I debated on ordering a control panel overlay for my playchoice 10 from Arcade Overlays for quite some time. I had heard mixed reviews from several folks on the forum. I knew that they were inkjet printed and not silkscreened and that the overlays are not precut for button holes. I had previously purchased purchased an inkjet repro of a space duel overlay from Mamemarquees.com that was the wrong size, had no holes, and was a pain to deal with. With the purchase price plus shipping, this PC10 overlay came it at around $40. With all that to take into consideration, I was swayed by one thing – this was the only place to get this. Sold.
It came in the mail yesterday. The first thing I noticed was the thickness of the material. Most CPOs I have dealt with have a “give” to them that makes them pliable to be able to wrap around the different forms of a control panel, but this thing had almost no “give” and was pretty thick. It reminded me of a translite. There is no doubt that the material used is durable, but I have some worries about how it will actually adhere to the metal control panel with all the curves.
While the print job is good, it has more of a matte finish instead of a glossy finish like the original. One other difference is the fact that it is textured instead of smooth. I have not had time to actually apply this yet, but will have some time during the holidays and will give an update when I do. I have a spare control panel to test this on, so if it totally sucks I can just let my current control panel stay in place.
Tags: Arcade - Playchoice 10, CPO, Reproduction
December 17th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
This is great that you are writing a direct user review / feedback of the quality of arcade game products from Arcade Overlays. You are brave to test the waters where others might not have been…
You can edit this line out if you like….but we’ll see now if your subscribe to comments is working just like it should be.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I am definitely interested to hear how well it adheres to th CP. After this initial post I realized that’s it’s possible that my CP already has this CPO on it. If so, it either wasn’t applied very well or the adhesive is coming up anywhere there is a bend in the CP. It’s loose on the front, at the indent where it angles upwards, and at the bend from up to flat on the top section. Might require using an additional adhesive or something but the one I have is definitely cracking and coming apart pretty bad on that front bend.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:02 am
So, how did your CPO look or did it ever get installed?
January 17th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I ordered this same CPO from Arcade Overlays and am about to apply it. I think the key is using heat on the bends. I also ordered a POPEYE sideart set and wasn’t totally pleased. it was clearly injet printed because if you look close you can see the art pixelated…which I don’t really like AT ALL! But it was the only set I could find at the time and I was running out of time on the restor and had to move onto this PLAYCHOICE 10 cab.
I’d say avoid Arcade Overlays if you can but only because of the injet, the material overall was not bad.