Big Blue V1 with Dynamic Marquee

[fedexin]

Hi All, been a while since I've posted, but I wanted to share a project I just wrapped up. I have been dreaming of building a machine that has a clean install of a dynamic marquee. I didn't want to build the cabinet from scratch, and I didn't want to modify/destroy a classic either. But once I found a V1 Big Blue in great shape I knew I had a candidate. As it turns out, it is perfect, and I performed exactly ZERO modifications to it which would inhibit this from being reverted to a Q-Sound cabinet quickly.

[fedexin]

The build was surprisingly straight forward because my direction was clear from the start; clean the cab in and out, slap on some new grey t-molding, don't hack the wiring, don't modify the control panel. Once I pulled it out of storage I set to work.

[fedexin]

I considered using a CRT monitor and ArcadeVGA, but the cab was already going to be big and heavy. With the advent of HLSL incorporated into MAME I decided to use an LCD monitor and emulate the CRT instead. I'm using a beefy PC to run it all; i7, 500GB SSD, 5TB external HD with all the games, GTX 970.

For the marquee I used an ultrawide 25" from LG, the main screen is a 720p 28" tv.

I removed the old mount for the light in the marquee area, and installed one that would accommodate the monitor. I could mount the old ballast in there again if I want to revert. I also installed a new arcade power supply as the old one was dead. The power strip to run the monitors and the PC are plugged into the 110 AC service outlet on the arcade PS, which is operated by the original switch at the top of the cab. This means I didn't have to touch any of the wiring, and have one switch turn on for the machine (though software settings in the bios).

I added a set of 4 switches just inside the coin door to operate the software volume (mute, vol up, vol down) and service to get into test mode for a given game. I'm running an AHK script to make it work.

[fedexin]

I had the CP sandblasted and powder coated black, and installed new t-molding. Test fitted the marquee monitor, all was going great.

[fedexin]

I used the original marquee and control panel as a templates for new plexi. After a nice hot plastic shower, I had clean replacements.

[fedexin]

Final assembly and a first test or two.

[snakezone]

Nice clean job!

[fedexin]

Aaaaaand into the line up. The main screen is behind smoked glass, and the marquee screen is bright and clear enough to look real at a first and second glance. It really adds to the overall experience, and is better in real life than it looked in my imagination. I also had some ultimarc guns I tossed in, super fun.

I have some sanwa JLF's I'm going to install, and I'm playing around with the software, but I consider this project complete!

[acme64]

Where'd you find that marquee? how much are they?

[Laythe]

Nice!  That marquee screen is a great fit to the existing shape of the cabinet.  Well done!