Considering buying a FT and joining the club!

Concerns:

Fish inserts are slightly raised, will I have to reset them and clear coat the play field to keep from damaging the field further?

The reel lock is pretty messed up, it has had the wrong belt for years and the plastic around the holes is really beat. I can't seem to find any replacements in stock, anyone have a line on where I can find some?

And what would you pay for a slightly project FT? I can post some pics if people are interested.

Thanks in advance!

Make a WTB request in the market for the reel, and see if anyone has a spare.

How bad are inserts lifted? Post some pics and I think you can get some advice on the value and repair tips.

Bought one 2 months ago for abt 5 euro if not wrong. pinballcenter germany

Sorry about the glare, forgot to take them when we had the glass off.

When you run your finger over the inserts you certainly feel them. I don't mind the appearance, and I think it will clean up pretty well. But I don't want to damage the play field anymore, and don't know if I'm up for re-clearing the field.

Also, this appears to be a German reimport if that matters. Didn't see any under play field water damage, though the previous owner did some sloppy hacks to repair wires and I'll need to resolved some connections.

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Well i'm in the club now. I was sad to see my Sttng waltz out the door but the cash in pocket was a bonus. I just had to fill the gap in my pin collection and Fish Tales seemed a good choice (also didn't wipe out the cash intake). It's got the usual faded cab decals although the actual cab itself is in very good condition, just one small ding in the front left . There's some insert damage as far as lettering, etc and a little bit of wear but other than that all the plastics are good, ramp is good and solid wire forms. The fish has a broken tail (got one on order) and the machine had previously been fully LED and colour choices weren't too shabby. I've only got one LED out which is the red jackpot light below the lock lights, checked for a blown LED (nope) and swapped with working ones (still nope), tried changing holder / checking connection etc but still doesn't work. All the rest of the lights on that board work so wondering what it might be? (cracked track in the board maybe?)

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Cold solder joint on the connector header pin on the board.

I see very little of the typical FT insert wear on your playfield, so that tells me they are fairly level without further info.

Clean it, Polish it, Wax it, Play it. Still loving my German FT 980 plays after my first post here.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/first-post-ft-needs-love-where-to-start

Thanks for the advice Neal_w.

Unfortunately while I was putting the cash together it got sold to someone else... I had thought we had a deal.

Maybe I'll join you all eventually!

Cheers mate, thanks, re-flowed the solder on all the pins (just to be sure, to be sure) and that sorted it

Congratulations on joining us! Definitely a yellow cab, but the playfield looks pretty good. I love the deep blue look and can't wait to LED mine out. I just bought blue posts, new rubbers, and blue pop bumper caps and lane guides. Should be pretty cool.

I do have a question though. I started a thread on this, but thought I'd pass it by the club as well. Every once in a while, a ball is ejected from the reel when multiball isn't activated. It occurs very rarely, but it happens after a second lock. The second ball locks and then the reel spins and a ball falls out, sending it into the playfield. You can continue to play with two balls (the one in the shooter lane and the one that spat out of the reel) and after draining one ball, it doesn't count bonus. It knows what it did, but I don't know how to stop it.

Other times, the reel will not eject a ball when it is supposed to. There seems to be a small hang up between the inside of the reel and the edge of the playfield it is supposed to be put into. The ball comes about 1/3 of the way out and then stops. The reel spins and the next ball is ejected and then the other two spit out. Do you think that this means that the reel is misaligned somehow or improperly mounted causing one side of the reel to be too low and the other to be a bit high? any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

FINALLY, joining the club this weekend. 16 hour round trip drive and I am getting a beauty.

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Finally in.....

Nice! Welcome to the club!

I have my FT all apart now, touching up the playfield and will be putting new cab decals on it. My topper dome has seen better days, but I'm hesitant to replace it since it has the mirrored sticker in the top and I can't find anywhere that sells it.

Has anyone replaced that sticker? I'm wondering if a local sign place could make a reflective sticker like that.

Any craft store should have adhesive reflective sheets, or grab something from amazon.

So i spent the afternoon doing a semi shop job on my machine and changed over all the old white rubbers to Titan green ones and added blue Titan rubbers to the 5 posts. I also had a couple of anodized gold flippers hanging around and put those on as well. I then spent an hour fiddling with the LEDS in the back box trying to find a nice balance between making it pop in the right areas and being subtle in others and i think i've got it about right over all. I then finished off indulging my love of all things Monty Python by adding an appropriately related custom message I'm pretty happy with the results. Does anyone know if you can get the drive belt in colours other than white? It would be nice to match it with the green rubbers, just looks out of place now.

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The drive belt for this should be clear.

It's white on my machine, know where i can get hold of a clear one?

I got mine from gameroomguys.com for $7.99 shipped.

Monty Python & The meaning of Life!! I got it!

Notice any difference in play with the green rubbers? Lets see a photo!

The drive belt marco sells is also clear.

Joined the club. Finally found a super nice example. Put up a decent score (for me, anyway) as well. image.jpgimage.jpg

Overall i don't think there is much noticeable difference between the Titan rubbers and regular rubber, certainly the flippers didn't seem much different, still the same in bounce and catch qualities etc. I do feel the slings may be a tad bouncier, just seemed to be a bit more deflection distance but i haven't put in enough games after the change to really quantify it just yet. I've got super band flipper rubbers on my other machines and i have definitely noticed a difference with those but i don't buy into some people's assessment of them though. I've seen reports of "major" playing differences, poor catch quality, lack of bounce, etc, etc and people saying it makes machines far easier to play. As Colonel Potter off the show M.A.S.H used to say "Buffalo Bagels"
A difference? Yes, a major change to the machine, No!!
The pics aren't fantastic but you'll get the idea, think i might add the rubber list choice to Titan's kit file as well.

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Could someone take a nice picture of their "Long Cast" insert? Mine lost a lot of paint when I took the Mylar off the playfield.

Thanks!

here is a big one...

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I believe the proper belt is supposed to be clear for the drive, not a white rubber.

For reference:

http://bayareaamusements.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=GS-FT03-8614

Out of these two pins, guess what the most played on Sunday night?

FISH TALES!

People thought it was more fun, and over all a better experience...

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that's because it is!

it is!

I have had 2 creatures... both are gone.

FT is bolted to the floor.

I'm about to join the club and have a lead on a FT that has significant cab fade, looks to be a credit dot, and is non-led. Playfield looks great from a not so great picture, no fish insert wear from what I can tell. What would something in this shape go for typically these days? What should I check for when inspecting this machine?

Well cabinet fade is pretty common (obviously), but it can be fixed for a couple hundred bucks if you feel the need to replace. I'd check the startup tests to see if the credit dot is something stupid like no date/time set or something.

That being said, the playfield having no insert wear is somewhat uncommon. I'd place that higher in priority than the cabinet fade personally. Assuming it plays well and doesn't need much (if any) work, you'd be looking at probably 2500ish. Might be able to talk them down to lower 2k if you're a shrewd businessman.

Anyone have the G5 romset with spelling correction and anti ghosting?

That's right where the seller is at right now. Thanks for the input!

**Calling all Caster's Club members**

If you haven't already voted in the thread below, please "cast" your votes now.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/best-2500-90s-dmds-round-4/page/2#post-2728705

BSD is beating FT by only 7 votes right now! Get in there and make them see "What a beauty" FT is!

It's funny because these are the only 2 pins I own, BSD is leaving before FT ever will!

Monster Fish Bump! Only four votes away.

We are nipping at Drac's heels. Only two votes to go. Let's get some votes in before the sun goes down.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/best-2500-90s-dmds-round-4

Only 1 away now!!! Maybe I should create another account just to get that last vote in

We took the lead for a bit, but Drac woke up and has surged ahead.

Ya know, now that I have a Fish Tales... all I see are people wanting one? Before it was just everyone complaining about it?

Im in! Enjoying getting my ass kicked on this one.// Error: Image 465006 not found //// Error: Image 465005 not found //20151017_124827.jpg20151017_124840.jpg20151017_124752.jpg

I'm looking for a couple boat plastics if anyone has an extra?

I'm thinking about getting the shooter handle re-coated as mine is fairly worn. What's the original colour?, going off mine it looks too dark for chrome and too bright for straight black. Were they originally a black chrome?

Starting to read through this thread as FT is one of the games I have my eye on in the future. Whats the ballpark price for these nowadays? Also, how do guests that aren't hardcore pinheads like it?

I can't speak for the price in Cali, but it always gets a lot of play at my house when people come over. The theme seems to be very approachable.

Thanks! I really keep guests in mind when selecting pins to own. Concerned that the Lightning flippers will be too tough on them, and don't want to swap with regular length ones.

That's really not too much of an issue. Just keep the outlanes easy and tell them not to go for the captive ball and they should be good. The table is simple enough for beginners to understand yet some of the shots you need for maximum points take a lot of good technique to master. I've been playing mine nonstop for the last couple of months and still have trouble being as consistent as I'd like. Especially with new rubbers and assuming everything is snappy and responsive, it's a very good pin for both beginners and long time players.

good rundown, thanks!