Blanka Fighting Stick (recycle project)

[opt2not]

Last week, while embarking on some spring cleaning, I noticed that I had enough parts to put together another fighting stick for myself. This time, a wireless one for my 360. But, since I already have a console stick for the PS2, and instead of building a base out of scratch and killin' more trees (yay for recycling!), I figured that I could take an old beloved arcade fight-stick that I haven't used in a while, and update it.

This project would be a light one, as well as cheap!  A buddy of mine gave me one of his seimitsu sticks for helping him out with a previous fight-stick project, I have a bunch of buttons (ordered off LL)and I have a beat-up wireless xbox 360 controller (bought used off Craigslist) that I was planning on hacking for this.

The base is a PS2 Hori soul calibur stick that I gutted. I wanted to keep this stick because I liked the size of it, and it was with me for so long...sentimental I know. The buttons and stick were taken out, and will probably be used for a project down the line. Don't want to waste a perfectly working 8-way.


I plan on making this my Street Fighter 4 Blanka fight-stick. I've been playing Street Fighter ever since the original Street Fighter 2 was released to the arcades in 1993, and Blanka was the first character I learned to play with. I tried out other characters like Ryu, Guile and Zangief, then Sagat and Bison when CE came out...they were fun for a few of the following releases. But really, I missed playing Blanka. In Street Fighter 4, I think Capcom totally nailed the game-play essence of Blanka, and really made him a contending character for all the Ryu/Ken/Sagat players out there (which are many!).

Interior Features:
- Seimitsu LS-32 stick

- clear Green (bubble) balltop

- 6 clear seimitsu PS-14-KN push-buttons

- 2 admin buttons: Guide and Start, using existing yellow top buttons.
- 1 momentary push-button: sync button used for wireless connection
- 1 AA battery enclosure (from The Source)



Exterior Features:
- Original SF2 Blanka Colours: Putrid-Green and Orange
- Original CP artwork created by yours truly: Adhesive gloss print
- Base will be painted Green using a can of "plastic" paint Green (will need to find actual colour match), then sprayed with clear-coat for protection
- Rubber caster feet
- *optional* Orange fuzzy hair bordered around the top for Blanka's mane.

First matter of business was to strip out all the components and artwork, and see what kinda of space we're dealing with here.
I followed Kowal's lead with this mod, and read through his site directions. His Namco stick mod is very similar to the space issues I have with the SC stick: most pertaining to mounting the joystick.
According to his instructions, an LS-32 can fit into the joystick slot if you don't use the mounting plate, as saw off the little "nubs" that space out the plate from the stick base.
Image from kowal's site:

My stick modified:


 In addition, you have to modify the shaft so that the bottom plate of the stick can close the case up. That was a pain without a lathe, but it was doable with a drill, vice, and jigsaw. You can basically chop a bit off the bottom so that your case can close and not rub against the shaft underneath.

Modifying the case was necessary as well, because the joystick slot has screw nubs stick out to attach the old stick. I chopped these off and sanded it down flat so that the seimitsu fit snug.

I then drilled holes so that the screws can attach the joystick to the base.


Here's a shot of the metal top re-attached to see how sturdy this mod is.  It's pretty good, and the screws don't push the metal top up at all. I even sandwiched a dust cover under it. Successful mounting IMO!


I sent the 360 controller to HarumaN for hacking, as I don't really want to go through the hassle. Not that I couldn't do it, it's just that I can't do as great a job as HarumaN does. His soldering work is way more neat than mine, and I really don't have the patience.
The big challenge is going to be finding enough room for the PCB and attaching it to the inside the case.

On the art front, I've been playing around with some ideas of having Blanka howling "Haaaaarooooo!!", and a shot of him doing electricity. The goal will be to have it turn out looking like an 80's retro images montage. Here's my starting point mock-up:

I'm playing with the idea of having 3 "o's" of the "Haaroooo!!" text go continuously through the clear buttons, so that the image looks like a cohesive one. I will play around with the image more, and figure out a good composition for the howling, and the electricity pose while incorporating the buttons and joystick spots.

Next on the agenda is to fill the Hori, Start, and Select indentation labels with filler, then sand the entire stick down prepping it for painting.

[saleem]

love the artwork,are you an artist?

that would look good on my bartop as it is!
 

[opt2not]

love the artwork,are you an artist?

that would look good on my bartop as it is!
 

I'm an animator. Artist/animator, same difference.
Thanks for the complement!

[emphatic]

A fun little project. Will monitor it closely. 

[mwong168]

That is going to be a tight fit for a 360 PCB in there.  If it is not too late you might want to consider the Paewang Revolution PCB from etokki.com



As you can see the PCB is relatively small and very easy to work with.  If you check my HAPP/iL fight stick thread in my signature I have more information about it.  The PCB works on XBOX360/PC and PS3 as well.  Good luck otherwise and I will check this thread for progress.

[opt2not]

That is going to be a tight fit for a 360 PCB in there.  If it is not too late you might want to consider the Paewang Revolution PCB from etokki.com

Ewwww, it's got one of those long ugly gray things...

Thanks for the advice mwong168, but even though that PCB is damn tiny, one of the main features of this stick is it being wireless. It'll be tight, but I'll make it work somehow.
 

[mwong168]

Ewwww, it's got one of those long ugly gray things...

Thanks for the advice mwong168, but even though that PCB is damn tiny, one of the main features of this stick is it being wireless. It'll be tight, but I'll make it work somehow.
 

I feel you on the wireless, I just recently made two wireless sticks for 360/PC as well and they work great in my living room.

[opt2not]

On my commute home I figured I'd roughly sketch up the picture of Blanka doing his electricity move. I take public transit, don't worry I wasn't driving and drawing
I then scanned it into photoshop, and arranged it loosely around the stick dimensions. Note: I haven't measured the CP space so this is just to get an idea of what I want to go with.


I think it's going in a decent direction. Though I feel that the top left could use some sort of graphic there. Perhaps the street fighter logo behind Blanka's heads?
Thoughts anyone?

[SNAAKE]

power of the wild

[HaRuMaN]

Sweet!  I like seeing what my work will end up in...   

[opt2not]

Got a few deliveries arrive this past week! 



- Green Bubble-top for my Seimitsu stick
- 6 clear PS-14-KN Seimitsu buttons
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller ( hacked by HarumaN  )

I should be able to continue this project shortly. Right now I've got a few projects on the go, so I've been jumping around a bit. I might be able to make my deadline of April 27 (release date of SSF4).  We will see!

[HaRuMaN]

Woo!  Get to it!   

[opt2not]

Woo!  Get to it!   

Ha-ha, ok!

Did another sketch on the bus:


This one got cut-off by the end of the page. I hate when that happens sometimes; I'll start sketching my image then realize that I didn't give myself enough room on the page...but I've already got a good roll going on it. durp!
Anyways, I've been playing around with the idea of having some of Blanka's staple moves on the CP surface.  This is his crouching fierce-punch, an awesome long-ranged power move -- good damage if it hits, excellent for creating distance if blocked! 
The other move I'm working on is getting a cool looking Blanka Roll from the perspective of the receiver. Stay tuned!

[opt2not]

Not much progress so far. Been stuck is project-hell at work...

But I did get to a couple more quick commute-sketches that's giving me a better idea for the CP artwork:

Patented Blanka-roll:


...and of course the crouching medium kick combo-linker:


some fixes to the previous fierce-punch drawing:


Any thought to which I should go with?  combination of the images?

A buddy of mine was suggesting I do Blanka's staple 3-hit roll combo in a series-montage image. It would consist of Jumping Roundhouse Kick or Jumping Fierce Punch -> Crouching Medium Kick (seen here) -> Blanka Roll.

hmmm.....

[rancidrodent]

I've always found his standing roundhouse, (you know, the one with flip), to be a masterpiece of 2-D sprite work.
The one from the middle row.
It's interesting that you're taking such a fluid character and locking him into stills.
I can't wait to see how some of his more exaggerated movements come out in your art.

[SNAAKE]

you wanna use sprites from cvs2 blanka(well alpha3 had it first)

those look much better/cleaner and higher resolution. www.fightersgeneration.com for sprites.

[kyoke]

You are a god among insects when it comes to original artwork opt2not! Love the effort you put into your projects!

[opt2not]

you wanna use sprites from cvs2 blanka(well alpha3 had it first)
those look much better/cleaner and higher resolution. www.fightersgeneration.com for sprites.

Thanks, good reference.

I've always found his standing roundhouse, (you know, the one with flip), to be a masterpiece of 2-D sprite work.
It's interesting that you're taking such a fluid character and locking him into stills.
I can't wait to see how some of his more exaggerated movements come out in your art.

Yeah, I definitely need to lock down more of an action still. Something that feels dynamic, and fluid, but be captured into a single pose.
Thanks for the sprite sheet, but I already have it

You are a god among insects when it comes to original artwork opt2not! Love the effort you put into your projects!

Thanks kyoke.  Go hard or go home right?

here's another blanka image I did. I'm going to have to decide on a direction soon, but for now it's all going towards ideas of what I'm going to end up with.
This one's more bestial, raaaaaage!!!


This is the only image I did since my last update. I would have continued, but I had to take a step back and work on something else...
so why not girls in short-shorts playing pacman?

Can anyone guess what pinball game the girl posed in the second picture is from?

[opt2not]

Ok, so here's a small update (again). Now that i have my evenings free from work, I can finish this thing off before I hit up my planned hardcore Robotron Restoration.
I've decided to go the pseudo easy route and take what I've already drawn up and put them together in a capcom-style character montage image:


The next step is to clean up the image, and start painting colours into it. I'm going to incorporate the new inked style that SF4 uses, mainly for action lines on the kick, roll and punch images. The middle Blanka image will be the electricity move, so there will be added electrical effects that i need to add. Another thing I need to do is make sure the faces are all consistent with each other. I did these images on the bus-ride home, so I didn't have any images to refer to other than the ones that were in my head

This will be in the middle of the stick, and the clear buttons will have the artwork in them too so the image looks consistent throughout.
More to come soon.

Comments/Critiques welcome!

[opt2not]

Gotta quickly finish this so I can concentrate fully on my cabaret resto.
Here's an update:

Got to work on the base finally. I started off by sanding up the surface to rough it up a bit for the primer and filler to stick better.
Wiped it down cleanly to remove any of the plastic particles.



The base had a few indented decals on it, the HORI name-place on the front, and the Start and Select button labels up top.  
I filled them up with some filler, then sanded it down even with the surface.


After that I moved onto painting 3 coats of primer, and sanding in-between.
I then applied 3 coats Rustoleum Painterly Touch brand - lime green (closest I could find to Blanka's original colour).


Once dried I applied a few coats of clear just to make the surface a bit harder to scratch.
Here's a couple shots (w/ and w/o flash) of it with the LS-32. The balltop colour matches pretty close.
Though, there's a lot of yellow light in my workspace so you can't really tell how green it really is by these pictures, but in RL it's pretty nice.



Next up, I'm going to start wiring while I finish up with the artwork stuff. - That - is coming along slowly, but surely.
I have a fun little idea that I'll let you in on at a later time.

[emphatic]

That paint choice is spot on! 

[opt2not]

Settled on what artwork to use! I changed my mind on the montage piece. Just too time consuming to colour and effect. I went with an easier approach (yet in the end, more suiting).
I took the electricity sketch and gave it some colour, added a few things here and there for the electrical effect. I like that it's somewhat chaotic, bright and up close and personal.


Here's a photoshop mock-up of what it's going to look like.


I'll probably do another pass on the artwork, clean up a few spots, but it's practically good to go. I have a plan for another addition to make this baby look like a Blanka stick should, but I'll keep you guys in suspense till next update.
 

[jmike]

The new artwork looks pretty fierce but IMO I would go with the montage, (of course I have not clue or any skills in photoshop) .

I'm sure it'll look great at the end. (Will stay tuned for that "addition").



 

[Ryglore]

Awesome work Opt2Not! Keep it up! Love the art, but I would prolly move it down a slight bit. Blanka's eyes look like they may be getting clipped a bit.

[opt2not]

Awesome work Opt2Not! Keep it up! Love the art, but I would prolly move it down a slight bit. Blanka's eyes look like they may be getting clipped a bit.

Wait a sec...is that...Ryglore??  *rubs eyes* 

Thanks man!  As for the eye-cut-off, I will be making sure the artwork shows continuously through the clear seimitsu buttons I have, so the cut-off won't bother me. That, and the placement of the image is somewhat related to my special "addition".

The new artwork looks pretty fierce but IMO I would go with the montage, (of course I have not clue or any skills in photoshop) .
I'm sure it'll look great at the end. (Will stay tuned for that "addition").
 

Thanks for the comments jmike. The montage was just a bit too much work that I wanted to put into this thing. Colouring all those Blanka's would have taken too long, and really wouldn't have had as much of an impact as this image does. This image feels more "loud" to me.

Besides, this was supposed to be a quick and clean project because I'm really dying to get rolling on my Robotron restoration! 

[Ryglore]

Awesome work Opt2Not! Keep it up! Love the art, but I would prolly move it down a slight bit. Blanka's eyes look like they may be getting clipped a bit.

Wait a sec...is that...Ryglore??  *rubs eyes* 

WHERE? WHERE! I don't see anything. 

[opt2not]

Quick update: Battery holder mounted today.

Had to cut a square hole out of the bottom to fit the holder. Used my drill to bore a big enough hole for the jigsaw /w metal blade to cut the square out.

Then I cleaned it up with a small file.  I took the piece I cut out and used it to keep the battery secured to the bottom piece.  Finished it off by throwing on some vinyl I had laying around.  Turned out pretty good for almost a couple hours work.

It protrudes a bit from the bottom, but that's alright since I'll have rubber feet installed  and should have enough clearance under.

[SNAAKE]

looking badass so far. blanka player myself

[opt2not]

looking badass so far. blanka player myself

Niiiiiiiiice...you have a good Blanka!
Love the crossover Blanka Roll -->Electricity. My favourite...
Blanka vs Blanka can be rough sometimes, especially when both are decent players.

Perhaps we'll bump into each other online.
My xbox live name is Galaxbox, named after my cabinet!

[opt2not]

Bunch of stuff was done this weekend, I'm almost there.

First, mounted the controller pcb (cleanly hacked by HarumaN).

I had to cut away a bit of the circular "support pillar" to fit the PCB in place. It fits pretty snug, so all I used were cable-ties to keep it from shifting around. But it's solid!

The sync button was then installed. I used a momentary pushbutton, screwed into a piece of the cut away support pillar plastic, which is Gorilla-glued in front of the hole that the wire used to come out of.

The button is close enough so that I can fit my pinky in the hole and hit the button. Works well enough for me!

I then soldered a couple wires for the battery connection, and ran them to a cut-up terminal strip. This is place near the battery holder spot.


I re-installed the select and start buttons (now Guide and Start), along with the rest of the parts. The yellow buttons look pretty good with the green, I was going to paint them another colour, but I'm short on time, and this turned out pretty good as is.


Then after a few hours of wiring, everything is hooked up and works great!
My wiring job isn't the cleanest, but I didn't want to spend too much time messing about.

Everything fits well and snug inside. I had to extend one of the terminal strips HarumaN installed, just so that the wires can be spread around the case rather than just bunching up in one area.
I really love the weight to this now, it's a lot more hefty with all the parts installed.

All that's left is get my artwork from the printers, install rubber feet at the bottom (should prop it up about a 1/4 inch), and put a few "finishing touches" on it.

[opt2not]

Ha ha, yes! Good eye!