast game etc aside). In this era of 16x9 TVs there's something satisfying about a true vertical monitor.
I love the Galaga cabinets, but I'm not really a stickler for tradition. In my mind the home arcade scene is a lot like the classic car scene, people working on and restoring things that bring back memories of their youth or just the urge to mash the gas/joystick properly with their own style. In that vein this cabinet is a kustom car, based on a classic design, but without fear of chopping the top and adding modern touches.
The cab is called Deep 6 and has a slight underwater theme with an octopus mascot. The goal was to create a look that evoked a real game, something you'd never seen but wondered how you missed. I personally hate MAME logos, frankenpanels, blatant admin buttons, classic character collages, and anything else that detracts from the "real" cabinet look. So that was the driving theme as I tweaked the Galaga look.
First up was upgrading to a 25" monitor. This is primarily a classics/shmups cab, and I wanted the full in your face look. Anyone who's played the 25" anniversary Galaga/Ms Pac-Man knows that it's a pain to see the monitor in those cabs though. A couple of tweaks fixed that. First I bumped the angle of the monitor up. It's still leaning way back, but the higher angle helps a lot. Secondly, and more important, was to chop the top and cut the marquee from 9" down to 6". This makes a drastic improvement in the viewing angle and allows you to see the top of the monitor with ease. It also gives the cab a leaner, more modern look. In addition I added a couple inches to the depth and one to the height of the actual cabinet to give me a little more working space.
The marquee and other artwork are all original and my designs. Scott at Mamemarquees did my printing, and I'm very pleased with the results. Paying for the premium marquee paid off in spades, it's beautiful backlit, unlike my first cab's which washed out and look crummy lit. Definitely recommend it. I'll post some backlit pictures, but it's hard to photograph how nice it looks in person.
This post is getting too long for anyone to want to read, so on to a couple mockup pictures to kick things off and I'll keep making updates with other details.
My original mockup sketch in Photoshop, established my overall look and color scheme:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/mockup.jpg)
A closer look at the marquee:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/marquee.jpg)
And an attempt to photograph the real thing backlit. I'm a graphic designer, not a photographer, best I was able to get with my little point and shoot. It doesn't wash out at all in person.
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/marquee_lit.jpg)
-
I'll post more pics of the control panel later, it's complete, but first I wanted to get into a mod I did for it that might interest other folks. The sticks on the cab are Ultrastik 360's, which if you weren't aware are basically Andy modifying Sanwa JLWs. So the optional restrictor plates (gates) you can order from him are just the round and square Sanwa JLWs gates. Sanwa also makes another stick, the JLF, which uses a different gate system. One option for the JLF is an octagon gate, which offers a notch for all 8 directions and a nice tight, short throw. If you think about the versatile uses for the Ultrastiks an octagon gate makes a lot of sense. You can feel the cardinals when playing Pac-Man without getting an overly notchy feel that can mess up a shmup or a fighter. You can feel the diagonals for Q*Bert, etc etc. I love it in Robotron personally (ya, it's a vertical cab, we'll get into the handful of horizontal games I had to have still later).
Unfortunately the JLF gates don't fit the the JLW. Nothing a little work with some clippers and a drill can't solve. >:D
Here's the two gate styles side by side. You can see the holes I drilled and where I had to hack off some plastic tabs to make it fit:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/gates.jpg)
You just need to do some eyeballing and lining up and make marks with a marker to get the holes right. It takes a little tweaking and fiddling, but it's not that hard. The new gate is a little thicker, but Andy says it shouldn't matter.
After modding it mounts on the PCB.:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/gate_pcb.jpg)
Now this is going to screw up all your maps, you're going to need some much tighter grids until this is officially supported, the size is off. Andy has ordered his own gates after I sent him the info and is looking into what it would take to make an official solution. No saying it will happen of course. If you need help with maps PM me or I can start a thread with more info.
I'm currently evaluating the stock loose springs vs the new medium springs with these gates. Haven't decided which I like yet.
-
Where are the rest of the images?
-
Did you finish the sides already?
-
Haha, you guys are impatient, it's a good thing this wasn't just a Photoshop announcement. :P Yes, the sides are finished, the cabinet is built.
I'll post more pics, the truth is I'm not the type to document as I go, I really don't have many photos of in progress stuff. The control panel is done for instance, but I've never photographed it. I'll try and find time to do that today.
I think by now everyone knows how to build a Galaga cab anyways. This was a typical block and glue build with a nailgun. I made my own adjustments to the angles, speaker placement etc, but nothing overly crazy beyond the changes I already mentioned. You can see how the speakers are in the angled back piece rather than pointing down from the marquee area in my mockup and the photo below (the pattern of holes in the MDF).
A recent in progress shot:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/construction_1.jpg)
I promise I'll post more, I just got motivated last night based on my progress to start an announcement finally. All that's really left is paint at this point, but it might take a few weeks, I'm spraying automotive paint with an HVLP gun, and I'm still acquiring some of the specialized pigments and sorting out some issues with my air compressor. The base coat is probably close to 85% complete at this point.
-
Alright, you motivated me, here's a photo of the control panel. Mamemarquees as I mentioned before, with the polycarbonite laminate. Scott did a great job printing it, the colors came out as vibrant as I wanted them. The sticks are the octagon gate mod Ultrastiks with violet Sanwa ball tops, and the buttons are 30mm pink Sanwa snap-ins (24mm for the white start buttons). This is an entirely microswitch click-free panel. 8) The carriage bolts were base coated in flat black, then metallic blue, then clearcoated.
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/cp.jpg)
Edit - Oh, I wanted to give credit to Lord Hiryu and Game Creature for inspiring the idea for repeating the marquee text along the bottom of the CP, the Game Creature and Vertical Arcadium cabs gave me the idea. It's been done on commercial cabinets too (like Q*Bert), but I wanted to give them the credit, they both have the kind of complete idea cabinets that I had as my own personal goal. The whole point of my announcement was to give back since I was inspired by other people doing so.
-
First up was upgrading to a 25" monitor. This is primarily a classics/shmups cab, and I wanted the full in your face look. Anyone who's played the 25" anniversary Galaga/Ms Pac-Man knows that it's a pain to see the monitor in those cabs though.
What monitor are you going with? LCD/CRT/VGA? Buidling something similar and am still halfway on the fence about going larger and scrapping a rotating solution.
This project looks pretty cool! The white buttons, are they wired for both coin and start? No pause or other admin buttons? Curious also how all your admin features will be incorporated.
-csa
-
Wow! That CPO is awesome!! Did it just come on a roll with a sticky/adhesive backing after Scott printed it? How did you apply it and make sure everything was lined up? Now I wish I went for something like this instead of plain black... Great job!!! :cheers:
-
Very nice and I really like the cab name.
-
What monitor are you going with? LCD/CRT/VGA? Buidling something similar and am still halfway on the fence about going larger and scrapping a rotating solution.
24.8" Nieman multisync arcade monitor.
This project looks pretty cool! The white buttons, are they wired for both coin and start? No pause or other admin buttons? Curious also how all your admin features will be incorporated.
The white buttons are start, there's a functioning coin door, no coin buttons. P1 Start is currently a shift button with my IPac, but I'm actually building in a somewhat hidden shift button up under the marquee on the left, occasionally I've found reason to not want start as a shift. Pretty obscure reasons though, it works just fine normally. The hidden one is a compromise, I really didn't want anything that looked non-authentic.
-
Wow! That CPO is awesome!! Did it just come on a roll with a sticky/adhesive backing after Scott printed it? How did you apply it and make sure everything was lined up? Now I wish I went for something like this instead of plain black... Great job!!! :cheers:
Thanks. :)
So yes, printed on an adhesive backed roll (I'll show you how it looks flat below) by Scott. I lined it up with the backing still on and wrapped and taped it in place on the blank metal panel with blue masking tape. Then I tapped the center marks with a hammer/nail and removed. Drilled out my holes at the nail marks, then lined it up again and stuck it on for real and cut out the holes from the back with an Xacto.
Here's what the flat image I sent to Scott looks like before wrapping around the panel:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/cp_art.jpg)
The metal panel is a blank Midway panel from Mike's Arcade. (http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=CPBLANKUR) Just drilled through it with a bi-metal hole saw.
-
I see you started with jakobud's Galaga plans, since the front edges are sloped downward slightly (instead of perfectly vertical like they were originally)...
I usually favor games made true to original, but I like your modified version. The big monitor, smaller marquee, etc. look asthetically pleasing to me. Instead of looking like a bad version of an original... it looks like it was meant to be this way. I also like your custom artwork, doesn't look quite like anything else I've seen. Nice job!!
Wade
-
I see you started with jakobud's Galaga plans, since the front edges are sloped downward slightly (instead of perfectly vertical like they were originally)...
Heh, ya, I didn't even notice that whole debate until after I had cut the MDF. :) Obviously this is hardly the cab to worry about it considering how many other details I changed. I totally respect the scratch built replicas people have done, they were a big inspiration, but that's not really my thing. If I can't tweak and add my own personality I'm not really interested.
That said, I do like the history that comes with the Galaga shape, I just wanted to bring it into the kustom tradition. American cabinet, Japanese and British controls, Canadian monitor, it's a bit of a mix ...
I've got the dark sealer base coat sprayed now, the cab is pretty much just black. I'm still working out some issue with my compressor, it's not quite up to the HVLP task, but I'll hopefully be able to shoot some pearlescent or sparkle flake blue soon. I'm also trying to figure out a good way to paint the inside of the speaker holes (see the pink dots in the mockup) I had mixed results with my airbrush yesterday. I'm thinking maybe some One Shot and a Mack brush might be better.
-
I like the angled look better anyway! I had the same issue with my cabinet and I decided that the angled front looked a little more pleasing, IMO.... so I scaled Jaokbud's plans to 80% and it worked like a charm!
-
I like the angled look better anyway! I had the same issue with my cabinet and I decided that the angled front looked a little more pleasing, IMO.... so I scaled Jaokbud's plans to 80% and it worked like a charm!
Well you made a CP with pink buttons, so obviously you're a man of excellent taste. ;)
-
I see you started with jakobud's Galaga plans, since the front edges are sloped downward slightly (instead of perfectly vertical like they were originally)...
Sorry for this side-question, but does that mean Jakobud's Galaga specs are actually a Mrs. Pac-Man cab? Seems to me that could be the only explanation for the subtle mistake.
-
Looks awesome. I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes doing complete artwork for a fictional game. I still think that's definitely the best route. Especially on a classic-style cab. I think artwork planned out for the entire cab is what makes the classic games so appealing versus a generic conversion. I really like the theme/artwork. It all ties together very well.
I think the changes to the cabinet design are both practical and aesthetically pleasing. You've obviously spent some time thinking this out. I'm kind of annoyed at how the 25" monitor was implemented in the reunion cabs too. It's still not as bad as the 25" in the DK/Jr/Mario Bros cabs.
Obviously a lot of thought was also put into the control panel. The Sanwa mod is well-done. The japanese buttons are cool and shouldn't be anywhere near as annoying as the microswitched buttons in my metal CP. I'm also impressed you actually used a metal CP. Walking up to a cool-to-the-touch metal CP is always more satisfying to me. All-in-all it seems that the CP will play as well as it looks.
My project thread was never updated, but it includes the mandatory Photoshop mockup. The Illustrator file for the CP was corrupted before I could print it. I never have re-done it, I put a generic overlay on it and got sucked into PLAYING the games. That was the biggest mistake I made.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36075.0
-
That's a reasonable question. It's not an explanation for the mistake, because Galaga and MsPacman actually have the same cabinet, dimensionally.
I think it was probably introduced by someone trying to estimate dims from a photograph (where perspective skewed the dims) or possibly by a slight error in measurement between the CP front "point" and the depth of the cabinet at the bottom (which would show itself as an angled front).
Wade
-
I see you started with jakobud's Galaga plans, since the front edges are sloped downward slightly (instead of perfectly vertical like they were originally)...
Sorry for this side-question, but does that mean Jakobud's Galaga specs are actually a Mrs. Pac-Man cab? Seems to me that could be the only explanation for the subtle mistake.
Ms Pac and Galaga cabs are identical and Bosconian's is nearly identical.
The "angled front" has been heavily debated. One of those threads is here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59410.0
-
Looks awesome. I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes doing complete artwork for a fictional game. I still think that's definitely the best route. Especially on a classic-style cab. I think artwork planned out for the entire cab is what makes the classic games so appealing versus a generic conversion. I really like the theme/artwork. It all ties together very well.
Thanks. :)
I don't mean to disparage people who like MAME logos or classic artwork collages, and I realize that as someone who makes a living as a graphic designer (in the game industry no less) I have a leg up on people who might not even own Photoshop, but to me that's what really makes a homebrew cab come together.
I've got one more trick up my sleeve for the glass over the monitor, but I'm not going to reveal it until I go see someone about getting it done. Maybe tomorrow if my work schedule allows.
I also haven't sent the side art to Scott yet, I haven't had time to do the mirrored version for the other side of the cabinet. The circle is about 20" across, it should be roughly to scale in my mockup, but you can't really see it obviously. I might make a few tweaks when I open it up to mirror it if I find something that bugs me, but here's the pretty much final look. It's actually based off a painting in the parking garage for the Redondo Beach pier, which is where the local arcade is here (sorry, bad cellphone camera shot). Each level has a different sea animal, and I love octopuses, so I sort of tied it all together so there's a little meaning to it all.
-
Still waiting on final paint to complete things, but some updates in the meantime. Just got back from Bruce the Brush, where he hooked up my pin striping on the smoked glass and coin door. I told you it was in the mold of a kustom car. ;)
I've never seen a hand striped cab before, no idea if I'm the first or not. One of the advantages of living in Southern California, you have people like Bruce who've been striping for more than 30 years living 5 minutes away.
The smoked glass, one shot striping on top, and a black cardstock bezel underneath:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/bezel.jpg)
Little detail on the coin door to help tie it all together:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/coin_door.jpg)
Detail of coin button graphic:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/coin_btn.jpg)
The coin buttons are lit (not shown) using amber superbrite LED clusters that fit in the stock lamp sockets.
Edit: Typo in Bruce's name :p
-
Hey that's too cool! I was thinking about finding an automotive painter to do a CPO for me. Your bezel looks really great.
-
Wow. Simply STUNNING. I really like the little details you incorporated all over your cab to tie everything together. Nice job!! :cheers:
-
Thanks, Bruce really hooked it up, it pays to go with experience. It's the only art on the cab that isn't mine, so I'm pretty picky about it, but he gave me exactly what I was looking for. I chose the colors and the rough idea and just trusted him to do it right.
javeryh, just posted in your pink coindoor thread, look at the detail on my coin button above. That whole front piece comes off so you can swap inserts. I don't think Happ's will, but if you got a door like mine (common on eBay, how I did it) you could likely just make just the front piece out of plexi and color it without a crazy amount of effort. The coin slot isn't part of the plastic, so it's a simple rectangle shape. Just a thought. Hell, I should see if I can't do it myself, I could use pink buttons too. ;)
-
Looking good!
Wade
-
Very nice touch with the pinstripping. Ties it all together.
-
:notworthy:
-
Very, very nice done! :applaud:
BTW, what T-molding are you gonna use on this beauty?
-
Holy crap this is awesome..
I'm totally envious of you and that beauty...
Great work!!
-
BTW, what T-molding are you gonna use on this beauty?
Dark blue is what I have now, roughly like the mockup. We'll see how it looks once I get the final paint on though. Just got the top coat color via UPS today, but it might be a couple of weeks before I have the time to spray. Mockup obviously can't really show the effect of an interference paint.
-
The mock-up T-Molding looks black to me. It also looks freakin' kewl, I'd say go with black T-Molding, so your eyes can be drawn straight to the CPO, Marquee, and cab-art.
-
I'd actually make the t-molding the same color as the pinstriping (either the hot pink or light blue). Make that sucker stand out!
-
Blue or Dark Purple, just as in the mock-up.
-
I already have the dark blue, it's probably what I'll use. Anything too bright will be too much contrast, the pinstriping is supposed to draw the eye inside, I don't want to compete with that.
-
Very nice cab. This is exactly what I had in mind for my next project. Dedicated vertical galaga style. I can't wait to see the updated pics.
-
Thanks. I actually painted this weekend, but I'm not happy with the interference paint, so I think I need to order a more straight up metallic or pearlized finish instead. Haven't had time to go through my swatch book to rethink yet. It's real nice in direct sunlight, but not so much indoors and a real pain to keep even over the black basecoat. :-\
-
Just ordered 32 oz of iridescent electric blue, might take a week or two to show up but hopefully after than I'll be ready for final spray and can assemble and photograph.
-
Man talk about a cab where everything just comes together and works. Looks great.
Don
-
Thanks. :)
Slight change in paint plans. I'm going to keep the inside black, and the front metallic midnight blue, which I had handy already. So I sprayed the blue front today, and once it's cured I'll mask it off to complete the black insides. Then I just need to wait for the electric blue paint for the exterior. I updated my mockup so I could see how this all works, though of course the metallic and iridescent paints are only approximated here. While I was at it I threw in the proper coin door and the striped bezel and faked up my office wall and floor.
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/mockup2.jpg)
-
Now I wish my cabinet didnt say "MAME" all over it.
oh well, guess I have to build another >:D
Freagin tight color combos
Miles2912 and I are gonna have to go over there and break that puppy in.
-
That's nice Photoshop work. Did you start out with a photo of a Donkey Kong cab, and overlay your artwork from there?
-
Thanks. Photoshop is my second home, doing quickie stuff like this is easy for me. You're right, I grabbed a shot of a Ms Pac Man/Galaga 20th Anniversary cab to use as my framework to lay things over. All the perspectives and angles are just eyeballed, this was just so I could get an idea of how things would come together and make broad tweaks to things like the color scheme etc. I really didn't need to shop in the bezel, but it's been sitting here in my office ever since I got it back from pin striping and I'm ready to stick it on and be done already! ;D After spraying the midnight blue yesterday I was itching for more progress I guess, so Photoshop had to do since my hands are tied until my new paint ships.
-
Hmm, changed my mind again. :)
The Midnight Blue metallic is just too dark, even in direct sunlight which the cab won't be in. Took a crummy photo that at least illustrates my point (streaky clearcoat and all, not sure what happened):
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/midnight.jpg)
I think I'll keep the black interior but just go ahead and use the Electric Blue iridescent paint all over more like this:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/mockup3.jpg)
-
I think I'll keep the black interior but just go ahead and use the Electric Blue iridescent paint all over more like this:
That gets my vote. IMO, a two colored cabinet (black and blue) still looks uniform and pleasing to the eye - I think if you start adding too many colors it takes away from the overall design. Everything about your cabinet is expertly designed and I really think the "metallic" part of the paint will make it stand out. I can't wait to see it finished! :cheers:
-
Not sure if you know but if you are using Metallic paint then you have to spray it in all directions.
Start off horizontal, then add a coat diagonal, then vertical, then repeat a couple of times.
This will give you an even Metallic finish.
If you don't do this the all the metal flake goes on 1 way and you won't get the full affect.
Are you using car clear coat?
If you are, then a lvery light sand with some 1200grit and a buff with cutting compound will remove the streaks.
Good luck.
Its gonna look hot when finished.
-
I hope your progress is coming along sweet! I for one am still dieing for more pics!
-
Just got the paint in the mail yesterday, but I'm slammed with work now, not sure when I'll have a free weekend to spray. If I get a handle on my deadlines maybe this one, but we'll see. I promise I'll update with pics when I'm done. :)
-
Sounds like a priority problem to me.
-
Heh, work pays for toys. I'm on top of my deadlines for the moment, so maybe this weekend. I'd love to get it all assembled.
-
Finally got a chance to start painting again today. Sprayed the iridescent blue, which looks pretty flat in the photo of course since there aren't any curves like a car would have to pull out the sparkles in a still shot. In person I'd say the blue is a couple shades darker, and even more so once it's out of direct sunlight. It will look a lot darker indoors for sure.
Going to let this cure overnight before I mask it off to do the black interior, hopefully I'll have time tomorrow. Then I'll match the interior of the speaker holes to the pin striping on the glass with magenta One Shot enamel. Almost there I think, have to decide if I want to order the side art or not, I'll probably live with it as is for a while before I make a call on that.
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/blue.jpg)
-
lookin good. but i think your non- long ass progress thread is getting a little um, long-assed ;)
-
Only one coat?
-
lookin good. but i think your non- long ass progress thread is getting a little um, long-assed ;)
Haha, I know, it's so true. At least I didn't tease with Photoshop for 6 months before I cut a single piece of MDF. The goal is to have it ready by next weekend now though, so I'm on it.
theCoder - Oh hell no, that's several coats, that's most of an afternoon's worth of painting.
-
Derp.
-
Post some higher res photos. That's a great looking machine.
-D
-
Agreed, it's pretty. I dig the graphics on the CP, and that is a great shade of blue.
-
So I'm done for the time being. Maybe some side art later on, a couple of other small details perhaps, but it's good to go. Sandwiched the marquee between two sheets of 1/8" glass, put the t-molding on and painted the speaker holes with a striping brush and some One Shot.
Added a shot of the screen to show the striping and the Mala front end. I crammed my earlier posts with details, so that should about cover it. 8)
-
Wow! I LOVE it. It really came out great and you went from fiorst coat of paint to finished in a very short period of time. I think these are my favorite types of cabs - the ones that have their own theme and are completely original. Nicely done! :cheers:
-
Thanks. :)
I think it might need the side art, that shot of your cab on it's side with the art lying on it looks so much more finished even though I'm "done" and you're not. ;) Just power through, you're in the home stretch!
-
Beautiful.
Simple is sexy.
Congrats on a job well done.
Love the paint finish as well.
:applaud:
-
Love it.
Seriously.
-
stunning...
It turned out great - good job.
-
Great work tying the theme of the cabinet together, it's inspirational. Love the front-end work too.
-
Man....that thing would make a great production unit for retail. A credit to your skills.
Can't wait to see or hear your initial concept for side-art, I think a Galaga-type shape for side-art but using your colors and the octopus......or perhaps small and simple would be better - dunno.
Anyways...great job. :applaud:
-
Hey Aurich - I really like what you did for your Mala layout on your cabinet. How hard was it to do? I want something unique for my cabinet when it is finished but I have no idea how to design my own. I'm definitely using MaLa so I can load the different maps for my U360. I'm thinking of something simple that is pink and incorporates the marquee/sideart that I'm using... Can someone with ZERO computer skills (and I mean zero - I STILL can't get MAME to run properly) muddle their way through the creation process?
-
Yeah, Mala is easy. That's just a background graphic with text boxes overlaying it. So you make your graphic, a field of pink flowers with semi-transparent boxes over it or whatever in Photoshop etc, then import that into Mala and drag the text boxes over it. It's all pretty much set up for you already as far as game names, manufacturers, etc.
-
Doh, looks like all my photos got nuked. I have them on another server, fixing! Sorry for all the edits showing up years later.
I dug up this thread because I'm making some minor tweaks to the cab and thought I'd update, more coming soon. Got a new CPO (similar but tweaked) and (finally!) the side art coming from Scott, swapping out some colors with the buttons and balltops, added a spinner, etc.
I haven't been around much for a while, so belated thanks to the people I saw saying nice things about my cab that I missed until now, I couldn't have done it without this community. :)
-
Really great artwork! :cheers: Aren't the joysticks mounted a bit high? The shafts look about 10 mm too tall in your pictures.
-
Really great artwork! :cheers: Aren't the joysticks mounted a bit high? The shafts look about 10 mm too tall in your pictures.
You might be used to seeing them mounted in wood panels instead of metal? Dunno, but they're comfortable like they are. :)
Updated artwork should hopefully be here on Tuesday. Minor tweaks really, but I tried to incorporate the spinner into the theme, hopefully I measured right since the holes are already drilled!
-
Okay, finally got the updates in. Stripped the cab down:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/empty-cab.jpg)
Here's the bare arcade monitor after being tossed on our bed while we sorted things out:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/bare-monitor.jpg)
And of course if you leave an empty cabinet in the house it's really just a big box, so that means cats will sit in it:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/jiji.jpg)
I masked off the blue and touched up the interior black paint, lots of scratches and marks. Then I got a package from Game On Grafix (https://www.gameongrafix.com) and as always Scott killed it. Along with new control panel art I finally printed up the side art:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/vinyl-1.jpg)
Side art vinyl took some trimming (tip: run a marker along the edge after trimming to hide the white vinyl, makes it much cleaner against your cabinet) and in the background you can see the kickplate graphic installed too:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/vinyl-2.jpg)
Then it was time to start putting it all back together. Here's a shot from the back showing how the monitor hangs:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/guts.jpg)
Side art installed, sorry about the flash:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/side-flash.jpg)
Other side:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/side-other.jpg)
New control panel art, basically what I had before, but with some tweaks to colors, cleaning up, and the addition of a graphic to integrate the spinner:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/new-cp.jpg)
And finally back in its new/old home where it will live again for the time being:
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/new-home-1.jpg)
(http://www.aurichlawson.com/pics/deep6/new-home-2.jpg)
-
Next up is a pinball project! >:D
-
Your cab is a thing of beauty that has already withstood the test of time. :applaud:
-
Your cab is a thing of beauty that has already withstood the test of time. :applaud:
Thanks! I feel sort of dumb waiting 5 years for the side art, it really makes it click, but I think we all know how it is when you get it mostly done and it's playable, things start to slide. :P
-
Still one of my favorite cabs.
-
Still one of my favorite cabs.
:cheers:
-
So is this officially done in 2012 or was it officially done five years ago and these are just some updates? I'm not asking for any particular reason or anything... just asking. ;D ;D
-
So is this officially done in 2012 or was it officially done five years ago and these are just some updates? I'm not asking for any particular reason or anything... just asking. ;D ;D
It was done 5 years ago, not like I left it under construction or anything, this counts as updates. I'd just say it's *more* done now. ;D
-
So is this officially done in 2012 or was it officially done five years ago and these are just some updates? I'm not asking for any particular reason or anything... just asking. ;D ;D
It was done 5 years ago, not like I left it under construction or anything, this counts as updates. I'd just say it's *more* done now. ;D
Roger. Good update and the sideart does look great.
-
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
-
Thanks! I feel sort of dumb waiting 5 years for the side art, it really makes it click, but I think we all know how it is when you get it mostly done and it's playable, things start to slide. :P
Truer words have never been spoken. I too have found the worst thing that can derail me is when I "test" it as is.
Also, still a beautiful cab. :cheers: