RiverMan

Welcome Z-man! The clear coat of choice has been a friendly "bone of contention" at this site for some time. Some guys prefer without question Devcon whilst others choose Envirotex. If you are just getting started I would suggest using Devcon, it's easy to use and works fine. One thing I would warn you about is if you are using "pre-made" plastic crank bodies you should be careful about how much clear coat you use. Some of the small cranks I have tried to refinish behaved quite differently after clear-coating...some would not work at all. The larger the bait the less they seem bothered by the coating thickness. Do one bait and see what happens...if all is ok then go forward from there. As far as instructions for applying the stuff do a "topic search"....look at the top right portion of this screen and go to TU Search then Search Forums. Try the keywords Devcon, E-tex, ect. Best of luck to you. Jed

Husky, Very nice job. I have toyed with this idea myself but with wood I seem to have a bit of variation between baits that might create some problems with lead plugs of the same weight. I spoke with a fella once that was doing something similar to yourself......he bought "blank" hilti molds and then drilled them out himself to the size he wanted. A bit more expensive way of going about this idea but very convenient once completed. Thanks for posting the pics. Jed

Thanks Tom.....assuming that is a tuffshad glide bait. And I agree with Skeeter, the x-rays are fun to look at! Jed

muskietom...I am trying to figure out, does that tuffshad only have a weight at the hook eye? Why is the front eye screw so heavy looking? Does it have lead there too? Strange. I own a tough shad and it feels as tho the weight is at or very near the hook only. The phantoms feel about the same way when you hold them. Jed

Beautiful baits Herman...the pigment concept sounds very interesting! Looking forward to seeing more of what you and others come up with. jed

The only reason I choose to "wait" 10 minutes before applying E-tex is I have found it seems to chemically "react" less when doing so. If you sign your baits for example you will find that Etex immediately applied to the ink will often make it smudge but if you wait 10 minutes it will be perfectly clear. The extra wait also allows the Etex to thicken slightly which I find to be an advantage in that allows me to put on a thicker coating. Buy the syringes....that's very likely the problem. jed

Kellure, I cut some shields last night in the shape of the baits I'm painting and laid the bait on a table and held the shield just above the bait on one side. I then sprayed the belly and back in. It did a really nice job, no overspray at all. Once I had what I wanted I did go back and smooth out the edge a bit with one or two passes. I am sure with time I will begin to develop my own technique as a result of your suggestion. Thank you. Jed

You have probably seen this LaPala...inside of Hughes River Glider. I understand, however, that HR doesn't weight all of them in this manner. Many of his baits have only 2 or 3 weights in them. Jed

The points CC brings up about the wax cups and wooden utensils could happen but I have never experienced any of these problems and I am doing about 40 baits per month each with three coats of etex. I like the paper cups as I can simply throw them away after each coat..glass requires you to clean it each time or deal with buildup. Plastic stir sticks is a good idea if you can find them for next to nothing. Jed

Jaime, So is the paint like "raining down" on the bait then? How far are you holding the brush from the bait? It seems like it would take forever to get the coverage you need by doing using the overspray in this manner. Jed

It should start to tack up in about 3 hours and be nearly dry in about 10 hours at room temperature from my experience. You can speed this up a bit by warming the room up to the 80-90 degree range. Go to any animal feed store and buy two plastic syringes, they are about a dollar each. Use the syringes to very accurately measure out equal amounts of the epoxy. You can reuse the syringes but make sure you remember which one was for the resin and which for the hardener...I mark mine. Mix the stuff in dixie cups making sure you go around the edges and bottom....keep mixing for a couple of minutes. I use small coffee stirring sticks or wood shishkabob sticks that I can throw away. Now set the stuff aside for about 10 minutes, this lets many of the bubbles rise out...exhale once or twice on the bubbles and they will pop. The mix is now ready to paint on. You can then run a propane torch lightly over the bait a couple times and this will pop most of the bubbles. Jed

Jaime, What you are describing sounds interesting but I can't follow exactly what you are telling me. Are you saying that you are using the overspray to do the painting? And yes you are right the line where the photo and belly meet is a difficult spot. Thank you. Jed

Marc is exactly right. I can add roll to my baits quite easily by drilling the hole deeper which puts more of the weight up near the "top" of the bait. Instead of drilling two shallow holes for weight try one deep hole for example...it takes much experimentation to get things right. I don't particularly like alot of roll as I think it looks unnatural but some guys swear by its effectiveness. jed

Once again you guys have proven to be the "best". I plan on putting into action the suggestions you have provided me this evening. Thank you very much. Jed

Kell, When you say a "shield" I assume you mean just like a piece of cardboard. I haven't tried what you are saying but I'm a liking the idea! I am assuming that this approach will still allow for a "feathered edge" while keeping the overspray off the sides....yes? Off to my "real job". Thanks again guys. jed

I just looked Coley and its Apple Barrel 20503...probably just a "tint" different that the one you are using. Thx. Dean.. I think your idea with the tape may be my "best option" at this point. Funny I don't have any problems with other colors just the white. It could be too though that the amount of white I am throwing on is causing part of the problems, not sure. Sure finding it discouraging though, can't seem to get it resoved, will keep trying. Jed

I have been having a considerable amount of hassle with the white paint from Wal-Mart overspraying on to the sides of my baits when doing the belly of the lure. Changes in pressure haven't helped and changing the way in which I hold the bait doesn't seem to make a difference either. I always seem to end up with a thin white "fog" over the sides of the bait that really ruins the finish. If I lay a stencil over the side of the lure I get a clean white line instead of blend like I want. If I try to wipe the paint off after painting I again end up with a "white line" that looks unnatural. I have noticed that the particle size with the white paint from Wal-Mart is larger than many of the other paints and wondering if this could be the problem. The fluorescent orange is the easiest to spray by far, can blend this stuff at any pressure and it's so easy to put down a perfect line with it. What I am wondering is if a higher quality paint like Createx in white would help me....looking for answers! Anyone have some thoughts on this? Thx. Jed

I just wanted to apologize to you guys for not following up on this concept after so many of you volunteered your craft. Not trying to make excuses but between my full time job, my side business building baits, and the fact that my wife has been very ill for the last few months, I just haven't had many free hours. I do think we should continue to follow up on this concept this winter tho......thanks! Jed

I don't use Devcon anymore but did use it for a long time as a final coat. Here are some things to think about: 1. Make sure there is not bubbles on one side of the plunger...if there is, plunge it. Now begin plunging your two sides of glue for mixing being sure an equal amount of each side is being delivered. 2. Plunge your mixture into a dixie cup, this is VERY IMPORTANT. If you try to mix the Devcon on a flat piece of paper, cardboard, etc., sometimes a bit of the glue won't get included in the mixture. I used to have small sections that wouldn't cure but after using the Dixie cup I never had it happen again. Use a Dixie Cup, they are about a penny each at Wal-Mart. 3. When you mix the stuff go round and round the outer edges and then scrape the bottom then around the edges again. 4. I stir with wooden shishkabob sticks that I buy at the grocery store in the cooking section. They are about 2 dollars for a hundred or more of them. Some guys say not to use wood but I have used it on hundreds of baits with no problems at all and continue to use it for Etex now. As far as your baits that haven't cured...my advice is to toss them. Not worth the hassle to clean the sticky stuff off and you won't be happy with the end result if you try to finish over them. jed

I am doing about the same thing Cullin8 except so far I have been able to get away with a portable heater and heat lamp. You guys have that have a heated shop or warm basement to work in......I'm jealous! Jed

I have two complaints with my Paasche single action: 1. It seems to clog too much with some colors 2. The bottle seems to be messy...sometimes I tilt the brush a bit too much and paint comes out of the air hole...mess! Jed

It was a temperature problem, have had it happen many times. I ended up just tossing mine because it looked like too much work to repair them. You might try doing some sanding and then an overcoat. Next time let the bait set up for about an hour then turn on the lights...for some reason this prevents the problem you have described. Even so, keep a close eye on them during the first hour the lights come on to make sure you are not getting a repeat of the problem. Jed

Hey Cullin what is it that you like better about the Iwata? Just curious. Thx. jed

Sounds like a good idea Hwy.....not sure where you would get the holo paper though. RM

LaPala, Lucky Craft has some freaky cool stuff and I have tried to figure out how they are doing it many times before. I would guess they have some clear stencils or heat-shrink of some type custom made only for LC. jed