Omer Airbalete 110

I'll explain after work. I only use a reel as a line holder. After I get a knife in the brain I just reel in the line.
Not having a guide also lets me put my hand around the barrel with out getting my fingers sawed off by the
smokin line when the big fish run. I can also hold the gun barrel up out of the water for a chase boat call in while winding my rig in.
Later... Don

Quote from LunkerBuster

aahhh, makes good sense, thanks.

I read somewhere :rolleyes1: that you went on a gear test dive and shot a nice bonita....any truth to that? was it this gun?

No, it was Tiputa my laminate gun. I always take the first WSB of the season with it. I am out of fish,
the water was so green I thought it was a yellow tail. I'll post it in my avatar after baseball.
DP

Quote from LunkerBuster

just remind the little slugger that good contact is more important than good power;)

He got to play in Angel Stadium on Sun with the all the bells and whistles and light show.
I'll post some pic in off topic Thur. I'll give him the tip, but he gets them over the fence sometimes and has a pro trainer. He's a catcher but I wish he was in the outfield, it's safer.
Cheers, Don

Quote from hau

Don Paul---=your gun/reel camo job is beautiful :thumbsup2:
Congratulations on such a nice job

Thanks hau, those were just pattern lay outs.
I decided I wanted a little more texture and uniqueness, something like the skin of a water snake.
I learned that if I can get a good enough grip on the muzzle I can load the guns 7mm shaft with my right hand.
So here we go to try something different.....

I Taped out the barrel with good 3m blue, than washed with acetone, followed by sanding prep with 80 to
give the G-flex 650 good texture to key to. Wipe down one more time with acetone.
I carried out the work at 78 deg F mixing the G-flex one to one in a wide plastic cup.
The work time at this temp is around 45min before it begins to gel.
Next I applied a wet coat to half the barrel with a foam brush, then laid on my pre-cut camo paper I had scanned and mocked up last week. I used the foam brush to pat a second top coat over the paper.
Now comes the tricky part: after 30min I tied off 10 lb mono line to the muzzle and very carefully wrapped over the camo/resin using app 7mm spacing between wraps.Once the G-flex became tacky I carefully unwound the mono leaving a snake like texture. The images show the the progress before the mono was removed. I'll update wed night after baseball.;)
Cheers, Don

It looks just the way as I imagined, now that the mono is unwrapped and the epoxy is curing hard. It has a reptile/snake look and feel. The gun is only half way there. I was thinking of doing the handle in olive wood to keep it .....
Italian and fit my hand like a breast.....I mean glove.
Re: Airbalete 110
Here are some images before I pull the handle/reel and sand lightly with 80 for good keying of the Phil Herranen resin top coat.
I have decided not to camo the reel at this point as I may be doing one in Ti
if I really like the gun. I plan on a sea water shake down at the end of next week. I'll shoot some close ups of the skin when it finished.
Cheers, Don Paul

Yeah, that is Holly wood... I need all the help I can get.;)
Don

Thanks guys, the G-flex makes it work. I never would have stumbled upon the mono wrap pattern if I did not have the Airbalete. This gun has inspired me to build another gun next winter using textured black
pigmented G-flex. The early pictures do not show the snake skin like surface. When the last topcoat is finished I'll post some detail images.

I haven't messed with a airgun in years, I'm just having fun. Wait till I cut it in half add 50cm and hone a 13mm Titanium inner barrel for her.......just kidding. The first mod will be a softer line release spring.
Cheers, Don

Sanded light with 100 paper to give a good key-in bond. Top coated with Phil Herranen resin (has UV filters)
two wet coats. The colors are much deeper now, here are some shots wet.
I getting ready to kill some fish as soon as the water clears.
Don

Quote from LunkerBuster

so are you really able to load this with just your hands? is the grip that tacky or are you just a manBear

I textured the G-flex base coats with mono line, even after some light sanding and two top coats of
Phil Herranen resin the texture is still there. I'm going the gun cure for 7 days while I complete the scuff
damage of 20 years on Double Trouble and Tiputi guns. I'll be using PH resin on them as well.

Sorry about the last image in my post last night it was a mis-post.
Cheer's Don

PS.... I'm going to use the top of my left foot, one hand around the muzzle ( fat part) with the right hand driving the shaft
into the mech.