I've had a F-14 Tomcat out in my garage that has been sitting there for well over a year.. It's really more of a parts machine that I bought just to try and work on the CPU in it and learn a few things. With the help of TerryB, I do have it up and running besides a few displays out which I've learned are not repairable. So it comes down to this, I'm bored and I figured I might as well try and at least make a decent Player's Machine out of it.

Here's what the PF looks like I'm starting with. He does have some wear that will need touched up and definitely needs new insert decals which arrived today from BAA. I'm probably a fool for putting money into this game, but wth? It's better than scrapping it. I guess?

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Also I had wiped a little dirt off the PF with some Magic Eraser and alcohol and removed some plastics.. I forgot to shoot a pic of the whole PF before I began taking it apart

Upper part of PF

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Oops..Double post and with a picture to boot.. Sorry

Figures Williams puts one lamp board on the top side of the PF and it doesn't have a connector.. Not a huge deal to desolder it but still, why isn't there a connector for that? There's connectors for the black diverter ramp's lights.

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Looks like the insert decals wearing off is pretty common for F-14's

As I'm tearing down the PF I keep looking at the factory mylar areas. I hate taking that stuff off. I'll have to pick up some keyboard cleaner.

Thanks for the link I'll give it a try.

playfield looks better than most i've seen. I've restored a lot of F14 playfields. don't trash the arrow style inserts. They are impossible to get in blue. And I mean impossible. So don't remove any insert unless it's falling out on it's own.

You are going to call me a liar but I just got on here to ask about the inserts. I am not a big fan of removing them and was going to ask what others thought about the condition of the originals. I know I have one that is low-low and a few that are just low. If you get what I mean?

Here's a pic. I think I can sand them down while in the PF. I take a leather punch and pop holes in a sheet of sandpaper and save the little circles of paper that would be scrap if it were leather. I take these and glue them to a 1/8" diameter dowel rod. This gives me a little sanding pencil I guess I'd call it. I have one from an auto paint store that is made from fiberglass, but I really don't care for it. It falls apart and breaks into strands to where it is more like a brush than a pencil, so I made my own.

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It's obvious that 3X is the low-low insert

Guess I didn't think about the thickness of the actual insert. I was more thinking that I would sand the decal off. I'll give the chisel a shot and see how it goes.

I seen your guide Vid, thanks for the time involved in that. I just scanned the insert part and was assuming you took your inserts out..

When you say level, for low ones do you just fill them up with clear? Do you let that "insert clear" cure for any amount of time before you clear the whole PF?

edit: well I guess you did say glue them, so I guess you heat them and move the low ones up

Found my 1st oddity and it's not really even that major, but the upper left flipper had a washer under the bat. I'm guessing that this was to solve some flipper drag or the former Op has the wrong bushing on there.

I about have the topside of the PF tore down..

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I'll have to look I know the bottom two were different. One had the "W" and the other had "W" with the lightening bolt

Yes it was just like you described. I already have the regular length flippers so I probably won't need the washer will I?

I about have the top tore down and am almost ready to remove the PF. I hate this part, I need my hips replaced and walking with a PF in my hands isn't going to be real graceful.

How many connectors are there on F-14 that hook up to the PF, any idea? I know some go to the cabinet. I'm sure I'll figure it out but just thought I'd ask.

Wish I could wish the PF onto my rotisserie

Thanks to a fellow Pinsider I now have a display that has all four glasses woring, Thanks Ball_Less1

Now I just need to figure out how to line the glasses up a little better in the windows? I was hinking I could epoxy them some how?

Any ideas?

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It's a whole different board that another Pinside member sent me.. Another Thanks to Ball_Less1. He upgraded to a LED and sent me his working used one.

Also I went and picked up my automotive clear coat today. I called first and all they had as far as hardener was 8 oz. of medium set time and 8 oz. of fast set time to go along with my 1 quart of clear. It's a 2 ratio ( 1qt/1pt ) I plan on just mixing the two hardeners to make a medium fast if you follow me. It's all the same brand, ShopLine J661, which is what I used on my Space Odyssey and my Devil Rider's PFs. The guys at the paint store said I could mix the two, medium and fast set times, but you can't mix say the fast and the slow set time hardener to get medium hardener? They say it is "Iffy" if it will work when you skip a level of set time. I just nodded and said .. OK ! .. LOL, I knew what they are talking about but you would have been there to hear the guy explain it.
Anyways I figured they know their products best so I didn't hesitate to buy the two different set time hardeners.
Now I just need to get the PF ready to clear. Here's where I am at before I start tonight. I should be able to get it out of the machine and on the rotisserie tonight and get started started with the Magic Eraser and alcohol

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Now that I think about it I should work on removing the old insert ink before I mess with the ME and alcohol

Just the one really low one, so far anyways. There are a few that are borderline as to pulling them or just letting the clear level them off. I haven't decided yet.

I posted a pic of this last year when I first got this machine, but thought I'd throw it up again in this thread.
This has to be the worse shooter rod I have ever seen. I'll have to circumcise the tip just to get it out of the cabinet.

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Glad I'm doing this machine just to have something to do. I just seen on Chicago Craigslist there's a F-14 with a worn PF but the guy has another used PF in better condition for $1000 total.

Oh well, I just like to mess with them

Sorry, I'll keep it on the down low..Haha. Good luck on getting it, looks like it would be fun.

I've never done a PF swap before, seems like it would be so much easier than a PF restore ( I hate using that term when it comes to my work, I'm not a Pro ) It takes so much room to take everything completely off the PF and keep it organized to put back on later. I'm not good enough to just throw everything in a box or whatever. I have to label it all in baggies and kinda lay it out on tables as it would be on the PF. Plus take pictures.

Mylar Removal, this is the first time I have ever used the heat method. I don't think I'll ever use the freeze method again. Using a hairdryer went so much better. I did lift some on the upper inserts but I have to replace all the ones that weren't under mylar anyways

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I have to imagine that this is how women feel about tan lines.

This is after the two pieces of Mylar are removed and it left this nice line of dirt and grime where the PF wasn't covered by Mylar pieces.

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I'm going to try the Goo Gone and flour trick as my next step.

Here's what the bottom of my PF looks like. I just couldn't get myself to clear it. I have everything labeled and garage bag tied up so it doesn't dangle quite as bad. I have a frame built to hold the PF up so the bottom doesn't have to be cleared. I used it on my Devil Rider's PF and am hoping that it will work here too.

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I believe these are cracks in the old clear coat? Do you guys think these will fill in with new clear or will they show through? Should I paint over all the areas like this on the PF? It's quite a bit that I cannot clean off. I started getting into the original paint with the ME and alcohol

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yeah, I've looked through Vid's guide. I must be seeing just the screen printing that's cracking and leaving dirty looking spider web cracks. When I see this and really don't see bare wood in the cracks I was thinking there might be a thin layer of clear. I guess not? It's in the yellow areas and that pic doesn't really show it well. It's in other colors also, especially the white.

Figures all I have is Mean Green, Awesome and the regular 91% Alcohol, don't have Simple Green

Thanks Mike, I'm just a Hobbyist at this so I'm not sure how well it will come out. I've been following Vid's PF Resto Guide and others post and hoping for the best.

Yep, those ball swirls are kicking my butt. I keep taking up the paint and I am trying to go super slow. Looks like a lot of areas will get all new paint, I guess?

I also used some Denatured in a spot and that didn't take long to cut through the paint at all, so I quit with that.

I'll see what we have here locally, but I believe 91% is the strongest. I could be wrong though.

I guess I keep forgetting that this is a beater that I'm starting with and will be a Player's machine when I'm finished no matter what I do.

It just makes me wonder how much repainting the Pros do? Wonder if they refuse to work on some PFs? I know everything can be fixed if you put the time into it though, I guess. Even like say the small dots that cover large areas some PFs have. Hard to explain but it looks like the dots are about a 1/32" apart and there are thousands of them. Wonder how they would fix that?
I would guess you would use a flat scanner (I have the HP 4600 or whatever) and scan those dots then open in a photo editor and remove the color to just have the dots. Then I'm guessing you would paint the area the solid color and do a big decal of the dots on clear water slide.
I wonder if that's how they do it?

OK, this might be a no-brainer here, but I'm gonna see what you guys think. I did a light ( light as I could? wasn't a mist ) clear coat to my PF last night and I have a lot of Orange Peel effect. I've sanded it with 600 dry and I can still see the low (glossy) spots all over. I know I have to watch out so I don't cut all the way through the new clear, but.. should I keep sanding till I get everything flat and dull before I start painting?
The last PF I worked on I did touch ups before I sprayed any clear at all, so this is a different approach to touch ups for me. I'd like to see what opinions and experiences you guys have had.

Here's what I been doing all day. Yep that pile is my clear coat. Somehow I messed it up that it would not stick and I had horrible orange peel also. I tried sanding the OP out and gave up and was just going to paint over it. So I cove the PF with Frisket and cut a small area out with a Exacto. The clear was so soft I cut right through it and when I pulled the Frisket up came the clear with it. I sanded the PF and wiped with Naptha quite a bit before I cleared too.
I'm not sure what happened, but someone told me it may be the plastic cups that I mixed my clear in. Anyways I had to take a razor to the whole PF to get the brittle clear off. What a PITA and I won;t lie, Yes I have even more touch ups to do now..LOL

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Yep, I'm just glad I was able to get strip it off. I had to use a window scraper razor thingy, talk about being nervous. I started with a small flat Exacto blade and that was causing to much extra damage. I kept getting the blade tilted a little and it would catch and make a small knick in the original paint. Even though these knicks were in the areas that needed to be fixed anyways it still bugged me because I knew I had a lot of scraping ahead of me. I think I have it to were I can sand the remaining areas off. I was afraid I had ruined the PF to be honest.

Now if I knew 100% as to what happened? I know I'll take the advice of using glass jars to mix my clear in next, but I'll bring this up also, The paint supplier sold me two different activators, a slow one and a medium one. They told me I could mix these two and it would be fine. I should have just used one, either slow or medium, but I thought I'd mix them because it was quite warm in my garage but yet I wanted it to cure also. I'm not sure if mixing was a great idea
Also after this mess it made me start thinking if I even mixed at the right ratio? I was trying to mix a small amount and couldn't find my measuring cups so I used a tablespoon. I wonder if I miss counted? Especially when using two different hardeners. I mean when you have all the time in the world to think while scraping all sorts of scenarios come to mind. E.G. Humidity/ Ambient Temps/ Mix Ratio / Plastic Cups/ PF Prep...Etc

Oh well, at least I still have my PF to work on. Like I said it was never going to be a CQ machine, but I'd like it to turn out nice.

Yeah, I should have went back at picked some of those up but the paint place is over an hour away and I was half way home. I'm paying for it now though. I used them on my Space Odyssey PF I did about a couple years back and didn't have any issues like I'm having now. I just used some cheap dollar store picnic cups this time and boy does it suck.

So far my dots aren't too bad, but thanks I'll pm ya if I need them. It's funny you mention the water slide I was wondering if you could do that or not, you know just paint the background blue and do a water slide of just the dots. I even posted about that earlier in this thread.

Back again, I haven't given up I just have had a rough week with hip pain.

Anyways I removed all the bad clear and sprayed a new layer on my PF last week. I turned up the pressure at the gun and this coat laid down so much better than any I have ever sprayed. I think I have zero orange peel this time which is a first for me. Hopefully within the next few days I'll get feeling better and sand it down some and start color matching, which I think is the hardest part.

Bill

Looks like this project is going to be put on hold for awhile. I go in for my right hip replacement Monday Sept. 20th and then have my left done on the 23rd.. I can't take this pain any longer... I'm done !

Thank you Steve. I'm having the anterior approach done which is minimally invasive. Supposely it isn't as bad as the old way of cutting all the hip(butt) muscles. I hope to get this over with and back out to the garage soon.

Thanks, I about chickened out when he asked me if I wanted to do one hip on Monday and then the other one Thursday. At first I told him, "No Way.." Then while waiting on the scheduling nurse I shifted in the chair I was sitting in and had that old familiar pain flare up in the left hip ( my right has been killing me lately and this is the one I'm going to get done first) and I said "What am I waiting on? I need this done so bad I might as well get this horrible part of my life over with!"

This is what I've been trying to walk on for the past 2 1/2 yrs. I have Avascular Necrosis of my Femoral heads.. The heads are now gone hip2013.jpg

This is my left hip back in 2010 when I had a core decompression trying to save it.

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I knew my hips were bad when I heard the xray technician go "Oh Wow...I haven't seen any this bad in awhile.."

One hip down one to go.. I started running a fever while in the hospital. My surgeon said I was fine to go ahead with my other hip, but the thought of feeling like crap with trying to walk on two new hips wasn't very appealing. I held off on the second hip for now.
Anyways, back on topic...
I went out in the garage tonight and put some Frisket on and started to cut out for the blue area that needs repainted. It has so many ball swirls and a big nasty arch from where I took off the original mylar that I'll have to repaint it all. I'm not good enough at color matching to just touch it up. I tried to get that sky blue or whatever blue before I had surgery and I could only get it close.. Not perfect.
Wow what a pain cutting around all the black smoke from the explosions around the TOM CAT standups etc. I can only sit on a stool for so long due to the new hip( it's only 3 weeks old..haha) so I had to to a break for the night.too much bonus.jpg

Yep, matching this blue is kicking my butt. I have like 10 blues also and nothing is even close.

I've been trying to just add two blues and maybe some white to lighten it to make the sky blue color match and am failing. I haven't tried going with just yellow and green yet.
Also, I think the acrylics are drying a little darker

Yea, I have a decent airbrush. That's why I did the Frisket in the 1st place. I wouldn't go through all the pain of cutting around all that little detailed areas just to brush my paint on. I have an Iwata HP-CS hooked up to my garage compressor. I have 3 air filters inline also and a pressure valve right before the brush. I have the air hoses set up like that for spraying the automotive clear. It doesn't like water/dirty air.

I didn't do so well with the scans. My software is kinda old and I kinda gave up on them.
Not sure what Friskit? I thought that was the brand name? I shot a coat of clear on and let cure for quite awhile( I had a hip replaced..LOL) before I put the friskit on, so I hope I don't run into the same issue.

I have a 4600 flat see thru scanner I thought about trying to use, but I don't have a laptop, I'm still clinging onto the old desktop..LOL and with the PF out in the garage and my hip situation I haven't done it yet.

Yes, I have it all masked off and the only place the blue will touch is where the dot pattern starts around the center cross hair insert. It looks like it darkens into that area too, might just be worn IDK?

Due to my poor paint mixing skills I ended up with a lot of blue. I guess it's better than running short cause I would never be able to match it againtoo much bonus 136.jpg

I use Liquitex soft body acrylic paints and thinned it with the same brand airbrush mediumtoo much bonus 137.jpg
Several light coats later I have my blue laid down.
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The acrylic dries rather fast. I waited just long enough to rinse and give my airbrush a quick cleaning before I started removing the frisket. I've heard that with acrylics it can lap onto the masking and peel or rip if it dries to long. Mine turned out OK this time.too much bonus 139.jpg

Good question, I think I'll go with red then the black finishing with the white

edit: I guess I'm confused on if I should clear again. I already have one coat of clear on. If I spray between every color I'm looking at 5 coats of clear? That seems like alot. I don't see how I could mask anything I don't clear though. If I do mask without clearing won't the masking just tear up my new blue?
I did one other PF touchups/restore on an old EM Space Odyssey. On that I just airbrushed the big areas and then brushed the small parts.

I know when I worked on my Space Odyssey PF the clear hides the brush marks really well, but I'd like to airbrush as much as I can on the F-14.

Yes, it's a little stickier than masking tape. It's kinda tough to pull off. It doesn't rip or anything when removing, but it is on there if you know what I mean. I think I bought the roll from Hobby Lobby

I took a shot and ordered a roll from E-Bay. It's 12" x 150 feet for $38.63 delivered. Hopefully it works out. I think I paid $20 for 12 feet of it from Hobby Lobby so I took a chance.

I worked on the dot pattern a little tonight too. I did a test print and it was huge. I did Select the portion that I needed and opened it into a new image, but it was huge when I printed it. I'm not sure I know how to get it proportional without just guessing, which could take quite a while.

Great, got an email saying this item isn't in stock till next week and if I wanted to cancel my order. Good Ole E-Bay ! Why have an item up for sale with a Buy it Now option if you don't even have it in stock?