Meet the Maker: Silverbullet, the Joiner With a Mad Max Cab and a Full-Size Predator

Punks, meet the man with the best man cave we have ever been sent. Silverbullet is a self-employed joiner and builder from England, one of the admins of the Lunatics Facebook groups, and the maker of the Silverbullet RetroBat light gun build. He also builds one-off cabinets, 3D prints movie props and has a full-size Predator standing in his house. As you do.

We asked him for a headline quote. He sent us: “You want to read something really cool. 🤣🤣” Challenge accepted, Silverbullet.

Never soldered in my life. You’ll never know unless you try. If I can, so can you.

Silverbullet

The builds

What have you made?
I did the original Lunatic flight build. Reworked it to the Armoured Combat build. Silverbullet lightgun build. And just released Guns and Glory. All can be found on the Lunatic groups.

What’s your favourite thing you’ve made, and why?
Predator vpin tables. ‘Cause I love Predator. Can be seen on my Pinball Lunatics posts.

A moment you’ll never forget?
The messages I received for the Silverbullet build and Punks picking it up and showcasing it. Thanks again guys.

Our pleasure, Silverbullet. If you missed it, here is the Silverbullet build: 326 games across 16 systems, all set up for light guns.

What are you working on now, and what’s next?
As you know, just finished Guns and Glory. Which I know is quite niche, but that niche has some of the biggest selling games, and something I don’t think has been done before.

And his dream build? “I think I have all I need and more. Some awesome builds out there, the CoinOps guys do amazing builds. I suppose I’d like to revisit my Armoured Combat build. Expand it and some amazing theme for it.”

The man cave

He labelled his photos “Man cave photos.” Modest. Here they are, and yes, that is a Mad Max racing cab.

A joiner with a light gun habit

This is the bit where it all makes sense. Here is Silverbullet on his life outside the groups, in his own words:

I’m a self employed joiner/builder. Husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle. I’ve built some quite unique one off cabs. Silverbullet cab, Mad Max racing cab (see our YouTube for the video lol). Predator vpin, a dedicated CRT cab. I mentioned a mate from Blamcon, who got me into 3D printing. Always enjoyed painting models as a kid so this fits perfect. Started designing and printing my own bespoke prints now. Lots of movie inspired stuff. My best is a full size Predator with motion sensor audio from the movie. Oh and building my own Blamcon lightguns. Never soldered in my life, you’ll never know unless you try, if I can so can you. Obviously all this comes at a cost. But hey f**k it, you’re only here once.

Silverbullet

A full-size Predator that talks when you walk past. In the house. We salute whoever else lives there.

The Lunatics

What do you love about what you do?

Well, being an admin I’ve made friends with some awesome people all around the world. The guys from Blamcon. Obviously the rest of the Lunatics admin team, none of whom I knew till we set up Lunatics. 2 American, 2 Australian and two of us English, and then realising we only live 30 mins apart. And also some awesome members, all of whom have embraced the Lunatic ethos. Hated by some, loved by many, this is the way of the Lunatics.

Silverbullet

Two blokes who met through an international light gun group and then found out they live half an hour apart. You could not make it up. If you fancy joining in, the Light Gun Lunatics community build is a good place to start.

Tips for new builders

Take your time. Join the Lunatic groups and just ask loads of questions and research. I found the scene to be a bit cliquey and hard to get good clear info. I think we have helped break that. Which resulted in us expanding from just LGL.

Silverbullet

Off the clock

Light guns first, obviously. But fighting games? Not a chance: “Not a fan of fighting games, bore the sh*t out of me if I’m honest, bash bash bash lol.” He likes anything shooting or combat based: Space Invaders, Galaxian, Tron (both cabs) and Commando. Always a PlayStation fanboy, though he did have Nintendos too.

He loves food and cooking, “especially the boozing while cooking, great excuse lol”, and 70s, 80s and 90s action films. His top five, in no order: Predator, John Wayne’s The Alamo, Die Hard, Blade and Enter the Dragon. “But could easily be another 5.” The Predator thing is starting to feel like a theme.

Shout-outs

“So many great guys out there,” he says:

• All of the Lunatic admin team, of course.
• All the Blamcon team.
• The members of the Lunatics who help make it what it is.
• “Oh and you guys obviously for sharing this sh*t to the world.”

Any time, Silverbullet.

Our take

So, did he deliver on “you want to read something really cool”? A 60 year old joiner who builds his own cabs, prints a full-size Predator, builds his own Blamcon light guns and helps run one of the friendliest corners of the scene. Yes, Silverbullet. That was really cool.

What is the best thing in your man cave (or woman cave, or spare room, or garage)? Tell us in the comments.