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In Progress F-14 Tomcat shop log

Decided the speakers were a bit too loud (to look at), plus easily damaged, without the covers. So I got some fairly plain grilles to put on the top. Here they are fitted. The DMD is displaying my P-ROC boot-up logo...
Grill.jpg

Having picked up an LED strip to use somewhere on my playfield (thanks Andy)!, I had an idea to do something with the speaker panel. So I picked up a roll of red LED strip from Ebay and added them to the panel around the inside of each speaker cutout. With the P-ROC I'll be able to switch these on or off under software control. Maybe "Afterburner Multiball" or something, with the autolaunch that it'll have I get lots of options.

Afterburners on ......
Burners1.jpg

And in the dark (they're not quite as bright as the photo makes out) .....

Burners2.jpg

and mounted in the machine .....

Cab.jpg

These LED strips are quite cool and cheap too. I think I'm going to hide some of them around the playfield and then switch them on and the GI off for some new modes.
 
That looks great and really works with the theme.
I have used those LED strips to bring light to places that are dark but usually as normal GI, if you can get them to come on with other modes that would be even better.
 
So, my metalwork finally came back from the powdercoaters. They made me promise not to bring them candy powder work again :)

Very pleased with the result though. Here's a photo of some of the pieces. Anything looking like a blemish is just a reflection. Now it's off for the cab to be done with Jady's design and Jim's printed decals, I'll post some pics when I have some. I'm also going to tone down that speaker panel a bit; keeping the afterburner lighting but I think back to normal sized speakers.DSCN4138 (Medium).JPG
 
That's a pretty good candy red that looks red and not pink.
Should look pretty sweet when installed, can't wait to see it all together.
 
replicas said:
That's a pretty good candy red that looks red and not pink.
Should look pretty sweet when installed, can't wait to see it all together.
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It's turned out a nice red, in some lights and from some angles it's red, through to burgundy and then a kind of purply-pink sometimes too. Never going to know how it really looks though until it's all back together on the machine.....
 
Snux said:
It's turned out a nice red, in some lights and from some angles it's red, through to burgundy and then a kind of purply-pink sometimes too. Never going to know how it really looks though until it's all back together on the machine.....
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looks cool be interesting to see how well the metal wireform holds up
 
TYHO said:
looks cool be interesting to see how well the metal wireform holds up
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Time will tell I guess. The folks that did the coating did a test on a spare piece of steel they had. After it had cooled down from the oven, they bent it in half and the coat didn't flake or crack, so I'm hopeful it'll hold up.
 
Snux said:
So, my metalwork finally came back from the powdercoaters. They made me promise not to bring them candy powder work again :)

Very pleased with the result though. Here's a photo of some of the pieces. Anything looking like a blemish is just a reflection. Now it's off for the cab to be done with Jady's design and Jim's printed decals, I'll post some pics when I have some. I'm also going to tone down that speaker panel a bit; keeping the afterburner lighting but I think back to normal sized speakers.View attachment 5784
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Would you mind sharing who did the powder-coating and approximate cost?

I'm thinking about doing the legs for my PARAGON and just wanted to get a ballpark idea of price for doing a set of legs.

My next door neighbour runs a small business making bespoke audio panels, which he powder-coats himself. Unfortunately his current oven isn't large enough to fit a pinball leg! Shame as the ovens are nothing special. You can powder coat in a domestic home oven - it only needs to get to around 180'C.
 
I used a company called Performance Powdercoating in Canterbury. They really used my parts as a learning experience (they learned that they don't want to do candy work ever again), so the price I paid isn't really a good indication. If you're just looking at 4 legs, in a "standard" colour (so not candy or metallic), I reckon you'd be looking at £60 or so, but that's just a guess....
 
The cab is heading down to sunny Worthing next Friday for Manny to do his thing. I'll post some photos when I get it back...
 
The backbox hinge is original, that's how a lot of the System 11 machines work. And yup, that's a Zafira. It's a bit gutless at 1.6 litre but it swallows pinball machines whole :)

Machine is with Manny now. Wished that I'd unwrapped all the metal work that came back from the powdercoaters as one of the siderails is quite a noticeably different shade to the other. Didn't spot it until Manny and I were talking over things and finished all the unwrapping. The room is fairly dark though, so it won't show too much I hope once it's all done.
 
Snux said:
The backbox hinge is original, that's how a lot of the System 11 machines work. And yup, that's a Zafira. It's a bit gutless at 1.6 litre but it swallows pinball machines whole :)
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If you don't mind would you be able to take a few close-up photos of the hinges when your machine returns from Manny, please? I think I might do the same to my Paragon, which currently just lifts off after undoing 4 bolts.

And I've got a Zafira too! Mine has slightly more oomph with a 1.8 but I still couldn't slide Paragon in with the backbox on top. It had to go in down the side. Paragon was one of Bally's SUPER-WIDE games (Future Spa, Paragon, Space Invaders, Hot Doggin' and Embryon) and it's an enormous beast!
 
RudeDogg1 said:
you must have deep pockets, love his work but bleddy expensive
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Deep pockets? Not really. That's why it went to Worthing in a 9 year old Zafira! Some folks will buy pins for a grand or two (or more) . Some folks have lots of pins. I've got 2 (including this F14) and never spent over £900 buying a machine (so far anyway). So I think it's all relative really.

Sure, Manny isn't cheap but I like him (having met him for the first time today) and what he does and there's not exactly a whole lot of folks offering up that kind of work (although I know a few others do good work but not really on a commercial basis). Things like playfield swaps, electronics work on boards and programming with the P-ROC I can do myself no problem. But when it comes to woodworking and the kind of things that doing a cab needs I won't touch it with a barge pole as it'll just look crap since I don't have the skills, patience or tools to do it. It's also the first and last machine that'll get all this treatment anyway as it's my "memories" machine and won't be leaving. With Manny's bill, plus the powdercoating, plus the repro playfield imported from the US when they are released shortly, plus the PC to go in for running the P-ROC, plus the DMD and so on it's just a labour of love in the end, a one-off. Other pins will come and go, but this one is going to have some bling. Not to everyone's taste (and never to mine before either) but I decided to go for it, just this once. I think it's going to look cool.

If those repro playfields get released in April (that's the date PPS had when I last checked a couple of weeks ago), then it'll be May before it arrives here, so I don't suppose the machine will be back together before the middle of the summer if I get enough spare time to get the playfield sorted out, so no hurry. I'm also going to be fitting an autolaunch to this once it's done, to give the P-ROC re-write more interesting multiball options.

More pics as and when I get some....
 
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Snux said:
Deep pockets? Not really. That's why it went to Worthing in a 9 year old Zafira! Some folks will buy pins for a grand or two (or more) . Some folks have lots of pins. I've got 2 (including this F14) and never spent over £900 buying a machine (so far anyway). So I think it's all relative really.

Sure, Manny isn't cheap but I like what he does and there's not exactly a whole lot of folks offering up that kind of work (although I know a few others do). Things like playfield swaps, electronics work on boards and programming with the P-ROC I can do myself no problem. But when it comes to woodworking and the kind of things that doing a cab needs I won't touch it with a barge pole as it'll just look crap since I don't have the skills, patience or tools to do it. It's also the first and last machine that'll get all this treatment anyway as it's my "memories" machine and won't be leaving. With Manny's bill, plus the powdercoating, plus the repro playfield imported from the US when they are released shortly, plus the PC to go in for running the P-ROC, plus the DMD and so on it's just a labour of love in the end, a one-off. Other pins will come and go, but this one is going to have some bling. Not to everyone's taste (and never to mine before either) but I decided to go for it, just this once.

If those repro playfields get released in April (that's the date PPS had when I last checked a couple of weeks ago), then it'll be May before it arrives here, so I don't suppose the machine will be back together before the middle of the summer if I get enough spare time to get the playfield sorted out, so no hurry. I'm also going to be fitting an autolaunch to this once it's done, to give the P-ROC re-write more interesting multiball options.

More pics as and when I get some....
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wasn't having a go I like his work, I look forward to see the end results
 
This F14 sounds like it's going to be awesome! I've only played it once (at UKPP last year) and it was such a blisteringly fast game. I loved the bit in the middle where balls launched at the game start drop into and then fire off again at supersonic speed. Mental.
 
Nedreud said:
If you don't mind would you be able to take a few close-up photos of the hinges when your machine returns from Manny, please? I think I might do the same to my Paragon, which currently just lifts off after undoing 4 bolts.
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Sure, but you can probably get some photos from other folks on the group that have something of a similar vintage quicker than waiting on me to get this back from Manny
 
Snux said:
It's OK, I knew you weren't having a go. Explaining my reasoning on here for spending this money on a (nearly) 30 year old machine is just a practise run in case my wife decides to ask someday how much this is costing :)
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I know where your coming from Ive spent way to much on the firepower than I probly should have but I believe if your gonna do a job you might as well do it properly.... Plus im really anal. Plus knowing it was Dave Ralfs project that never was and seeing the love he has on here it seemed like the right thing to do
 
Nedreud said:
This F14 sounds like it's going to be awesome! I've only played it once (at UKPP last year) and it was such a blisteringly fast game. I loved the bit in the middle where balls launched at the game start drop into and then fire off again at supersonic speed. Mental.
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Yes, it's not a deep game but it is an adrenaline rush. I'm intending to make it somewhat deeper (each of the 7 KILLs will be awarded on completion of some mission or other) and by adding an autolaunch I can get it even madder I think, being able to start a 4 ball multi-ball without needing to get each one into a lock first should be cool.
 
I've still never made it to one of the shows. We're away for the slam next month (not that the machine would be ready anyway) and we're also away for the UKPP this year. Maybe next year sometime. Hopefully I'll have the new software up and running by then.....
 
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