Nice piece Langford. I've gotta be honest, I always thought those R51s were the ugliest handguns of all time. But yours is an amazing looking piece, great job.
Just goes to show, if you have the will and put the work in, your results will be worth it. I never considered polishing anodized aluminum, that gives me some ideas for some of my projects.
I have always wanted something along the lines of a SVI, STI built 2011 but couldn't swing the price. So I picked up a couple 80% 2011 frames to build on over time. I have one in steel and one in aluminum. Once I finish fitting my Aluminum 2011 frame to the steel slide I'm gonna try doing what you did with your R51. I'm going to anodize it then polish, it looks terrific. I'm going to parkerize my steel frame once all the fitting is done on it.
It'll probably take me years to finish these two 2011 builds as I purchase parts when I can and hand fit everything. But I dont mind, I can sit at my bench for hours on end fitting parts. I love working guns, it's my thing for sure.
My new EDC piece, nothing fancy but its turned out to be a great pistol. It will be getting a new trigger pack and Apex trigger eventually. I just dont like the two piece polymer trigger, just feels too fragile to me. Though I've never heard of one breaking or failing, I like the feel of at least aluminum or steel. I've had this one for about 2 years, these can be had for about $380 new nowadays. That's a steal for a great EDC pistol that is just right in size and feel, ambi controls, night sights and came with 3 15rd mags. It's a nice substitute to my Glocks.
FN FNS-40: