Lowboy: First design, then 1/3 build and finally fullsize!

[MaMeNnO]

Hi guys!

It's been a while since I was here last time. To be precise, I started my first build on 24 August 2006, 22:57:47, well at least that was my first post here. Anyway I been playing on my cabinet all the games I played back when I was a kid.

Now, back to the present. I was talking about my cabinet to someone and showed it on this forum. Also curious I started to look at some new projects, just to see and read what's been going on. Funny to still see popping up names from post that reacted in my thread. Then I saw a thread about a lowboy cab... hmmm... nice! The thinking of building a new cab started right there. But... I hardly have free time at the moment. I just (9 weeks ago) got father again, but this time of twins! Man, that takes some serious time.

For building an other cab, takes space I hardly have. Also for building it, we don't have a garage or something. Everything needs to be done outside.  And then of course, time. But... I needed to do something... and come up with a great plan, at least that's what I think! :-)

1. Create a design in Sketchup.
This way I can still "work" on my cab, have fun thinking things out and
give you guys something to look at and hopefully get some feedback too!

2. Build a 1/3 sized lowboy
Yeah, I don't have time and all, but I think with a 1/3 sizes cabinet all
parts can be handled a lot easier and takes less room. Meanwhile I can get
familiair with the design that come handy when building the full sized
cabinet. I'm not planning to make it fully functional, but you never
know... *AND* it's fun too!

3. Build the full sized lowboy
Approx. 1 year (or more?) from now. I think that should be roughly
possible. Then I will dismantle my first cab ( )and use the parts (controls,
coin mesh, computer etc) to build the lowboy.

So to get started, I had to brush up my skills on Sketchup again and start designing. Being looking around on the board for lowboy reference I came across the lowboy of Lord Hiryu and the plans from Holdennut (Thanks!). From there on I started to design. Below you can see some impressions from my design so far.

Sorry for the mouse pointers in some pictures, forgot to move away while recapturing (because of the size) and saving. Will correct that later.

This is the frame that I'll use as a base. I saw this approach from Lord Hiryu and I think this is great.






This is how the side will going to look like:


The CP with some holes. I don't have renders of all stages, sorry...


An other angle


The marquee area.




The back with the door and air intakes.

[HaRuMaN]

Wow.  I really need to get with the program and learn Sketchup.  That looks incredible.  I love the design!

[MaMeNnO]

Thanks! Well, to be honest, it's the combination Sketchup and Vray, i.e. the renderer. Vray produces the nice pictures.

[Shortbus]

Very Cool, I like the design!

[Gamester]

May I ask how long it took to create that model?

[Yvan256]

If you do build the 1/3 scale model to test things out, may I suggest doing a one-player control panel instead of a two-players one.

I'm sure you'll be tempted to continue to work on it and make it a fully working cabinet once you get going, and two players on a 1/3 cab is going to be impossible IMHO. How large is the 1/3 control panel going to be?

[MaMeNnO]

@gamester :
If you mean the modelling in Sketchup. I started on aug. 15 and I've been busy in the evenings and weekends. Not every day, but a lot. When my girl friend starts saying "What? is that "thing" still not ready?! I think that says enough.

If you mean how long the renderings took, that's like a couple of minutes per picture. It depends on the scene, material and shadows or not.

Yvan256:
That's a good suggestion. Didn't think about it. I don't even know if there are small enough sticks and buttons. But a 1/3 sized cp would be approx. 7.2" (18.3 cm). And, yes, it will be tempting to make it fully operational.

[Yvan256]

At 7.2" wide I think there is enough space for a joystick and a Street Fighter buttons layout (3x2) if you use 24mm buttons.

[MaMeNnO]

Ok, a bit more.
The button I got from the Sketchup 3D warehouse. It was complete with switch!


The buttons placed in the cp, top


and bottom


This is the coin mech that's currently on my Arcade Action cabinet

[drventure]

Jeez

I spend hours with sketch up and I end up with pretty shaded boxes 

Very nice modeling work!

[Ond]

Beautiful shadow and light modelling from Vray, great design, why build it 1/3?  Just build it 

[MaMeNnO]

@Ond: Yeah, Vray does a great job here! About the why, I think I've explained that... hint openings post. 

[MaMeNnO]

I've done a little bit more on the design.

These glass supports for the marquee were after all not the kind I'm going to use. The screws are on the front, so I designed some others with the screws on the top.




The speaker grills I need should be small, because the lower panel of the marquee is only 8 cm wide. The speaker grills are only 6 cm (From www.arcadeshop.de).




A top view of the cabinet so far.

[XNIF]

ok so this is about the time you should dismantle you cab and start building a new one!

[EightBySix]

It's like I'm reading updates for a real build!

running off now to google v-ray

[Nacimroc]

Crazy design work! Looks great! You would probably build it in half the time it took you to sketch it up.