benton B

Gator, I don't have an exact match but I shoot yellow green(wildlife colors) lightly over pearl white body, then I mixed hooker's green, raw umber, and transparent base. This gave me more of dark green/blue back and I think it looks good. I don't know if this will be much help.

If I were building baits for Musky or Pike I would not use balsa wood. It is not the proper material for fish like that. I have made some cedar wake baits with the twisted wire hangers and those have stood up to 15lb red fish. I only build bass cranks so I have no fear of the hangers being pull out.

I buy the little 4 tube packs at Walmart and I just rub it on the bait with my finger. I wrap a piece of plastic bag around my finger and don't apply any pressure to the bait while rubbing. I can coat 5-6 small baits from 1 tube. It dries in approx 30 min and I sand with 320 grit and then do a coat of epoxy for nice smooth surface to paint. This is the best sealing method I've used.

I've only used the twisted wire hangers and so far none have pulled out. Try sealing your baits with super glue also, makes a balsa bait hard as a rock.

You do not need a drying wheel to top coat a single bait. I've done it 2 different ways. 1- hang the bait for 5 min and then hang from the other end for 5 min. 2- hold the bait with vise grips and slowy rotate while watching tv. The 2nd method was a pain but it worked.

Check out some to the Striper fishing sites, those guys use blades for bills all the time. Most of the blades have been flattened out.

I like to heat set each coat of paint. To clean my brush (gravity feed) I put windex in the cup cover with my hand and shake it, refill the cup with windex and spray it out. You may have to repeat these steps a couple of times. With the .3mm tip you may have to back the needle out just a little to get an even spray with the pearls.

The streaks are caused by you brushing the epoxy on to thin. Put a thick coat on then go back and brush off the excess. Hold your bait under a light and look for spots you have missed. You can also breath lightly on the bait to get rid of some of those little bubbles. Devcon is the easiest top coat to use and the most forgiving. You can lightly scuff the bait with 400 grit sandpaper and re-coat. I use the plastic craft brushes, cut in half so that you have a stir stick.

I'm very lucky in that our prosthetics shop has a vacuum former and I'm in the process of making stencils for all of my patterns. I be able to learn to paint a decent craw pattern now:yeah:

Hobby Lobby has fine glitter also. I got some there in 4 packs with 4 different colors in each pack. You can find glitter on sites that sell products for pouring soft plastic baits. C-tex flo colors need several coats to cover completely. Make sure that you heat set each coat of paint.

Attach the split rings and hooks to those baits and float test. Then add weight to the belly hook until the bait has a nose down attitude while floating at rest. I would recommend that you move the belly hangers a little closer to the nose of the bait and put your balast weight there.

For wood baits the easiest way to remove the finish is to run a torch over them for few seconds. It will lift the finish of the bait and you end with bare wood. Sand lightly with 400 grit and start your painting process. For plastics just scuff the finish then prime and paint. If you really want to get to bare plastic a soda blaster is a very good option.

You have to really stir the paint to get it to mix. I put half a bottle of flo. yellow in a bottle then added approx 1/4 of flo green and shook the crap out of it for about 15 min.

rj, I don't think it will stand up to Musky teeth. My brother will try to catch some redfish on baits coated with it this yr. If it holds up to a redfish then bass will be no trouble. Does anything hold up to those giant Musky teeth?

BobP, I have no experience with the old flex coat. I used devcon 2t and would not even consider switching. Then I got tired of pearl white baits turing yellow in a matter of days so I switched to the flex coat high build and it has some uv stuff in it now. My first baits coated were pearl white and are still pearl white today. It handles the rocks really well, unless you smack one point blank. When you find that perfect clear coat please don't share it with anyone else. I do not want to spend the time learning a new system. I think as long as this many people are building baits then there will be differences of opinion on which top coat is best. The new flex coat works for me.

I have to disagree with ya'll on the flex coat. It is holding up just fine on my baits. Now these are bass baits not for those big toothy fish from up north. I use 2 coats of the new high build and imho it's a much better clear coat than devcon.

I used Devcon for 5yrs and I switched Flex Coat because imho it is a better clear coat. I put glitter in my first coat of clear, the second coat of clear covers any rough spots caused by the glitter.

polyurathane will do the trick, as will thinned epoxy, or any other sealer that you have read about. I use thinned epoxy.

I don't think you have enough balast weight and it needs to be placed lower in the belly. If that's a copy of another bait, take the original apart and look at how/where the weight is placed.

I use Flex Coat rod finish as my clear coat and I know a few more builders are using it now also. Not sure if that is the same as the Gel Coat you have been hearing about.