1st project

[Broncobrian]

Hey thanks everyone, I have learned a lot here in the last few weeks.

I was ready to head to the store, by some plywood and start building from lucids plans. However, when i was looking for a tv or a PC on craigs list I found an empty cabinet for a steal.

I just purchased an empty "Operation Thunderbolt" cab. It in in farily good shape except for the front wood below the control panel, the back is missing, and the coin mechs are missing.

I already purchased a couple mag sticks, buttons for 2x 6 button layouts, some start buttons, will add filler buttons on the side, and a trackball from xArcade.

I have a few questions already...

~This was a gun game and has a flat control panel and vertical glass. I want to angle the CP down a little, and prob will leave the bezel glass alone. Any tips?

~ The trackball will be in the front / center of the cp. I am worried about the coin mechs (which I need to buy) getting in the way of the body of the trackball. How can I avoid them?

~ The side art on the side has some texture. It looks like it was painted or stenciled, not printed. Will I be able to paint over this, or wil li need to strip or sand it first?

~ the bottom of the cab sticks out, and has a foot stool looking feature. Is this common, and should i leave it that way or make it comer out more on the bottom? I know this is a preference thing really.

~ Any other last minute tips, while I am still in the demo phase?

Thanks everone 

[Slippyblade]

Depending on the condition of the cabinet you may want to do a full tear down.

I'm working on my first project over [url = http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=102828.0]here[/url] and did a full tear down on the cabinet as a learning experience.  There was a LOT more going on inside my cabinet than I first expected but I learned a lot about the assembly.  I'm stripping and sanding all my panels to bear wood in my project just so I can start from a clean slate.