I was pretty meticulous with my planning for the whole cabinet, and I mocked up everything before I did it, but the bezel was one element that I really couldn’t get my head round before the bulk of the arcade was made. I couldn’t work…
Right from the start one of the key parts of the arcade machine that I was thinking about was the TV monitor. I always wanted to use a CRT instead of a flatscreen. I felt pretty strongly about that. I just like the curve and…
Most arcades generally have t-moulding (or t-molding) around all the edges. It’s a rubber edging which really makes the machine seem much more professional. The ’T’ refers to the cross-section ridge which sticks into a pre-cut slot on the edges of your arcade machine. T-moulding…
After making the artwork the next question was where to get the vinyl stickers printed. I was always thinking I was going to get the vinyl printed at GameOnGrafix.com in the US. They are arcade artwork specialists and everyone seems to use them. They’re also…
Right from the start I was excited about creating the artwork for the cabinet. One issue with artwork and design, however, is that I’m normally so full of ideas for things that I take ages deciding on what design I want. There are so many…
I saw Captain America: Civil War this week and absolutely loved it. Perhaps it’s because it’s fresh in my mind but right now it’s on top of my Marvel Studios movie rankings. It’s certainly top 3 anyway and I’m more than happy having it at…
I knew from pretty early on that I wanted a real coin door on the front. It just makes the whole thing look very genuine. I was hoping I might find a broken one on eBay but I couldn’t really find one. Arcade World UK…
The arcade machine was basically all built at this stage and I had to prepare it for painting. Before doing my research I would probably have just painted it there and then, after maybe giving it a quick sand down very roughly. But the more…
To be honest, the control panel was one of the parts of the build I was most nervous about. I had a specific idea in mind for the control panel. A lot of people build control panels that are square but I stubbornly wanted to…
Once I had all my panels of wood cut, I could actually start the building. A nerve-wracking but also very exciting stage. This is where you really hope all your measurements are correct. But this is when all the work I put into modelling the…