Converted Centipede Project Cabinet - NEW PIC!

[maraxle]

I just wanted to post some "before" pictures of my new project cabinet.  It was a Centipede that was converted to something undetermined and then to Bionic Commando.  The lovely Centipede sideart was painted black (as usual), and it was cut to hold a horizontal monitor.

After much deliberation, I have decided to do an unintrusive, Centipede-themed MAME conversion on it.  Unintrusive meaning that I will try to restore the Centipede sideart, no frankenpanel, no damage to the outside of the cabinet, etc.  This is going to be a longer term project than usual, as this cabinet is actually for my Dad, and he wants to work on it with me.

Anyway, here is the first of five "before" pictures.  It's a front view of the cabinet, obviously, showing just what I've gotten myself into:

[maraxle]

Here's the second picture.  It's one of the sides.  You can see where the guy I bought it from started stripping the black paint off, revealing some scratched, but possibly useable sideart:

[maraxle]

Here's the third one.  It's the coindoor.  See the cool Atari text/logo on there?

[maraxle]

Picture number four.  It's one side of the nasty, green, generic control panel.

[maraxle]

And here's number five of five.  It's the other side of the control panel.  By the way, that's the original control panel under there, complete with a trackball hole.  We'll be bondoing all the extra holes, and starting fresh.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Here's the second picture.  It's one of the sides.  You can see where the guy I bought it from started stripping the black paint off, revealing some scratched, but possibly useable sideart:

I'll tell you, you're lucky to have side-art that looks that good...  I just spent $125 US on repro vinyl.  Best of luck on the cab.

[Lance]

Here's the second picture.  It's one of the sides.  You can see where the guy I bought it from started stripping the black paint off, revealing some scratched, but possibly useable sideart:

I'll tell you, you're lucky to have side-art that looks that good...  I just spent $125 US on repro vinyl.  Best of luck on the cab.

Where did you end up getting your side art from?  Phoenix Arcade is sold out apparantly.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Here's the second picture.  It's one of the sides.  You can see where the guy I bought it from started stripping the black paint off, revealing some scratched, but possibly useable sideart:

I'll tell you, you're lucky to have side-art that looks that good...  I just spent $125 US on repro vinyl.  Best of luck on the cab.

Where did you end up getting your side art from?  Phoenix Arcade is sold out apparantly.

Yea, they're getting more in in August (but couldn't tell me exactly when, so I just ended up getting it from Arcade Shop.  It was $25 extra, but figured I couldn't wait until August.  The nice thing about ordering from Arcade Shop is that I needed a couple little parts, so I just tacked them on my order.

Oh, and the sideart looks amazing!!

pst... Lance, when will you be updating your site?  I'm excited to see your progress...

[maraxle]

I'll tell you, you're lucky to have side-art that looks that good...  I just spent $125 US on repro vinyl.  Best of luck on the cab.

Unfortunately, the picture is a little deceptive.  There's a lot more flaws than what you can see in it.  Also, there's some pretty deep scratches down in the black-painted area that could mean there's some big chunks missing.  I'm going to have to reserve judgment until after I get all the paint off of both sides.  Hopefully, there won't be anything that I can't touch up with some paint and a small brush.

[Lance]

Yea, they're getting more in in August (but couldn't tell me exactly when, so I just ended up getting it from Arcade Shop.  It was $25 extra, but figured I couldn't wait until August.  The nice thing about ordering from Arcade Shop is that I needed a couple little parts, so I just tacked them on my order.

Oh, and the sideart looks amazing!!

pst... Lance, when will you be updating your site?  I'm excited to see your progress...

Can't wait to see your pictures too, I've been lazy so far since the arcade is stuck in the garage until I move.  

So is the side art you got have the yellow outline around the centipede or purple?  How hard was it to install?  Width wise was it a tight fit?  I heard the phoenix arcade art just barely fits width wise so you have to align it perfectly.

[OSCAR]

maraxle - Awesome, I love a nice Centi restoration!  If you run into any snags or have any questions, don't hesitate to shoot me an email, I'd be happy to help if I can.  I also have a spare working ARII board that works with the Centipede board, so if you need one let me know, I'd sell it to you for cheap.

www.oscarcontrols.com/centipede


Lance - Yes, the PhoenixArcade side art is just barely wide enough to fit.  I lined up the back edge of the sideart with the back of the cab so I didn't have to trim that side, and it was just wide enough to cover the top portion where the marquee is without much to spare.  On this particular sideart, it is important to use a liberal amount of Windex or soap solution so you can align the sideart perfectly.  I had to adjust each side a couple times to make sure it fit correctly.



Also something else I found out after I did the first side; remove the premask *before* applying the sideart.  The adhesive on the premask is very strong and when I went to peel it off, it tried to lift the sideart off the cab.  So....  I had to go back and squeegee out all the air bubbles again.  On the second side I removed the premask first so that didn't happen again.

[maraxle]

Well, I broke out the 3M Safest Stripper and went to work on that side.  So far it looks pretty good.  I still have to go over it again.  There's one fairly significant gouge down on the bottom left-hand side, and some fraying around the edges, but nothing too major.  There's a few spots where there's some color scratched off, but I think I can touch it up with some paint or, at least in the case of the black, a permanent marker.  Anyway, here's a pic:

[Hoopstar]

Just out of interest: Are the Arcade shop and the Phoenix Arcade side art both the same width.. or for that matter, the same product?

If so, who actually makes them then...

[pathdoc2]

I can't imagine why anyone would want to paint over a cool decal/image such as Centipede sideart.  Glad to see you are restoring this cab.  You do some really great work.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Can't wait to see your pictures too, I've been lazy so far since the arcade is stuck in the garage until I move.  

So is the side art you got have the yellow outline around the centipede or purple?  How hard was it to install?  Width wise was it a tight fit?  I heard the phoenix arcade art just barely fits width wise so you have to align it perfectly.

The side art has the yellow.  I found the ones with the pink, but I didn't really like it.  As far as the install, haven't done it yet.  Right now I'm working on the monitor rotation (and I think it's true what they say about making your monitor rotate: it takes as long as all the rest of the cab combined.  I'm planning to get all of the woodworking done this weekend.

Just out of interest: Are the Arcade shop and the Phoenix Arcade side art both the same width.. or for that matter, the same product?

If so, who actually makes them then...

My guess is that they are the same product, but I have no idea who makes them.  My side art is sitting in a box at the acrade building center (read: my ex-girlfirend's mother's garage), but I'll measure it up this weekend.

[SirPeale]

My guess is that they are the same product, but I have no idea who makes them.  My side art is sitting in a box at the acrade building center (read: my ex-girlfirend's mother's garage), but I'll measure it up this weekend.

You must have one heck of an ex-girlfriend for her MOM to be letting you use her garage!

[Lance]

The side art has the yellow.  I found the ones with the pink, but I didn't really like it.  As far as the install, haven't done it yet.  Right now I'm working on the monitor rotation (and I think it's true what they say about making your monitor rotate: it takes as long as all the rest of the cab combined.  I'm planning to get all of the woodworking done this weekend.

Have you thought about just putting in a 25" monitor, then you wouldn't really need to rotate since vert games on a 25" would be about the same height as on a rotated 19".

I was going to do a rotating monitor as well but it ended up being so much work

[mmmPeanutButter]

The side art has the yellow.  I found the ones with the pink, but I didn't really like it.  As far as the install, haven't done it yet.  Right now I'm working on the monitor rotation (and I think it's true what they say about making your monitor rotate: it takes as long as all the rest of the cab combined.  I'm planning to get all of the woodworking done this weekend.

Have you thought about just putting in a 25" monitor, then you wouldn't really need to rotate since vert games on a 25" would be about the same height as on a rotated 19".

I was going to do a rotating monitor as well but it ended up being so much work

I'm using a 21" computer monitor (insert boos and hisses here).  It is absolutely the largest screen that can be rotated in a Centipede.  

I'm loving the construction part of it.  I love having problems and then working them out.  My Project Announcements post should be up today so you should check out how I handled the rotating monitor (I'll give you a hint, I mounted the monitor to a disk with an integrated custom-made wooden bezel).  Can't wait to show it off!