Hi everyone, I have 2 F14 Tomcats that i've been working on and i finally have both working 100%.  So now i'm at a point where i need to decide which to keep but there is one difference during game play that bugs me.  When i play the prototype and the ball makes contact with the left or right sling there is a flasher that goes off along with the solinoid.  The flasher is located under the plastics in the outlane.  But on the regular production machine the flasher don't go off when the ball hits the sling.  The flashers only go off during multiball.  For me the flashers are bling and I'd like to see them go off more, not less.  If you own a proto (someone does, not sure who though) do your flashers go off with the sling and if you have a regular production do or don't yours go off?  In test mode the flashers work also.  A friend mentioned it may be the rom version, which i have to check..

Another thing, on both machines I can't find where Flasher 7 is?  In test mode all the flashers work, but #7 flashers seem not to exist and the manual points to 2 flasher caps that don't have sockets or wiring?  Actually the proto does have wiring under the pf that has no destination in that area but i haven;t checked to see if its connected to the flashers.  Is this the same with everyone?

There are other things to consider but those are cosmetics mainly.  

Don't mather.... sale me one of this F14  

Two flashers were removed in later machines due to shorts with the targets. That might explain #7 flasher missing.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Two flashers were removed in later machines due to shorts with the targets. That might explain #7 flasher missing.

Yup, was service bulletin #41
http://www.ipdb.org/files/804/Williams_1987_F_14_Tomcat_Service_Bulletin_41.pdf

Hey cool, that pic is of my F-14 proto with all 4 flashers from IPDB...neato!
If yours is early enough, the wiring should be all there tucked underneath still.

Stan

NICE!  The wiring is still all under the pf, orange soldered and taped and the white/vio also.  I'm not sure how early a model i have.  The roms are labeled proto 4 or 5...its late and i can't remember.   It has the clear white dome lite, clear flasher caps in the back and some weird speaker covers.  The aren't vented, look a little home made and there are no speakers in the head, they are wired seperate and some cheap speakers are mounted on top.  I was told it was displayed in Chicago at a convention/show and made its way up here?   No X in the serial number.

Couldn't they have come up with a solution rather than removing the sockets all together?  It explains why i couldn't find those wires on my reg. production run F-14.

Damn...what to do.

Quoted from Pinballed

Hey cool, that pic is of my F-14 proto with all 4 flashers from IPDB...neato!
If yours is early enough, the wiring should be all there tucked underneath still.

Stan

So, in solinoid test mode.  Are those the #7 flashers?

I wonder if the whole shorting of those two flashers would be moot if LED bulbs were used instead. My machine is too late though, it doesn't have the wiring. How hard would it be to add wiring? Do the latest ROMs still activate the flashers?

Well, I really don't know but in coil test mode, both the prototype and regular production machine have a test for Flasher 7, and it does nothing on either machine.  To me that would indicate its still programed in.  

Hey Pinballed, any way you could go into coil test on your F14 proto to see which flashers are activated for #7 flasher?

yeah, but not for a week or just less maybe. I'm moving and I just packed them up!

Stan