i recently acquired an Tomcat machine im Holland sitting without legs and glass sheet..

basically sitting there left for dead.. and that is the way i found it.. but the farm guy told me i could pick it up for FREE
so i picked it up.. even there is no beacon motor .. reflectors and beacons.. no glass sheet.. and no legs but the rest is not that bad!

alltough an couple of inserts has been a little bit raised unfortunally.. but the most are level still!

anyway im seeking for the complete F14-Tomcat Topper light assembly.. some previous owner removed that whole section completly also there should be an little electronic print to engage the motor at times.. that little square print has been removed too but still for an free to get game i cant really complain.

what should you guys do with this game.. shop it or break it apart for parts?

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uhmm i have skills to fix the game and some skills to restore, but i could use some help with it here and there.. i would love to get this to work again, as i am an pinball fan.. my dad said at the time we picked it up is this machine worthwhile to even pickup for free? i said out loud yes offcourse!! (he doesnt know what games sell for at all, all he sees is an trashed game sitting on the ground.. time is no issue,. money is an bit of an concern but i dont have to do this like overnight..

about the game itself.. what is good and bad.. the game is an later run.. it has the red flashers at the back! it doesnt have the 2 bad flashers at the O and A top letters from TOM CAT which caused havoc on early games

The Good is

Translite is 100%
Cabinet.. well for an 27year old game id say not that bad! NOT faded..
but definently not collectors quality.. but it can be made like that..
Speaker panel and plastic is good, right spinner is in place and looks fine
most plastics are dirty but seems allright ( right slingshot have an crack )
all electronic prints seems to be ok..batteries didnt leaked acid. no obvious printhacks as far as i can tell..
i didnt booted the game yet,. so might be totally bad or maybe im lucky and it just runs.. the farmer dude told me he bought the game 5 years ago in working condition for 175 euro.. i wish i founded that for that kind of money in working condition. im happy with the farm dude that he is keen enough just to give me the game for free, but that he dumped the game like trash in his barn maded me feel like Grrrr..

the bad

as i allready told the beacons are gone - so no lights on top.. the whole motor and driver electronics for the topper light has been removed (i dont know the reason of that) but its gone

no playfield glass.. and no legs.. i looked after them in that big place i couldnt find them

playfield has an couple of arrows which are raised above the playfield level, just an couple of them. i readed that it has been possible to make them level again.. so i need to look into that.. but apart of dust and debris on the playfield.. not so bad.. the game has full mylar.. at places where there is no mylar there is those swirl cracks! which is something i want to look into to fix, is there even any fix for that to make it better?

the ramp habitrails has been rusted a bit.. but i guess i can fix them right with some metal grease?
i cant think of something else at this time to say about it.. im thinking about fixxing the game the best.. and restore it the best i can,. im an pinball player after all.. i wanna play this and yes i should make an new topic about this.. or just rename this topic into the restore F14 Topic later on