What to do with a Defender Cab?

[fringe1]

My bro has a gutted Defender cab that is in usable shape for a MAME. Should I restore it to its original appearance (I can print out the overlays and sideart at work) or go with some sort of MAME art? He also has some stencils he made to redo his Moon Patrol cab that I could use to make it look like that.

 

It's not that big of a deal, really, It's going to be my only arcade unit, but I want it to look nice. My basement will never look like his 'arcade'...

 

 

Rod

 

http://webpages.charter.net/wadelanham/arcade/

(my bro's stuff)

 

 

I forgot to add that the sideart has been painted over in black, and there's no marquee, so you wouldn't really know what cabinet it is anyways...

Edited July 18, 2005 by fringe1

[bjk7382]

I would first try to take the paint off. If it is latex, and not oil, it should scrape right off with a heat gun. and you may just end up with nice looking sideart that needs minimal touchups.

 

After that, if it were my cabinet, I would put a computer in it with an arcade vga card with an original arcade monitor.

 

The only thing that sucks about defender cabinets is the control panel is so small. You would have to make a custom one to fit 2 comfortably.

[chadtower]

Any arcade guy would spot a Defender cab a mile away. You're not going to be able to print out Defender sideart because it is stenciled, just like Moon Patrol.

 

Definitely try to get that paint off and get at the original art underneath. With care and time and the right product, it can be done. Restore it so that it looks like a Defender if you must maim it. There are few cabinets that ever looked as good as a fresh Defender.

[Stingray]

Worst case scenario you can sand it down & repaint it. The graphics aren't overly complex, you should be able to mask them with frisket paper and re-stencil them. Chad's right, any arcade guy will know it's a Defender even without the side art. It will look lovely if you restore it to it's correct appearance, and it will look like a ruined Defender cab if you do anything else to it.

 

You may want to consider a multi-Williams board instead of Mame for this machine.

 

-S

[chadtower]

Which works out to be less expensive? A mame setup with the same games, or a multiwilliams board? Assume MAME with the standard Ultimarc hardware (Jpac, arcadevga, and an old PC).

[Stingray]

I haven't done the math, but I expect the budget MAME setup would cost less. I still think a nice Defender cab would be pretty slick with a Multi-Williams in it.

 

-S

[chadtower]

So MAME it and just put the Williams games in it...

[keilbaca]

So MAME it and just put the Williams games in it...

898098[/snapback]

 

That's what I did with my Qix, got it as just the cab, MAME'd it and I mainly play qix on it.