The Man from UNCLE replica pistol

[ed-209]

A friend recently was VERY lucky to have come across this EBay find. The auction was for not only two of the rare MGC (Model Gun Company) all metal replicas of the UNCLE P-38 but it's accessories AND an MGC browning 1910. Total cost: $75.00. I know...I hate him too!!!

Only problem was that whomever previously owned these 'Beat them to death'

I was commissioned to restore them back to, as close as possible, their original condition.

The top photo is from the original EBay listing.
Notice that the grips are completely encapsulated with black electrical tape. That is the only thing holding them together.

 

[ed-209]

Here are some progress photos.
You'll see a lot of chipping and cracks on the grips. When the tape was removed they literally fell apart.

 

[ed-209]

Working on repairing the grips.

Pistol 'A' above and Pistol 'B' below.

Pistol 'A' grips had to be re-broken so it could be re-glued back properly. I used a Dremel to remove all the burnt parts. This also shows that there are still missing sections.

Pistol 'B' grip had to be re-assembled like a jigsaw puzzle. Again, missing sections that need to be repaired.

Both of these grips were in the worst condition you can imagine. They literally crumbled into pieces as I was working to restore them.

If you refer back to photo #1 you'll see that the only thing holding the grips unto the gun was several wrappings of black electrical tape.

 

[Dr Jones Sr]

What an interesting story those are!

And your restoration work looks great.

Though I'm a Child Of The 60s I never saw that programme.

As someone who grew up in a house full of firearms, which we took to the shooting range weekly, the idea of a telescopic sight on a pistol with a barrel that short strikes me as pure Hollywood.

 

[ed-209]

What an interesting story those are!

And your restoration work looks great.

Though I'm a Child Of The 60s I never saw that programme.

As someone who grew up in a house full of firearms, which we took to the shooting range weekly, the idea of a telescopic sight on a pistol with a barrel that short strikes me as pure Hollywood.

In the show, the pistol was able to be outfitted with a longer, extended barrel fitted with a suppressor. Here is a photo of an Airsoft version of this firearm showing the full configuration.

 

[AJK001]

That is awesome and I hate your friend too. I had the chance to buy one of these new from RMI in Alexandria VA around 1975 and passed on it and instead bought the MGC M1911A1 and PPK . How did you re-blue the pistols? Both the M1911A1 and the PPK soon lost a lot of their finish and tried to re-blue it and it never took.

 

[userd1402]

Though I'm a Child Of The 60s I never saw that programme.

It was a cool show. I think there were a couple of movies too, in the uber-cool 1960's James Bond style. The history of the iconic UNCLE P.38 spy-gun is fascinating. It all came about because of a strange set of circumstances; The pilot episode of the show saw Napoleon Solo carrying a Luger P08 but when the show was picked up into a series the studio wanted him to carry a gun which reflected his 'super-spy' status so the armourer used a 1934 Mauser pocket pistol with a load of cool attachments. Unfortunately it kept jamming and wouldn't cycle the .32 blanks properly, as well as being too small for all the attachments to function together, so the armourer went to the set of a show being filmed on a nearby lot called 'Combat!' and borrowed a Walther P38 which would fire the more visually-impressive 9mm blanks reliably and was big enough to hold all the attachments. It worked so well they kept it and eventually built six U.N.C.L.E. guns at a cost of $1,500 each. Interestingly the production was also fined $2,000 by the US Treasury Department for converting two of those guns to full-auto firing.

 

[Chimera59]

Really interesting restoration Ed!

- François

 

[ed-209]

That is awesome and I hate your friend too. I had the chance to buy one of these new from RMI in Alexandria VA around 1975 and passed on it and instead bought the MGC M1911A1 and PPK . How did you re-blue the pistols? Both the M1911A1 and the PPK soon lost a lot of their finish and tried to re-blue it and it never took.

Standard gun blue really never worked for me either. However, I see a lot of guys using a liquid product called 'Aluminum Black' to darken their Denix Broomhandle Mausers. I have yet to try it. The UNCLE guns above are all spray-painted using standard Flat black paint. After the 2nd coat, I'll rub them down with graphite powder then clear coat them.

 

[AJK001]

Standard gun blue really never worked for me either. However, I see a lot of guys using a liquid product called 'Aluminum Black' to darken their Denix Broomhandle Mausers. I have yet to try it. The UNCLE guns above are all spray-painted using standard Flat black paint. After the 2nd coat, I'll rub them down with graphite powder then clear coat them.

That's what I finally did too after trying multiple times trying gun blue and it not working. I heard about the Aluminum Black years later but like you never had a change to try it. I found a Testors color called Gun Metal and it gave a great finish. It almost looked like a parkerized finish and I was very happy with it.

 

[Apollo]

That is awesome and I hate your friend too. I had the chance to buy one of these new from RMI in Alexandria VA around 1975 and passed on it and instead bought the MGC M1911A1 and PPK . How did you re-blue the pistols? Both the M1911A1 and the PPK soon lost a lot of their finish and tried to re-blue it and it never took.

I used to bug the chit out of them at RMI everytime I went in there in the 70’s about this Gun and boy it was a lot I can tell you that!

Awesome Pics and restore Ed!!!

 

[Sundowner]

That is still one hell of a score!

 

[ed-209]

I used to bug the chit out of them at RMI everytime I went in there in the 70’s about this Gun and boy it was a lot I can tell you that!

Awesome Pics and restore Ed!!!

I was always disappointed that they made the 'Birdcage' wrong (Too big, Too long, incorrect number of slots, rounded end) but the part I hated most was that they didn't offer the suppressor at the end of the extended barrel. Many years later, I found out that MGC DID offer an incorrect version of it. RMI refused to carry it in their catalog. Here is the complete MGC UNCLE 'Secret Agent' replica as offered in Japan. --Ed

 

[ed-209]

Years later, a good friend and stop-motion animator, Ted Patrick used his machining skills to make a more accurate extended barrel, grip and suppressor to fit over the barrel of my replica. I also re-shaped the end shoulder buttstock and fitted the accurate Remington buttplate. Eventually, I replaced the fake scope with an accurate real Bushnell Phantom scope. --Ed

 

[AJK001]

I used to bug the chit out of them at RMI everytime I went in there in the 70’s about this Gun and boy it was a lot I can tell you that!

Awesome Pics and restore Ed!!!

Which at the time was one of the BIG reasons I didn't buy one. I settled for the M1911A1 and PPK because when I bought mine they were still in the $30 to $40 range and that was something I could afford. A friend also bought their Luger, which I thought was also really nice.

 

[ed-209]

Here is a catalog page from RMI/COLLECTOR'S ARMOURY advertising the MGC replica.
Some years ago, I put together a 230 page reference book on the UNCLE pistol / Carbine.
This page from my booklet shows the rising costs of the UNCLE replica throughout the years it was offered.

 

[ed-209]

This is to show you thumbnails of the various pages of the booklet I put together. I was lucky enough to get to know the people who actually owned the original guns, as well as other props, from the show.
--Ed

 

[ed-209]

Little more work on the grips. Thought I would try using 'Mr. Surfacer' to give a uniform look to the grip. It fills in a lot of the cracks. Will need to do a bit of sanding to get it uniform.

 

[ed-209]

Another thing I'm trying out is to rub Graphite over the paint job. It really gives it a metallic sheen similar to gun metal. I'll need to clear coat it afterwards and hope that doesn't bring down the shine. --Ed

 

[userd1402]

This is to show you thumbnails of the various pages of the booklet I put together. I was lucky enough to get to know the people who actually owned the original guns, as well as other props, from the show.
--Ed

What a fantastic resource. Where would a film-gun fan purchase a copy of this wondrous tome?