Mini Mayhem

[Stingray]

After a couple of months of searching I finally found a suitably dead cab for a MAME conversion. This is a Blueprint cab. I really like the side art, but it's too rough to use. The entire cabinet will be refinished, but I haven't decided on what type of artwork to use on it yet.





-S

[Stingray]

Mockup of my control panel layout. I know most of you guys think this is backward, but I prefer buttons on the left, so that's the way I'm building it. The buttons on the front of the panel will be pause, tab (for accessing the setup menu) player one start & player 2 start.

-S

[Sasquatch!]

I've never heard of Blueprint.  Huh.

Good luck with your project!

[Generic Eric]

I've never heard of Blueprint.  Huh.

Good luck with your project!

There is a game called Blue Print in mame.  Might be the same one

[HagHore]

You could always go with Stargate artwork as I believe that is the same style of cab.

[Stingray]

I hadn't heard of Blueprint either,actually. I'd love to keep the artwork that's on it, but it's in much worse shape than the pictures indicate.

Stargate is pretty similar now that you mention it. A little different control panel shape and the monitor slants back farther in this one, but it's pretty close. I may keep that in mind if I decide to to a reproduction cab. Right now I'm leaning toward original artwork, but I haven't actually sat down to design anything yet.

I intended to make a metal CP last night, but when I got to the shop I couldn't find a peice big enough to use. Gonna have to buy some sheet metal. Spent last night slinging wire instead.

-S

[Stingray]

Over the last couple of nights I removed all of the old artwork, even with a heat gun, the decals came off in little pieces, because someone at some point ran a pocket knife all over them and sliced them into little chunks. I'm glad I'm past that part - very tedious. I've got the cab down to just an empty box. The plan is to paint it this weekend. It will be black with blue t-molding. I've got some preliminary design work going for the new graphics, but nothing I'm ready to show yet. If all goes according to plan I should have pics of the cab sporting it's new paint job by Monday.

-S

[Stingray]

Spent all day Saturday filling holes, deep scratches & gouges with auto body filler. I did so much sanding my arms feel like they're going to fall off! My original intention was to use two part urethane because it's extremely durable, but I ended up using automotive grade enamel instead because I was given some (okay, so I'm cheap). I did put a lot of hardener in the mix though, so after it's had a few days to fully cure it should be pretty tough finish. I'm pretty happy with the results:



I'd love to hear some comments.

-S

[PedroSilva]

Very nice that glossy finish ...

[Stingray]

Thanks. My dad has owned a body shop for the last 35 years, and I practicly grew up in the shop. As a result, I'm pretty handy with a paint gun.

It doesn't show, but the inside (the area around the monitor) is a flat black. I did this to cut down on glare.

-S

[BobbyG66]

Big improvement, looks good.

Good idea with the flat finish in the monitor area. Will keep that in mind when building my cab...

[Stingray]

Good idea with the flat finish in the monitor area. Will keep that in mind when building my cab...

I'll be happy to report how it works after I've got everything reassembled & running.

-S

[patrickl]

Yeah that sure looks nice.

Cool idea to use "car paint". Seeing that I wonder why noone used the "chameleon paint" (which changes color when you pass the car) on his cab yet  

[Stingray]

Two reasons spring readilly to mind. One, it's super expensive stuff, as much as $1000 a gallon. Two, it will show every little tiny imperfection under the paint.

Er... and it's fantasticly ugly, but that's just my opinion.    

I apreciate the compliments. Just about to start working on it right now.

-S

[patrickl]

Er... and it's fantasticly ugly, but that's just my opinion.    

He, he, you might have a point there, but I assumed it was the goal of an arcade cabinet to be as tacky as possible and this stuff would just SCREAM tacky

Forgot to ask earlier, but since you seem to be "hunting" for Galaga art, I guess you are not going with the Stargate theme?

[Stingray]

No, not doing Stargate. Not really doing Galaga either, I'm working on a bit of "semi-original" art that's based on the overall look of a Galaga cab.

-S

[Stingray]

Got the t-molding on and started putting some of the guts back inside it last night.



-S

[Stingray]

My not-quite-finished artwork is now posted in the artwork forum:

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=13;action=display;threadid=15686

I'd appreciate any feedback you guys may have to offer.

-S

[JamesS]

Your cabinet looks good Stingray.

I am close to finishing up my control panel area, without painting it yet.  Going to hopefully be putting the Monitor shelf in there soon.  Bought the plywood for it anyway.

[Stingray]

James, good luck with yours. I got really lucky with my monitor mounting. I pulled the arcade monitor, took my PC monitor out of it's plastic case, and it just fit perfectly in the hole left behind by the arcade monitor. No modification needed at all. All I had to do was screw it down.

Hopefully I'll get my control panel painted tonight and I'll be able to hook it up tomorrow. I am so ready to play test this thing!

-S

[Stingray]

Finished the metal CP, ready to install buttons & sticks. I decided to just spray some primer on it and call it good. It's going to get an overlay anyway.





-S

[patrickl]

Man you work fast! At this rate you'll have that cab done in a week or something.

I wish I could do a metal CP too. This looks so professional   I have been messing about with MDF and Lexan with mixed success so far (so far it's Lexan vs Me 1 - 0)  

BTW, Why did you make the holes for the joysticks so large? Do you plan to install them by sticking the whole ball through the panel? Or is it that the button holes are smaller than usual?

[Stingray]

I used a Cyberball CP as a template to trace my joystick holes. That's the size they were on that panel, and yes, they're large enough to stick the ball up through the bottom of the panel. They're still small enough that the dust covers cover the hole when the joystick is pushed in any direction though.

Here's the panel with the sticks & buttons in it. Nothing is hooked up yet though.



I don't think I'm going to use those two Atari sticks, they don't move as freely as I'd like. I'll probably get a set of new 8 ways to replace them.

-S

[PedroSilva]

Hi,

What color will you use to cover the CP ?
Because if it's black, some of the buttons might die a little, no ?
 

[Stingray]

Good point Pedro. At this point my overlay design is mostly black with some blue border. Again, it's similar in design to a Galaga CP. Maybe I should consider going with all blue buttons and get rid of the black ones. What do you think?

-S

[PedroSilva]

Good point Pedro. At this point my overlay design is mostly black with some blue border. Again, it's similar in design to a Galaga CP. Maybe I should consider going with all blue buttons and get rid of the black ones. What do you think?

-S

Well, in my humble opinion, it seems that you want to give some effect on the CP by crossing the colors of the buttons. If that's what you want, you may change the black buttons to another color (for instance, dark blue) and you would stell get that effect even if the CP is totaly black, or you can put them all in light blue, matching the T-molding ... should also look nice ...
 

[Stingray]

Do you know of someone who sells more than one color of blue buttons? These were the only shade of blue that I could find. The CPO will also have some orange in it. Maybe I should use orange buttons instead.

-S

[pathdoc2]

Very nice metal work.  How did you cut those holes?  How did you bend the metal sheet?

[menace]

Holy crap man--you must have a clone army assembling your stuff!  Control panel looks great--who would have thought that a body shop could make such great arcade cabinets--tell them they should hire you full time for paint and metal work!

[PedroSilva]

Do you know of someone who sells more than one color of blue buttons? These were the only shade of blue that I could find. The CPO will also have some orange in it. Maybe I should use orange buttons instead.

-S

Well ... I'm in Portugal and I got my buttons from a local dealer. He gets the parts in Spain at this company:

http://www.industrias-lorenzo.com/cgi-bin/miva?~lorenzo/listafam2.mv

The one's I use are convex (A0212) type instead of concave, but I think that shouldn't make any diference regarding the colors. There, on the US, I think you might find them at Happ ... I believe that Lorenzo Industries supplys some parts for Happ ... Check it out or try to get them directly from Spain ...  

Hope this helps ...

[Stingray]

How did you cut those holes?

With a hole saw. The harder type that's made for cutting steel.

How did you bend the metal sheet?

Sheet metal brake. Which is a big device that's made for bending sheet metal if you're unfamiliar with the term.

who would have thought that a body shop could make such great arcade cabinets

Well, my other hobby is car restoration. I guess it's more or less the same skill set that's needed, at least for the cosmetic part.

tell them they should hire you full time for paint and metal work!

The body shop is owned by my dad, and I did used to work there, but a long time ago I decided that I'd rather have a cushy office job. I still use the shop often for my own projects.

I appreciate the compliments guys! I wish it seemd like I was going as fast as it seems to look. I feel like I'm making very little progress each night.

-S

[Stingray]

Another question. Do you think the two buttons on left-front would look better white than black, to match the two white start buttons on the other side?

-S

[PedroSilva]

Another question. Do you think the two buttons on left-front would look better white than black, to match the two white start buttons on the other side?

-S

What are they ? Emulation buttons ? Coin buttons ? ... Hey ... all my choices are based on logic ...  

[Stingray]

One is pause, the other is tab for configuration purposes.

-S

[PedroSilva]

One is pause, the other is tab for configuration purposes.

-S

Well ... for me I'd put the tab Black (Emulation always hiden) and the pause on another color.

[Stingray]

Last night I gutted an older Power Mac G3, and transfered the insides into my cab.



I have a lot of cleaning up to do, but it's all in there and working.

The cab is now running under it's own power! (previously it was connected to my Powerbook)



Hopefully tonight I'll be able to get the controls all reconnected and then I can "test" it with MAME! I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere.  

-S

[Stingray]

I mounted the CD ROM inside the coin door. This seemed like a good idea to make it easier to add software without having to go in through the back panel. This may be common practice for all I know, anyone else done this?



-S

[Stingray]

Added the tinted plexi over the monitor. Makes a big difference in looks.



Also it doesn't show, but I got all of the controls connected back up. After I did that I didn't do much other than play... I mean test the controls.

It's going to be really hard to finish this thing now that it's playable!

-S

[Witchboard]

Looking good.  Everyday I check your thread and I see your cab coming together step by step.  Makes my itchy to get busy on mine.

[Stingray]

Thanks. I'm really happy with the amount of progress I've made on it this week. I can't wait to get off work today so I can get back on it. I think I'll probably do the coin door next. Right now I have a temporary switch that's just hanging loose inside the door opening for 'insert coin'. Kills a little bit of the authenticity.  

I still have the Galaga theme music going in hy head after last night's "testing" session.  

-S