Some years ago I build my first DOOM II themed arcade cabinet. Back then I was happy with the result of my first build, but it had some things missing in the finish and was not as polished as I hoped.
So I gave it an other shot and build one again. This time I have some experience and tried to create a new DOOM II/UAC themed arcade cabinet with lots and lots of lights to make it really an eye catcher in the dark.
I started of with some particle wood, cut out the right sizes. The curves I drew free handed and traced it with a jig saw. The design was basically some measurement from my old cabinet, only the control panel is now 10 cm higher for comfort. I did not document every part of the build, but here are some pictures with a little explanation.
I recycled some parts from my old cabinet, like the TV, speakers, computer, ipac, and the joysticks.
I bought new AimTrack (light gun), marquee light, and illuminated push buttons for the looks and a plunger for playing pinball games.
For UAC logo in the front I made a sticker with a lot of lines to make it easy traceable with a jig saw. I think it came out pretty neat and it breaks the flat clean look of the front.
Now that all this is finished, I painted the whole cabinet in the color ‘Dark steel’ from Flexa, which is actually a paint suitable for walls, but also works on wood when you use a lot of primer. Below is a side-by-side of the old and the new cab!
For power I used a PC-kind of socket (dunno the exact name) in the back.
Light it up!
- For the marquee I used a LED bar that runs of 12v.
- The buttons all use 12v LEDS
- For the bottom I used a 5 meter flexible LED strip that changes color.
The marque is almost the same as my previous cabinet, I only slightly changed the planet behind the DOOM II logo.
For the control panel I went for a DOOM 3 PDA look.
The control panel is made by painting a piece of wood gloss black and stick the control panel art on top of it. Only thing left to do is drill the holes for the buttons and wire it all.
And with power applied it absolutely looks gorgeous!
Almost finished. All to do now is put a PC inside, make a drawer for the keyboard and mouse to make maintenance easy, and fix the light gun inside the cab with some velcro.
Aaaaand…. DONE!