F14 Tomcat resto

[Mr Pinbologist]

Hi guys, here's another resto i've been working on for a client from the Central Coast NSW (Umina Beach).

The owner of this F14 Tomcat contacted me thru my Facebook business page a little over a year ago wanting a total restore on his game that he bought from a mate of his. At the time i was up to my arse in tonyt's Ali resto as well as a couple of others (Buccaneer and a Card Whiz), so i was a little reluctant to take on anything else.

Anyway to cut a long story short, i agreed to let him bring the game up to me so long as he understood i couldn't start on it straight away which he accepted.

Time for some pics; game as received;









Right hand side... YIKES!!!! What a mess!!











Playfield; at first glance looked not too bad but had some mylar lifting over the inserts and lifting at a few of its edges.
Also some fading of the reds..








Upper flipper parts missing  





And some hackery of some of the under playfield boards!!




It became obvious early in the piece i'd have my work cut out for me  

[Mr Pinbologist]

I started with the cabinet, regluing delaminated ply and loose corners etc













I'd already decided i was going to use decals to re-do the cab art, i had them made by a local sign printer company
Here are the two cab sides;





Bottom panel was replaced, it was originally chipboard and was in a pretty sorry state.









Cab corners where the legs bolt on were cactus so i routed out the rotted sections and inlaid new ply.









Primer coats done, this step had to be repeated several times due to the condition of the cab rhs (primer/spot putty/more primer etc)







Since i used MDF to replace the bottom, and that i would be applying the decals using the soapy water method, i sealed the bottom with Cabots polyeurthane clear.







I'd already primed the backbox then found MORE delaminating ply that i had to reglue





Back Panel and cab edges sprayed with matt black acrylic to match the decal finish.









Backbox warning test was preserved rather than replaced with a decal, i masked off the text with frisket and sprayed the back in matt black.







I sprayed a matt clear over the back of the backbox to seal in the text and touchups i had to do on the text.







End results of the decals after application.

This was my first attempt at doing cab decals, and i was shitting broken glass at the thought of things going wrong, but with some help from my brother it all went pretty well!

[swinks]

top work mate, looks great

[DSB]

What an improvement. That's a lot of work you've put in to the cabinet.

[4_amusement_only]

Great stuff - a heap of prep work there

[Strangeways]

Thats a massive amount of work. I absolutely detest laminating timber. You think you have it all done and 2 days later - raised timber. However, you have done really well - craftsman standards - without a doubt. I'll be following this restoration with interest as I have three to do in the next few years, and I enjoy playing this title alot !

Well done so far - and if you need anything game specific - just drop me a PM. RTBB has the plastic set and we are looking at other items. The Clear and Blue domes should be here soon.

[Mr Pinbologist]

Thanks for the kind words guys  

Thats a massive amount of work. I absolutely detest laminating timber. You think you have it all done and 2 days later - raised timber. However, you have done really well - craftsman standards - without a doubt. I'll be following this restoration with interest as I have three to do in the next few years, and I enjoy playing this title alot !

Well done so far - and if you need anything game specific - just drop me a PM. RTBB has the plastic set and we are looking at other items. The Clear and Blue domes should be here soon.

Thanks Nino, there are a few items i will need to complete the resto, will send a PM  
I already have the plastics set ready that i bought from you a year ago, (the client was pretty adamant that he wanted new ones).

And yes you are spot on about the delaminating timber, had that happen a few times  
And also splits appearing in the ply after a week was another setback i had. That happened on the back of the cab AFTER i had done the matt black  and i had to redo the back

But with the good ol' dependable acrylic paints i had it cut out, filled, primed and painted in a day!!

In the end i let this cab sit for a month before i applied the decals to make sure it had all settled properly.

[goodolddays]

Awesome job so far Mitch 

[pinnies4me]

That is looking awesome!

[Mr Pinbologist]

Some more progress pics;

Backbox lamp insert panel repainted and refitted.







Boards etc reinstalled back into the backbox.
 
Power supply was recapped and i relocated that battery holder off the MPU board





Powered up and checking boards etc.





New cab protectors fitted, to protect the decals from damage from the legs.





New legs and bolts. The legs came with new leg levellers (not yet fitted in these pics).






The game is also getting new side rails from Railways Pinball Hadrware, as the originals had a few nasty dents in them.
So after contacting the customer, he is happy to pay a little extra and go with new ones. Should look SWEET with the new rails!!

[Brettski]

Love your work! great attention to detail.. :)

Brettski... :)

[Mr Pinbologist]

Time to move onto the playfield;

Playfield being stripped and mylar removed.











Of course some of the paint came up with the mylar didn't it  it could've been a LOT worse i guess. Although nearly ALL of the insert text came off as it usually does!







I had a few raised inserts that needed to be levelled and reglued.







Insert text replaced.. i used waterslide decals for this.





Many of the inserts were completely removed and sanded clean before being reinstalled and glued.















Someone at some stage had drilled a couple of holes in front of the top rh standup targets  just WHY is a bit of a mystery!!
The holes were filled of course!







Faded reds being redone, they were masked up and airbrushed after sanding clean and smooth (and filled where needed).
Middle section being redone.











Lower section being masked up with frisket and airbrushed;






Touchups completed and mylar applied 

NOW the FUN part can commence.. reassembly!!

[spacejam0]

That's looking very nice. Great work.

[Strangeways]

Playfields are always trashed on this game. VERY popular back in the day. Nearly all games I've seen have lots of wear and raised inserts. But it is such a great game !

[Mr Pinbologist]

Time for another update;

Coin door repainted and refitted.
I painted this with satin black, then used gloss black for the speckle finish to recreate the original finish as close as could manage.





And new side rails from Railways Pinball Hardware fitted.







And some playfield assembly progress pics;

Lots of new parts going into this restore...
Bumper body and skirt; crappy old.. and new





Bumper switch spoon was totally worn out!!











Some work to be done under the playfield;





Who the f@#k put a Gottlieb in a Williams game 
This was replaced with the correct coil of course!!





Stainless guides were all regrained before being refitted.

Some of the standup targets were stuffed as well so they were replaced.









Plastics are brand new (thanks Nino)    the plastic posts are brand new too.