Aussie cocktail Cab started

[NiN^_^NiN]

Ok
I havent been to this site for ages I've been working on my carputer and a few other projects lately

Now that i've installed the LCD and setup the software for the carpc i will save for a few other things to do to that project.

So i dragged the aussie cocktail (yes i know there really japanese cocktail cabs) out fromn under the house from 2 years ago and i thought i'd try to get the body done this weekend.

http://www.ninja.doomportables.org/arcade/cocktail.jpg
http://www.ninja.doomportables.org/arcade/cocktail2.jpg
http://www.ninja.doomportables.org/arcade/cocktail3.jpg

As you can see from these pics the veneer isn't that good and it's real hard to put some new veneer onto the cabinet.

So what i'm asking of you guys is some advice

What should I do?

Get new veneer?
Paint it all black (i don't like this idea it makes it bland)
Paint it diff colours (please give me some examples)

Id really like some idea's on what kind of colours you guys think would look good thats if you don't think i should veneer.

I like the veneer but it's really gonna be hard to apply it with the way it's sitting on the wood.

So what do you guys think

[DarkSoul1]

Finding cocktails in Australia is bloody hard.  Though this is not an original Lesiure and Allied Industries (LAI)  cocktail, I do recall seeing some of these around as a kid and teenager.

Keep the veneer if at all possible, it gives it the real retro effect and keeps it more original. 

Use Marveer, it is a polish and wood toner.  The veneer on my cab was scratched and it did a good job in covering/blending them.

Should be available in supermarkets.

[BobbyG66]

It looks pretty beat.
Why not keep the legs, then rebuild the top.
Make new panels to the same dimentions as the original, just use them as templates.

Just an opinion...

BobbyG66

[danny_galaga]

definitely dont paint it all black!! i reckon try darksouls idea first, then if that fails you can try something else. i have seen one somewhere that had bright red where the veneer is and black as normal. looked really good. in your case keep those corner strips black i reckon. i cant find a pic right now though...

[NiN^_^NiN]

This is a original Lesiure and Allied Industries cocktail.

If i remember correctly neer the end they started to use a different designed cocktail for whatever reason so It's orignal but not the orignal orignal u know from your childhood

I'll get some pics of the Metal plate

As for painting it black NOWAY it just looses it's charm

And i can't get rid of the scratches cause the veneer has been chipped aswell so it have to be brand new veneer.

I don't wanna remake the top frame again it's just a waste of work it never get finished then.

I was thinking of using filler to fill the chips then applying new iron-on veneer then adding a gloss ontop of it to make it look more wooden like how it is now but im not sure if that would work.

I know the iron-on stuff looks fake-ish but if gloss is added i dont think you will know it's the iron-on veneer.

I'm not sure what to do 

But i better make up my mind before the weekend 

Finding cocktails in Australia is bloody hard.

[Mickey Juice]

You'll have to decide if the original veneer is worth restoring. If it's gunna look crap I wouldn't bother.
The top of the table is what usually tops off these tables. So people may not notice small blemishes if you restore the veneer.

You could get the fake woodgrain stuff from junked TVs like Corey Feldman did with his table. Looks really good.

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~simons3/OverviewFrameset2.htm

[danny_galaga]

how much do you wanna spend? you can still buy wood-grained laminex you know. i was going to use it on mine. in the end i thought it too expensive but i kinda wished i had now because i used pre-finished ply instead. looks the part but because its not designed to be a 'surface' it wears and stains easily.

anyway, you might get lucky and get some scraps of laminex from a cabinet maker...

[NiN^_^NiN]

Thanks Danny

I'm not to fussed bout money i would like to get the wood-grained laminex (which is has on right now) but it's very hard to get it off and id end up wrecking the cabinet trying to rip it off.

And applying it over the orignal will throw it out

It would sit over the edge which would look funny.

I think i'll see how thin i can get the laminex and if it's thin enough i'll get it

Otherwise it's that woodgrain contact paper going on the cabinet with lots of glodd 

[danny_galaga]

i think theres only one thickness, something like .75mm. and i agree, it would definitely look wrong if you put it over the original...

[NiN^_^NiN]

Well i grabbed some Contact paper with woodgrain pattern on it and it looks like it would look fine on the cabinet.

Should go over the orignal veneer well

Only problem i have really is the contact paper will basiclly start to peel off

So i'm guessing i should put some PVC glue on the old veneer then apply the paper onto to keep it extra strong hold.

That should keep it there right?

[Mickey Juice]

hmm, pvc glue plus the adhesive on the contact may cause an issue. Why not test it out first.
I'd just sand the old veneer an make a good clean surface for the contact to join to.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Hmm you might be right there....

I'll get some filler and fix the spaces between the chips of the veneer then apply the contact paper after i sand it all

I'll then see if i can find somthing to seat the edges of the contact paper and the wood

I hope all goes well 

[danny_galaga]

what could work really well is to use contact adhesive. you would only need to apply it to the cabs surfaces as the vinyl already has a contact adhesive on it. that should stick like stuff to a blanket!! as always, try it on something else first!

[elvis]

I'll be following your work on this.  I'm building an aussie-style cab from scratch, but to be honest my design is a little lacking.  My next one will definitely try to keep the original shape and woodgrain colours.

On the subjct of woodgrain: I've seen some great laminates from a company called Parbury:

http://www.parbury.com.au

They have offices throughout Australia and new Zealand, and are the local importers for Wilsonart Laminate:

http://www.wilsonart.com/

Hope that helps someone somewhere.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Would u like me to make a blueprint of this cab so you can make it?

This cab is the smallest cocktail ther is space wise.

Check out  Mikeys Aussie cab: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,18075.0.html

he has finished and his cab has alot more room in his

The different thing about this cab is the corners

all sides connect to a seperate curved piece of wood as the corner.

If you look at the pics u see the black corners thats what i mean (i'll try to get a better pic for you)

Also i just got some sandpaper some black paint n gloss and some filler

Should have the cabinet sanded down tomorrow night I hope if not then I'll have saturday to sand it down

i've got all the tools but i won't get enough time on the weekend to finish it off

[Grasshopper]

If I was building a cocktail cab I'd go for a black with chrome t-moulding look, something like this:

http://www.arcadetimewarp.com/arcade_table/arcade_table.htm

It's not authentic but it looks pretty damn cool IMHO.

[NiN^_^NiN]

yeah i've seen that cab I think it looks good but i don't like the design of the cab 

Great idea about black with silver T-moulding

[danny_galaga]

I'll be following your work on this.

[NiN^_^NiN]

if building from scratch you might want to consider not worrying about opening kick panels. makes it at once easier to build and more roomy. and it still looks the part. ive got some links to others who have built this type of cab here:

http://moncom.net/mame

the first two links have dimensions and they were they main inspiration for mine...

Kick Panels?

Aussie type cocktails don't have kick panels they only have the top which swings up.

The cocktails your talking about i gather use kick panels?

If he's like me he probably won't like that type of cabinet.

I guess it's an aussie thing we want it to be like what we saw as kids

I don't like thoese types of cabs u posted a link to I don't know why i guess its cause of the length of the wood on the bottom 

Still thats a good link if he wants to make that kind of cocktail

Good news i sanded down half of the cab (not the veneer) and i added filler where needed so i should have the black parts (the bottom half and the corner pieces) painted by saturday and then starting on the veneer sunday hopefully (depends how long the paint takes to dry)

So it looks like this is going well altho i don't have a PC to use in the cab but I did do tests and using a DOS MAME version and gamelaucher and 32mb of ram on a 300mhz (I think my 266mhz worked fine too) i can run all Vert MAME games at full speed

1,162 Vert roms based on the Vert category in mame32 (some addon thing i downloaded)

All is going well

[danny_galaga]

good point, didn't think of that. some of my links have your type of cabinet too. i like the look of both types, but i doubt i'd last long with horizontal joy sticks 

about the kick panels, weren't they like this?:

http://home.iprimus.com.au/ozstick/cab05.jpg

http://home.iprimus.com.au/ozstick/cab06.jpg

if not then that's cool because my machine is even more authentic than i thought 

[NiN^_^NiN]

The top panel lifting up is what I have on mine (like all other aussie cocktails)

but the cocktails like mine have very little space that there can't be a kick panel at all.

Mine orignally came with a 13" monitor which poked out of the bottom of the cab (had a rubber cup on the bottom of it)

and the controls were FLAT against the cab which is ok for space invaders but not much else and the arcade board sat on the side with the PSU and that was a very tight fit 

It all depends which style of cocktail you want as there were at least 4 styles common here in australia that i know of

[Mickey Juice]

and I thought space was tight inside my cab! 

Good luck with it 

[NiN^_^NiN]

Now you know why im using a LCD for the screen lol

Bad news tho it's raining so I can't do any sanding on the cabinet and painting

Hopefully tomorrow i can 

[NiN^_^NiN]

Well im back AGAIN!!!!!!!!

I havent had any time off since march last year

I have holidays (1 week left) and im ment to be working on a clients website but i need a break so i found the cocktail cab from under the house and have started to work on it again

Here are some recent pics not much has been done i got the 4 cornrs painted (needs another coat) and i have started to apply the woodgrain

The orignal was chipped and scratched deeply but now it looks nice only difference is the wood pattern is going lenghtways and not up n down like it orignally was which is cool 

I love the new smiles aswell nice job 

Ok on with the pics i better get back to applying the woodgrain.

Old wood grain with scratches and chipped bits filled
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/aussie_ninja/old-wood.jpg

New woodgrain need to cut the holes and a clearcot will go ontop to make it look nice and durable
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/aussie_ninja/new-wood.jpg