Tom S

I have a lot of the guys I paint for asking me about U.V.. I see its in fashion now with salmon and steelhead, and gaining traction with other species. Besides flourescent paints that glow under a black light I dont get the U.V. craze. I believe flourescent colors are brighter and show up better under low light, but is there more to it than that? Have you guys looked into this? Is there something other than flourescent paints I should know about? Or if someone has a good link to some info I would love to read up. Tom

This has done pretty well for me on muskies here in west Mi. It works well painted over foil also. all Createx colors. opaque white base and belly, top 1\3 2 parts Tinting black mixed with 3 parts pthalo blue, pearl white scale on top, looks fine with silver scale too. I also add a lot of glitter to the epoxy clear coat. I like glitter with a little irredescent pink in it, but any glitter will look fine, maybe not gold though. But heavy on the glitter I like that thing flashy! Its very simple, but it catches fish. Tom

What kind of clear coat is that on floating Rapalas? I have found only 1 primer to stick to it and its $12 a can and a pain in the backside to use, plus its nasty stuff. The clear they use almost feals "oily". Even with sanding most paints dont want to stick. All the plastic Rapalas are fine as they have a different clear coat. Tom

Thanks for the input Bob. I think I will try the Etex first as I have confidence in it. I think I can get that pretty thin especially if I heat it while brushing it on. Tom

I'm for sure not making money on this one. I have 2 hours into this and have not touched the air brush yet. ha. Not about the money , right? Going to start this week. I will try to post a pic (if it looks good) when I'm done and the recipe of color mixes. I think I am going to use a bristled brush to do the bars. Seen that on a taxidermy site and it looked great. Tom

I am a muskie bait maker\ painter and I am getting into painting walleye baits for some friends and may sell some. My question is does E-tex kill the action on these small baits? I have only used epoxy type clears on my bigger baits, but I worry that it will hinder the action on smaller baits. Is thinning a must? Tom

I have been asked to paint a small mouth pattern for a client on a 15" muskie bait. Not sure why I agreed, as I have never done a smally before (overconfident) but here I am starting from scratch. Does anyone want to share a smally pattern? Looking for the base color using Createx colors. You may save me a lot of mixing and wasted paint. Hopefully I can return the favor someday. Thanks. Tom

I had one and it was o.k. It is a light duty saw at best, and was best suited for softer wood. My neighbor used it once for cutting a bunch of oak trim and it ate up my blades. It should do fine as a hobby saw though, and for the money is a good buy. Tom

I am looking for the best spray on (rattle can) clear coat to use on hard plastic baits. I use createx paints and use e-tex on my wood baits but dont want to use it on hard plastic baits anymore, mostly because of added weight. Thanks! Tom

dvowell,, call Createx colors customer service,when I was talking to him yesterday he said he would send me some of the Chameleon for my trouble. Sounds like they may have it on hand still. By the way the customer service at Createx was first rate! I agree with Jed, I wish they would make some of the colors opaque, especially brown and green. Tom

After using the "New" Createx for a while now, one thing stands out. The opaque white which is what I use as a base coat primer does NOT adhere nearly as good as the old Createx, even after heat setting. After talking to a rep at Createx he said the bottle I got may have been a freezethaw issue being that it shipped to Mi. in January.He is shipping me a new bottle, so I will see if that was the problem or not. Tom

Has anyone used the new Createx paints? I was told they changed the formula,and the last few bottles I bought had new labels. From what I can see is the opaques are more chalky, and the transparents are more watery than they were before.With the transparents the color settles out much faster also. After sitting for a day or so the top 12" of the bottle is clear. I'm not saying I like or dont like it, just different. Tom

I love that paint scheme!.... But I wouldnt call it $9 bass. You should give a paint job like that a better name anyways. That is different and original enough to call your own, so it should be named as such. Put your stamp on it! Good job! Tom

ROTATIONAL MOLDING Larry Suba, Akro Plastics LarryS@rotomold.net Rotational molding is a highly versatile manufacturing option that allows for unlimited possibilities with the added benefit of low production costs. PROCESS OVERVIEW Do a search for Rotational molding. I know a little bit about this process, but dont know about what resins can be used and would it be tough enough for baits? This would make a one piece hollow plastic body, no rattles though. Here is what I found: The rotational molding process starts with a good quality mold that is placed in a molding machine that has a loading, heating, and cooling area. Several molds may be placed on the machine at the same time. Pre-measured plastic resin is loaded into each mold, and then the molds are moved into the oven where they are slowly rotated on both the vertical and horizontal axis. The melting resin sticks to the hot mold and coats every surface evenly. The mold continues to rotate during the cooling cycle so the parts retain an even wall thickness. Once the parts are cooled, they are released from the mold. The rotational speed, heating and cooling times are all controlled throughout the process. Tom

Not sure what a figurine carver is. The Pantograph I use is like a duplicator that has a stylus that follows over and around a pattern or model, and it has a scissor arm that links to the cutter spindle. So what ever the stylus is doing so is the cutter ( hope that makes sense)LOL! Now if I were to be doing high volume with multiple bodie styles (and I had money wich I dont) I would get a small CNC mill and have all the bodie styles digitized on a CMM around $100 per body. Then I would make a vacume pump nest to hold the bodies to cut the second side of the lure after the first side is shaped. That is the trick to 3-D baits is holding it when nothing is flat anymore. Right now I am cutting all but the very ends so I leave just a little bit of the square block to hold on to it in a vise, then I saw off the ends and hand work the last little bit( I hate doing that). I guess in lure making you either have to spend time or money, and I dont have money so I do some things the long way.LOL! What kind of numbers of baits are you doing in a year? Tom

I use a pantograph to cut my Screw eye drivers slots, and I cut my cranbaits wich are 3-D shad shaped baits.It works awesome.It will cut the exact shape as accurately as you could ever want (within .003") . I can change the ratio on the machine and cut baits from 1" snap beans all the way up to 9" muskie baits with the same pattern. Now here is the down sides to pantographs: cost $500 to over $1000, and they are getting hard to find some die shops and engravers still have them. Making the pattern takes time wich is done on the pantograph from and exsisting bait. I had to buy $50 worth of acrylic to make the patterns. You have to make a "top" and "bottom" pattern, so there is 2 setups. There still is a fair amount of sanding needed after cutting. But with all that, I am still glad I did it that way because the patterns last forever. After some time I can now cut a 3-D shaped bait in about 10 minutes. Tom

Run a 38" carriage through the end of the rack so a couple of inches sticks out. Use a washer and nut to secure it to the rack.Slide the collar that came with the rotisserie onto the carraige bolt and tighten the wing nut on the collar.I put grease on the collar also so it does not wear out. Tom

Bruce, I have 4 motors here at home that would work. Came off machinery, very quiet and much higher torque than the BBQ one I am using now. Has a round shaft with a flat ground on it. Tom

HEB Manufacturing 802-685-4821 fax= 802-685-7755

Who is going to the Chicago muskie show this weekend? Would like to meet some of you if you are going.Maybe do some lure swapping after the show, I hear that there is a huge lure swap at one of the bars in the area after the show. I will be at the Phantom booth helping out on saturday, so stop in and say hi and talk baits.Hope to see some of you muskie guys, bass guys can go to if you want.LOL! Tom Stinson

Delw, Is that something built into the mold , like an air poppet valve in the cavity, or is someone actually blowing it out with an air gun? Tom

I am a plastic injection mold maker by trade, but I now nothing about building a mold for soft plastics. A friend of mine has asked me to build him a mold for soft grub tails to add on to the back of his jerk baits. It would be high qty. so he does not want to hand pour. So I need to start learning about soft plastic molds before I tell him I will build it. Here are some question I hope you can answer for me. 1. can soft plastics be injected with a standard injection press, or is the plastic a 2 part resin wich requires some kind of mixer nozzle? 2. What is the cycle time ( cure time) with soft plastic like used by big companies ie. Berkley 3.Does the mold need water lines for cooling. 4.How do they "eject" parts from the mold, or do they need to be hand peeled out? 5. Does the cavities need a certain finish for releasing or is it best to leave cutter finish? Sorry to ask so many questions,please reply even if you can answer only one of the questions Thanks in advance! Tom

Hoodaddy, for the hook hangers and line ties, are you making a " U " bend in the wire? What diameter wire do you suggest? I like the idea of the wire being " closed " if thats what you meant. I took that as both ends being soldered together making it a continuous wire. Is that right? Thanks for the ideas. Tom

Thanks guys! Tom