Install: F-14 Tomcat, Playfield protector

[Luckydogg420]

A couple weeks ago I ordered a playfield protector from http://www.bestofpinball.de/catalog/index.php for my f14 game. I though this was a great solution for me for a couple different reasons and it also had a good review on pinball news. http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/playfi ... index.html

I liked the fact that for a noobie like me, I wouldn't have to remove the underside of the playfield, I like that i wouldn't have to remove the cracked chevron inserts that I can't find replacements for, I like that this is not a permanent addition to the game so I have the option to clearcoat in the future if it doesn't turn out, but most of all, I like knowing that my game won't be out of service for months on end.

The web site said 119€. They only billed me 100€, they might have had a sale, I don't know, I'm not complaining. Shipping and convertion to Canadian and then a surprise duty charge...it ended up costing about $200. I'd imagine if I totally stripped my playfield then had to take it to a local auto shop for clear coating it would be $75-$100, but again I don't know.

My playfield was rough, many raised inserts, most only 1/32" but enough for the ball to be effected, and enough to make clear coating a pain in the ass, the proper way to fix this would be to remove all the inserts, polish them, reinstall the inserts and spray on the clear. That process takes along time, and I know I have cracked inserts that I can't replace.

To install the playfield protector I will need to remove the wire habitrails, most of the playfield plastics, some ball gates and the inlanes. I have already removed the factory Mylar for my game, it was very bubbly, pulling up in corners and ugly looking. While removing the Mylar I pulled some paint up, very little, worse on inserts where the Mylar was bubbled.



The worst paint loss was above the pop bumper, but all and all the playfield looks good

 

[Luckydogg420]

I removed the wire habitrails and plastics
The center

The top

The slings

And finally the flippers are removed. These remove by loosening one nut each under the playfield


The playfield protector comes with a piece of plastic on either side for shipping, so I thought it would be a good time to have a dry fit




Looks like it fits well, so I pulled it back out. Here are a couple shots of the backside of the protector

 

[Luckydogg420]

I had pre ordered new decals for the inserts already, because I had anticipated that this machine would be clear coated some day, I decided to use them now. I've read a coupe different ways to remove the silk screened image on inserts and also "how to repair clearcoat" threads

I wanted to remove the old graphics and stick on the decals before I put the playfield protector down. To do this I used a hobby knife with a square chisel blade on it.

I held the knife at a 90deg angle to the insert and scraped toward me kinda like a pencil. I started by attacking it like a chisel and pushing and gouging at the insert, not a good idea, I quickly found the knife dug into the insert, oops.

So I went slowly and scraped off the old paint, and stuck on the new decals.


I don't know if I would recommend doing this. The final look of the decals stuck on the "cleaned up" inserts is better then the bubbly Mylar, and it looks better then the chipped paint that was left after the Mylar removal. The decal font size was just a little off of the original, so just sticking the decals on the old paint wasn't an option. The final look is nowhere as nice as a polished insert but it works here.

I cleaned like a mo-fo, micro fiber clothes, dyson vacuum...

This is the finished product. You can see the edge of the playfield protector on the left side of the picture. The gloss is nice and better then these pics show.

Here you can see how the protector is cut around playfield bits




All of these pictures have been taken with my blackberry so the picture quality is not the best.

 

[Luckydogg420]

And here are some more pics with more light in the room

 

[Luckydogg420]

Now to game play. Because the look is awesome!

Is it flat?

No. The gravel road of inserts in now a barely noticeable smooth playfield, but on the one or two inserts that stuck out the farthest, I still notice a slight hill, I'm ok with this, before the ball could catch an edge of an insert and veer off track, now there's no edge to catch. This is way nicer to play on. The game is quieter now. The sound of the ball rolling around is different, but before it would crinkle over the bubbles in the Mylar so this is way better.

 

[Luckydogg420]

The first problem I found was the center right kicker. The ball was catching the edge of the protector when it was being kicked out. This sent the ball flying over the spinner and into the plastics, instead of under it. To fix the problem I simply loosened the kicker trough, put a thin spacer under it and tighten it up again. Now the kicker trough sits level with the playfield protector, eliminating the edge that the ball was getting launched off of.

Still enjoying this game.