Neptuna cradle rod blank

[mikeysm]

Can anyone tell me what blank to use on a Neptuna 349 cradle. Also what type of paint they used to paint the reel seat with.

Mike

[Bill B]

Mike Ive seen Penn Senator rods, Silaflex, mine had a Johnny Walker.....something in the 30-50 lb class....this is mainly a trolling rig....I believe there was a clear varnish for paint.....but others should be chiming in soon.....Bill

[Swami805]

I think it could be bought seperately and the angler/builder could install whatever blank they liked for the tip. Silaflex,conolon truline and any blanks from that era would be appropriate. Try google images for some ideas.

[54bullseye]

I agree with the last two responses with Silaflex being most popular from what I have seen.  Many of the older plain polished aluminum Nep-Tuna framed cradles seem to have Silaflex rods or rods made of that reddish brown vintage glass. The gold colored Nep-Tuna cradles seem to have mostly a yellow colored blank similar to some Saber rods but I have no idea who made them ? Seems the early Nep-Tuna's didn't all come with rods you could use what ever you wanted then with the gold colored cradles they supplied the rods with the cradles and they had the Nep-Tuna decals on them.

There is very little information out there on any of the Nep-Tuna stuff so I am just guessing based on what I have seen. Maybe "hopefully" some one else will know more and post it !!      Hope this helped !!   John Taylor

[Penn Chronology]

Can anyone tell me what blank to use on a Neptuna 349 cradle. Also what type of paint they used to paint the reel seat with.

Neptuna liked the yellow Lamiglass blanks with Aftco guides. No paint used on cradles. The older ones were plain aluminum and the later models were anodized gold. But there are no rules. The best thing to do is an appropriate yellow Lamiglass rod blank with skinny aftco roller guides for the 349 mounted into a 1970's gold anodized cradle and anything that works for the earlier models. I believe Neptuna did not provide the rods for early plain aluminum cradles. The ferrules were not locking reel type for the early cradle assemblies, they were a friction type,  squeeze ferrule nut tightening onto whatever male ferrule that would fit the cradle socket.

[mikeysm]

Mine is a early one. I had to remove the ferrule because it was striped. I will have to make a new one. No parts anywhere so I will have to machine one.

Mike

[54bullseye]

Mine is a early one. I had to remove the ferrule because it was striped. I will have to make a new one. No parts anywhere so I will have to machine one.

Mike

Mike I have a bunch of different size ferrules with nuts. I will PM you my cell number call if interested.   John Taylor

[mikeysm]

Thanks John I will do that.

Mike

[54bullseye]

Mike this is what I have. You said hole in cradle was 7/8" this is the same. You will have to cut bottom that slides into cradle to length. You will also have to file the tits off ends of cross pin before you slide it in cradle walls will hold pin in. I would use JB Weld to glue it in. Let me know.   John Taylor

[54bullseye]

Part 2

[54bullseye]

Mike you didn't send me your last name in PM for shipping ?     John

[mikeysm]

Here is a picture of my cradle with the new ferrule.

[coastal_dan]

Looking great!

[54bullseye]

Yup looks to fit nice ! Did you glue it yet ?  John T

[Penn Chronology]

looks perfect to me.