First project - 50% Galaga

[Vectrex]

The last two months (off and on) I have been working on my first Mame machine. Because a 100% machine would be too big, I made a 50% cabinet with a 9" vertical SVGA monitor.

It's still not finished, but this weekend was a good one! I finished the paint, and a friend brought the sideart print/sticker which really makes a cool finish.

I played Pooyan, Pacman and Galaga with some pretty good hiscores. I really love those controls!!!

Check the pictures here: www.vectrex.nl/mame.html

I have seen a few table tops here. I think my next project will be a table top with a bigger monitor and 6 buttons, or even double controls.

I have learned a lot from this first project, the next ones (although my wife thinks I have other projects todo) will have a higher quality (and with a little less cursing over stupid faults I made).

Hope you like it, and all feedback is welcome.

[babydickonboard]

nice job and writeup on your site.  exellent job.

[GreenKnight37]

Looks pretty nice. 

Two quick sets of questions though....

1.  Seeing as how your first monitor died, how easy is it to find these tiny 9 inch monitors these days?  I'm sure they're cheap enough, but are they hard to come by?

2.  How comfortable is it to play on?  Do you have it set on a table or something and stand up to play it?

[javeryh]

Very very nice!  My next project (if I ever finish my cocktail cab - 1 year and counting!) is going to be a mini pac-man or galaga (I can't decide) and yours is great for inspiration.  I'm thinking mine is going to be a little bigger - probably 2/3 scale.  I want my daughter (who is only 14 months) to be able to stand at it and play it in a couple of years...

[Vectrex]

Availability 9":
The 9" are not that hard to find. I got three from auction sites here in the Netherlands in the past 2 months. The first one (that's in the cab) was $20, the IBM was $10. I bought one last week for $15 for a second project. I prefer pick up, because these things break easily. Check for burn, because they where also used for point of sale machines, etc. In vertical position they are perfect (as long as you play vertical games) on max. 800x600. Not all monitors can be stretched horizontally/vertically, so you get big black borders (check this before you buy).

Comfort:
When you put the cab on a table it's perfect to play while standing behind it, no problems. As you can see on my site, my son (6 yr) has found a good playing position too.

I think it looks pretty cool, but if you go for playing most mame games, including fighters, a table top with a bigger screen is better.

I will put more info on my site when i am done, it's just a wip-page now.

[MameMaster!]

SWEET!.... I guess I delayed my 1/3rd Ms. Pac Machine for too long!....    as it's obviously already been done.

But this lights a fire under my butt.

I have all of the parts for my projects....but I haven't started it yet!....

hmm....maybe it's time I started w/my foamcore model to get the ball rolling.

Really nice job on your Galaga project.

I want to make my 1/3 scale Ms. Pac for my office.