Airex Mastereel Salt Water

[xjchad]

I periodically search ebay for fishing stuff with a max price of $10.
Most if it is junk, but I come across interesting stuff once in awhile.
A few weeks ago I found this Airex Mastereel Salt Water reel for $7.
It looked like it had a lever drag so I bought it because it looked interesting.
I took it apart during my lunch break and let parts soak in cleaner for a couple of days and  put it back together the other night.
There are very few parts which I really like.  Simple design and it seem pretty bulletproof.
Tommy informed me that the lever drag is called a "quadrant brake".  It has a lever that is cammed and tightens the collar on the shaft as it is rotated upwards.  The knob on the lever is spring loaded and cogged into the lever.  It can be pulled out and rotated to adjust the amount of drag the lever applies.  Pretty neat!  It seems to be pretty smooth, but I haven't tested it on a fish yet.
Here's the before pics:






I realized after the assembly that most of my pictures came out pretty bad.  I had the flash on, but it was late and I wasn't paying close attention.  I'll post the ones that came out decent and if anyone is really interested, I can go in and take more later.
The AR dog, spring, and main gear:


The quadrant brake:






The rotor/pinion assembly:


I forgot to take pics of the bail mechanism.  here's the shaft and spool:


The oscillation plate and drag clicker:


All done:






Again, I aplologize for the terrible pictures.  I'll redo them if there's interest.
This is a pretty cool reel and I plan on fishing it soon.  Probably for soaking bait.

[Darin Crofton]

Wow, great transformation of that reel, Chad!!!

[conchydong]

Interesting reel. I have never heard of them before. Nice work on the rehabilitation.

[Gfish]

I have a smaller freshwater size. If I remember right, a Bach & Brown, Mastereel model #3 from the Airex Corp. That drag on yours is real interesting with the cam action. most rear drag spinners use discs on the spool shaft. Yeah a lot of metal on those suckers, mine had just the handle knob and drag knob as plastic parts.

[Midway Tommy]

Thanks for posting, Chad!

They also had a similar freshwater size model called the Larchmont.

[happyhooker]

Interesting reel. I have never heard of them before. Nice work on the rehabilitation.

Ditto.  Certainly worth $7.

Frank

[bja105]

xjchad, thanks for this old post. Did you end up fishing with the Airex? Tell us a fish story.
I thought it was cool that Lionel made reels, so I found a cheap Mastereel Saltwater model 1. I almost had to ask you to take some pictures of the bail assembly, but after a few tries, I figured it out. This reel had the nastiest dried grease I have ever tried to remove. I got it clean, got the anti-reverse working, the bail working, and it is ready to fish. I would like to take it to the beach, but that will have to wait until next year.

Last month I fished the Outer Banks. I met a guy who fishes with a group from the piers. They had a vintage tackle only night, which sounds like fun. I need a group like that around here. I also need an ocean around here.