Very Early Rapidex.

[Lea Dweller]

Does you're four include the one I showed you at Romsey a couple of years back Nobby? I'm not sure whether we removed the spool, mines a minter that you said you doubted was even run in! If not then mine makes it five! Les

I can't recall if we did or not, either Les. If yours is web-less that makes 5 then, even if I didn't know.

The really interesting one is Lea Dwellers....round cylindrical handles and no tooling marks from an assembly line. It might be one of the very first made, maybe even a pre-production prototype.

Thanks to your eagle eye Nobby, I will not part with my reel now. I will get great satisfaction in using an early example of what became an iconic reel, not valuable maybe, but from what you have found so far quite rare. Thank you again.
Ted

[Keston]

I have an Allcocks Flick Em Perfection with no reinforcement webs and a round hole in the balance weight .It has a flat crinkle finish front and plain back.
Similar to the one in the image posted by Wal.
Is this likely to be an early reel ?
John

[Keston]

I also used to own this one that I felt was quite an early Flick Em.
It does have web reinforcement but it has the round hole in the balance and it has cross hatching on the drag adjuster rather than straight cut . This one though has a completely smooth flat front .
John

[Nobby]

That is a sort of mid-range one Keston, as it has the later style centrepin shaft and centreboss. These were actually not new but a reversion to the pre-War Perfection Flick 'Em shaft style and the new taller centreboss was made to suit it. They possibly spin a little easier for it and are certainly easier to maintain the spin, whereas the earlier version, which continued on in the fly reel range, requires a bit more hard work and polishing.

Yours does have the earlier brass badge though.

I think the square holes in some components reflect a desire to speed up production by making them easy to pick up with a spike.

[Keston]

That is a sort of mid-range one Keston, as it has the later style centrepin shaft and centreboss. These were actually not new but a reversion to the pre-War Perfection Flick 'Em shaft style and the new taller centreboss was made to suit it. They possibly spin a little easier for it and are certainly easier to maintain the spin, whereas the earlier version, which continued on in the fly reel range, requires a bit more hard work and polishing.

Yours does have the earlier brass badge though.

I think the square holes in some components reflect a desire to speed up production by making them easy to pick up with a spike.

Thank you Nobby.
What about the one I posted yesterday ? That looks very similar to the early reels posted in this thread thought to be post war 1940's with no web reinforcement .
John

[Nobby]

Oh yes that's early alright...wrinkle finish paint, metal check lever, old style boss and shaft and no webs. Probably 1945 the very first year of production.

It's rumoured that the wrinkle finish paint was left over from Young's War Effort making aircraft instruments. I have no idea if that's true...it looks just like the stuff on my childhood microscope, .... but they did make the firing button for the Spitfire to a Dunlop design.

[Keston]

Oh yes that's early alright...wrinkle finish paint, metal check lever, old style boss and shaft and no webs. Probably 1945 the very first year of production.

It's rumoured that the wrinkle finish paint was left over from Young's War Effort making aircraft instruments. I have no idea if that's true...it looks just like the stuff on my childhood microscope, .... but they did make the firing button for the Spitfire to a Dunlop design.

Brilliant thanks for that Nobby .
I thought it looked like one of the early ones but its good to have the opinion of someone with more knowledge and experience .
The old sentimentalist in me would love to think of this as early off the line after the factory returned from war duties.
As to the crinkle finish on the front, yes I know what you mean , it does have that look about it.
Best wishes
John

[Harry H]

Well there's another one! That's just four reels I've seen without the reinforcing webs. Surely very early and very rare? How many more are out there, I wonder?

Could this be number 5?

[Nobby]

Haha....well clearly they are as common as muck and worthless then....... :-)

It says something for these reels that they are still about 72 years later, though

[Keston]

Threads like this can be a useful reference so I thought I might add in the Milwards stablemate .