Zombie Rods

I'm finally back to building. My rod table became a mess, piled up with stuff after several basement disasters & real world snafu's. I'm pretty well cleaned up & ready to start again. A quick bamboo repair is finished & I took some time during my clean up to sort thru some old stuff. I cut the handles and butts off a bunch of spinning rods & discovered what I'm going to do with "baby blue", the zombie I wanted to tackle before all of my problems. The checkered reel seat is out, it just didn't work, but I found a spinning rod butt that will be just right for my grip. I will also reuse the spinning guides instead of using traditional fly guides. I've done this before & they work just fine. I will still attempt a checker pattern inlay again. I did some research & got a circle cutter that does foam sheets perfectly...It is going to work. Here is a quick mock up...

BTW, I did get out & drag some double nymph rigs through my home stream waters the other day. I used a 6' 5wt colonon rod, converted from an ultra-light spin...

Here is a dry-fit idea for a reel seat cobbled out of some misc. parts I've collected over the years. I think it might work. I just have to get a black sliding band (I think I've got one). I'll use some Permagloss over the checkered duct tape to protect it.