Speaking of speakers...

I decided a while ago to remake the speaker panel since it wasn't up to par with the rest of the machine. The old version was also crooked and I'm actually quite ashamed that I left in the machine for so long... But I'm finally seeing the end of that now!

Using a piece of left over plywood from the intended playfield wood (more about this in another post) I used the decal as a template so that the edges match up perfectly. It has been given two coats of black paint to resist smaller scratches.

1) Comparison of the old (upper) and the new (lower) speaker panel. Much nicer!
Note the unpainted interior - I'm avoiding painting any surfaces that might get exposed to heat. Good or bad?

So far so good!

Then the first (ever!) decal was applied to the panel giving it a rather professional finish in an instant. I've always been fond of having decals on the speaker panels since it gives a more complete, non generic, look to the final machine.

2) Decal applied. This was printed way back when, but have not been put to use yet. I'm urging not to apply the rest of the decals yet since the machine is still under construction - what if I accidentally scratch the sides? Doh!



Finally - the speaker grills were mounted. My original plan was to use the classic "internal" speaker grills, but I failed somewhat miserably cutting perfectly round circles... And in the end - I like it this way.

3) And here it is - somewhat representative of the final version! Looks quite nice in my opinion. But I'll probably play around a little more with the black next time around, since it looks a little bleak compared to the superblack on the speaker grills. Well well, you live - you learn.

Next I will apply the display protector (with a sun filter screen), mount the display and speakers. I may also mount an inner protector/rim inside the display cavity. I've not yet decided if I will be keeping the current way of accessing the interior from the back or switch the hinges and have the speaker panel swing towards the front.