New Cabinet - 1st Build - Mega Man!

[shardian]

got a quote today for 1/4" smoked, tempered glass. 27" x 23" = $350!!!

Unfortunately, after my initial test, the lexan + window tint material looked terrible. Lots of bubbles that I couldn't get out, and the "solution" they sell to spray on and stick the tint material leaves a residue under the film.  The static cling on the film and lexan makes it really difficult too.

You could always take the glass to a window tint shop. It would probably cost you $10-$15 and would look good.

[boboli]

Some new test artwork - lemme know whatcha think. The name will probably be Time Warp. I definitely need to come up with something better for the marquee and control panel, but I needed the side art to get some ideas. The concept for side art came from Ray B - he had graciously sent me a copy of some side art he had drawn, and I modified from there. Ended up quite different from what he had though.

I'm hoping to paint this weekend to finish up before our superbowl party next weekend.

[Dmod]

That is very cool side art.  I like the blue one best.

How are you going to transfer the pattern onto the cabinet for painting?

[boboli]

Thanks Dmod - I tried to keep it really simple lines so that I could measure and almost freehand with a ruler. I also have a projector, so if I'm having a tough time freehanding, I may just project it onto the cabinet and then tape it off.

My biggest concern will be making the paint look good.

[RayB]

Looks cool!

[fjl]

I think your control panel part should be slightly more slanted. This is how mine looks...

[blueznl]

i do hope YOU don't look like that! 

[(+_+)]

$350 sounds steep. I'm looking for a piece around the same dimensions. There's a windows/glass store close by that I've purchased from in the past. I'll let you know what I get quoted.

[boboli]

I found a glass shop to do it for $45, 1/4" smoked grey, tempered. Far cry from the $350 the other guy quoted me ; )

[boboli]

Decided to go with a Mega Man theme, and debuted the cabinet at a superbowl party. All that's left is for me to finalize side art (and maybe get color matched or LED buttons).

Painting the sides was a bit of a pain, but worth it I think.

The light blue stripe was painted with glow in the dark paint.

The dark blue is actually MUCH MUCH darker in person (almost black) - quite a bit more subtle.

The last picture is a mockup of what I plan to paint for side art.

[needlesmcgirk]

Awesome man!  Great work!  The new theme is very original I think,  and when you get megaman painted on the side like you pictured its going to look fantastic.  Overall the cab itself is looking very pretty and professional.  Fantastic work my friend!

[Dmod]

Looks great Boboli!  Congratulations.   

Did you print the marquee and CPO yourself?

How are you going to print the sideart?

[boboli]

Thanks for the compliments.  I wanted to have the cab ready for a superbowl party, and didn't have time to send the artwork out to MameMarquees, so I went to local Staples. $40 for both pieces, and they came out great.

They're both printed on regular paper stock - the wide format paper is a bit thicker than regular printer paper, but it shows marquee light through ok (you can tell there's a light on, but that's about it). I wouldn't recommend it for marquee printing unless you were in a rush and wanted something quick and cheap.

The control panel came out great - it's glossy paper, which looks even better under the lexan. Staples did screw up once on the control panel (I had printed size reference marks on the document, and they still printed too small! - Measure before you leave the store.). However, they reprinted and I picked up the final product about 40 minutes later and it was perfect.

I went with a simple picture (rather than true control panel with button outlines, etc.) because I didn't really layout my control panel in software before I built it. I was concerned that my measurements would be off on any precision printing, so I printed an oversize picture where button layout wouldn't really matter.

For the side art, I bought some cheap fabric pattern transfer paper. You put the paper on whatever surface you want to transfer to, and then you just draw on the transfer paper. It leaves behind a white line that is not permanent, but is easily visible. I'll tape the transfer paper to  the cab, print out a large picture over a bunch of 8.5x11 sheets of paper, and tape those to the transfer paper, and then trace the image. The transfer paper will leave behind a perfect picture.

I think the hardest part will be taping the picture to get nice crisp lines, but I think I can pull it off with a razor and some painter's tape.

[javeryh]

Awesome work!  I'm sure it went over really well at the Super Bowl party!  Based on the game and the lackluster commercials I probably would have spent more time in front of the cabinet instead of in front of the TV!