A question for those who have Installed hardtops. Did you add back mylar around the pop bumpers over top the hardtop?

No, not needed. Mylar is to protect wood and paint, it would be superfluous to also put it on the hardtop.

The Hardtop material is more durable than Mylar.

Can you point me to the correct baseplate for the upper right flipper?

This?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-613-41

This plate come in 2 versions, early with holes for 8-32 screws for the coil stop and the later has 10-32 holes. You have to make sure your coil stops have the large holes if you use this one. If in doubt, call Marco to verify.

Also did you know that the Bally plates are reversible? You will notice that not all of the holes are used after the flipper mech is assembled. Also the holes (if unused before) will not have threads. The beauty here is that the original Bally screws are self tapping. The black screws are great for this. All you have to do is start the screw in the virgin hole and turn it in with a screw driver. No special tools needed. Make sure the screw is strait when you start it. It will be a little snug on the first few turns. Back the screw out and then re-thread until the screw turns free. If nobody had done this on your flippers before, you can swap the left and right bases but you still may need to replace the upper.

The original part number is ASE-1587-112. That can be cross referenced at either Pinball Resource or Marco.

Helpful item if you own an FG or some of the other Bally games from then. Go to:

http://www.planetarypinball.com/reference/partsmanuals/BLY_Parts_1980-1/files/mobile/index.html#1

That's a parts catalog. Super helpful, although you are best to print it. the way it is copied can be a challenge if you are just reading a PDF - pay attention to the page numbers...

Best of luck and have fun.

Looking for a left black arch plastic, last shot before contemplating a new set. Anyone?

I did end up finding a bracket.

New to flipper rebuilding. What are the various ways you might know it's needed for this machine? What flipper issues have you encountered?

Rebuilding flippers on a Flash Gordon is a great idea. In my case, it helps the silver ball go on the upper playfield for sure.

That said, I learn as well that is not a guarantee for a better score, unfortunately! ;o)

Cheers,

Chris

If coil stop is worn.
If the bat can be moved up and down while the flipper is energized
If the ball doesn't dead bounce well.
If bats go up a different amount
General slop in the mech

thanks for the help on flipper base plates. I did see that they are reversible and self-tapping with the black screws. The flipper kit helped a bunch. Some odd things: the set screws in the flipper kit are great - they were the bigger ones that stick out of the crank. I prefer those, but there are 3 places where you can put the 2 screws and neither are ideal. One of them will interfere with the EOS at the top of the stroke, and maybe even prevent it from being pulled back by the spring. The other lines up with the nylon washer thing on the plunger, and is hard to get to. Maybe these pictures will help. I didn't get the coil lugs in the right spot the way I wanted to, per Vid recommendation. The other odd thing is the secondary EOS switch, which had the barrel-shaped plastic riser. Not as nice as the triangle one.

set screw in the way (resized).png

set screw in the way 2 (resized).png

I tried to get my strobe light working last night. The only thing I could see to do was replace two capacitors, so I did that. I also measured voltage looking for 115AC, but my game is getting 135, both at the strobe board pins 1&3, and also down below at the 2 red wires coming out of the smaller transformer. That's too high - any suggestions?
Here's the thing - after I replaced the caps and put the strobe back in - I swear it strobed on the first boot! I saw it - 4 flashes I think. Never saw it again after that though. Any strobe suggestions are appreciated.

Maybe your meter is off. What voltage do you have coming into the game from the wall? Anyway, I don't think 135 would matter in the short run on the strobe board. Sounds like the flash bulb might have crapped out.

You tighten/loosen one screw with the flipper in the engaged position, and then tighten/loosen the other screw with the flipper in the disengage position.

If anyone wants a hardtop for FG, I'm selling mine. Picked up a CPR instead:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/95214

Congrats on finding your CPR playfield. I've been looking for one for quite a while. Hoping CPR will release digital version soon.

OEM had set screws that fit inside the collar of the flipper pawl assembly...
The set screws also had a strip of nylon impregnated into it so it would not
come loose.

Greetings Earthlings, new to the group here after picking up a nicely restored FG a couple of months ago.

Like many I hated this game when it came out, it was too fast, too complicated and too downright mean. I got really good at Xevious until the local snack bar replaced it with 8 Ball Deluxe which I was regularly booted from the bar with +20 credits in the bank...I was no stooge even back then, but FG got the better of me a lot.

Some 37+ years later I finally confirmed the 25 X bonus collect shot which is worth 475,000 not including the spinner values so probably 520,000+ points. There is something really satisfying hearing the bonus rack up at such speed that the digital sounds concertina to a standing wave.

I'm not sure if there is another single ball game that rewards a player for maxing out the bonus features (multiplier, top and bottom) in an orderly fashion then survives not only the chance to fall into the centre pop-out too soon, but Ming's sinister ways...only to have 15 seconds to hit the skill shot that is notoriously unaccommodating even when hit perfectly.

That was a 2,000,000+ first ball. The rest of the game was anti-climactic in no small part due to the sizzling temporal lobes trying to process "did I just do that?"

This game is more than next-level addictive. When you know how to get this skill shot set up and beating high scores is a bit passe, there will always be this challenge...I'm afraid it was "a once in a lifetime" ball...but I'll be chasing it again and again and again...

I restored an FG about 6 years ago and sold it to a collector in Beverly Hills. He was a pinball fanatic with too much money and was buying pins like crazy. He kept it for a 2 weeks and traded it off. I lost track of it after that. Just wondering if it could be mine?

No,probably not...mine came from Germany, it has the 1DM / 5DM coin slots and no instruction sleeve.

I am the owner of FG # 8396. I have a question about my cabinet volume control. I wondered how many other FG owners might have this same setup. My volume control knob is located on a metal bracket in front of the tilt panel, on the left side frame of where the coin box goes. My coin door had no volume knob mounted to it. The volume control wires (black, orange, & white) were snipped at the molex connector to the coin door. These were tapped to go to the volume control further up the harness. Does anyone else have their cabinet volume control like this?

DSC04399 (resized).JPG

DSC04406 (resized).JPG

It appears that somebody swapped the coin door from an earlier game that didn't have a volume control, Eg. Star Trek, doors w/o SBA slots. So then they removed the volume pot from the original door to the cab. Otherwise they would have had to add wiring to the new coin door to add the volume switch there.

So you want to repaint your Flash Gordon cabinet, yet keep the rest of the house (especially SWMBO) happy by not fuming up the whole house from paint smell and also keeping overspray in the garage to a minimum? You take some 1" PVC, some 4mil plastic sheeting, duct tape, wire ties, and some 20" fans and you build this: 8' by 8' by 7' (448 cu ft), and the fans produce 2500CFM. Air turns over in the booth once every 12 seconds......not professional quality, but it works!

FC4BCDE6-6931-4050-A9CC-BC9BF4385E7E.jpeg

7AF70147-8F15-41F9-B502-DB9A0C07B59D.jpeg

D5F5F6EE-1605-41F4-99EE-AD86332D1E2B.jpeg

97DE0891-8BF7-429D-B8B5-AA95EE4A43ED.jpeg

Paint it outside

Alabama summer sun, humidity, and bugs.....not happening!

Very nice! I built one like this that I hang on the rails for my overhead garage door.

your middle name's not Dexter is it?

I just added the apron cards I designed for our machine to our UpKick Pinside shop. I based them off of the plastic art and the wording from the original flyer. $6 for the set of laminated cards or $4 each. Free shipping.

Flash gordon info card (resized).JPG

flash gordon instruction (resized).jpg

I also love the coin inserts I made using the drop target art. $5 each.

1d93335cdcc3f1032882da9f7e59e857dc2c9ed5 (resized).jpg

Klytus (resized).jpg

I replaced the bottom left flipper on my game, and noticed that it looked bigger than the one on the right (which seemed stuck to the point of my being unable to pry it out). The resulting space between the ball guide is smaller, so much so that the metal digs into the rubber at the top of the flip and the flipper gets stuck in place frequently. I thought I got the right parts from Marco. Advice?

IMG_20200601_190936028 (resized).jpg

Right side one is definitely wrong

The right side is the wrong flipper style. That's a WMS style flipper bat . The one on the left is correct.

I would try to readjust the lane guides. They might have been moved closer to compensate for the wrong flippers.

That was my impression. The irony is that the right one plays great. I looked to see if I could adjust the lane guide (you're right it may have been adjusted), but it's not clear to me how I'd go about doing that.

If you can't get it smooth, buy some enhanced guides from Cliffy.

Start by ordering the correct flippers (left style) and correct flipper bushings. All parts available at PinpallLife. If after the change you absolutely can’t get the lane guides perfect you could always (and very simple) drill out the (2) screw holes very slightly in the metal guides say 1/16” larger. That change would never be seen but would allow plenty of up/down/side adjustment. Good luck, really fun game.

I don't think I'll try to adjust. I'll take a look at the Cliffy guides and probably just order a new set. It looks like the alignment of my left one is off (probably from years of being hit by the ball), so it's probably easiest to just replace. This game had a lot of wear on it when I got it, and I've been slowly updating parts.

They look very rough and like you said, probably better off replacing the lane guides anyway. The Cliffy lane guides are a little bit longer than the factory guides, so you may end up with the same issue and might have to make some adjustments anyway.

Simple adjustments just require loosening up the 2 screws holding the lane guide in place and moving the lane guide as needed.

Also, having the Williams style bats makes me suspicious of the flipper mechs as well. Have they been swapped out?

I just rebuilt that entire flipper because it was both getting stuck and wouldn't hold when cradling, so all the flipper mechs are now rock solid. I can actually see an area on the rubber where the lane guide has been eating into it. How exactly do you adjust the lane guide? There seems no way to move it. There's simply a single hole each lane guide post is screwed to. No way to move up/down or laterally (a la post adjustment on modern games).

Thanks!

You can only move the lane guides as much as loosening the screw allows you to move it. 1/16-3/16 of an inch at most. Did you move the flipper plate at all? Just looking at it, it seems to be really tight to the lane guide.

When you get the new cliffy guides, you have an opportunity to enlarge the holes on the guide to allow a little bit of sliding up and down, as Yelobird mentioned doing. The other, less invasive option, is to try Titan thin flipper rubber. I have them on my game since I get a little bit of flipper hop when the ball comes down in the inlanes. They're called "low bounce standard" now.

https://www.titanpinball.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52

I didn't realize moving the flipper plate was possible. Will give that a try. Thanks.

I didn't realize moving the flipper plate was possible. Will give that a try. Thanks.

So I was able to move the lane guide ever so slightly and now the rubber doesn't touch it at all...but the flipper still sticks. Interestingly, if I have the playfield lifted up to about 45 degrees, it moves just fine, but if it's at the normal pitch or about that, I can feel it clicking into its stuck position. The bushings were freshly replaced as part of a flipper rebuild kit. Not sure what else to do. Maybe try rotating the bushing?

Might be your crank is too high or low on the flipper shaft?

Theres something that is getting in the way with the playfield down if that's the case. Look to see what's causing the problem best you can with the playfield in the down position.

Unrelated, I think the switch on the single stand-up in front of the bonus collect shot needs to be replaced. I've tinkered with it to no end but it keeps reverting to auto-firing when the machine is bumped in the slightest. Which is the proper one to order? How hard is it to replace one of these?

Isn’t that switch just for scoring? When you say it autofires, do you mean it drops when it shouldn’t or it raises when it shouldn’t?

once it's dropped, it keeps making the blasting sound and awarding 10k points with the slightest agitation of the machine (flipping, nudging etc). annoying from a sound standpoint, but also totally screws up accurate scoring. i have done my best to clean the contact and to reposition the blades on the switch.

So it only does that when it is dropped, not up? If so, then it does sound like a problem with how the leaf switch is gapped. I suppose it could be the contacts as well if they aren’t clean. I guess from your original post you’re at the end of your wits trying to clean and position it correctly, so maybe starting with a new switch will do the trick.

Yeah, only does it when down. I cleaned and repositioned it awhile back and the issue resolved for a few weeks. There's quite a bit of wear and some rust (apparently) which I can only do so much about. It seems likes it's easy for it to contact and then gap by a fraction of an inch of movement, thus leading to this problem. It just looks like replacing switches is a bit more tedious work than I'm used to doing (I have less experience with the electrical stuff), so I was curious for people's take on working on these things.