Oh yeah, finally a club I can be in!

I've restored my F-14, and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

The thread is here: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/f-14-restoration

If anyone needs pictures of an F-14 for reference in tearing theirs down or repairing it, I've got all my reference photos from my restoration online. I wanted to make sure I remembered how to put it back together so I took nearly 1500 photos.

http://www.restoredf14tomcat.info/piwigo/

Hope it helps someone!

I hope I can join? Seeing how mine is in pieces. Doing a "fix-up". Just want to put it back together. Don't know if I want it to be a "nice player" or "damn near CQ restore". Just growing impatience. It has been a few months, I hope I took enough photos to put it back together and don't forget. I am 90% done with the black touch up.

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Roger that! I love my F-14 Tomcat, so does my co-pilot.

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I have only played about a dozen games on F14...but tomorrow, one comes in for me to master!

I look forward to playing this title!

Where can I find a nice one, I have cash.

I'm starting to be open to the idea of selling or trading mine if you wanna chat Paul. Just hit me up on PM if you are interested. Take a look at the pics of mine and stuff.

I have a f14, needs parts. I'm hoping I can get some parts at the expo next weekend.

F-14 was my first pin and will forever be in my collection. Love the speed and flow of the game!

F-14 was my first too.
Definate keeper!
Added some lighting to the upper playfield as it was a bit dim up there.

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Here are my custom apron cards, enjoy.

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This was my first pin last March. I love it. Today I finally beat the number one high score on it. Yeah, it took me that long. Lol. It's a lot of fun and I love it with LEDs.
Here's my thread on my first pin mod.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/i-just-ledd-my-f-14-tomcat

This thread must have brought me luck, just beat my high score again! Nice!

F-14 is one of those pinball machines that make you say one more.....I had lots of games come and go, and some that are staying forever...F-14 is definitely in the latter camp.

My first pin

And now currently residing in my dining room until some renovations are complete!

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Oh yeah, keeping it till I die die die.

I'm in. I've got a player that I hope to restore in the next few months. I have a couple ahead of it in line, though.

Love my F-14. Glad to see I am in good company!!

Al

Have any of you added a shaker motor to yours? I just started a thread in Modding looking into the possibility.

I absolutely love F-14... I came close to selling mine a month or so ago and came to my senses.... No WAY! Not going to happen. It's my go to favorite game.

I have it cranked up.... The kickback is set so that it must be activated (no beginning of the game freebies!). And the playfield is currently at 8.125 degrees (can't make it any steeper!). It's so fast... Unforgiving.... Fun to punish!! I'm thinking about setting the entire rule set to extra hard.

My next move is to wire the missing flashers.... Possibly add black balls

We have an old decrepit F-14 in the warehouse. It's in rough shape but I think it has potential to be a great player's game. Only 2 "bad" raised inserts if you can believe that. I want to do a full LED treatment with LED OCD on this game simply due to the heat issue with the inserts. We are very lucky they're not any worse and I want to keep it that way.

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I have mine set the same way.... steep pitch, kickback must be earned, no t-o-m-c-a-t memory, 3 balls. Pulled off the mylar, came out near perfect, waxed, with new balls, freshly rebuilt flippers, serviced/adjusted slings and pop bumper.. Fastest pinball machine ever made. And my favorite game.

How did you plan to do it? Connect to a flasher circuit? Where did you pick one up?

Thanks.

I too am interested in this. How would it know when to shake? Would be fun if it shook when Yagov kick back happened, that would really be a challenge.

See this tread:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/is-it-possible-to-add-a-shaker-motor-on-a-inball-that-wasnt-programmed-for-one

That's my thread. I was just curious if he was using the device brought up in there, or if he was going a different direction.

Just picked-up a F-14 for my brother, it's living at my house until he comes down to swap it for my GoldenEye which I just purchased up where he lives (MA). Inserts all lifting but bubbled mylar doesn't seem to affect game play. Topper works great. Trying to convince him to do a tear-down sometime.......

Cleaning and putting some new parts, made some target stickers with a background explosion and the letters T-O-M and C-A-T in Red and Blue where the "spell targets" are. This is a simple Word doc that you can print on sticker paper and cut out if anyone is interested.

I agree, the upper pf is dark - anyone ever stick a spotlight up there - how did you wire the led's in????

What's the best (cheap) toy planes to add as a mod (right size)?

-Nate

I ended up using those 5 led supers as GI on my F-14 in a few of the upper playfield spots where it wouldn't blind the player. I'm anxious to try those new Ultra Opti Maximum Light Explosion of Zeus bulbs, especially if they are no-flicker. They seem to throw a ton of freaking light.

and where may we find these new "Ultra Opti Maximum Light Explosion of Zeus" bulbs? Can we refer to them as UOMLEOZ bulbs?

Check this thread out, they aren't for sale quite yet, but will be soon according to this thread.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/optix-maximus-op-max-bulbs-are-amazing

I plan on keeping my F-14 forever. Great game. Someday I would love to tear it down for the full Wolf treatment.

I notice a lot of you have discoloration between where the Mylar was. Was this from them being in bars with smoke back in the day? Or paint being exposed to the air? When I cleaned up the play field on my F-14 I thought it was film and I cleaned a very very small portion right down to the prime coat. Couldn't get rid of what looked like green film. Damn now I am going to have to head over to the brewery where I keep my machine. This thread gave me the itch to play it.

I made up some home-made target stickers as I thought the plain colored targets (esp the white ones) were so drab, if anyone would like them, they were done on a word document and printed on a whole-sheet label paper. These extreme close-ups show the "defects" and they are hand-cut, but away and playing the game or viewing playfield they are not noticeable.

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I've had mine for a few weeks and love it! Just finishing up getting it all mechanically working, I have a couple micro-switches that are working intermittently. Just finished re-capping all the boards and upgrading to MOSFETs in the lamp matrix. The game is awesome fun!

Anyone upgrade to LED and want to sell me their old plasma displays that have one or 2 working 7 digit numeric displays (bottom pair)?

They look great but with no mylar on them how will they hold up.

Sorry, yes, the Lamp matrix! I updated my post with the correct term...

I picked up a F-14 over the weekend. It needs some TLC like most, but it should turn out nice!! Just got to get the Gold Wings that came with it fixed up and sold ASAP!!

And mine, with LEDs and a small mod.
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My jets mod:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/f-14-tomcat-jets-mod

Forgot to mention, I put heavy-duty clear packing tape ontop of the stickers - I've had a couple of these on my Baywatch for a couple of years and they are as good as the first day I put them on...........that's a step you'll need to do after printing out the sheet.

-Nate

Yeah, now I've gotta have those too!!!

That's better. Thanks

Can't help but to share the same feeling about this huge classic. I was madly in love with it and it still pains me that I had to part with it. It's has the best feedback a machine can provide. I thought that maybe the sticker mod I made for it could be of some interest for a few of you.

ebay.com link: itm

Cheers everyone and keep on bashing Yagov for me!

Wow, good salesman - I've seen you on every F-14 thread!! If your sticker was a little more afforable I think you'd sell more (I'd buy one.....).

You did a great job on 'em.

Your link doesn't work. I just bought one but it hasn't arrived yet. With a nice spot light on it it will really fill that void in that corner.

Hmm I do have some problem pasting the correct link for the auction page. Strange. Here's ta working one, I hope.

ebay.com link: F 14 TOMCAT WILLIAMS PINBALL MACHINE YAGOV STICKER DECAL MOD

I must admit I'm always a bit uncomfortable at doing this kind of promotion, but maybe someday I wish I could live with selling such mod. So I need to start somewhere.

@Pinball Nate : I indeed received some comments about the high price of the sticker, but you need to keep in mind that it's not an average bumper sticker. The dimensions is not only quite big, but I make sure to print it on the best vinyl available. Believe it or not my markup is not that big. Keep in mind that as soon as I can find a way to reduce time and cost I will adjust the selling price accordingly. Thank you for your interest in my product, It's always appreciated.

I bought one... it looks great in the machine. Very well made to boot!

This aint no cheap sticker. Your paying for the quality that will last for decades.