I survived my first build!

[AMDman13]

I know this thread is usually used to document the build process, but I'm just not a very organized person and didn't do a very good job documenting and taking pictures. I do have at least a dozen pictures taken randomly through out the build process, so if anyone would like to see or has any questions.

Cab is a slightly modified (by me) Lusid's design. CPT is a Knievel Kustom's masterpiece. Artwork printed from Scott at mamemarquees.com.

Monitor = Betson Kortek Multisync 27"
Happ Bezel
Happ USB blue lighted trackball
J-Stick 4-Way dedicated   
2xHapp Supers 8ways
900mhz Athlon with 256ram running mame v0.63
FE mamewah running as shell. Boot screens replaced to hide Windows 98SE.
To do list... Light coin returns, figure out light leakage from very sides of marquee. Replace J-Stik ball top with blue.

Special thanks go to the following:
1) My wife for putting up with this! Notice the bed post? It's in the masterbedroom!
2) Knievel with Knievel Kustoms for the fantastic work on the control panel top. His craftsmanship is second to none. The artwork is a modified version of his work and was altered by him to help with my lame attempt to be somewhat original. 
3)Miles2912, for putting up with my "How do I mount a betson in a cab?" questions.
4)somunny, for letting me come over and personal check out his cab!
5)Ponyboy, for his awesome prices!
6)Atomsmasher, for his help with all my Lucid's plans questions.
7)St. Clair for his wonderful resource masterpiece Project Arcade
8)Scott at mamemarquees.com for the great customer service and sweet products!
Finally, everyone else on this board who has put up with my noob questions!

I know that my work is far from original, but this was my first wood project ever. Guess I should have started with a birdhouse! 
Comments, suggestions, questions, criticism are welcome. On with the Pics!

[BobA]

Looks good and has nice lines. Great work for a first effort.  You can build a dog house for your little friend next with the skills you have mastered.      

[Havok]

Looks good! You didn't go over the top with a huge panel, and nice clean lines. But, you sure you don't want a spinner?

[Santoro]

Yup, good work. 

[Knievel]

Great job Keith, the blue and orange really works! 

Can't remember if we discussed them but I think the black Plyr1/Plyr2 buttons would look nice on there. Ponyboy has them.

So where are you hiding your admin buttons?

[Lutus]

Or use the same blue buttons for your start buttons but buy the "little man/men" stick on vinyl graphic from...  well, somebody had them on this forum...

[Havok]

Another suggestion: change out the coin reject button inserts for red ones, and light those suckers up - I think it would tie in better with your color scheme...

[somunny]

Great job, man!  Time to start planning project number two. 

Steve

[AMDman13]

Thanks guys. All of your cabs inspired me to keep going. I have been working on this one since 2/06 and thought it would never get done.

Knievel, I agree the black buttons would look better! I will contact Ponyboy tonight. I already have some coin light harnesses coming hopefully he hasn't sent them out yet and I can add these to my order. The only admin buttons I included are a power and reset (soft boot) buttons and these are located to the right (2 player side) upper back (behind monitor). See pics. I am running an Ipac4 and using the shift function that is currently mapped to player 1. So, all I have to do is hold it down while pressing button 1 (pause) and button 2 (exit).
Havok,

Insert Quote 
Another suggestion: change out the coin reject button inserts for red ones, and light those suckers up - I think it would tie in better with your color scheme...

I have already been going back in forth with the idea of red, however I will try the stock happ with the regular 12v first and see how I like it. Has anyone tried a red led behind the stock yellow? Might produce a nice orange which should look good. As for the spinner I left room under the CPT to add later. I'm not a huge fan of spinner games, so it wasn't a huge priority. Then again I do like games that require a rotary joy and I know a spinner would help with these types of games..

Also, I forgot to mention that I am planning on using the Atomic Orange Side art at some point.
Here's a few more pics. I took a couple in the dark and 1 of the boot screen that I modified.

[Lutus]

Coin door lights would set that thing off.

Very clean boot screen.   

[Dudeman]

What?! No  spinner?!

What about Tempest? I thought everyone loved that game! But maybe that was just me.

But really, great job. Nothing wrong with using the great ideas already put forth by others. That's what this site is for, right?

[AMDman13]

I contacted Ponyboy today and I'm bagging the black 1pl & 2pl buttons.
Now my next prob is finding a blue balltop that matches well.
A few other ideas I have are,

1)Maybe the Swana orange will match the orange happ pushbutton. If so going with two orange buttons in the 4-player area.
2)Or buying a dark blue balltop and calling it good enough.
3)Buying a black balltop.
Any suggestions would be great!

[AMDman13]

I finally have made a little more progress. I went with Knievel's recommendation for the PL1&2 in black and ended up using a black ball top(purchased from Himura Amusements) for my dedicated 4-way J-Stick. I orginally wanted a blue ball top, but was skepitcal about color match. I ordered both the dark blue from Himura and the black to be safe. I am glad I did because the dark blue looks more like a purple to me and doesn't match the Happ at all.
Below are the pics with the newely added black, underside wiring, and coin lights.

[Knievel]

Yes, very nice. The black start buttons and ball-top make a big difference.

Now how about buying that spinner...or at least just a top to cover that unsightly hole

[Aurich]

a black ball top(purchased from Himura Amusements)

Perhaps one day my order from Himura will show up too.

[AMDman13]

Yes, hopefully I will get the spinner for Xmas... 

Aurich, If your looking to buy a dark blue ball top. I'm your man! I believe it took a little over 3 weeks to receive my order from Himura. I understand that the majority of their orders come direct from Japan, so patience is the key.

[AMDman13]

I thought I would share my side art and a couple of other things to report. I recently purchased a AVGA and got it up and running with my Betson Multisync. Also, just upgraded the computer to a 2600 Barton with 1 gig of ram and am running mame v103.
Here's the latest pic.

[blueznl]

I've seen that (or similar) side art before. Is it anywhere on the web for grabs?

Edit: scrap that. Found it.

[clockwork]

That is a very nice looking, cab. Great job. I like your CP art. Would you happen to have some templates available? I want to encircle my controls kind of the way you did.

[AMDman13]

Thanks guys. The artwork is something that Knievel put together. He acually uses the same art in blue on his cab. I believe he found the orginal art on the web and then added some things to customize it for a CPT.

[fjl]

Looks cool. Although, do you find yourself hitting the buttons and the 4 way stick above the trackball when playing trackball games?

[AMDman13]

Not at all, unless you're drunk playing Golden Tee Thank God I went with smoked plexi cover the monitor instead of glass.

[johnm160]

That looks really nice, great job.

[AMDman13]

I'm still debating over what to do with the area between the monitor glass and CP.. Because my plexi monitor glass is recessed 3/4" I ended up with a 3/4" gap between the back of my CP and the glass. I saved some Happ Bezel material that I could just fill it with, but haven't because I'm just not sure it will give me that finished look..
Here is a pic of the area I'm talking about.
Any suggestions would be great.

[Knievel]

Guess I would suggest an admin button panel, as I always do.
The only thing is you would have to trim your glass to fit after.

Just a blank black panel attached to the glass with double-sided tape would fill the void nicely too.

[AMDman13]

Thanks Knievel,

I agree a admin panel does give it a nice professional appearance, but I propably will go the route of a plain panel, I'll see if I can play with my wood  this weekend. I would like to some how taper it maybe round the edge, so it doesn't just look like a block of wood back there?
Great tip on the double sided tape! I was thinkin brackets but I kinda like the tape idea.