Colored Newells. Question on availability or re-build

[Fishgolfman]

I have become a big fan of Newell reels. Fishing collectables! Over the years i have seen red side plates and purple plates. Did newell make other colors? I have seen now blue, yellow,lime green and even clear! Are these aftermarket 3d printed plates?

[bluefish69]

I hate to say this but Go on FaceBook the have a whole section of Newell Reels. I'm on there just reading thou & just bought some parts.

Mike - Bluefish69

[PacRat]

I believe when Newells were in production they had black and red with a few sales samples in clear. Then towards the end of production they came out with blue and pink (supposedly for boys and girls). I don't recall seing purple on the shelves but that doesn't mean they weren't made.

Fast forward to the present. Someone has the Newell molds and is doing short runs of every color imaginable. These are extremely popular in Hawaii and are sometimes known as "Skittles". They do sideplates and handle knobs. They even do glow-in-the-dark. Their quality seems to be improving but I'm not sure whether or not the aesthetics are worth the cost. I noticed cracking around the insert on many of the early skittles colored plates but not so much lately. Maybe someone with first-hand experience will join the conversation?

I'm a traditionalist so for me it's either original black or red. For the cost of the skittles I would rather use Bryan Young's aluminum plates.

Just my two cents worth
-Mike

[Squidder Bidder]

I recently saw bumblebee yellow Newell sideplates on fleabay - I think they went for $250-$300.

PacRat - do you have a link to a manufacturer/seller of "skittles" sideplates? It could be a neat project for to make reels for my nieces (depending upon price).

[PacRat]

Try this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/233845613392142/user/1579574340/

[PacRat]

[thorhammer]

They did have stock purple- Charkbait carried them.

[Fishgolfman]

I am trying to find a link for the colored side plates!

[Swami805]

I have a bunch of colored newells, I really like red but clear is nice too.  I don't think anyone is making plates presently. I have a clear 300 XN that I use for SPJ with 30lb braid, works pretty good with a 6 stack.
  They pop up on ebay from time to time, that's how I got most of mine.  The prices now have skyrocketed the last couple years.  There's a nib clear 220 on there now, opening bid is $900, but nobody is bidding. I guess the molds and stuff still exist somewhere in storage.
I'd post some pictures but I haven't got the hang of the new layout, mostly says my pictures are to0 big

[Bryan Young]

Newell also had a short run of purple. The prefix to the model was PR.

The new colored plates, I presume, are made with older molds using leftover material from molding other parts and coming up with these crazy one of kind colors. None of the plates, as I can tell, have under the final machining process.  And I don't think they are aware of the right molding temperatures as I have seen several cracked side plates, lightly fished and I assembled.

[Squidder Bidder]

Newell also had a short run of purple. The prefix to the model was PR.

The new colored plates, I presume, are made with older molds using leftover material from molding other parts and coming up with these crazy one of kind colors. None of the plates, as I can tell, have under the final machining process.  And I don't think they are aware of the right molding temperatures as I have seen several cracked side plates, lightly fished and I assembled.

I think this was discussed a while back - there is a small outfit in (IIRC) Hawaii which acquired the molds and was producing candy-colored sideplate sets for about $250-$300 a pair and selling via facebook as "Hamma Strike Customs:"

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054346128852&ref=page_internal&mt_nav=1&_rdr

[Bryan Young]

Newell also had a short run of purple. The prefix to the model was PR.

The new colored plates, I presume, are made with older molds using leftover material from molding other parts and coming up with these crazy one of kind colors. None of the plates, as I can tell, have under the final machining process.  And I don't think they are aware of the right molding temperatures as I have seen several cracked side plates, lightly fished and I assembled.

I think this was discussed a while back - there is a small outfit in (IIRC) Hawaii which acquired the molds and was producing candy-colored sideplate sets for about $250-$300 a pair and selling via facebook as "Hamma Strike Customs:"

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054346128852&ref=page_internal&mt_nav=1&_rdr

I'm evening following the Facebook page.  The ones that Hamma Strike sold do not look like the ones that were appearing more recently that my friends are custom building for their customers.  Gamma Strike looks more like NOS side plates.