Printing a marquee onto plexi ???????

[koolmoecraig]

Hello,

Where would I go to get a marquee printed in the original way(On plexiglass with the white, light dispersing backing)?

Is there anyone online that does it?

Thanks,
Craig

[Q*Bert_OP]

classicarcadegrafix.com does it for an extra fee...

[koolmoecraig]

No, they print it on a piece of vinyl and sell you a piece of plexiglass to put in front of it. Lame.

[TurboC--]

You can find real authentic marquees on ebay, I just got a Pac-Man for under $40 including shipping, I'm satisfied with that (and would rather have the original than a repro any day.)  classicoverlays.com looks interesting, I don't know if they do real frosted-type marquees, their site is down right now due to moving...

[Q*Bert_OP]

No, they print it on a piece of vinyl and sell you a piece of plexiglass to put in front of it. Lame.

What??? They used to screen it on plexi

[Nannuu]

If you visit a local sign shop you can probably get some of the white lexan for free.  They typically throw pieces that small away.

[tristan]

From their FAQ:

"We do not mount artwork to glass or plexiglass. "

The Styrene isn't too bad though.

What??? They used to screen it on plexi

[Q*Bert_OP]

I dont really think that game manufactures have their marquees screened on plexi or tempered glass anymore.

[Crazy Cooter]

It isn't cost effective for game manufacturers to print on plexi.  It's much cheaper to just use a "card" behind it.  My Nintendo VS cabinet is like that.  It makes it that much cheaper to convert them into something else.

[koolmoecraig]

Oh yeah, and another thing I forgot to mention. Even if classicarcadegrafix.com did do it, I wouldn't buy from them

classicarcadegrafix.com's quality BLOWS badly. Some of the worst reproduction artwork I have ever seen. I ordered 3 different pieces from them and returned all three. They look like they print off of a $60 dell printer.

On the bright side, he did take my return without hassle.

be warned

[pocketpal]

Kevin at Retroblast reviewed Classicarcadegrafix's services and gave them top marks:

http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/classicarcade.html

Based on this, I was planning to order my marquee and sideart from them very soon.  What gives?

Also, while we're on the subject, can anyone explain why I would/wouldn't want to shell out the extra $5 to have it printed on styrene?  If I did, would I need anything else to add strength or otherwise protect it?

[tristan]

I recently got some art from there, and I think it was top notch. The styrene will stand on its own without any help. It is stiff like one printed on plexi. You may want to put a piece of plexi in front to get that glossy look, but it is not needed IMO.

[cerebus]

Also, while we're on the subject, can anyone explain why I would/wouldn't want to shell out the extra $5 to have it printed on styrene?  If I did, would I need anything else to add strength or otherwise protect it?

I ordered a styrene marquee. I found that the covering film has a tendency to lift from the styrene base at the edges of the marquee and this looks really really bad. (This lifting effect may have been made worse by the fact I had to recut the marquee to fit my cabinet).

I used some leftover vinyl to tape up and cover the edges but even after taping there were still a couple areas where the film continued to lift. I ended up putting a small amount of glue beneath the film to stop it moving any more, and I used a black marker to restore the look/colour. This was only o.k. because my marquee has a black background at the edges.

The thickness of the styrene also makes me wonder if it is really suited to being backlit...