BobP

Those 6 lb open water smallies on Erie fight harder and longer than any 10 lb largemouth I've ever caught. I'm in it for the fun so think they are the top of the line in bass fishing. There are lots of ways to do glitter but I like to use it sparingly, so get the cheap glitter paint at hobby centers, thin it with water, and paint it on with a brush before I clearcoat the lure. 2 advantages - you can get as much glitter as you want and only where you want it, plus you don't have to worry about whether it will shoot through an airbrush or stick up through the finish as it sometimes does when added to the topcoat. For me, it just seems easier - and cheaper.

This is a new Dick Nite product and most of us testers either dipped lures or brushed on the topcoat. No reason it can't be airbrushed with a little thinning but I think it really lends itself to dipping. 'Course, if you're getting a 2 oz sample, brushing or airbrushing may be the only alternatives.

The "original" Dick Nite topcoat ("DN") is a solvent based moisture cured urethane. "DN2" is a water based oxygen cured urethane. They are quite different products but both are intended for topcoating lures. Dick Nite currently sells 3 topcoating products: the two above plus a "plastic coat" product. There's a ton of threads discussing both of the urethane topcoats if you want to search this forum.

It's the clear one designed for tile and vinyl flooring. The one I saw for wood flooring had a slightly amber color.

I think the Jann's is very close, same length and the lip even has a similar bend. EXACTLY the same? Buy a DLN and repaint it. In the overall scheme of things, you have a better chance at finding a close match for fairly simple lure designs like the DLN than with more complicated Japanese designs.

Hardness - my opinion is it's "situational". When my test blocks had 3 coats of New DN and had cured for the prescribed number of days, I would say the dry scratch resistance was very similar to a block coated with original formula DN (and that is AT LEAST as good as an epoxy). However, I also think the New DN will eventually re-absorb water when submerged and that softens the coating. So unlike epoxy or solvent based urethanes, durability depends on the circumstance. JMHO.

As long as the baits are clean, I see no reason not to dip into the original container. And since it's water based, not solvent, there are few if any storage issues. If you forget to close the container, you might return the next day to find a skin on the surface.... then again, you might not.

Ben, I'm pretty sure it's "at least", just to allow water in the first coat time to evaporate. However, water borne urethanes like DN2 cure from exposure to oxygen and it will take a thick film longer to cure than a thin film. I used 3 coats in my test and they cured hard in the prescribed period of days - in fact, they were as hard/scratch resistant as they were gonna get 2-3 days before the prescribed period ended.

Most of the finishes we use here in the U.S. are really designed for coating bars (Envirotex Lite epoxy, for example), wood floors (moisture cured urethanes), or as glues (Devcon Two Ton, other epoxies). If your choice is waterproof and durable, you're using the same criteria as we do. Where durability is important, I have a strong preference for solvent based products because water based products are more vulnerable to water absorption, and when they absorb water, they become much less durable.

Some TU'ers have tried "regular" polyurethane topcoats. Maybe they're tough enough for some but none that I've heard of that can compare to the toughness and waterproof nature of a moisture cured urethane like Dick Nite, or any of several epoxies. All said and done, you put a lot of time and effort into building a crankbait and finishing it. It makes sense to protect it with the best topcoat you can get, IMO.

Rather than fool around trying to get glitter to shoot through an airbrush, I buy the cheap glitter that comes mixed in a clear acrylic base, which you can find at any hobby center. Thin it with a little water and paint it on the lure where you want it, then clear coat the bait as usual. I like being able to control where and how much glitter goes on a bait, and this works for me. Brushing it on also makes the glitter lay down on the surface, so you don't get pieces sticking up through a thin clear coat like Dick Nite.

I think using airbrush frisket material (a thin plastic film with a peel-off paper backing) makes stencils easier. Draw your design on the paper backing, cut it out with an Xacto knife. Frisket material is designed for one time, single side use but you don't have to do it that way. Instead of peeling off the backing and sticking it on the lure (which often lifts paint off the surface when you remove it), just hold the stencil with backing intact against the lure, shoot one side, dry the stencil, flip it over, and use it for the reverse side of the lure. Then save the stencil for use on other lures. After doing this for awhile, you develop a "library" of stencils that you can mix/match to different lure sizes. As far as stencil making, it's not hard to copy a design from a lure you like. Trace an outline of the lure's body on stencil material and free-hand the design into the outline. Cut out the design, trim the stencil to the outline of the lure and you're ready for paint.

Dave covered the waterfront very well. I'd just add that I thin D2T with a FEW drops of denatured alcohol when topcoating lures in my cold garage - just enough to get the brushing consistency I like - and it levels out as well as unthinned Devcon does. For undercoating/waterproofing, I thin it more and can coat 5-6 lures before it begins to harden and become a problem to brush. Rotation - yes, I think you will want to build a lure turner, especially if you are brushing thinned coatings on your baits. Devcon is thick enough that you can switch a bait head/tail for 45 minutes to keep it from sagging/running but that's CAN do, not WANT TO do - it's much easier to coat them, clip them on a turner, then go get a cup of coffee! Lacquer paints seem to have different color values than acrylics (a little more vibrant looking to me), and some of the very nicest paint jobs I've seen were done with lacquers. So if you are set up to use them and like the results, no problemo. You painting will get better and better as you learn to control your airbrush and get experience with it; whether you use lacquer or acrylics is not a factor in that.

I may be using the same $69 Sears 100 psi compressor as you. I formerly used a Badger airbrush compressor, one without an air reservoir that turned on when you hit the trigger. I called it the Bench Shaker. So the Sears 2 gal model is actually a step up because it sits on the garage floor, doesn't shake the bench, and doesn't pulse air like the Badger did. But yeah, it turns on too often and is loud. Next time around? Hopefully one with a bigger air tank, like 10-20 gal. I figure it would give lots more "brush time" between cycling and will still fit under the work bench. A remote 60 gal oil lubricated compressor? Ideal but pricey, and I have nowhere to put one. Iwata airbrush compressors are expensive and I don't hear about a lot of hobby crankbait painters using them. It depends on your needs. If you must have something portable and want it as quiet as possible, it's a great option. But no compressor is "whisper quiet". For the bucks, tool compressors can't be beat where noise and size are not issues.

John, Most guys use an opaque white water based paint for color basecoating. Water based paints have to be applied over a waterproof surface. That means wood baits need a waterproof undercoat such as epoxy before color basecoating, plastic baits do not. Good colors: opaque white (basecoating). Pearl white. Transparent or metallic blue and green. Transparent brown. Opaque Black. Red. Neon Yellow. Maybe there are spray can polyurethanes you can use as an interim topcoat before the Dick Nite arrives, but I don't know what they are. A slow cure epoxy like Devcon Two Ton or Envirotex Lite works well, but you'd have to build a lure turner to rotate the lures while the epoxy cures. I'd just wait for the Dick Nite to get there. If you ordered Dick Nite moisture cured urethane topcoat, read up on handling, storage, and application before you crack that can! Don't try adding it to a lure you already coated with an aerosol polyurethane - it will just trash the whole finish. I simply dip baits in Dick Nite and then hang them to dry, letting the excess drip off the tail of the bait. Quick and easy and it's the method with fewest problems. Don't heat or rotate.

Prof, this brings up the question of "what exactly do you want in a treble?" Fortunately, there are enough brands and styles to suit just about anyone's taste. If I have to choose between wire size and hook penetration, I go with penetration because I figure if I can get a hook in, they're coming in the boat 95% of the time. And if the hooks are super sharp, they usually arrive with multiple hooks in them. So I like well tempered thin wire trebles with the sharpest points possible, and mostly that's Japanese brands like Gamakatsu, Owner or Daiichi. I have never lost a fish on a Gamakatsu Round Bend due to the hook bending and that includes fishing for stripers. That's good tempering on a hook with moderately thin wire. I do think the VMC Rapala trebles are a good value for the price. I use their short shank #4 trebles on some crankbaits. I'm trying the new Mustad KVD short shank trebles right now and like them too but am a little put off by the higher "celebrity endorsement" pricing.

My question is why use a sanding sealer if you also use D2T? D2T is a good undercoating/sealer by itself. For me, the downside has been that I like to thin D2T with denatured alcohol and alcohol tends to raise wood grain. In the past, I'd put on a coat of thinned D2T, sand it out, and put on a 2nd coat to make the surface ultra smooth and durable. Excellent results but extra work. To avoid recoating with epoxy, I recently tried brushing on a couple of coats of propionate/acetone solution before a single coat of D2T. The propionate prevents the grain from rising and the acetone flashes off very quickly. I've also used multiple (7-10) dips of propionate as a raw balsa sealer/undercoating and that works too.

I read you as using the sanding sealer, painting them, then topcoating with D2T? Are you heating the lures after applying the epoxy? Applying the epoxy to a cold lure and then bringing it into a warm room to cure? If so, the Zinser is not strong enough to stop air leaking out of the wood under the epoxy when heated. I don't think it's a chemical reaction between the epoxy and the Zinser because epoxy is pretty inert stuff (unless you thin it with a solvent that may be incompatible with the Zinser). If you want to heat the topcoat, I recommend using thinned D2T instead of Zinser as the sealer. It makes the body tougher, waterproof, and air-proof. More work? Yes, but also reliable results. If you are working towards building baits for sale and don't want the extra time/effort of using D2T as undercoating, perhaps you might try applying the epoxy without any heating.

Mo Quack, hook making is an industrial process that requires lots of tooling and lots of precision, so label me "doubtful" that you'd find a manufacturer that builds them to a small user's custom specs.

Hey, whatever works for you... go for it! I use both D2T and original formula (moisture cured) Dick Nite. Each has advantages and disadvantages and I like them both. I NEVER have D2T fail to cure hard if measured and mixed right. Of the 2, mixing gets my bid as most important. I mix the HELL out of it, until it has so much air mixed in that it looks like milk. One reason I often add a little denatured alcohol is that it helps the mix to expel those air bubbles. Plus, I've mixed it so long and hard that I'm often running short on "brush time" and a little denatured alcohol will extend that. Same reason I use a fine bristle artist's brush to apply it - the fine bristles help to burst any bubbles. Other guys who use D2T successfully use different tools, different methods, etc. All I can say is that I think it's one of the easiest very durable one-coat topcoats to learn how to use reliably. But fortunately, there are lots of options if you think differently.

Bearings are sized like 3x10x4 where the 3 is the hole size, the 10 is the outer diameter, and the 4 is the thickness. If you have the old bearing, it's easy enough to use a millimeter ruler to get the size, since the bearing are built in whole mm dimensions.

I think you can get it perfectly clean with heating and/or shaving the epoxy off with a razor blade but you'll always have areas that show where the old guides were. I never had much luck sanding and refinishing blanks but that's probably the only way to get one looking 'factory new'.

Paint - It's really anything you think looks like Bass Candy. Google "color wheel" and you'll see that you can mix the basic colors to get intermediate colors. A short list for me includes flat white (for color basecoating) plus pearl white, neon yellow, bright green, light brown, silver, black, red, Caribbean blue, and any "metallic" shades of the above you like. The basic Createx colors come in both opaque and "transparent" versions. I like transparent colors for anything but white and black so I can layer colors for more natural effect. Shoot transparent colors lightly and the color under them shows through. Shoot them a little heavier and they are opaque.

If you like VMC trebles, Cabelas carries as good a selection as any with decent prices. They have black VMC Rapala hooks, short shank #4's, and the "in-line treble" which lays on the belly of a crankbait so that the tines are equal on both sidesto improve balance and limit hook rash on the sides of the lure. Personally, I think there are sharper, more durable trebles as stated before but if you think the hooks on Rapalas are OK, here's where you can get some.

Gamakatsu Round Bend trebles are my choice. Lots of places to buy them so you can sometimes find a decent price on a box of 25. They are very sharp right out of the box and are tempered so they stay that way. Some prefer the Gamakatsu EWG trebles and they sell for a similar price. There are other brands that are good. Can't remember any Japanese trebles that were sub-par and I also like some domestic models like the Mustad KVD short shank trebles. I'm willing to experiment with new stuff but the Gamakatsu Round Bends are my standard "known-good" choice. I also prefer the dull bronze color on the Round Bend hooks.