ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

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BeechmereLake
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ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by BeechmereLake »

A few weeks ago I took delivery of one of the ABU Cardinal 66's, a true 1st version reel, long story short it was sold and the new owner now wants a complete refurb done to it to make it look like the reel I had done by Ray Moss.
As you will know Ray has recently just returned home from hospital after suffering severe burn injuries, on the mend now he reckons he will be back to normal in the new year, thing is Ray is old school, "sitting around doing nowt youth is nay good" as he reminded me.
So being a painter of 35 years I decided to play around with a couple of old dog reels I had here, plenty of rubbing down, cleaning, cussing and swearing I managed to do a couple of reels over a few days before I left for work in the morning, I would then come home and do more work on them before it got dark in the evenings.
With my results up to a reasonable standard ( one reel in particular) I had a chat with owner of the 66 and he was quite prepared to let me do all the preparation work on the reel, this in turn would save Ray all the hassle of rubbing down which his hands wont handle right now, 5 hours later and Im beginning to wonder why I started :Hahaha: undeterred I have reached a good standard of preparation and the reel is now boxed and on its way to Ray, we dont care if its this year or next year that the reel gets painted but I know the result will be prefect.
This is some of the work undertaken already.

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With the reel now broken down to its component parts every single part will be examined, I have already found one part that needs replacing which has been the Achilles heal of the bigger cardinals since these were made, a small plastic coupling on the back of the boomerang very often breaks and this is exactly what I found when trying to dis-assemble the reel.
Over time I will add to this post and show you the outcome of whats achieved.
Meanwhile this is my first attempt at doing a couple of reels for myself and trust me there will not be anymore.


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The "Stealth Bomber" silver reel as I call it now has a new badge on the base of the side plate reading Cardinal 44 instead of the Zebco badge which reads Cardinal 4. On badges I found something quite interesting on the 66 name plate which you can see in the pictures, the name Spurrong is cast into the back of the ultra rare name plate, I looked up this name and found some rather interesting history.
Sporrong is one of the oldest companies in Sweden. The business was founded in Stockholm on a cold February day back in 1666 by Master Henrik Grau, girdle-maker. Following several changes of name and owner, the business was taken over in 1842 by Carl Claes Sporrong, who also gave his name to the company. Today, production is carried out at the company’s own facilities in Finland and Estonia, or by authorised partners in other parts of the world. Sporrong has sales offices in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia and Latvia.
Sporrong Designs and crafts gifts and awards for every imaginable occasion - from honouring sports stars for their performance, to celebrate anniversaries at a company and rewarding employees for exceptional work or years of service
Last edited by BeechmereLake on Sun Sep 04, 2016 6:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by Dave Burr »

You should have kept quiet BL, I reckon there's going to be some arm twisting coming your way :Chuckle: You've done a great job on those old ABU's mate - superb.

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Davejass
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by Davejass »

Lovely work BL! Now as you know I have a couple of 44s that would benefit from a makeover!!!
Just Kidding?
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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by BeechmereLake »

I just put the phone down to Ray Moss who seems very upbeat about doing some more reels, he is very happy I did all prep for him on this 66 and told him he can paint it next year when he is ready, knowing Ray he will be on it as soon as parcel arrives :Hahaha: hard to keep a good man down.
They were rough Dave Burr, almost scrap but as you know with pretty much any ABU they can look like junk but still perform like a new reel, the Cardinal 4 was so smooth to use it just had to be done :eyebrow: Im gonna use this one over the winter.
Keep your 44's as they are Davejass, im sure they are not in the state these were :Hat:
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by JAA »

:Hat: Couple of nice reels there.

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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by Marc »

Can I please have that red 'dog reel'. :Chuckle:

That is beautiful work especially the 444
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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by BeechmereLake »

Sorry P.O.D but that reel is going to go to one of the juniors from my local angling club, I can give you color number for the red paint though :Hahaha: you can have a go yourself :Chuckle:
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by Nobby »

How on earth did you manage to flat down all that old paint BL? I've seen the size of your hands! For those of you who don't know him...think bananas....bunches of them......

Having tried this myself once I think you've done a fine job there, no runs, no floods, no overspray or 'orange-peel'...you should be pleased with them.

I'm so glad to hear that Ray is talking work again already.

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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by BeechmereLake »

Thanks Nobby, even though a substantial frame its like holding a Dinky toy in my hands :Hahaha:
They are not the smallest are they, infact held out from little finger tip to top of thumb there is a measurement of 260mm :eyebrow:

As you may know the art to refurbishing something like this its the prep that counts, you also need the jigs to put the parts in so you can spray them and turn them at the same time, another bonus is this is not Mitchell paintwork, you require soda blasting for those reels, the ABU paintwork cuts down just fine with some 320 "in between coats" paper then a final rub with 400 wet and dry, it will require some Etch primer first then the parts need bringing up to scratch with a few coats of primer, finally when your satisfied with the primed surfaces you can apply the color base coat and if that goes all well a few coats next day of lacquer.
Once all the paint has CURED (not dried) then you can if you wish take a tub of car polish to the painted surface and give the paintwork a nice little buff up, I use an amazing polish called MER, Imagine when we used to do Formula one car race trailers the same way, thats a lot of polishing :shocked:

I have to say I do like the Silver reel, it looks pretty good even if I say it myself, I have a third but the color is all wrong, the red is not the red I wanted or has been mixed wrong, I wanted RAL 3005 (RED WINE) and got something not even close but still went ahead and done it.
This is supposed to be Alfa Romeo Rosso Red, nothing like it

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This is the Silver reel with a dog old name plate but the one I wanted, the reel also has 6:1 ratio gearing inside with a later flat button match spool :eyebrow: This one is a right old mish-mash of used parts


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" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU CARDINAL 66 1ST VERSION REFURB

Post by BeechmereLake »

Well its been a while since this post was started and there is nowt worse than not ending something you have started, as many of you know our good friend Ray Moss had a terrible accident and due to his injuries the reel painting took a back seat.

Well you will be pleased to know that the reel has been finished and Ray is back to his best, if not better, the man has his hobby back and here is the proof for those of you interested.

At the beginning of the thread you could see a 1st version 66 up for a coat of paint, Ray has waved his magic wand last week and now the parts are back here and I have managed, without any damage to the paintwork, to rebuild the reel and have it on display.

The parts are sent back from Ray
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Start off with the badges being put back on
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Add some of the internals all been cleaned in an ultrasonic bath
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Just the drag knob spool and cover plate to go on
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And there she is in all her glory, a super piece of restoration if I say it myself
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Good to have Ray back at his best
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" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

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