Beacons are 26 vac and the VUK coil is 50 volts dc. But the VUK coil is turned on by a snubber relay, this relay is powered by B+ which comes from the same winding that power the beacons. I would check the connector 6P1 in the cabinet for a poor connection on the red wires. Then I would remove the snubber and look for cracked solder joints.

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Thank you for pointing me in the direction of the snubber board. It's almost certainly the culprit. When I removed it to check the solder joints, I found that it had been hacked pretty bad- one of the through hole pads was missing and it had a couple jumper wires connecting different sides of the relay. The relay itself had been replaced.
I just ordered a new board from pinballpcb.com. I'm hoping that does the trick.

I can't believe I didn't think of the beacons before as a possible connection. I played one game earlier where the ball got stuck in the VUK....I reached into the backbox, unplugged the beacon, and it fired instantly.

Just joined the club today! Game isn't fully working, so I'm excited to dig in. I'll have to find a pic.....

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Does anybody have a high res scan of Hitman and Yag from the top of the PF? Mine are pretty worn.

Hey all, got a new F-14, so yay! Problem though, it only registers every other ball drain??? No joke, it is dialed in to every other drain, so it won’t pop another ball out to the shooter lane. And if I turn the game off on the one it is supposed to not register, and turn it on, it can’t find the ball. Not sure how it’s possible that it is such a consistent error, but that’s what’s happening. Anyone had this happen on theirs???

I'm in the process of repairing my playfield and I noticed that a few of my blue arrowheads have some hairline cracks. I've looked on marco and pinball life for them but can't seem to find replacements. Do they exist anywhere?

WTB Anyone out there have any beacon domes they'd like to sell? Im looking for all 3 but ill take anything you've got. I'm aware marco sells them but i just don't want to pay $32 each for them!

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Following the answer on this, also interested. (even though mine also doesn’t have the lighting assembly)

Great, thanks for the link. I ordered a set. Shipping to Canada wasn't too bad via regular mail, 13 bucks.

PM sent.

Haven’t dug in too deep yet, need to order the manual, but anyone quick know what this is for? It’s blowing and for sure blows when I press start button

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So that fuse is the purple wire that goes to the coils affected, and the top plug of the flipper power board. However all the flippers work just fine.

It may be the outhole coil that is blowing that fuse when it tries to put a ball in the shooter lane?

The fuse with the purple/yellow wire is for the 50 volt coils.

Just wanted to follow up on this in case anyone else ever has this particular issue. Again, my VUK wouldn't work specifically, and only, during multiball. It was the snubber board that was bad. I replaced it with one from Pinballpcb.com and the game is finally working 100%.

ahhh... I'll get more fuses. Is that fuse a 2.5amp? I think it is this fuse in the pic, in red. 2.5.

And I see that that ball shooter lane feeder coil could cause it. To test, should I just un-solder the coil or is there a better way to test that.

Thanks! I was tracing wire all over last night and I'm glad you confirmed. I did read some of the pdf manual, but man I love the paper ones

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HA! I just realized I should state the actual issue now that I messed with some stuff last night.

Currently. Power game up, attract mode and coin up works. I coin up, and press start, I hear some coils or things reset. I launch the ball and it just goes around the ramp to the 3rd spot and runs to that lower right lock...then another ball comes out into the shooter lane and does the same. So 2 balls in the lower right lock. Balls wont eject from lower right lock, middle two locks, upper right VUK, the upper left 2 ramp diverters or the kick back on the lower left.

Yes, 2.5 slow blow.

Check the switch in the lower right ball lock.

Yeah, all the switches seemed good. No continuity when open, I cleaned one, but all had continuity when closed. I will re-test again. If a switch was stuck though, wouldnt the coil fire and hold?

Go into switch test mode. From there, press on the lower right lock switch to make sure it is registering. If it is, then go to solenoid test to make sure that solenoid is firing.

HA, I always forget old games have test modes. Thank you, I'll run switch tests.

This one might be an easy one to get help on.

It’s hard to get a picture of these, but the GI lighting under the playfield that goes up between the 1,2,3,4,5,6 targets, and the lower TOM CAT are out. Is that all controlled on one fuse? I have continuity. There were wires cut and stayed apart on the 1,2,3, so that side wasn’t working but the rest were. I tested touching the wire over and it did work before I soldered it. Now none of them work. Any thoughts?

I am also Still having issues where the ball drains, will kick it over to the switch, but the game doesn’t recognize the drain, and it happens exactly every other time a ball drains. So any help on this one would still be great!

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Solved, fuse didn’t look blown at all, but it was.
Solved the second issue too, cracked solder joint.

Last thing to solve is a weak pop bumper.

Nice work. My pop bumper is less strong than any other game I have but I assume it is because of the tight confines it is in so as not to tear things apart with the ball. It should be a 23-800 which is used alot in this game and is less powerful than Walking Dead's 26-1200.

Ah, good to know. I thought it was there to bang the ball around the targets a bit more than it does. It’s not pushing the ball up to them that much.

Anyone with a tape measure handy able to tell me how tall F14 is at the top of its beacons? I'm planning a basement and curious if it will fit under a soffit/bulkhead. Mine is disassembled and shrink-wrapped right now while I'm working on the space.

82 inches will be comfortable.

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Thank you!

Edit: Wait a minute.... can we see that whole game? I've never seen one with a while backbox before!

I didn’t remember to do the switch tests. Ended up boxing up all the boards and shipping them out for repair. Pretty excited to get them back. I’ll be doing the rectifier board mod and reflowing solder on that other common issue board. Then the game “should” work!

Here it is. Along with my restoration thread. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/another-f-14

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*whispers* great white buffalo

You should be able to register TOM CAT targets from pop bumper bounces. Maybe replace sleeve and plunger in the coil?

Maybe this has already been addressed here someplace, but im having a strange problem with my left and right locks kicking a locked ball out while im still trying to release all three balls.

Switch test is only showing the trough switches. Even when I shake the machine around.

I seen a TNT video where Todd Tuckey suggested reflowing solder on all of the small relay boards to "eliminate odd elusive problems". I guess I'll start there and see if that yields any results.

Anyone experienced this one before?

Can anyone tell me what the correct size is for the larger speaker (left side as you are facing the machine) in the backbox? Mine is completely torn and I really don't want to spend the $$$ on an upgrade kit. Is it a 5 1/4" speaker or a 6" speaker?

I received my remake play field from Germany today. It looks fantastic!!! I likely will not tackle the swap for a few years. Is there any expert advice on how to store this play field until then? Wrapped in paper or not? Laying flat under a bed or standing on its long side against a wall? Any thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

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SkaterVet you should post to the thread for the playfield. I know he said to let it cure for at least 30 days

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/demand-check-f14-tom-cat/page/9#post-5095783

Ya, for sure cure and some say to rotate it every x days. Neo or kruz would be good guys to ask

Will do. Thanks.

Hello all

New to the club and ready for takeoff

Did anyone here test if the paint on the F14 contains lead?

I am about to sand it down for a repaint.

I do believe it does! I used a paint stripper first, then sanded. If you don't do that, be sure to use a mask and shop vac to suck it up as you go.

Lead paint was outlawed in the US in 1977 or 1978. Tomcat was produced in 1987, so there should be no lead paint.

I ended up deciding on Comet sunlight for GI in the Tomcat. Still working on mylar removal at present. It is fully torn down on the topside otherwise. Then I have to reseat all the small triangular inserts. Every one of them is lifted up. Is there a resource for the few decals on the playfield, so I can print some out? The Jagov and Lock on are extremely faded on mine and the spinner is missing them completely. It is just black painted metal.

I spent a good 2 hours removing the glue on the upper PF area. Used magic eraser to clean up the non mylared areas and accidentally went a tad too rough and removed a little blue ink. Got the inserts as level as I could. Still a tiny bit proud of the PF, but they just wouldn't go down further so I'm guessing they were proud from the factory. I lost the A in the the TOMCAT inserts, also. Not bad for my first Sys 11 mylar removal. Now to tackle the lower PF. May the pinball gods be on my side.

Curious, since I need to do the same - did you use heat from the bottom to loosen the glue and them tap them from the top or did you just tap them from the top?

Heated from the bottom, then super glue after tapping from the top. I bought a cheapie harbor freight heat gun. I actually put a small scorch mark on the bottom of the pf. Guess I held it too close. Used the lower setting after that mistake.

I was commissioned to a F-14 owner to design some custom target decals, so I thought I would make them available to the F-14 owners club.

For the design 20 targets, I used 3 different explosions and mirrored them for targets opposite each other. The two Migs with the reticles over them are for the two center white targets (these are period Migs to the pin's production and the reticle as based upon the ones used in Top Gun).

For construction, I print on a photo quality printer using OEM inks and ultragloss OEM photo paper. I then apply a clear gloss laminate on front, and use a thick clear 3M mounting tape on back. The thick mounting tape allows you to adhere right over the top of the target rivets and also provides some give upon impact. I've had a set I made in this way installed on my Getaway for nearly 3 years now, and they still look brand new. Once all of that is done, I use a 1" punch to cut out the circular targets.

The price is $40 (includes US shipping) for the full set. Please PM me if interested for purchasing details.

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My boards are back! Excited to install and get this game rockin! Forgot to order the rectifier board but I’ll do that soon