The Taxi pinball machine by Williams happens to be my daughter's favourite to play and work on, so the choice here was a no brainer. It was originally meant as a simple, static machine that would go into the display case along with the van I built for her... but, that went south quickly.
I've never attempted anything like this at this scale, so I still needed to do a ton of research before I even unpacked my X-ACTO knives.
Luckily, the dimensions of the 1:1 cabinet sections were available online. I also found a hi res image of the actual Taxi cabinet graphics from an aftermarket outfit that produces replacement art for the real ones. When I scaled them down, they matched perfectly with the cabinet dimensions, and I began to cut and glue. I did run into a weird copyright issue with the aftermarket artwork becasue Williams did not grant them a license to use their logo. Later on I had to overlay the actual Williams logo roundel into the side panel artwork.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZrNeIYr40Bgm-pqxqXzK3LQj9f0eBpqX46VPbEcUrfsogO_f81nTJQgJ_XifeUrwY9oM2nNDhbqc43Z2mXhsQ6akFP9wxP4VA8wjZdRGjYCN0baIhFnUL8kKOoAiPosodjiINQX5gQ=w2400)
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FtttUci3Rfp8WAdT6iC5hi3cMbwVexxyn6L-NaqkonwBtSNM80-kmDd8ZeCjXvtwog1jrnDx2Sxh6mC_ixFq0D_nbqiJD7qFLca3OW76JFWsT4tYQH7BM0mdVCVMwZAPDJVZV70aVw=w2400)
I also wanted to duplicate the form factor of the 1:1 machine with the folding display for transport or maintenance. Finding, downscaling and printing the artwork on either decal paper or self-adhesive stock ended up being the biggest challenge of all. I went through countless numbers of print test prototypes when I had all the cabinet bits finished.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3PZ0Cz3loV9O1aIsGDgFbbl-KPnSkH_G-aNReQsIVlSBB239J3QLa0ygz9WHdDolmYCyfDB7OUvZiNW_eu7rxka4t00xLz6Vk1oSGCbtrRMirgD7m0YZ0pGOjZ0aFfjbdYPP4gmPfQ=w2400)
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YyCMfAv6ri2E5baJ1OCkmDqhUZ6DlTgdjeMy-NOkgN5Fm3IjDIRlfZTwowr5Ze8gQVm6JzW-PP5w4hgBH_CXICX9usWzs4zvjQLNKvyDmQgM-bjkQ86MUYt-RUntKalW9vmexZVYIw=w2400)
Then it happened. I thought, why not light it up to simulate it's idle state? Enter the world of flashing micro LEDs. I thought that a few watch cells could power the display and the playfield lights, but the cabinet illumination flickered with the 3.5v cell.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_0_C7UTTP84P7TlrILqpuiYrG1lkVIVHcYQjQ6qPLBZjnKxWVi1adprzHM9Pc7hPkz_6VyLkrBTMpOQoS78sRVmG-HeO3hfdOPAOTGQ9NlaZSGD198sxLfGcYliVEkafP8qyLHD_ZQ=w2400)
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fXj6uTBbl1AhFzi6p2MvIRQwTvAXSEqnqFWtCF83TfKsSXJcJkkrFtx_cPxpYClqxABg2sgcH3SqWnbcLXkCJ0NeBzCRd3Fucxr1MgLmBpJZAe-PgINFxxX0zcFdA-j5dSzWCs5qJg=w2400)
But... the cell holder was too big to fit inside the cabinet along with the on-off switch! A Plan B was needed ![Geeked](http://cs.finescale.com/emoticons/emotion-15.gif)
More to come.
Cheers,
Juergen