looking for a Williams Firepower to start off my collection!

[TUF-427]

Hi All,

As the title suggests I have been a long time pinball fan since playing all the late 70s and 80s greats,
and are finally in a position to buy my first machine,
of which I have a bit of a nostalgic softspot for the ahead of its time Firepower.
I have put the feelers out to most of the Pinball merchants and resellers,
Most suggest it might be a bit of a tough one to find in reasonable nick.
Anybody steer me in the right direction to any they know around,
or do you think I should look at something newer for my first pin?
I do have an electrical and electronic background,so would also consider a "project" one, if its worth the time and effort...
Also have a bit of a shortlist which includes F14,T2,Hispeed,Hispeed2 ,
which is funny as I have just discovered their all by the same designer the legendary Steve Ritchie,
I obviously like his flowing designs.
My head tells me to get a Getaway Hispeed2 machine first as it looks like theirs heaps of reasonable ones out there at reasonable cost,and wont be beaten in 5 minutes
Still the heart wants a FIREPOWER

Cheers Peter..

[Pop Bumper Pete]

 

you have good taste in games there

The Getaway and F-14 Tomcat, both games come up for sale often

Good luck in hunting them down

[pinnies4me]

 

Great list of first options Peter. FP going to be hard, took me ages to find one and it's fairly average condition (mostly a crappy backglass badly sealed), but one heck of a game, wish you all the best in your hunt.

HS2 while not the deepest game of its era is an absolute blast to play. Personally I'm on FP's side, but HS2 will be way easier to source.

[FirePower]

Fine choice to go for as your first game.  They do turn up on ebay from time to time but if it's your first it might pay to get someone with pin experience to have a look with you first.

Also a few containers of this vintage pin coming in, there is a thread on here for one Markc has and The Pinballshed in Bris has a container of this vintage coming very soon.

Finally if you like these machines maybe also have a look at for a Flash, same designer and similar flow.  Good luck, you'll enjoy it when you get it.

[Retropin]

Firepower - great game with a bugger of a 3rd ball lock.
Wait and see what turns uip in the shipments.. theres a few coming their way here.
FP isnt hard to restore either... PF can be a bit of a pain, but if you can get one with a decent PF, then cabinet can be fixed very simply.
Good luck finding one.. and welcome to the forum   

[Strangeways]

  and  to Aussie Pinball 

It would be harder to track down a nice Firepower, and since it sounds like your "holy Grail" pinball, be patient and one will turn up. I'd go with a HS2 while you wait for a Firepower. This will keep you occupied while you wait.

[ddstoys]

Welcome to AP and as everyone said firepower is a great game and well worth waiting for.   I'm currently building one from a nice playfield I bought.  Good luck

[chris288]

Hi And  .

As the others have said, great game and there should be heaps out there as they made heaps of em, but sadly most are pretty hammered from what I've seen.

On the upside, there are plenty here with Firepower resto experience and ideas on how to fix crappy playfields etc.
I think CPR may be doing a new playfield too at some stage.

I think the hardest thing about Firepower is most of the back glasses are crap and getting a good one aint easy.

[TUF-427]

Hey Thanks all for the welcome and great advice and opinions,

I have noticed theirs just about every piece available for resto of firepower apart from playfields,

I think theirs someone in the states doing backglasses for them.

Lots of electronics and upgrades it seems too..

Your right I think I should be patient for one,

Maybe A HS2 will keep me occupied for awhile...next to convince the wife why we need more than one....

Cheers Peter..

[FirePower]

I think theirs someone in the states doing backglasses for them.

Look carefully at the repo BGs - one series is clearly different around the orange colour up the top in the Fire Power title.

If you want to do the electronic work yourself yoyu might find the sys6 of earlier games easier to get on top off than WPC of later games, maybe counterbalancing this is WPC being younger should have less issues and higher reliablity.

Anyway a good "problem" for you to have.
 

[ktm450]

Hey Thanks all for the welcome and great advice and opinions,

I have noticed theirs just about every piece available for resto of firepower apart from playfields,

I think theirs someone in the states doing backglasses for them.

Lots of electronics and upgrades it seems too..

Your right I think I should be patient for one,

Maybe A HS2 will keep me occupied for awhile...next to convince the wife why we need more than one....

Cheers Peter..

  Peter, you'll be able to impress the wife if you get the HS2 first, my wife does'nt play my pins often but if she does she goes for the HS2, I know she would struggle to enjoy a FP as much, not that is is a lesser title, it is just a harder game for a noobie to get into.  HS2 rewards you with a great light show DMD and much easier to obtain mulitball.  Once she gets used to HS2 you'll be able to drop the FP on her for a little more challenge.

[TUF-427]

Great reading and Pics on the FP playfield resto being done,

and the DDStoys Playfield up Machine rebuild,

looks like nothings impossible if your prepared for the time involved..

Ktm450 Agreed HS2 will appeal to a lot more players,

Makes plenty of noise and light and the rules arent the most complex in a 90s machine...

Firepower Thanks for the heads up on the backglasses would be a hard thing to ship from the states safely anyway I think....

Going to be in the states actually in a couple of weeks time will have to check out the Vegas pinball Hall of fame while im there...

[solar value]

How did you go finding a firepower? Have been a lot around lately.

[TUF-427]

Yep have found one! will start a thread with pics shortly...

[4_amusement_only]

Congrats, look forward to that.