Whether you remember him as the mild-mannered "tennis-bum"/secret agent Kelly Robinson from "I Spy," or the the FBI agent with a gunny sergeant disposition Bill Maxwell, the late Robert Culp not only brought interesting characters to the screen—as firearm enthusiast, he made it a point to outfit his characters with some interesting guns along the way.
Whether you remember him as the mild-mannered "tennis-bum"/secret agent Kelly Robinson from "I Spy," or the the FBI agent with a gunny sergeant disposition Bill Maxwell, the late Robert Culp not only brought interesting characters to the screen—as firearm enthusiast, he made it a point to outfit his characters with some interesting guns along the way.
They say trouble comes in threes. If that's the case, good news must come in twos. This long two-year project of building my own live-ammo firing "Man From U.N.C.L.E." Special has finally come to an end.
While I'm sure my gunsmith has grown tried of my whimpering at this late stage of my project to produce a live-ammo-firing variant of the U.N.C.L.E. Special, I can't help it.
The victories and pitfalls I've experienced over the past two years while attempting to construct a functional U.N.C.L.E. Special has provided excellent exercise in non-linear thinking.
Call me a glutton for punishment—or even a perfectionist. So far, my efforts to successfully apply Allumahyde II to Paul and Eric's contemporary U.N.C.L.E. Carbine barrel has proved quite a challenge. With the help of my co-worker John, I'm currently researching various paint manufacturers in the hope of finding a primer that will adhere to both aluminum and titanium.
My apologies to all for the sporadic nature of my U.N.C.L.E. Special Project. While my work as Assistant Editor for Shooting Illustrated takes precedence, sometimes fate intervenes instead.
Over three feet of snow (and another 10 to 20 expected Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday) is enough to make anyone contemplate hopping a red-eye flight for the sanity-saving sands of some Caribbean paradise.