Show and tell on a finished 4600, Royal Express 1 
The visible parts here are of course the AMO braid spool, and Valleyhill LW rider with ceramic guide. 

 

Inside, here's the light spool again,  BB spur gear, Avail mag brake (adjusting this is the reason to want the thumbscrews); 
the new LW worm gear is Valleyhill dual BB; the new idler gear (drives the LW off the spool during cast) is Kagawa BB.  
When I rebuilt the drive for new carbontex, I also swapped in a BB main shaft.  

The Ultracast spool design is part of why I love my CT surf reels.  Swapping spool bearings is nothing - everything snaps into place.  
The Roro BFS bearings will only be there for a few casts, playing with light lures - seeing just how light I can get with it.  
I have a set of MTCW heavy-duty unshielded spool bearings that will swap in for the 1/2-oz niche.  

I'm going to load it first with cheap light mono, set the mag at my light end, and set the centrifugal at the heavy end.  Then I'll swap line to the good braid I don't want to backlash.

 

I'm matching the reel with a Very Good+ condition Falcon Glass rod.  

This reel is a more comfortable fit than the old-style Lew's BB-1N I had here before.  

 

When you buy parts from Hedgehog, they always send you these little stickers to put on your reel - this is the only reel I ever thought might look good with the sticky added

I already had the thumbscrews around, because they're pretty much required on my surf reels, along with a few other parts listed above.  Next time I'm looking for something to do, I can get affordable chemicals to black-oxide the stainless thumbscrews from JAX, a jeweler's bench supplier.  

____________________________________________

 

ps - back from the mag-set trials, and I built a rocket.  

 

The normal setting on the Avail mag (for Avail microcast spool) is to install the magnet plate flush, then turn the single setscrew that moves the whole mag plate outward, 1/4 to 1/2 turn. 

For a full-flange deep mono spool on my CTs, it's 3 full turns 

 

The Avail starting point was a mid cast disaster, flush wasn't a lot better.  But when I set the plate flush and turned each individual setscrew CW 1/4 turn to move the magnets inward, I got perfection.  

 

Note I wasn't aiming this to fish 3 g, just casting there for fun and to set the magnets for light-end.  

I get consistent 70' casts with 3 g and the correct magnet stand-off - horizontal cast, tall arcing cast, it all works.  I was afraid I wasn't going to be ready for braid for a long time, but I'm back to confident, and on to setting centrifugal shoes with 1/2 oz  - it's all easy from here.  

______________________

 

All done - it's casting 3 to 15 g without making an adjustment. . 

I’ve been very disciplined this year and limited my purchases to a few top water baits but......I really wanted to replace a reel I sold with the Zillion G and ordered one from my local dealer and picked it up today.  No one can spoil me like me.?

On 9/26/2021 at 8:04 PM, Columbia Craw said:

I’ve been very disciplined this year and limited my purchases to a few top water baits but......I really wanted to replace a reel I sold with the Zillion G and ordered one from my local dealer and picked it up today.  No one can spoil me like me.?

Sure looks nice. I’ve also been guilty of spoiling myself a time or two. 

The Zillion SV TW G finally arrived. Casts farther and is smoother than my Tatula 100. Loving the Legend Tournament Bass (LBC71MHF). I tell myself I won’t buy another $600 setup but it’s only a matter of time.

I have one more worth showing.  The side plates for my 5500 and 6500 custom surf reels were a US-model Blue Yonder and world-model Blue Elite.  I was never quite happy with the alignment of the A/R roller bearing on the Blue Elite side plates, plus they had a bit of rash.  So I moved the better Blue Yonder side plates over to my 6500, and bought a set of ZZeta side plates, which came with the A/R installed, from SurfCastProShop. 

Perfect set-up with the surf-lure reel, which doesn't need a bait-feed clicker, but I thought the palm-side plate was kind of dull. 

When I modified my Royal Express 4600, I cannibalized the stainless thumbscrews from this reel, and found a blue set in UK - they really set off the looks of this reel. 

 

Tell me more about those side plates. Are they cast or stamped and anodized?

@J Francho

Hi friend, they're machined bar stock and anodized 

https://surfcastproshop.com/shop/ols/categories/side-plates

I shot this with reflection to show the dressy swirl milled into the plate finish

 

But keep in mind, the ZZeta left side plate doesn't have a post for the idler gear - they're made for NLW surf reels (CT)  (it does have a very nice bronze spindle receiver in the L/S plate)

 

Original Ambassadeur C3CT side plate has the idler gear post, even though it doesn't need the idler gear

vs. 4600C3 with LW idler gear

both reels have shallow braid spools and Avail mag brake, which is the only mag brake that works with shallow spools. 

e.g., adjustable knobby (mono) mag only works with deep full-flange spools, which is the normal set-up for surf/tournament reels - I built mine for braid from the go. 

https://surfcastproshop.com/shop/ols/categories/reels

Our friend in MD has a pretty good supply of Italian parts.  New UK parts are nonexistent with supply shutdowns since last year. 

Thanks for the detail.  They do beautiful work.

Scorpion MGL 150 spool in a Curado K 200, I have a good feeling about the casting improvement on light lures.

 

 

Not mine, but my father-in-law's.  This is his favorite reel, bought it back in the 80s and he said it bound up on him about 20 years ago.  I wish I took some before pictures of the inside, it was pretty nasty in there, the original grease had turned to wax.  Nothing was damaged on the inside, just needed a really good cleaning.  I also replaced the bail spring just in case.  He's going to fish steelhead with me pretty soon, he already bought a Lamiglas G1000 8'6" 8-12lb that's due to be delivered tomorrow.  I'll be giving this back to him when I see him later on in the week, and hopefully get on the water next weekend.

 

My newest baby. I love this reel. 

 

Yeah its an inshore rod but awesome for fresh too. Newly released Shimano teramar XX. I enjoy over expride. Great action for a lot of techniques

finishing touch on my 4600

 

Lauer black oxide finish on the thumbscrews

Picked up a few new rods and reels, first is new Zillion Type R, im gonna use it for 1/2 spinnerbaits and LV500's, paired it with a Destroyer P5 Madbull.

Next up is a SV103XSL That's been super tuned, polished everything bearings everywhere including Hedgehog AIR HD for the 1016 G1 spool I put in it, bombs 1/2 and up wobbleheads a country mile, slapped it on a Orochi XX Braillist that I added a hook keeper too, nice combo.

7 minutes ago, evo2s197 said:

Picked up a few new rods and reels, first is new Zillion Type R, im gonna use it for 1/2 spinnerbaits and LV500's, paired it with a Destroyer P5 Madbull.

Next up is a SV103XSL That's been super tuned, polished everything bearings everywhere including Hedgehog AIR HD for the 1016 G1 spool I put in it, bombs 1/2 and up wobbleheads a country mile, slapped it on a Orochi XX Braillist that I added a hook keeper too, nice combo.

Sick combos!

Run about $800 a combo?!??

Finally a Metanium MGL I needed a rod for, picked up a new NRX+ 843C MBR for 300 bucks, couldn't pass it up.

 

Initial observations, not nearly as sensitive as a one of my Daiwa AGS Racing Designs with nearly identical power and taper, but it's just as light and almost as balanced, great rod for general use or junk fishing if you want to bring one setup, sensitivity is on par with the new 2021 Daiwa AGS Steez rods though.

1 minute ago, HaydenS said:

Sick combos!

Run about $800 a combo?!??

These three combo's no, I'm super frugal, I find deals and build relationships with people in the industry.

1 minute ago, evo2s197 said:

Finally a Metanium MGL I needed a rod for, picked up a new NRX+ 843C MBR for 300 bucks, couldn't pass it up.

 

Initial observations, not nearly as sensitive as a one of my Daiwa AGS Racing Designs with nearly identical power and taper, but it's just as light and almost as balanced, great rod for general use or junk fishing if you want to bring one setup, sensitivity is on par with the new 2021 Daiwa AGS Steez rods though.

Dream combo for me!  Metanium and G loomis, left hand too! ??

3 minutes ago, evo2s197 said:

Finally a Metanium MGL I needed a rod for, picked up a new NRX+ 843C MBR for 300 bucks, couldn't pass it up.

 

Initial observations, not nearly as sensitive as a one of my Daiwa AGS Racing Designs with nearly identical power and taper, but it's just as light and almost as balanced, great rod for general use or junk fishing if you want to bring one setup, sensitivity is on par with the new 2021 Daiwa AGS Steez rods though.

These three combo's no, I'm super frugal, I find deals and build relationships with people in the industry.

Awesome!  Thats really cool.

2 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

Dream combo for me!  Metanium and G loomis, left hand too

Left hand for bottom contact baits and topwater, right hand for moving baits.

6 minutes ago, evo2s197 said:

Left hand for bottom contact baits and topwater, right hand for moving baits.

Cool, i'm lefty for everything.  I've learned to use righty, since that's what all my buddies have, not as proficient though. 

A member on here was nice enough to offer me some classic Loomis rods and let me scratch an itch that I have had for a while:

 

 

I have been reading about the BCR line for a while but had never managed to track one down.  I have only gotten to do a little yard casting with it, but man this rod is nuts.  It's by far the fastest rod with the stiffest tip I have ever used, but somehow it's like a laser with a 1/4oz jig.  I am going to try to shift some work around so I can take Friday off and fish the hell out of it.  

 

I threw an old Alphas 103 on it for period appropriateness, the reel needs some love but it feels great on the rod and I think it's going to stay.  

“Honey!  Have you seen my Alphas and G Loomis combo?”

“It’s where you left it on the wood pile. The dog chewed all the cork off the handle though.”

6 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

“Honey!  Have you seen my Alphas and G Loomis combo?”

“It’s where you left it on the wood pile. The dog chewed all the cork off the handle though.”

Hah, the wood rack is the only scenic part of my yard, the rest of it is just hillbilly mayhem.  

6 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

Hah, the wood rack is the only scenic part of my yard, the rest of it is just hillbilly mayhem.  

Hillbilly Mayhem sounds like the name of a professional wrestler or monster truck.

Just got a Megabass IP68L Oracle Dragon to pair up with my IP79L Oracle Dragon.

 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, evo2s197 said:

Just got a Megabass IP68L Oracle Dragon to pair up with my IP79L Oracle Dragon.

 

 

 

 

Wow. Those are absolute works of art!