Saucer Invasion in Sector-J (first cabinet starting up)

[GAtekwriter]

Friends and family who know me won't be surprised that I plan on documenting as much of my upcoming project as possible.  I write for a living, so it would seem strange to me not to completely document every step of this process.  I'll be following some good examples and using a website and a blog to provide up-to-date information. 

I've got 3 sheets of Sandiply and am waiting for next weekend so my dad can help me with all the cutting.  He's VERY good at it and I'm not going to get impatient and start early. 

But in the meantime, I figured I'd share with the group the website and blog where I'll be writing everything down.  I've started to order some parts, too, and will hopefully have something worth reading to actually publish

So, I'm throwing my hat in the ring...

Website:  http://www.bluerocketwriting.com/SISJhome.html   (done in Flash and "hosted" off my own business website)

Blog:  http://sisjarcade.blogspot.com

Looking forward to sharing my progress here...

Jim

[somunny]

I'm looking forward to seeing the maquee and cpo for this.

[GAtekwriter]

I definitely want the CPO to look nice and match the overall theme and colors of the entire cabinet.  I'm ordering buttons today so that will affect the CPO design, I'm sure.  Still debating on a lit trackball or non-lit.  The CP will be 2-player with 6 buttons for games and the standard Start and Coin buttons per player.  I was introduced to the Slik360 and can see how easy it is to connect up to 8 buttons directly to the joystick, but if I want more buttons (such as admin buttons), then I may not go this route.  Chime in if you have strong feelings either way.

I've got a buddy who is a graphic artist and I'll probably get his help when finalizing the marquee and CPO - my work here is okay (to me), and has that old-school arcade cabinet look, but I might go with some more polish... or just leave as is.

I definitely want sideart on the cabinet, but no ideas yet.

I'm following St. John's book fairly close when it comes to the cabinet plans.

Jim

[theCoder]

If you end up going with a modern, stylized look, I'd definitely recommend lighting the trackball.  It's one of the first things people comment on when they first play my bartop.   I think it looks a bit out of place on old-school themed cabs though.  Good luck with the build.

[danny_galaga]

ok, if i click on any of the buttons, i get:

The page you tried to access does not exist on this server. This page may not exist due to the following reasons:

 

[GAtekwriter]

Hmm... well, I just opened the account with GoDaddy on Friday, so maybe the DNS settings haven't made their way throughout the country?  Honestly, I don't really know... it's working for me right now.  Please try again and let me know if you're still having trouble.  Sorry you can't view it, Danny...

theCoder:  Yes, I am "planning" on using a lit trackball... green, obviously   The problem I'm finding now is matching buttons, trackball, and t-molding - apparently, green is the problem color for matching.  I'll figure it out.  Did you view my cabinet color scheme that I'm trying to decide on?  Any thoughts?  Here's the direct link:

http://www.bluerocketwriting.com/SISJcabinet.html


Jim

[Grasshopper]

FWIW the links don't work for me either.

[somunny]

They work for me.

[Grasshopper]

Just tried the site in Internet Explorer and the links worked. Must be a Firefox thing.

[bfauska]

I had trouble viewing it yesterday and thought I would try again.  When I click an item in your menu on the front page the address that shows up in the address bar has extra stuff in it.  Here is an example from the cabinet page (with the extra info in bold):
http://www.bluerocketwriting.com/%5C%5Cwww.bluerocketwriting.com%5CSISJcabinet.html

I deleted the extra stuff and hit enter and then I could see the page.

If it works in exploder but not Firefox and any Firefox folks want to view the page w/o using exploder you can do it that way, it's a little more work, but it seems worth it, the project looks like it should be cool.

[GAtekwriter]

I'm sorry so many of you are having trouble accessing the site... I'm still thinking some of the issues are with the newness of the domain hosting at GoDaddy.  Maybe not.

I'll keep an eye on it and see if anyone else has trouble...

Jim

[leapinlew]

I rarely visit someones site from here. I look for updates inside the thread.

[GAtekwriter]

Here's a screenshot of my cabinet color thoughts - opinions welcome.

[leapinlew]

Any of those would look better with black T-molding. I like the black in the middle with a color on the outside - similar to a Nintendo cabinet.

[Timoe]

#2

[Timoe]

I like the idea of more than a two tone cab.  IF you can have a third color in there that would be rad.

I agree with Lew, the color on the outside and black in the middle is tough.  I wish I had done that with my cabinet

[GAtekwriter]

Black t-molding?? Really?

Jim

[theCoder]

I rarely visit someones site from here. I look for updates inside the thread.

What he said.  This forum has been around for a while and I trust that the content will be around for a while longer.  On the PartyBox project, I blogged here, then scooped up all the content and reformatted it to another more concise format (as in http://home.comcast.net/~larmead/partybox ).  I think over time, no one wants to read about the day to day planning, indecision's, and conversations you have with us.  They just want the build details and lots of pictures.  Blog it here, put a bow around it when complete on your site.  Just my two cents.

As far as your colors, I like 2 or 4.

[GAtekwriter]

Awesome, all... thanks for your suggestions.  I'll have to examine using black t-mold, but I can kinda see it.

Jim

[superbigjay]

#2 for me as well with black t-mold too!!

color could be green or yellow.

can wait to see the progress!!!

Don't forget to post a lot of pic 

Cheers
Jay

[GAtekwriter]

Do you think green t-mold is too much?  Would it not match?

Jim

[superbigjay]

Do you think green t-mold is too much?  Would it not match?

If you manage to match the t-mold color with the cab sides, I don't think it would be too much.

The advantage of black t-molding is that you don't have to worry fot the color match...

But since that all HW/paint store can basically match any color, it should be a problem.

I recommend that you order a free sample from www.t-molding.com of black, green and yellow t-molding. 

Then you could do some testing with either real paint or printout from your color printer and see how it looks in your soon to be game room.  It will give you a good idea on how it will look...

Jay

[Strokemouth]

I'm sorry so many of you are having trouble accessing the site... I'm still thinking some of the issues are with the newness of the domain hosting at GoDaddy.  Maybe not.

I'll keep an eye on it and see if anyone else has trouble...

Jim

Hi Jim, the problem is with the links. If you take a look at the source of your page, you have backslashes in the URL instead of forward slashes. Some browsers, such as IE, may see this and know what was supposed to be there and correct it automatically.

[GAtekwriter]

I'll take a look and fix that today.  Thanks for letting me know.

Jim

[GAtekwriter]

Made the change Strokemouth... hope it helps.  Thanks again.

Jim

[bfauska]

Works now for me.  I use Firefox and it didn't work right before.

[GAtekwriter]

Just brainstorming some CPOs... I wanted the saucer incorporated and since I'm using a lighted green trackball, why not use it as the top of a saucer?  I've got to get my graphic artist friend to actually do my marquee and CPO justice, but this should give you an idea of what I'm envisioning - subject to change, of course

EDIT:  For a black background, how does a plexi cover do in your opinion?  Too shiny?  Does it take away from the graphics? Thanks.