Something that is really cheap and easy , I got a lure from my local tackle shop . I think it works .

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Great Idea! I have a bunch of poppers like that sitting in a closet somewhere.

Yup, the fishing lure in the topper is always cool.

One easy mod I have done is put 2 blinker bulbs in the upper left corner of the backbox behind the lightning, to give the storm more realism.

Wow those look great! Even better than the shop photos. Thanks for sharing! I'll probably get all three

I see a lot of cabinet decal vendors
Who makes the highest quality?

I got mine from Retro Refurbs and think they are great quality

I read there colors are better ?

I got something a tad different than they were advertising at the time. (the ones i ordered were exactly as stock, the water was a little wee bit different) I called him on it and he said these are what they are making and guys wee wanting this color/water graphic, I like them a lot. See my Fish Tales refurb thread for pics

Had mine about 8 years, Sent cab off had new decals, chrome etc when I bought it.
Inserts not too bad but playfield just wouldn’t polish up so guessing a previous owner took most of the clear coat off so a bit dull and causing it to wear more than it should. Just fitting a playfield protector so should look pretty good again. Fingers crossed.

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I like the oak rails!

I think if they did something extreme enough to remove the clear, they would have taken a bunch of paint also.

My TZ was filthy and dull when I got it. The untouched playfield under the plastics would give me a typical reflection of the overhead light but there was no refelection from anywhere the ball had gone. I went over it with Novus 3,2,1 until I got a decent reflection of the overhead light everywhere, using that as my indicator of when each area was done.

Thanks, the oak looks real nice.
Tried exactly what you said but no shine at all, and non ball areas very shiny. Not seen this before and I have polished quite a few things over the years, got the look of it’s been flatted with sand paper in front of flippers Half way to boat ramp if you look at a certain angle. Normal angle looks ok but not shiny.
Just wouldn’t polish up.

Possibly looking into buying a Fish Tales that doesn't have a topper. How much should that be affecting the price?

My opinion, I would want one with the topper.
I would personally take over $4-500 off the price compared to one in same condition with one.

Ballpark, it would probably run 250-300 to have one to spec made yourself

Thanks—the one I’m looking at is $3300. Aside from the topper, it currently has incandescents, which I’d eventually swap for LEDs. Beyond those, it appears to be in great shape with minimal fade.

A year ago I’d say this price is too high. These days I’m not as sure.

That's way high without the topper unless rest of game is in fantastic shape imo. $3300 is about right for a nice complete stock game. I'm not even sure you could find all the parts for the topper unless you find one used. Just the topper and fish itself are around $170 before shipping. Game is just not the same without the topper imo.

Unfortunately prices around me don’t seem to be dropping below 3800

Agree without topper minus $400 -$500.

It seems more FT are becoming available in last couple months.

I looked at FT without topper and passed, it would have impact when selling game down the road.

If the playfield and cabinet are exceptional I wouldn't balk around 3k.

I had to pay a LOT more than that to be able to buy one I could drive to and play first.

And : Mine has serious fade on one side, but otherwise complete and was clean and also had a nice, tasteful LED swap.

Pinside Pricing Guide is Averaging years of Pinball Pricing from a time when populartiy is nowhere near its current level.

Thanks all—ultimately decided resale down the road would be difficult, so I decided to keep looking.

Haven't analyzed the situation too deeply yet, but my shooter assembly inside the game fell off. I lifted the PF and the coil and assembly was just dangling by the wires. On the inside of the apron I see there is a L shaped bracket where the plunger attaches too, but it looks like it was welded metal, and not held in by screws. Is that true? Quick thoughts on I how can fix this?

MMr is the family favorite now but FT has survived my collection over a lot of other games. STTNG, BSD, ToM have all walked out the door but FT remains.

No, it’s not true, should be one piece of an L shape though, held by three screws to playfield. I had to buy a new one from Marco or Pinball Life, I cant remember now, but if you search it, one of them with have it.

This should be it - https://www.pinballlife.com/kicker-bracket-right.html

Ok that looks like the part I need. I was confused because mine fell apart at the tack weld.

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Thanks! They still have these

Anyone thinking of selling there FT?

Looking to rejoin club.
Looking for purchase in Northeast at fair price

My restoration is coming along slowly went with green Data East TMNT posts, they need drilling out to make hole wider.
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Hello friends ... I need your urgent help
Some lamps don't work for me.
I'm looking for some cut wire and I can't find anything ..
they fail me
18
78
38
37
48-58
68-48
28
help guys ..
Thanks and regards from Argentina

The matrix shows those lamps are in ROW 8, which is connector J133 - pin9 (Red/gray wire).

If you check at J133 pin9, does it connect to the diode of each lamp like shown? (side of the diode with the line)

Could also be that something along that wire is touching something it shouldn't and shorted to ground or something else so look at each.

If you are still chasing one there are 2 for sale on Ebay in Australia. They are second hand reproduction and not the same as original. $275 au each.

I’m not sure but I believe Marco Specialties is going to make a new Handle set (Rod -reel )

Hi, I can't solve my problem. There are a total of 9 lights. I can't find the mistake ... it's almost all of Row 8. except the start button. there are 7 ROW lamps and the two I of the word L and E. Then I have this maybe it has something to do. I ask for help ..

Are the bulbs making good contact in the holders? sometimes it can be a simple issue.

clean the lampholders, replace all lamps, check the cable. It didn't work out. Can you be the RAM U24?
Will it all be the same?

Your display RAM issue is probably due to a faulty RAM chip on the display driver board. I had the same issue, and replaced it:

https://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/catalog/product/view/id/7159/s/ic-ram-6264/

But it does not have anything to do with the lamp problem - they are 2 separate problems.

Who's LOOKING??

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-fish-tales-great-shape
EDIT- listd SOLD now

friends!! I finally won the battle. the red / gray wire was cut. as is the photos

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CPR mirrored glass is beautiful !

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$640 shipped to OZ , that's a lot of fish .

$500 through RTBB.

Yeah paying premium on the shipping charge with CPR unfortunately but i guess we should all be used to it over here It always amuses me when i see posts from our US pinball brothers from other mothers about the cost of shipping parts (etc) from Oz to US We definitely cop the raw prawn over here in comparison!! And before anyone comments, yeah i know CPR is Canadian but of course payments are in USD.

So excited to join the club now. One of the grail games on my short list. Got it in great condition too. All original.
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For the uninformed who or what is RTBB ?
I could possibly go $500 but that would have to include shipping and everything . Although I should probably put that money towards a colour DMD .

Get Both !

https://www.rtbb.com.au/

There is a new universal shaker in town. Announcement below.

Pinshakers would like to welcome Pinball Life as our exclusive online retailer for our universal shaker motor kits. We are extremely excited to work with Pinball Life and are looking forward to serving the pinball community along side them.
Visit http://www.pinballlife.com and order your kit today! They have the Standard and Premium versions in stock, ready to arrive by Christmas!

Best Regards,
Robert Goebel
Pinshakers
www.pinshakers.com

That’s great! May look into a shaker for another game, but my “floppy fish” shakes my FT plenty. Good luck to pinshakers!

Dam it ! Another great mod . I always thought a shaker motor would work really well in this game , when you " have fish on " , when you get monster fish when you shoot jet skis and boats in video mode ect .