Congrats, dude!!!! What a score!!!

Score

Cool, keep it!

You're the man! what a great pickup, and so cheap, congrats!

That is fantastic! Now you can take all the money you saved and put into flipper rebuild kits, buffer, ultrasonic cleaner or whatever else your shop needs. Great score.

Let me guess it was either a little old lady that was mad at her son for leaving it in the way or a priest that could care less about material things.

no way. that will be a fun project. jelous

Wow! pretty lucky that the battery acid didn't hose the board in a big way....nice find. I wish I could find just about any game at that price too.

The fun part for me is going through them for an assessment right when you get them, enjoy.

Now you can join the Pinside F-14 club!

Holy crap that is awesome! Those 2 bucks in quarters made it a $38 game.
Congrats!

Carnt wait for the restoration

Congrats you lucky sod

Awesome!!!

Congrats ......deal of the year .......how come I never find something like that ?

This is what I want to know. Why can't I score a deal like this. Guess I haven't been around long enough. Have to pay my dues I suppose. Good for you!!

Wow. 40 bucks! I think we all dream of scores like this.

WOW. What a find! Congrats. Now how are you going to top the next purchase?

You gotta keep it just so you can tell that story over and over! Congrats!

He's going to over pay for an A-lister...which he later will sell under the pretense "I am just trying to get what I have into it"

Lots of work but good score!

I'm guessing Mylar would be tough to pull. I didn't do it on my rollergames, just got the inserts moved down and left the Mylar as is. If I decided to do it, I'd probably try the insulin syringe/goo gone method in the TOP DVD. After I researched pulling Mylar on this vintage pin without diamond plate I just decided to try as is for a while longer.

I pulled mylar off my F-14, it came out perfect. I used freeze spray. Only pull it if you want the game as a keeper... It will improve the fast gameplay a lot but the protective mylar is really a good thing to have there if you don't plan on keeping it, and it is a ton of super annoying work to get the glue off afterward.

I'm not sure I understand why everyone wants to pull Mylar off. What's the point of it? The poster above says it speeds up the gameplay. Is that the only reason?

Geeez 40 $ for a nice project like that and still working , Lucky man !!

I once removed mylar on my T2 cause it was so scratched i couldnt do anything , and under that factory mylar the PF was shiny as a brand new , so it can make a big diff in the esthetic ..

Not the only reason, my opinion:

Yes it feels a little faster when the ball is riding directly on the table.

Aesthetic reasons. Mylar scratches and hazes over time. Without mylar, the artwork is vibrant and with more contrast. Sometimes the mylar develops defects, lifting/bubbles/crease.

I feel it is not needed in a home use game, as usually it's not on all day getting hundreds of plays, so it takes a very long time to wear on the game if it is kept clean and waxed. In a commercial environment it just feels to me like the operator mentality is "We are not going to take the time to properly clean and wax this game so slap a mylar band-aid on it."

Playfield touchups and repairs can't be done unless mylar is removed.

Sometimes I do leave it around the pops and the small pieces in front of the slings, provided it is in excellent shape.

That's very helpful. Thanks much for the info.

I agree in some situations. The inserts on this title frequently lift and sink causing bubbles in the mylar. My main concern with a machine that was left in unconditioned space would be paint lifting with the mylar on the planked playfied. A previous owner of my F14 took the mylar off and 1/10 of the paint with it... Also with sunken inserts, it doesn't take long to wear the paint on the edges of them without the mylar there to protect it. I have lots of insert wear on mine in a home use environment and thats only since the mylar was removed. I would try cleaning and polishing the mylar and use some of vids tips on fixing bubbles in mylar and see if the results are good enough for a player quality machine. Or, if the guts and cabinet can be refurbished, this makes a great candidate for a reproduction playfield swap, whenever they are available!

Unless you're able to dedicate the time and effort to do it correctly, leave the mylar alone. It is too risky for an average shop job, and you could end up with an F14 mess. Too many times I've seen mylar pulled up on system 11, and when asked why, the response is ''because it was bubbling''
The mylar has protected the playfield this far, by removing it you will most likely pull paint and inserts. F14 will play plenty fast enough as it is

nice score btw, $40 is a steal

Sweet

mylar on a F14 can turn into a nightmare in a hurry. don't screw with system 11 mylar unless your a professional or live near one, that can help you, when every insert is on the mylar.

I used freeze spray on a Jokerz and didn't have any lifting at all. It's the only system 11 that I have taken the Mylar off of but maybe I just got lucky.

YOU LUCKY BASTARD!!! Have lots of fun with your new find!!!

I use freeze spray all the time. On F14's, ES, SOF, BR and everything else, and never had a pull off either. But i've been doing this for 8 years as well. That cracked lacquer topcoat and the way it reacts to that plastic, is very very fragile. You have to be very careful. Let the freeze pop it off with minimal tug and you should be ok. Some games like TAXI, it's already popped off and the lacquer is on the mylar before you even start. Nothing you can do there.

I found the heat gun to work better than the freeze spray and heck of a lot cheaper than buying freeze or canned air. Softens the glue, and then pull it up, working it a little at a time you will get it in one whole sheet. All the work is in getting the damn glue off afterward.

Work slow, start with the gun 10' away or so and move it closer while keeping it moving. The tricks are to keep it moving first of all, not to keep it in one place and melt or burn anything. The other is to keep your hand near the area, feeling the playfield and pulling the mylar. The heat will become too much for your hand before you can burn the playfield. I've taken off around a 3'X 2' sheet of mylar on my Taxi playfield in under 10 minutes. Then spent 2 hours removing the %$@! glue.

sometimes heat gun is good, sometimes not. All depends on the playfield. Sometimes freeze spray won't do shit. Those old pop rings, are indestructible to freeze spray. but heat gun works great on those.

Exactly, it's really dependent on the game. I had some minor lifting on a High Speeds playfield inserts that I had removed mylar on. Upon close inspection I don't think it would have been avoidable with either method. What I would advise is that with either method expect the worst, and be prepared for possible damage, minimize this by going SLOW. Don't freak out if you lose some artwork. In the long run, every game is unique, you will learn, and you will succeed....don't stop trying.

First time I lost out on a deal to someone *under* bidding me! No worries, I get to play it either way!

This is the exactly the reason it SHOULD be removed...IMO.

No, I don't agree. If you have experience doing it and have a feel for it and are doing it correctly by following through with the entire strip down and fix, then yes. If you're just doing it just to do it and it's going to remain a players pin, leave it be. So many times I have seen the latter, and it can crackle, and split and looked planked, and insert art can be pulled off, plus you've just opened the wound for playfield wear, which happens very quickly without mylar.

Unless you have some huge mounds of bubbling, it's really not going to effect the ball severely.

- ah, yes you are free to disagree. I do disgree with this statement. My friend and I have different games on different locations, and these games do get played. For years the wear in the areas without mylar have remained unchanged. Even the wear spots are the same shape and size as they were years ago, you'd be hard pressed to prove the wear has increased. I think it is mostly paranoia.

It really depends on the game- what games/titles did you find this to remain unchanged?

I had a Firepower. Previous owner pulled the mylar that had protected the playfield, he used a heat gun. It crackled/planked everywhere, pulling inserts along the way. 100-150 games later, there was playfield wear, where there was once mylar and none. Had a Raven, same thing. Mylar protecting the playfield that looked good. Once the mylar was removed, it pulled inserts and crackled in different areas. Because of it crackling, it can slightly lift the paint and wear will happen.
An old SS Bally- they wear if you look at them funny. I've had 250 pins through my hands in 8 years, I've seen some interesting things.
All I'm saying is, it's a proceed with caution type of thing, because often times it's risk vs. reward.

Okay. All I can do is comment on my personal experiences. Realize I am not a big collector/refurbisher. All were done with a heat gun.

Mata Hari. Game was bought where a LOT of the paint was already coming up and was slapped over with mylar. I lost some additional paint around these areas, but I expected that.

Strikes and Spares. Removed only spot areas (pops and slings). Virtually no paint loss. There was a dent in the mylar by the sling and I lost additional paint at the dent, but had to remove the mylar to fix it anyway.

Pinbot. Lost almost nothing except for insert ink on some inserts, but the inserts without mylar were also wearing off, so again, something I would have expected for the age and condition of the game.

Taxi, pulled off the 1/2 playfield sheet or whatever size it is - covers nearly half of the playfield from the Marilyn target bank to the player. Pulled it off in ten minutes and lost no paint, no art, no insert ink...with the heat gun.

High Speed, did almost the same as Taxi, but in this case lost some insert ink on a couple of the speedometer inserts.

I never pull the Mylar off unless I am gonna touch up and clear coat.

Dude, I'll pay you $50 for it right now! Just kidding, man. Nice find though. F-14 is my next pin. Doubt I'll find that good of a deal though.

Correction, $38 F-14

I missed out on one last summer for $300 and I thought that was a good deal. Nice find. Hope you resurrect it.

Congratulations on a great deal! I have an F-14 (I paid a lot more for mine) and it is my favorite game out of the five I have. Nice fast play, great sound awesome lights after installing LEDs. Enjoy it!!!

yes, this is sound advice. Do not remove it, unless your around someone who has done it at least 5 or more times.

Kind of like the advice that says you should remove inserts to sand them and what not. WRONG! Never remove inserts either, unless you can wiggle them with your hand and they are so loose, you could practically blow them out yourself. Because it doesn't take much to spider crack them. Slightest hit with or without heat, and most do not budge and you will ruin the insert.