The marquee was another area that I had problems researching how other people had done it, and the arcades that I saw down our local seafront all seemed to be made in different ways. So I kind of had to work out for myself how…
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 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…