dtrs5kprs

Here's a couple: 1) "green fish" - Add LC green pumpkin to plastic until the color is a very light green (not the darker, more opaque green pumpkin produced by more color) -2 sizes black flakes...fine and med -LARGE white flake...a more natural scale look than silver or holo flake 2) laminate bb -LC green hi-lite powder added to plastic until color is opaque with green transference fo light/color...no flake, poured as the belly color -Add black color until plastic is a "medium" smoke then a drop or two of watermelon or one of the "green" greens (emerald, etc)...fine green flake (lots) and medium black flake, poured as the back color ***can also pour this color as head-tail-belly...think I have a pic of this in my drop shot baits in the gallery...does a nice job of imitating the prominent black tips on a largemouth or kentucky tail Hope it helps.

Aluminum tubing cut to size (length and a tight fit) & slipped over the guard works fairly well. Use the side of your melter to fuse the open end of the guard before pouring the heads. Also need to decrease your cure temp a bit with this method. Other option is to dremel in the hole for base hole pins, then epoxy the guards in place.

Cracks, pin holes (from attaching the proto baits during the mold making process), and moisture are culprits with plater and air bubbles. Have even had some painted molds that were still not usable due to bubbles. Try resin or RTV for much better results.

Balsa is soft enough and easy enough to work with that thru wire is the only way to fly. Pulling out is not that much of a problem with screw eyes and balsa (if epoxied well), but one wrong whack on some rip rap or chunk rock and "snap", off goes your hook eye. Not cool.

Ah...the "whippyd--k" returns! Cool baits around grass or for dropping/yo-yo-ing for brown bass (nite time).

Have not poured with a mold from Bob's (although they look like a quality tool), but have poured a bunch with Del's mold. I think some of the variances in action, at least in the handpoured baits, are due to the settling of the salt in the tail of the lure. I have noticed, regardless of salt ratio (and more is WAY better), that you will usually end up with more salt in the tail portion of the bait. that obviously throws off the ablance, which is not a bad thing. You can also make any of those baits, and trick worms, wiggle more by running the hook farther down into the worm before exiting to T-rig. Makes the nose and tail wiggle as the bait falls.

shoot me some mail. I think I have posted on this somewhere in the past, but it might have been on the "other" site. I can walk you thru from set-up to clean-up. Can see pics of some of my RTV molds at my yahoo photo site: http://photos.yahoo.com/dtrs5kprs Looking forward to hearing from you.

Backwards works well, esp on craw patterns. Am still fooling around with the upside down rogues myself.

well there is always flex coat, but it has a hazard...eventually if you have enough flex coat on hand you will end up building rods That will definitely slow down the bait painting. On the plus side I only have 1 of my All Star blanks and 1 GUSA DHX blank left to build (out of 6). Seriously...flex coat is kind of an in-between on the envirotex and the devcon. Gives a nice UV stable finish, a little longer pot life than the devcon, and levels out nicely after about 6-10 hours on the turner (variable).

if powder painting...cover the swivel with some alum foil, heat, dip, peel off the foil, cure and there you go.

Coley...I use a similar method to cut my flat sides (stacks of balsa on the scrollsaw). Would it be easier (and more flexible) to cut the bodies without the lip slot. Might give you a little more "wiggle" room if something is a bit off.

Hagens or Lakeland, if you qualify for wholesale pricing. Both are fairly open about that. Worth also has some, but limited colors, sizes. Other two can make basically whatever you want if you are willing to $$$.

Search for tube cutter, and similar in the archives and you should find detailed info on how to build a 'rotary" cutter. Best I have tried so far. Think I may have posted a pic in the soft bait section of the gallery. If not check my yahoo photo page for parts, and finished product: http://photos.yahoo.com/dtrs5kprs Make sure you really want to make your own tubes. I got into it, then got mostly out of it, as it is a major PITA to do on any significant scale. Could not really say my tubes were better than those already availble once I jumped thru all the hoops.

Sounds like you may have an issue with the wood body being un-sealed before painting. Raw wood needs to be sealed with something like minwax, KILZ, etc before basecoating and painting. Seals the sanded grain preventing swelling and uptake of water by the wood. If not sealed you will get bubbles and other problems in the finished bait (cracking, peeling, etc).

Cliff, What is crystal sheen? Assume that is the clearcoat you are using. Are you using the "new" AutoAir? Some pretty awesome colors in that line.

KILZ or one of the minwax products, then a coat of opaque white (from whichever paint brand you are shooting in the brush). I like to clearcoat between the KILZ/sealer and the basecoat, but that may not be feasible if using envirotex. Someone else can probably provide a better answer there. Basically you need to make sure your wood body is adequately sealed before you start shooting paint, esp water based, at it. Otherwise you will have issues with the grain swelling and your paint job cracking/chipping. Thus the recommendation for minwax. KILZ is a good product, but I have on occasion had issues with it not drying fast enough for my taste. You really need to allow some long dry times between coats.

A couple of Q's before making a suggestion: 1) what are you using for paint? clearcoat? 2) what do you want your primer to do for you? paint directly on it or seal/clearcoat first? I use createx pro flo white for a base coat. On wood baits this is over a body previously sealed with one of the minwax products and given a clearcoat of flexcoat. Then I shoot my base colors (also createx).

Z...what sort of cad-ware did you use? Is it at all user friendly, or do I need to quit my real job, give up the bait making, and leave my wife to learn how to use it?

May not be Culprit's, but this is what I use: 1) black color (with or without red flake) with some MF red Hi-lite powder mixed in...this is the dark back 2) MF or LC strawberry, again with the MF red HL powder mixed in, usually some red flake...the red belly ***I frequently adjust the red belly color by adding some drops of black, blue or purple to darken it a bit. Sorry, but this is strictly a "to taste" recipe. Stock # on my container of MF red HL is 925HLR. This is the only color I have tried that will consistently give a good red shad belly color. I know I have a picture of some baits poured this way, will post it when I can find which disk it is on.

looks like that might be a real winner for spooks, traps, and other "hard to clamp" baits. thanks for sharing your info.

I TX/TXpose most of the time. Whacky is big this time of year on the Ozark lakes. I just don't like the line twist with that rig. Also tears them up faster. May have set my new record this am when I caught 7 (or 8, we lost track) bass on the same stick. Mine usually tear up after 2-3 at best, worse if whacky rigged. That was a handpour from the Del-mart mold.

Completely cool, and nice work by Bob's as well.

Sounds like you might be adding the flake to plastic that is too hot. Have had some similar experiences...cooling the plastic a bit before adding the flake helps. More stirring helps, as does the addition of stabilizer. Bubbles are a pain. Shaking your liquid container to mix the plastic will also cause bubbles. Have also had bubbles with improperly mixed (not thoroughly) plastic, esp 536 LC. NOT a negative on 536LC, just a note on my own stupidity for not mixing correctly.

Too bad it worked out...now you're hooked! Pretty good looking baits, sounds like you had some of the same issues with heat/re-heat that we all went through. Stabilizer helps prevent some of that, although some colors/sizes of flake are more prone to curling/cooking (esp green and purple for me). I have found scent works best when you mix it with a little straight worm oil (cuts $$$ and lubes the baits) then allow the baits to soak in it, sometimes for several days to weeks. I use rubbermaid containers for taht step. When you take your baits out you will have a nice shiny and foul-smelling chunk/worm/lizard/what-have-you. Those LC scents are pretty concentrated and will last a long time, even when diluted a bit.

A'brush is WAY faster than powder, but not as durable, and also requires a clearcoat and more cleanup time. It's really kind of a push. Go with what suits you best. I have mostly given up a'brushing jigs because the powder paint is so durable. For spinnerbaits I prefer to shoot paint, but have also mostly switched to powder, for the reasons listed above.