300 dpi Bubble Bobble Marque

PNG Format (7MB)
Adobe Photoshop PSD (22MB)
GIMP XCF (16MB)

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

Bubble Bobble 250 dpi arcade side art

After "GIMP" crashing time after time because of the image size, I've finally put together a side art image for the Koenig Arcade Cabinet using the files I found earlier.

My machine couldn't handle the image at 300 dpi so this one is 250 dpi

PNG Format (50.5MB)
Adobe PSD Format (95MB)
GIMP XCF Format (59MB)


Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

Wood Ordered!

I've decided that me attempting to cut wood in a straight line across several components is probably a bad idea. 

I tried approaching several local timber merchants and none were willing to cut 18mm MDF boards to size for me. 

I found a company named Savoy Timber (http://www.savoytimber.com) and they gave me the prices below. 

By the time I pay postage probably it will be quite a bit more expensive than buying sheets and cutting them myself but hopefully less margin for error since there will only be the two side sheets for me to cut.

Part (as labelled on Koenig Plans)	Size (mm)	Price
Kickplate	600 x 750	£5.18
Top	600 x 300	£2.07
Under top	600 x 160	£1.11
Button [sic]	600 x 565	£3.91
Monitor suspension	600 x 250	£1.75
Backpanel	600 x 1575	£12.84
Drawer  Front	600 x 52	£0.36
Front Control Panel	600 x 95	£0.66
Speaker Panel	600 x 160	£1.11
Side	600 x 1662	£12.84
Side	600 x 1662	£12.84
Delivery		£20.00
Total		£74.76

I've placed the order tonight, wonder what the quality is like once it arrives? 

I've also just realised that I left out the keyboard drawer from the original quote (doh!) so just shot off a grovelling email to Savoy to see if it can be added.

Edit 25.09.2014 - Savoy have come back to me and allowed me to add the keyboard drawer for £2.50, haven't come back to me about when it will all be delivered though...

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

Bubble Bobble 300 dpi Control Panel

Found some time this morning to waste and knocked up a Bubble Bobble themed control panel, decided to leave "Bub" and "Bob" off my design as they're already on the Bezel and sideart, plus I think the panel looks busy enough as it is.

Again, the panel is sized for the Koenig cabinet plans but as I've included the Photoshop PSD and GIMP XCF files they it can easily be adapted.

PNG Format (10MB)

Adobe PSD Format (28MB)

GIMP XCF Format (20MB)

 

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

Bubble Bobble 300 dpi Bezel

The last of the eBay auctions ends in an hour or so after a week of non payers, late payers and relisting.

After eBay fees, postage etc etc it's looking like the budger is £160, so no kit from Rich's Bartop Arcades or the Retro Pit, looks like it's the DIY route  :-S

As it looks like I'll be using the Koenig plans I've been trying to find Bubble Bobble artwork which will fit.  I was unsuccessful but found some artwork for a Bartop sized cabinet @ http://zonaarcade.forumcommunity.net/?t=45266890 - The actual side art etc were only 150 dpi which may look blocky when printed, luckily the downloaded included .PSD files which included each element at a higher resolution as seperate files so I decided to use these to recreate the art for the Koenig cabinet in 300dpi.   

So far I've created a 300dpi bezel which can be downloaded in Photoshop PSD, PNG and GIMP XCF formats;

PNG file (15MB)
Photoshop PSD file (52.5MB)
GIMP XCF File  (38MB)

Plenty of work ahead to re-work the other art.

Messing around with graphics takes my mind off the fact there is some serious wood work ahead :-(

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

VU Meter Arrived

So, the VU Meter arrived off eBay, tested quickly and it works.  Whether I can get away with increasing the number of LEDS from 10 to enough to light a marque, we shall see!




The item shipped from Bulgaria and is sold by this user http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/smartmega

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

Arcade Art

Think I have now decided to go with a Bubble Bobble theme on the cabinet art as it's one of my favourite C64 games, plus as the cabinet may end up in the bedroom of our Baby that's on the way it's less likely to inspire nightmares than Terminator is.  

Scooby Doo still might sneak in there though, I realise there probably never was a Scooby Doo arcade machine so it's not really "authentic", but hey it's Scooby Doo! 

Here are some of the ideas I've been playing with (click for larger image);

Will make a final decision when I know what size / shape cab I'm building, which in turn depends on how the eBay auctions go...

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

VewSonic VP201s 20" LCD monitor

So, the £16 20" LCD Monitor arrived, here are some pics in case anyone out there is looking for a decent size LCD at 4:3 aspect ratio;

Unboxing



Testing (Playing!)

Picture from SNES emulator looks a bit rough as you'd expect being scaled up, looks better when the scanline effect is added.



Don't forget to subscribe & comment!

Build an Arcade Cabinet...am I Crazy?

Okay, so I've decided I need an arcade cabinet.  I initially thought this was one of the usual faddy ideas I have but after three weeks this one hasn't gone away so I guess I have to build a cab now.  Luckily I have a really cool Wife :-)

I have long been of a fan of the old 16 bit and 8 bit games consoles and computers and have been picking up both games and machines from ebay here and there but due to a lack of space in our home, I've now decided that it would make more sense to build an arcade cabinet which contains a PC loaded with emulators of my favourite games consoles and games.

There is no budget as such so I will be trying to do this on the cheap, although I have this week listed a shed load of retro gear on ebay to raise funds for this;

Commodore 1541 floppy drive
Commodore 1541 floppy drive
Commodore 1541 II floppy drive
Commodore 64+NIC  (Ethernet Adapter!)
Commodore Amiga 500
Commodore 64 C
Empty Commodore C64c case
25 x New Old Stock 5.25" Floppy Disks
Empty Amiga 600 Empty Box in Good condition
2 x Commodore 64 Datasette
Commodore 1701 Video Monitor
Various Amiga disks

My inspiration to build an arcade cabinet has come from the brilliant Koenig Project Mame Website (http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/) where you can download plans for making your own machine from MDF (below)

The main snag with this option is that I am not know for being any good with DIY and the prospect of accurately cutting MDF sheets in a straight line to the required size does not fill me with confidence.  A way round this is to order the MDF sheets all cut to size from the web (local timber merchants won't do it), the only two cuts will then be the sides where I needs to give the cab it's distinctive shape. 

Plan B - If I chicken out on this (and depending on how the ebay auctions go) I might decide to order a smaller "Midi" sized arcade cab from Rich's Bartop Arcade's on ebay (Rich's Bar Top Arcades on eBay).  Perhaps a bit too small but no cutting required!

Plan C (and this is very unlikely) is that I may order a full size, flat pack arcade machine from The Retro Pit (The Retro Pit).  This would give me a full size cab with no wood working skills required, however it doesn't include a hidden shelf for a keyboard and mouse like the Koenig design does and I quite fancy playing the odd game of C&C Red Alert or some of the Chris Sawyer games.  This is way more than I want to spend!

In terms of what I have already it's so far;

• A PC good enough to run emulators for the systems I am a fan of
• A viewSonic VP201s 20" LCD monitor (4:3 aspect ratio) which I managed somehow to win boxed on 3bay for £16 and should arrive any day.  I wanted a 4:3 because the older 16 Bit and 8 Bit games look ridiculously stretched on widescreen.  Other 20" LCD's which were 4:3 and I'd heard were good are Dell 2007FP, Phillips 200P3, Samsung Syncmaster 214T and I have been keeping an eye out for any of these four at the right (cheap) price.

...and 

• An LED Stereo VU Meter which I'm kind of not sure what I'll do with.  It's a small circuit which blinks the LED's according to the music / sound you play through it.  I'm thinking I may add more LED's and  use this in the Marque.  Anyway it was only £6.99
  

Once I decide on the cab itself I plan to run Windows XP with Maximus Arcade front end (http://www.maximus-arcade.com) and emulators for SNES, Mega Drive, Amiga, C64, PS1 to start off with.  Depending on the quality of video through the LCD I may well purchase a scanline generator.

Still yet to decide on colour scheme / artwork but have a few ideas floating around...

At the moment everything hangs on the eBay auctions and how well they do (or don't!) -  they begin to end on Saturday morning......

 

Don't forget to subscribe & comment!