The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: ChadTower on June 28, 2006, 04:48:36 pm
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Yeah, I know I'll catch a little flack for this, but when I got into this hobby I promised the wife a pink Ms Pac. She's not an arcade person so this will definitely be close enough.
Friday night I'm going to pick up a Pac project cab. It is already sanded down to the wood. Comes with a bunch of stuff for a pure Pac restoration (NOS CPO, original PCB, repro daughterboard, etc) but I'm going to shelf those things for a future project. The plan for this one is to paint it an as of yet undetermined shade of pink, use a Ms Pac based multipac marquee, some custom similar sideart (probably decal). The CP will have a very close Pac theme, perhaps one or two buttons. The guts will be MAME, multipac gameset, and probably a limited number of other 4 way vertical games. The joystick will be a Suzo inductive already on hand configured for 4 way.
A possible later upgrade to the project is a custom auto 4/8 way switching based on output from software (which is why the Suzo is being used).
Pics will be posted as the project moves on, but it shouldn't take all that long, as this is a high priority project. I want to deliver on this one.
I am awaiting delivery on various T molding samples so that I can color match a paint somewhere between the marquee I'm using and the T molding.
EDIT: Didn't realize this was back online... I really like this (http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=1029&mode=search) marquee and may contact the author to see if I may use it.
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Why don't you get one of those conversion kits to convert a regular four-way joystick to the Pac-Man joystick bolt pattern? Tornado Terry has them.
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Hrm... I'd like to use the Suzo specifically for a couple reasons. One of which is that I owe Retroblast a review of it.
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Hm...you may be able to use the Suzo and the mounting plate together.
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A couple of questions:
Are the Pac and Ms Pac cabinets the same, or are the dimensions slightly different?
On either/or, is the sideart different on either side or simple mirrors of each other?
I'm looking at the Ms Pac sideart and I think the best way to do this, to keep it "natural" and to satisfy my wife's requirements, may be just to take traditional Ms Pac sideart/front art and invert the blue and pink. That keeps it pretty close to original but also makes it the nice pink Ms Pac the wife wants.
And of course, the cab dimension issue affects printing, were I to go with printed art instead of stencils.
Anyone know of a good source for Ms Pac stencils?
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Are the Pac and Ms Pac cabinets the same, or are the dimensions slightly different?
Different. Pac is like Galaxian. MsPac is like Galaga.
Anyone know of a good source for Ms Pac stencils?
There has been a conversation here (which you have apparently seen):
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50429.0
and on CGCC:
http://www.cgcc.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9678
eccs19 (from the CGCC thread) hangs out here as well.
Cheers.
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Yeah, just found all of that this afternoon. Thanks for the pointers. The exact cab dimensions only matter for printed vinyl... if I go with paint, which I would much prefer to do, then the minor differences aren't all that relevant.
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Ordered T molding samples in three blues from tmolding.com and pink from dreamarcades. The blues have arrived and the pink should be here shortly.
I have to have the marquee printed, and once that happens, we can color match based on a combo of what the marquee looks like and what T molding combo works best.
(http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/data/thumbnails/9/MsMultiPac.jpg)
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Okay, strike one, Mamemarquees.com won't print it.
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Have it printed at Kinkos. As fas as the sideart, you should still be able to download the 20th reunion sideart for Ms Pac. If not, I have it and can shoot it to you.
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Did see that... if I don't go with the stencils, the 20th may be what I use.
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Why won't they print it?
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Copyright issues.
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Hrm... looking at the stick, it is probably best replaced. I am tempted to replace it with one of these (http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/slik_lighted.html) just because I love LEDs so much.
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Copyright issues.
Uhhh, then what's up with this?
Marquee (http://www.mamemarquees.com/multi-mini-marquees-sdie-p-64.html)
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No idea. My request for a quote to print the marquee was denied saying they would not print it due to copyright restrictions. Anything further than that you'd have to ask them.
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Hypocritical Daises!
Somebody here said they had a similar issue with another website, and then tried http://www.zazzle.com/ (http://www.zazzle.com/) - he just had to say he had the original, and they printed it for him. Maybe try them?
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midway has been extremely agressive twards pacman and mspacman art. many sites that were selling reproduction art was taken down and or warned with legal action.
the only pacman art you see legally sold is licensed from midway now.
if you try and have a local company print your stuff ive read around that you need to tell them no margins or it will not be properly sized.
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Hypocritical Daises!
Eh, mamemarquees does a lot of good work for folks in this community. They do have the right to refuse an order if they want. No big deal.
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Still trying to hunt down stencils and brought the monitor over to a friend of mine to be shopped to niceness. Surprisingly, it worked already, just needed some cracked joints redone.
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I always knew you were a pink kinda guy. I wish i could say i was surprised but i knew it all along.. good job hiding it with the wife excuses there buddy. ;D
Good luck and have fun anyway, i wont tell anyone. :laugh:
I do have a ms pac marquee if you need one, it has some fade in the center where the bulb was on though.
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Hrm... I'll definitely keep that in mind if I have too much trouble getting the marquee printed that I want to use. How much does a decent Ms Pac marquee go for, anyway?
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Hrm... I'll definitely keep that in mind if I have too much trouble getting the marquee printed that I want to use. How much does a decent Ms Pac marquee go for, anyway?
$30.00 to $35.00
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Hrm... so, since the CP came unpopulated, I'm going to have to get the stick and buttons. I like the concept of lit buttons with the color matching the pink sideart base color. Maybe the RGB-Drive is the way to go there... though I am not sure yet if I would also need the LED Wiz for that... or if there is a simpler solution I'm not familiar with yet.
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Depends.
1. What do you want the LEDs to do? i.e. Stay On, blink, fade in or out.
2. What color do you want the buttons? Pink??
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Okay, just read this (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55532.0). I totally get it now.
Basically, I want the LED color to match the sideart base. I don't need them to blink or fade or do anything other than light solidly. Well, I should say that cost is a factor here, and I don't want to spend an extra $75 to get blinky lights when there are only going to be a couple of buttons. Ms Pac only has two that are barely used, and MAYBE I'll add a third so I can throw Galaga and a couple others in there.
So, since I'll probably use the Jpac I have sitting here, and run a MAME with only Pacs and a couple of other games... what I can do, IIUC, is run some of these (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=83&products_id=264) in series, powered by the Jpac itself and installed in the buttons as describe d in the aforementioned link. I assume using the ElectricIce buttons I can play with the resistance until I get a nice matching pink when the button is lit.
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Yeah, just making sure you didn't want anything to blink. JPAC or straight 5VDC should be fine. You'll be running the LEDs in parallel, but don't expect magic trying to match Pink. Just depends how picky you are.
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In parallel, eh? I was thinking of doing it in series but then it occurred to me that the first resistor in the chain would pretty much kill the voltage to the rest of them.
So, in parallel, I connect all of them with full lines to the power source? Would it matter if the lines touch each other at the source? Or would I have to make sure they don't?
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Each LED and it's resistor connect to the power and GND.
5V --VVVV---LED---GND
The 5V and GND parts can touch, but not the other part between the resistor and LED. Luckily you only have a few buttons to do.
Now how long before we see pics?
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This pic isn't mine, but it is my cab. This is from the website of the guy who sold it to me.
It's not much to look at yet. I'm still waiting on finding usable stencils.
(http://webpages.charter.net/pwetmore/arcade/restoration/pacman_before_1.jpg)
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That thing needs alot of art work to be nice, i hope atleast if you bought that cab with blank spaces it has no wood damage?
I remember posting in the artwork section a long time ago... one of those great art guys sent me a nice ms pac file to work from. I'm sure if you post there one will come up.
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Actually, there are Ms Pac stencils coming up. It will be a complete repaint. The cab is solid, very good in fact, already sanded down to the wood. I need to fill a couple of small dents and such but it'spretty much good to prime right now. The coin door is already good, the CP is repainted but still has rust showing so I'm going to do it over. Monitor is being shopped by a friend of mine who does that for a living.
The cab itself is blank, but the parts are all here, and none are far from being ready to put right in once the cab is done.
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Okay, gotta find a plan B. I'd been waiting on the stencils but now that reports are in, looks like a bad bad idea.
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Walked past some Ms Pac $20 multigames in Target last night. The cheapass in me was SCREAMING to put that in there. :laugh2:
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Found a printer for the marquee. Once I have that in hand I can evaluate its match to the various T molding samples I ordered, then decide on the best color T molding and select a pink oil based enamel for the cabinet.
I talked to the guy at Sherwin Williams I usually get my paint from and he tells me they don't sell oil based paints in their MA stores because new MA regulations forced them to change their oil paints and now they aren't up to normal Sherwin Williams quality. Stupid MA. Then he told me to just drive to RI and get the good stuff. I can do that.
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whatever happened to this project ?
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I'm also curious since I'm building a pink cab too. If you haven't chosen a color yet check out HERE (http://www.disney.go.com/disneyhome/behrpaint/princess/paint_palette.html). I'm painting my cabinet using the "Pretty In Pink" color.
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Put it on hold to wait for the Ms Pac stencils that were mentioned but they never happened. I do have the marquee, looks quite good, but I haven't done the color choosing yet. Too many other higher priority projects on the house. It's been such a pain in the ass trying to find stencils or sideart that I'm probably just going to paint it pink and leave it blank, with just the marquee/bezel/CP having art.
I don't see a Pretty In Pink...?
BTW, I painted parts of my upstairs with Behr paints... never goddam again will I use that brand of paint. You want to talk about subpar results, my god, I had to put 7 coats of yellow over primed trim in order to get it to stop showing through. And that's with bone white primer!
EDIT: Found the color... I'd highly suggest getting the color codes and bringing it to a real paint store.
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EDIT: Found the color... I'd highly suggest getting the color codes and bringing it to a real paint store.
That's what I did with my daughter's cab. I had (HD or Lowes? can't remember) color match the disney colors with the Killz latex2 paint. I was happy with it.
-Stobe
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I'll be putting about 15 coats of lacquer over the paint so I'm not that worried about it holding up. The lacquer will be more than enough...
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It wasn't holding up that was the problem. It was that even after 6 coats you could still see through it to the primer. By the time I got it so you didn't see right through it there were so many coats it looked like crap anyway. Plus it took about 10x as long as it had to take in the process.
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BTW, I painted parts of my upstairs with Behr paints... never goddam again will I use that brand of paint. You want to talk about subpar results, my god, I had to put 7 coats of yellow over primed trim in order to get it to stop showing through. And that's with bone white primer!
No doubt! I've never understood why everytime the $5 coupon comes up, Behr supporters come out of the woodwork at slickdeals.
I used the ultra white on the baby room. After 2 (yes 2) GALLONS of paint in the form of 3 coats, the stuff still didn't cover right. I sinally said screw it and got some good ol' Enterprise paint to cover it up with. Oh, and it only took 1 gallon of Enterprise to do two coats.
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It wasn't holding up that was the problem. It was that even after 6 coats you could still see through it to the primer. By the time I got it so you didn't see right through it there were so many coats it looked like crap anyway. Plus it took about 10x as long as it had to take in the process.
Wow, really? I just used it to paint my daughter's room (pink, of course) and it did a great job in one coat. We actually debated whether a second coat was necessary...
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It wasn't holding up that was the problem. It was that even after 6 coats you could still see through it to the primer. By the time I got it so you didn't see right through it there were so many coats it looked like crap anyway. Plus it took about 10x as long as it had to take in the process.
Wow, really? I just used it to paint my daughter's room (pink, of course) and it did a great job in one coat. We actually debated whether a second coat was necessary...
Did you use semi-gloss or satin?
It is the Semigloss Behr that is total junk. Satin in any brand goes on well in one coat. Semi-gloss usually takes at least two to get rid of roller marks.
BTW, if you used satin in a small child's room, I'm sorry. Hope you kept plenty of paint on hand for touchups. ;D
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They had 5 levels of glossiness to choose from and I believe I chose "Eggshell" as the white base. I'm sure I'll be touching up her room all the time... at least I installed some chair rail so the pink is only between the chair rail and crown molding - and she's still too short to draw/paint/destroy above the chair rail!
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In a kid's room, pay for washable paint. It's just worth it. The only other reasonable solution is to buy 10 gallons of the stuff to keep around forever. Color code systems change, one batch is never exactly the same color as the next, etc etc.
Paint is one of those things in life, like tools, that you always get what you pay for. There are no great deals with off names to be had.
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Semi-gloss is the way to go in a kids room. Easy to clean and scuff resistant.
I'm using Behr on my current project. No problems yet, but it is high gloss and a dark color. For what it's worth.
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Ow... high gloss + dark color = see every imperfection like there was a spotlight on it. Let us know how it turns out, that's a hard one to get right.
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Ow... high gloss + dark color = see every imperfection like there was a spotlight on it. Let us know how it turns out, that's a hard one to get right.
Sure, now you tell me. Two coats & counting.
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Be very thorough with the sanding between coats. That's what is going to make all the difference, and use a quality roller if you're rolling. The finish is the key for your situation.
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Time to resurrect this project... now that Ms Pac Stencils are coming out (Joymonkey = :notworthy:), this is feasible...
I'm going to scrap the Suzo stick idea and go with a standard Ms Pac stick. All games will be four way and possibly some two way games as I'd love Galaga.
First I have to locate a Ms Pac cab. The empty Pac shell I was going to use won't cut it unless I have trouble finding a Ms Pac.
Second, monitor... have to decide LCD or CRT. I have a couple of spare 19" CRTs, one with a little POW burn and the other with moderate Pac burn. If I can snag a decent LCD in the Xmas lead-in sales I may do that just to simplify it since this will be a MAME based cab.