My Nikola Tesla themed cabinet build

[Gwen]

I am in the process of building a Nikola Tesla themed virtual pinball cabinet. I recently finished building the backbox and coin door. I am building the cabinet from 3/4″ birch plywood and a few original antique furniture parts.  The backbox is topped with a Tesla coil driven device that generates lightning inside a 6″ glass disc and 4 homebuilt faux Tesla era vacuum tubes lit with LEDs. I built a coin mechanism into the door so that it accepts pennies. I will get started building the main cabinet once I have purchased the playfield monitor (43″ 4k).  I just ordered one of Zeb’s digital/analog launcher packages.

I’ll post updates as the work progresses =)

 

Gwen

Here are a few photos of where I am with the build right now:

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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HauntFreaks

[vogliadicane]

sick!    

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Gwen

[wrd1972]

Mehh…needs a real Tesla coil on the head shooting out 3 ft. lightening bolts.

JK, looks pretty awesome. :)

My VP Pincab /MAME Arcade Specs: MSI Micro-ATX Z390m MOBO, Core I5-9600K CPU @ 3.70GHz, 16GB NVRAM, Nvidia 1660 Super,

40" PF Sony gaming LED TV, Dual 23" monitors in the backbox , Pinscape w. expansion board, Full DOF - Full MAME arcade support

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Gwen

[HauntFreaks]

I’m a huge Tesla fan, this is very cool…

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Gwen

[Gwen]

HauntFreaks wrote:

I’m a huge Tesla fan, this is very cool…

Thanks!  I’m a big Tesla fan too.  The man was truly brilliant (if a bit crazy) and was so poorly treated by his contemporaries.

Oh, and I’m a fan of your work too =)

Gwen

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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[BorgDog]

Looking pretty cool Gwen!  love the penny coin/cupboard door 

- Star Wars Wedgehead cab build

- Alien Star Resurrection!

 

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Gwen

[randr]

Very DIFFERENT

I like it! What size screens? hard to tell in photos

********************************************************
Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
So if you haven't downloaded app yet what are you waiting for!?
for IOS and Android

********************************************************

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Gwen

[Gwen]

randr wrote:

Very DIFFERENT

I like it! What size screens? hard to tell in photos

The backglass monitor is a 28″ and the DMD is a 19″.  I am planning to use a 42.5″  3840 x 2160 monitor for the playfield.

The Backbox is fairly large and heavy.  It’s 35 1/2″ wide and about 36″ high at the top of the topper disc.

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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[randr]

Oh WOW photos not good for scale. so its really a full size build not a mini. looking forward to this cab build

********************************************************
Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
So if you haven't downloaded app yet what are you waiting for!?
for IOS and Android

********************************************************

You need to login in order to like this post: click here

[Nemo]

Damn, loving this build, soooo cool…….my avatar is happy 

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Gwen

[Gwen]

I wanted to do something really different from what everyone else was doing and do a bit of an homage to Mr. Tesla.  It feels really nice to get such positive feedback on my project.  Thanks  

Gwen

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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Nemo

[Onevox]

Shockingly inventive! Will it have Queen Anne ball and claw legs from on old dining table? :)

Onevox

 

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[-RpT]

Love this, big fan of Tesla also! Please keep us updated on your progress

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Gwen

[Johngreve]

That Tesla ball on the center of the backbox is an amazing touch. I would be absolutely the first person in line to buy one of these if they were for sale.

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[Gwen]

Onevox wrote:

Shockingly inventive! Will it have Queen Anne ball and claw legs from on old dining table? :)

I thought of something like that, but ended up going with some simpler wooden legs.  You’ll see once I get to the main cabinet build :)

Gwen

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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[randr]

Just showed the wife this and she likes it. So she is another person waiting for updates

********************************************************
Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
So if you haven't downloaded app yet what are you waiting for!?
for IOS and Android

********************************************************

You need to login in order to like this post: click here

[Gwen]

Duplicate… sorry

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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[Gwen]

Johngreve wrote:

That Tesla ball on the center of the backbox is an amazing touch. I would be absolutely the first person in line to buy one of these if they were for sale.

If you are really interested in having a setup like mine I would be willing to build one for you. It may take a a bit of time to souce some of the unique parts but I should be able to manage it.

Gwen

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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[Dark]

It needs a reference to his love for his beloved pigeon.  :P

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[Gwen]

My ball launcher board from Zeb’s boards and my parts from Pinballlife arrived so I just built a mock-up of the top front of the full sized cabinet to test my button locations and to have something to use on my desk until I can afford the playfield monitor.

Here are a couple photos of my my mock-up I built from scrap plywood.

Gwen

Gwen
- Wonky builder of the steampunk Nikola Tesla cabinet & Starfighter Cabinet

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