Has anyone tried painting a Ms. Pac from scratch?

[Cue-Ball]

I've seen several people restore already existing side art.  I've also seen people do other cabinets from scratch, when stencils are readily available (Joust, Robotron).  I've even seen people make cabinets from scratch, or restore existing cabinets using printed side art.

My question is, has anyone ever tried to do complex side art - Ms. Pac-Man or otherwise - from scratch using paint?  I'm considering building another cabinet for my wife.  It would have to be a Ms. Pac-Man.  I want it to be as close to original as possible, meaning original dimensions, original colors, and painted side art.  The control panel will have slight changes to allow button games to be played, but otherwise I would like it to look as real as possible.

I've never seen any stencils for side art as complex as Ms. Pac-Man done before.  I think Joust and Defender are about as complex as it's been so far.  Has anyone tried painting side art this complex from scratch yet?  If so, do you have any tips or tricks to share? 

[Flinkly]

you could make your own stencils by grabbing a pic of sideart and then taking color by color and making a map of where they are...kinda like a stencil.  cutting out said stencil and the paper, printer required would be the worst part.  just find someone who does blueprints for the printer though and cutting shopuldn't be that bad...just don't screw up and use an exacto knife over a large board.

[mahuti]

http://www.tutankham.com/tutankham.com-asp//index.asp

He has a good article about stencilling

[Cue-Ball]

That stenciling article is good, but it still assumes that you have access to an original cab in order to make your stencils.  Also, Stargate doesn't have the thin lines that Ms. Pac-Man does, so that might make it a bit more difficult for me.  I guess I'll have to find a local Ms. Pac game and see if the owner will let me make stencils from it.

[Flinkly]

my gosh....i was just giving ideas, but that tutorial is amazing.  it makes me feel like i could actually do stencilling.  good luck bud.  we'd all love to see pics of it too.

[Nannuu]

Most sign shops have the capability to make stencils.  Usually the vinyl cutter doubles as a perforator, you could take the art files in and have them do it.  Or you can get one of those little projectors from Hobby Lobby (or similar) to just blow the art up and trace it.

[SirPeale]

There are places that sell stencils, but they're usually quite expensive, over $200US.  Silly really, as they're one time use!

[OSCAR]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,19495.0.html

This is project where someone handpainted a Pac cab.  They said they printed the sideart image on a transparency, and used an overhead projector to display the image on the side of the cab to use as a guide... 

[NY_in_TX]

Here's somebody that  did the Ms Pac from scratch.  talk about labor of love. 

Nannuu sent this to me a while back when I picked up a Ms Pac cab that looks exactly like this guy's when he started.   I'll be getting repro artwork since I am a lazy lazy man

http://www.gunbu.com/pac/page1.html

ny

[Cue-Ball]

those Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man machines turned out incredible!  It looks like all of the black outlining on the Ms. Pac was done basically by hand. 

It's still pretty cold here right now, but I think a reproduction Ms. Pac will definitely be a summer project for me.  So many plans, so little time...

[Cue-Ball]

There are places that sell stencils, but they're usually quite expensive, over $200US.