I own the decal for Corel-Draw.
You can print this decal for ~25,- Euros in your printshop.
At the moment I think about to create target decals.

Anonther innovation is this - adjustable Flipperarms:

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They're soon available in different versions.
With this part you can adjust ankle and lengths from above, it's not needed to open the cabinet anymore.

That needs to be removed ASAP! Congrats on the new addition.

Hello,

today I have received mail from Steve Ritchie - he's a nice guy!

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This plastic will get a special place in my Tomcat.

Cool! You just mailed it to him with a letter and he did it no problem?

Yes, first I've sent him some pictures of the Tomcat and then I asked him signing that plastic - that's it.
He told me also, that he and his brother are the voices behind Yagov and Hitman, Steve is Yagov - very funny.
My Pin is almost finished, I just have to wait for the new LED-Displays.

Averell: In 2012, there was a competition in Neu-Ulm held by Pinballcenter. Steve was there. He's a cool guy. He signed my F-14 translite twice.... first, he signed in the explosion, but I asked him to sign on the nose of the Tomcat with silver pen, because it looks better
It was an honor to meet him in real life.

Rec: Yes, it's an honor to have something special on our pinball and you must be a lucky man!
I try to meet Steve somehow here in Germany. Next I want to restore an Indiana Jones and then I want to have something signed from Steve's brother Mark.

Any chance Steve will be at Pinfest on May 2, 2015?

Wow, glad to hear he is a nice guy. I've got two of his machines in my house.... safe to say I am a fan!

Would anyone happen to have a list of the caps on the sound board? I lost all of my sound and I'm going to attempt to re-cap it to see if that fixes it.

Thanks!

Oh my, no! Don't recap it all yet, unless you are extremely bored - because I doubt that is your problem. What troubleshooting have you done to this point?

The background sound board complete parts list is on page 38 of the manual...there are 35 caps on this board.

Perhaps it would be better to start with some basic troubleshooting? Have you replaced the sound cables?
See "3d. When thing don't work: Power-On Tones and Sound Diagnostics/Problems"
http://illinoispinball.webs.com/williamssys911part2.htm

Thanks for that link. If you want, I'll stop posting here and we can hash this out on the other thread.

Here's my next idea - Target decals for our Tomcats.
It's the same design like on the playfield.
The white targets get black decals, the red and blue ones get white decals.

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How long does your spinner stay lit?

I understand the white 1-6 targets light it originally... mine is staying on until it the ball drains. I don't remember this being the case before.

What about yours?

Nice

My Tomcat Second Sortie would look cool with those, keep us posted with how you get on!

mfG
Mark

The Decals will be printed next week, then I will get a Proof to check how they fit on the target.

And here's another innovation: Buttons manufactured from aluminium

Here's a first prototype.

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In a few weeks they're available in five different colors - same like the adjustable flipperams.

That may be a bad idea.

I think you want to keep the grounded side rails and the flipper switches insulated from each other. You could do the button housing aluminum or the button and not the housing.

Yes, I think about it - this is just a prototype.

Sometimes "innovations" are just impractical ideas long passed on.

Thanks to having to update my iPhone ipad I needed to clear some data room i downloaded and deleted a ton of pics on to my PC well my computer crashed hard so lost them. I've had a few before pics saved on my iCloud but nothing close to the 30 plus some odd detailed pics of each section during disassembly. Been finding a few on this site but need but a few more detailed pics from someone who did theirs. I've started to put it back together attached is work done so far if you see a post placement error or something else please let me know.

Thanks in advance

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Are those the stock blue arrow inserts? They are DARK! I've never seen these so dark... where/how did you get these?

Ps. You're missing a 3" wire form inside the top white rubber between the top TOMCAT targets.
Part number - 12-6466-12

The switch uses the same electric potential like the side borders and glass cover - that's it.

Thanks

I'll check out the part thanks for the heads up. The red new from Australia the blue was the most GE painstaking task of no other choice,cleaned baked former sanded then to get the blue back I went macgyver cut a blue ink pin down the middle diluted it with a little rubbing alchol then painted. I would have gladly paid $50 -$70 for the blues but no one on this planet has them. I made a half ass tineline flipppram of all the work done if a repo was out would have bought one but tired of waiting I was happy with the results but my god this was a ton of work .
http://flipagram.com/f/RrLLOhn5yc

Are the chevrons under some license or copyright protection? Why hasn't someone started 3D printing these things? They don't need to be perfect as they are going to be sanded flat when installed.

I have a buddy who is into 3d printing has a store front and teaches a class at a community college. I thought the same thing print them up , but here is the problem you need designer specs and good luck on that if you can't find them you can design your own which takes a lot of time and money. I would have done that but he could not guantee long term performance he felt with the abuse from the ball and heat from lamps it would probbably start giving out structurally within a year or two. 3d printing is basically hot glue some he said have more durable cmposite matrials but the ones that he could almost guantee not to screw up cost a ton to print not worth it.

Why no one has made them ? I hit up a dude on here who just made repoduction plastics for tomcat asked him the same question check the link to see his reply https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cpr-new-plastics-sets-available-now/page/2

I am into 3d printing, but PLA and ABS (which are the two materials I use) won't cut it for inserts. It's not the right material for a number of reasons.

There are a few options. One is to go to a plastics shop, get a sheet of 1/4 acyrlic in the color you need, scan and trace the insert you need, then get time on either a CNC or a plasma or laser cutter, etc. The inserts will not have the starburst pattern and will be solid, but they will be fine. Zitt did this for his star trek mirror and had great luck. The issue I've had is trying to get a small enough sheet of the material. The plastics shops want to sell you a 4x8 sheet. That's a lot of inserts....

Another is this option...
http://www.pinballcontrollers.com/forum/index.php?topic=1443.0
This poster is using clear but you can also buy dye for this stuff as well and can probably get that blue pretty close.

If you just really love to 3D print stuff, you could make molds from the 3d printer, which is an idea I've been kicking around for an impossible-to-find Dataeast insert that melted on me. Then use the same process as the poster above.

For my F14, I just ended up sanding them and was pleased with the result. Calling it done, ready to clearcoat.

In any event, you could not sell your new F14 inserts on here due to PPS and their IP claims, but I think you could end up with nice enough inserts if you put in the effort.

Good luck,
Dan

Would love to get into 3d printing more but I suck at precise measurements so imagine I would suck at it lol

You know I'm almost positive I had all my guide wires stored together after cleaning. But I see two holes where you pointed out but for some reason don't recall having a wire their and one of my surviving before pics doesn't show it but it's a vague photo. I had a spare 3" in a donor pile so threw it in their thanks for the tip I know would have missed that for sure.

I've used bike spokes with great success to replace broken or missing wire guides. I just go to the bike shop and buy them as needed. I just bend them in my vise.

Here're some new pictures of my Tomcat.
It's finished to 90 %, I still have to wait for the new LED-Displays.

Coindoor with polished bolts, same as at the backbox

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ALU-Buttons in new polished sidebars, they're drilled with only two screws.

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Finished Playfield with new Inserts, Decals, Plastics, Protectors, Rubbers, and LED.

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Left Lane

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Right Lane

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Rebuilt Flashers like the Prototypes and some Early's had on the right (not finished).

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Rebuilt Flashers like the Prototypes and some Early's had on the left (not finished).

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Polished Early-Beacons looking new.
In play you have to wear sunglasses.

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That is a great idea thanks! I'm short on a couple wire guides and was wondering what to use.

Very nice!!! Wow it is new! I hope to do a restore of my machine. How long did this project take you? That playfield is crazy! Do you have a restore thread on here Averell?

It's funny, the bike guys never know what to think. They always want to know what length in mm. Tell them the longest I think I usually pay about 75 cents per spoke. You want to make sure you get stainless as spokes come in all kinds of colors and materials.

This Tomcat is not finished yet and it took me 7 month of time and a lot of money, but it's worth it.
I have no restore thread here, all information about this Tomcat is in this thread.

Here're my new Instructions and Checklist, but I don't know which one I should use?

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I printed mine off of this guys website and they turned out great: http://www.pinballcards.com/Pinball-Cards/Page/2

In other news, I finished converting to LEDs and got rid of the ugly incandescent flashers. Looks 100% better. But, I did have to disconnect the warming resistors on my lamp boards.

Agreed. These are the best cards I've seen. I have a yellow set printed on glossy card stock on my pin. They look fantastic.

Very nice Cards...

I will be exiting the club this afternoon, you my strip me of my rank......

Oh no! why?
I'm keeping mine.......forever!!

Pilot, you are dismissed

Airmen you are granted a 669 RE-4K, you are clearly insane. Now get the fuck out.

Going out to seek my fortune and glory. The fam voted and they wanted Hook more than F-14. Seeing as I was super happy with all my other machines and I was pretty excited for Hook I agreed. On my way out....

That's weird...

Love this pin. Mylar was extra tough to get off but looks way better without it, bubbling and dirty it had to go. I took off the three dome flashers on top, just personal preference.

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No dome flashers? That poor machine....

Good job. Did you clear the p/f after Mylar removal? If not, what did you do, just a deep cleaning and wax? Maybe I missed this info. Mine has Mylar but seems like yours bubbling and dirty...really keen to remove it but have to fix my space station and new to me basket case space odyssey first.

No Beacons on top - no Tomcat!

I agree.

Like Fire without the bell or Whirlwind without the fan, this is kind of a prime feature of the personality of the game.

They'll be a hangin' for sure...even if it is your personal preference.