redg8r

yeah out of my reach, id love to hear a review on this stuff. yeah barramundi has a good tip, vacuum metalizing is the process used to chrome plastic, like the chrome parts included in scale model car kits. You'll have to source this out though, its an involved process, similar to industrial powdercoating. the problem with most hobbyist type chrome paints is that the metal pigments suspended in the paint are formulated to float to the surface of the paint coat to achieve that metallic look. As soon as you put on a protective clearcoat, it dilutes the pigment, making a tarnished looking finish. I had the big idea of spraying a clear lure body from the inside hoping to protect it from the clearcoat, however it yielded the same results good luck if you try Alsa Corp, they have a great looking line of products, we'd love to hear the feedback.

I think these guys are who you were looking for: http://www.alsacorp.com/products/mirrachrome/mirra_show.htm

If youre looking for rigid packaging, Bob at Powerpak does custom molded clamshells. www.blisterpackaging.com Good folks, Tell him Jerry @ TU sent ya.

A lil off topic but.... I do remeber that if your casting featherlight or similar urethane plastic in an RTV silicone mold, you can spray the mold halves with primer before casting & the urethane body will come out of the mold pre-primed. You'll probably still want to clean up the body before painting to remove any residual silicone oils. I thin the foil idea could work, with enough trial & error, shoot, with enough extra flashing, you might not even need a mold release on the bondo & putty molds you guys been havin success with. if anyone tries it, keep us posted.

Done, my apologies... The News section is being rewritten, so for now, all news sections are on one single page, which is why there isnt a dropdown for the "News" button, clicking it will take you there. Thanks for pointing it out.

ASA's big daddy show "ICAST" is held in Vegas the last week of July, unfortunately its booked solid for exhibitors. http://www.asafishing.org/asa/shows_events/icast/

Ive used 1/8" PVC & polystyrene sheet to vacuform lure halves before, but its alot of work & more trouble than its worth. If the sheet is 1/2 thick, is that the max width of your baits? How'd you get it to float? seems like it would sink on initial thought. We have a signmaker here, goes by "Count Draculure" he works with alot of plastics maybe he could help. I also remember an old member "fishinrev" who made baits by cutting & stacking 1/8" polycarbonate sheets to make a hollow & clear crankbait. Again, he mentioned his method was quite time consuming also. If youre carving solid pvc stock, drop us a photo on here when you get a chance, We'd love to see your progress. good luck.

Also shoulda mentioned, if youre using polymer clay, go ahead & give that a clearcoat of spray acrylic or laquer too. the better the gloss, the better the gloss on the resulting pours. below is a pic of one of my "positive" molds. These have what you'd call a "3/4" undercut with a small footprint or "flat belly". All I do is cast polyester resin into this RTV mold & pull a usable 5 cavity mold everytime. its also a good idea to protect this mold from heat & light & store in a safe place. used right, you can get hundreds of molds from this one.

Using RTV, youre gonna be able to do your "3/4" type mold. I traded for some stick worms from TU member "fireball lures" that only had maybe 3/16 wide flat belly, meaning the mold was nearly enclosed. RTV will give you the ability to pour baits with a good undercut & still retrieve the master (prototype) Id recommend making one master lure using polymer clay or wood, then make one small rtv mold to pull 6 castings from it. you can use alot of materials to cast the duplicates, resin, plaster, wax, water putty, even plastisol. if you use plaster or putty, seal the castings with spray laquer or acrylic. Then Id make a single 6 cavity mold from those castings. After you have the 6 cavity mold, you can use it to cast a "positive" mold from. theres a good demonstration in here from "dtrs5kprs" search for "mother mold" Using that process you can pull multiple 6 cavity molds from that one & youre in business.

OMG How the hell you guys remember something like that? A heartfelt thanks :oops: You guys are tops, yep Im on vacation, been fishing the glades this week & doin some gulf coast fishin, been on some good bass & snook. big -3-0- this year, am I gettin old or still a young'n ? someone let my hair know Thanks again, Jerry

Thanks, Thats a custom shirt, cause I silkscreened it myself, on my handmade screen press, but I dont make a 1000 run batches, so Im not a "custom tshirt maker" I saw the post in reference has been edited out & replaced with his portrait over at BDO which is typical of him, when he left TU the first time he edited all his posts, replacing them with remarks to the TU mods. I knew he would & have a copy of the original post, but I wont post it. The fact of the matter is, that many luremakers do it for the enjoyment of doing it, many will supplement thier income by offering thier work, maybe a couple baits, maybe a couple thousand, some like Richoc & chip will pull out all the stops & go for the gold, some wont even sell a bait & prefer to actually make a few to fish themselves. We're all luremakers & shouldnt be held only to a business type standard, or numbers period. If you wanna compare numbers it should be whats in the livewell & not whats on your sales report. We wish everyone looking to make luremaking a business, the best of luck & a positive learning experience. & we hope TU can be of some help.

Rich, Dont misinterpret the discussion. The issue isnt about going big, MANY users would love to see thier efforts rewarded by going big, but one shouldnt crap on thier collegues by saying if you dont have a prostaff & sink thousands into promotion, then youre not a true "luremaker". thats nonsense, Im sure youll agree.

Hi sloegoe, Thats my tutorial, Jed (Riverman) & I found this process a few years ago on a "special effects" newsgroup. Yes its 100% clear silicone caulk. Although results from members have varied, I like using it & dont have many troubles. There are tradeoffs, but cost isnt really one of them. RTV silicone is similar in cost & much much easier to work with (its pourable). However the silicone caulk is widely available in every hardware & home improvement store. The caulk is thick to begin with & adding water thickens it more, making it easy to introduce bubbles, but the water quickens the cure to under an hour. If you can coat your bait with a thin layer of caulk before molding it, it will make for better results, thats about the only update I can give on this particular method. Welcome to TU & enjoy your craft. redg8r PS, you only need a few drops of water & just mix it slowly & thouroughly. As for Durhams water putty, its in the home improvement/hardware stores, look around the plumbing aisle.

good tip for sure, one thing though, if you twist your wire counter-clockwise, you'll create threads similar to standard hardware where you can insert them by turning clockwise, or "righty-tighty" many can attest, this makes for good custom hardware. Thanks for sharing it.

In that post, he listed a recipe of chemicals for a clearcoat,..... later, he saw another post & inaccurately thought it was directed towards him, so he went back & pulled the recipe out. If youre looking into advanced clearcoats, Id do some research on UV cure epoxies. I saw a video demonstration where a rep poured the epoxy from a tube onto a table, while hitting it with a UV pen-light & it cured instantly out of the tube creating what looked like a clear stalagmite. interesting, but probably costly, but relatively easy to use. Ive seen a manufacturer that makes a formula that will cure under a normal blacklight, sorry, but I dont have the link handy..... (you should see my bookmark file, like a needle in a haystack)

youre looking for stainless steel wire. Janns, Stamina, Barlows, etc. sell em in all popular guages, if youre looking for a local source, check into your local welding supply store. Good luck!

His mention of a site wanting money from him wasnt us. Chip is an agressive self promoter & a dedicated luremaker. I dont agree with his opinions on promotion & prostaff, but hey, he could go big & I wish him luck. Just because Ive only sold 2 lures doesnt mean Im not a "custom luremaker"

PDF Attached siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf siliclam.pdf

Yup, an ice bath will prolong the cure but it also thickens the consistency somewhat. Adding Acetone in small increments will thin the epoxy & retard the cure which is a couple of envirotex's strongsuits,....longer working time & thinner consistency, but it also breaks down the hardness of the epoxy,.... one of Devcon's strongsuits. JMO I think my record on an unaltered batch of devcon 2-ton was 8 baits. if you still want the high-build & strength, only mix enough epoxy to to coat about half a dozen baits at a time.

PDF Tutorial Attached. basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf basiclathe.pdf

Man, Thats Great! With the show of hands we saw coming I figured it would be a blast. Nathan deserves all the credit, he took the offer with little notice & ran with it, made all the plans & obviously is an excellent host, him & his wife both. Thanks fellas for representing & demonstrating what TU is, And a special thanks to the TN boys, who made this thier 2nd. trip. I dont deserve any credit, I just lit the match, you guys keep the fire going. We gotta do this anywhere theres enough interest, My apologies on the other cancelled events, we were a lil short on time, but definately looking to next year!

I havnt tried these guys yet, but they have good prices: http://www.prismpatches.com/Prices/prices.html

PS, the gallery is now fully working & accepting new photos. http://www.tackleunderground.com/photos/ any problems, let me know.

Yeah or a new boat would work, either way Na, were still gonna let members show photos for free, but if you want to store a good amount of pics or would like you own personal space, then sure, help me keep the lights on My address is available for all but please dont send money this way, it just makes it harder to keep track. Were working on a new option for TU that encompasses a small fee for a ton of new features including more photos storage space, but to better answer your question, it would be monthly, yearly, whatever you choose. well probably do a free trial period also.

I took alot of time to preserve all the photos between switching them out of 2 different photo gallery programs in the last 2 years & would hate to lose any photos our members find proud to display. Actually you hit home on a couple ideas were working on. 1) a free quota, all members would have, say an "X" photo limit in the gallery, if you want to add another photo, simply go into the gallery & remove an old one first. that way we have the best "X amount" of pics from everyone. All existing photos would be "grand-daddy'ed in" meaning they wouldnt count against the new quota. 2) a fee service. a fee servce would allow TU to get more webspace & bandwidth so we could host more photos, paid members could have a larger quota & possibly even thier own personal photo gallery. Anyway, thats what were pondering.