Coley

Sounds to me like the dryer is turning so fast it is slinging epoxy down the lip. 5.7 MPH is equal to 501 ft/min. My dryer is going 22 ft/min Coley

I install my lip when I clearcoat my bait. I hold the bait in a vertical position, put epoxy in the lip slot, clearcoat the nose of the bait and coat the lip where needed with epoxy and slowly push the lip down into the slot. Excess epoxy will run out the corner of the slot and down the side of the bait. I then start clearcoating the whole bait. Put it on my dryer in any position and have no problems. What is the speed of your dryer? Does the epoxy build up anywhere else on the bait? Sounds like it may be turning to slow. My dryer turns 5.5 rpm at the shaft. Coley

Here is an idea I have tried, and it works. On foam baits if you would like to have a hollow section inside, put a piece of styrofoam on your through wire, after you pour your bait and the foam is well cured, drill a hole from the top or bottom of your bait and pour some Acetone into the hole it will dissolve the styrofoam and leave a hollow area inside your bait. You may seal the hole with a piece of balsa or wooden dowel. You could use this as a rattle chamber, or whatever you can think of. Maybe you could leave it open and put some alka-seltzer in for bubbles. Or possibily put another small hole into it from the front and force water out the top. Who knows, ues your imagination. Coley

I use a material called Micro-Fill, it's light as balsa and sands like balsa and is same color as balsa. Coley

That;s Gross, with a capital G!!!!!!!!! Coley

That's really great!! Yea Nathan, but you can make a rat!!!!!! Coley

He did a good job, pics are just hard to see. Coley

Hey Husky, looking good. I coated my first bait today with the plastic. Going good so far. Of course, I have to work around the lips. Always something. I like it so far. Coley

Good job, I really like your molds and can appreciate the work involved. Coley

Nice looking baits BN!! Coley

I am also wishing all my friends on TU a warm and wonderful Christmas and a fantastic 2005. The best part of being a member, is the people. They have class and appreciate what a another member puts forth in his efforts. I have made many new friends and surely in 2005, I'll get to shake hands with some. Maybe several. Coley

If you leave the model bait in the bondo to long it can be very difficult to get out. I don't know how you did it, but if you follow Huskies tutorial you will have very little trouble. As far as a store bought bait, yes, I did one. It was an unfinished plastic, that I managed to get apart and mold the first half, glue it together and mold the second half. Husky is the expert. I have learned a lot from him and I am willing to help you or others all I can. Coley

Lazy way out of what?? Don't think so!! If you wanted to sell baits and make good money, this is the route for a small man to go. You can produce and reproduce the same identical bait at least 3 times an hour. Can you produce 3 identical wood baits in a day, hardly. More baits at the same cost of materials and a whole lot less labor, which you can sell at less cost, which in turn, will sell more baits, which equals profit. Something hard to do with wood, especially balsa, because of the labor. Does that make this bait any less of a bait?? Not in my opinion, if that was the case, would all the painted plastic baits sell as well as they do. Some guys on this site only paint plastic, and their work is fantastic. And they sell!! And to top it off, it's fun, at least for me, I like a challenge, and believe me, it is. Coley

Hey Cliff, that's a great job. I just don't see the need for a through wire in my case. I don't think there is a bass around that can tear out my lip installation, after the testing I did. Nor do I think the cotter pins will tear out. These lips are not Lexan, they are some type of plastic. A rep of Jannsnetcraft told me that. I have noticed the figure 8, used for line ties and hook hangers pull out of plastic baits fairly easy. Let's keep taking this foam thing to the limit. I am contact with Del to make an alum. mold. My molds are doing a good job, just not perfect as I think an alum. mold could produce. Husky is going to cost me a fortune. Coley

That's pretty neat. I know it makes you proud that he takes notice. Coley

Have you read the tutorial?? If so you will notice that you mark a centerline around the model with a ballpoint pen. When you pour the bondo over your model this pen ink will transfer to the bondo. Then you put some sandpaper on a good flat surface and sand the bondo down to the ink mark. Put the model back in the mold and check the centerline. You are wanting to make two identical halves. No, the clay holding the model does not have to be smooth, but the smoother it is, the easier it is to sand down the first half of the mold. You don't need screws to hold the mold frame together, all you need is some masking tape or rubber bands. I have not tried to mold in a lip slot. Husky has and he used a piece of metal in the mold. Husky is the expert, he knows more than I about this. Coley

Do you think it might set so fast it won't level out on a dryer?? Coley

I sent Vytautas an email asking for him to explain why he thought lip would pull out easily. Well, come to find out we are using two different types of foam. He said his didnot bond to the lip. So I ran a test on the lip as follows: I tied the lip to an over hanging branch and tied the body to a 5 gal. bucket. I filled the bucket with water which weighs 41.5 lbs plus the weight of the bucket. No problems developed. Its still hanging out in the tree. and that was 30 min ago. I would of taken a picture, but it was pouring down rain. and still is. You can't break it out going from side to side or up and down. I did, break the lip off flush with the front of the bait going up and down. But, it didn't come loose. And remember these are 1/8" lips. So, I can't see any problems with these molded in lips if done properly. I hope this relieves any doubts you might have developed. I haven't tried the primer yet. 45 min to an hour later NOTE: I just went out and the bucket is still hanging there. So I picked the bucket up about 8" and let it go. The staging broke(nylon trot-line cord). Lip is still intact. Coley

The last phase is complete, molding in the lips. It took 12 hours of frustration to accomplish this.

Thank you all, very much. I haven't finished any yet. I am still tinkering with the mold, working on pouring the lip in, wouldn't that be nice. Now, what about some foam tints, and all I had to do was clearcoat. That's what dreams are made of. Coley

These are foam topwater baits with a through hole. The hole was made by coating a .060" rod with mold release and pulling it out after removing from the mold. The props shown are counter rotating chopper. They reall raise a ruckus in the water. But, the optins for these baits are unlimited. Molded just like the crankbaits. Man, this is fun. Coley

Hey Rob, your looking good man.!!!!!!!!! Keep em' coming. Coley

Here is the way I do it. I put a folded piece of something, (index cards work great), in the lip slot to keep the paint out. After I finish all painting, including eyes, gills or whatever. I hold the bait in vertical position, and clearcoat around the head and lip area. If you are clear coating with Devcon 2T go ahead and glue the lip in, what epoxy that overflows the lip slot will start to run down the side of the bait. I use this to start my clearcoating. Note of caution, your lip needs to fit tight enough in the slot, that it will not move when you rotate it for curing the epoxy. Coley

There is no seam line here, as a matter of fact, there was very little flash at the seam. You use a mixture of vasoline and mineral spirits as a mold release, the tail end of the mold was sealed so tight, I had to drill an .080" hole to let the air out and the foam in. I made some topwater baits also. And thanks for the nice compliments!! You can find the foam here: http://www.shopmaninc.com/ Coley

After reading/studying Husky's tutorial about Bondo molds and foam baits, I thought I would give it a try. So, 154 emails later, here is the result. I am very pleased with the result. I hate sanding anyway. And with these, as you can see there isn't much. I made my first mold to resemble a Poe's 200. The action is great with a very tight wiggle. The bait weighs just over 1/2 oz. No drilling or gluing in hook hangers or weights, they are all molded in. Soon, I hope the lips will also be molded in. I can turn out, from each mold 3-4 quality baits an hour Throw these against a rock, yes, the paint may come off, but damage to the bait, none. The 16# foam is advertised to be hard as Maple, and I believe it. Thanks. Husky for all your help. Coley