BobP

A few things I found with braid over the years. First, if you ever use a very "snappy" hookset on a loose line, stop. Instantaneous strain can break braid at the knot. I've broken 50 lb braid that way. Second, when braid wears and loses its body, it becomes floppy. Look out for it wrapping itself around your rod tip. Next time you cast, the lure may leave unattached to the line, or it can pull the tip top off your rod. Lastly, keep an eye out for loops or loose braid on your spool. They're hard to detect when covered by other line but can cause the Mother of All Backlashes, and that often means you'll be fishing without that rod for the rest of the day (braid backlashes can be next to impossible to pick out!). If you're throwing something heavy like a 3/4 oz rattle bait and have a hidden loop on your spool, 50 lb braid can easily break if a loop catches, sending your bait and the line down to the loop into orbit. Again, instantaneous strain at work. Some guys love the stuff. Some guys hate it. I'm mostly in the latter camp unless I'm pitching lures into heavy vegetation like lily pads or grass mats, where its ability to cut through grass and stems will get more fish to the boat. JMHO

http://www.taxidermy.net/ Here's a place to start looking.

Yep, pretty simple! I like to use "transparent" Createx colors for that.

Acetone

If you sand it, ending with 400 grit paper and then clearcoat the bait, the clearcoat fills in the scratches and turns the bait clear again. Some guys recommend torching the paint off but I haven't tried that. There's no solvent I know about that will work without clouding the plastic.

I hand twist my hook hangers and line ties out of stainless wire, and it's easy to make body joints the same way. Just make an eye from wire, then make the second eye with the loop through the first eye before you twist the shank into a screw shape. I install the hinges after finishing the crankbait.

JMHO, it 100% easier to use foil with waterproof adhesive backing. Cut it out, smooth it on .... done. The Brite-bak is considerably thinner than Witch Tape foil sold by fishing supply houses to add to spoons and it conforms to crevices, etc, better. I like to clearcoat it after application to guarantee none of the edges come up. The downside is it comes in a limited array of colors. I only use the silver/chrome Brite-bak and think their gold foil is too brassy to pass for gold. I shoot silver with a light spray of transparent yellow when I want gold foil effect.

It's a balance between air pressure, paint viscosity, and how close you hold the airbrush to the surface. Many guys take the end off the airbrush so they can get the needle/nozzle closer. Personally, I just use painting templates made from frisket material. With a template, you can get both sides of the bait the same, there's no drama, and you can save the template for use on many baits.

Buck, I can only reference crankbaits and spoons, for which I use Venture Brite-Bak adhesive foil. One source: http://www.tracysworkshop.com/p-4342-britebak-silver-tape.aspx The Brite-bak foil is strong but thin and has good adhesive. I smooth it on and cover it with a coat of epoxy or Dick Nite moisture cured polyurethane.

I've never heard that UV has anything to do with curing epoxy - heat yes. A few guys put epoxied lures in a heat box lined with tin foil and heated by a couple of incandescent light bulbs to speed the cure time. I don't do that because I'd have to run my turner motor in the box and the heat wouldn't do it any good.

I'm not a Bandit afficionado but a friend is a Wiggle Wart nut and searches high and low for 'old original mold' Warts - for which he will shell out almost any amount of $$$. The old Warts had "questionable quality control" that resulted in some Warts that would "hunt" and perform "on the edge". Others were un-tunable and worthless. Nice if you get one that works right. He gave me a couple to repaint/keep and asked me if they turned out to be "special ones". I told him they were fish catching machines and I'd never let them go under any circumstance. He's still grumpy about it. It's good to exploit a friend's neurosis.

I got black coated split rings from Stamina Tackle (lurepartsonline.com) that were as good or better than their bright stainless variety and the coating won't come off.

Every time a lure company moves manufacturing you read how the old lures worked great but the new ones are junk. Nowadays, the manufacturing move is often in the direction of Mexico or China. Maybe there's a lag in quality as the new plant gets up to speed. Maybe not. Maybe they changed the molds (like the old Wiggle Warts). Maybe not. Plastic bait injection molds wear out over time and have to be replaced regardless of where the manufacture takes place. I think the criticism of new models is often a case of guys hating change of any kind. Or they dote on one color pattern that is no longer available. In the specific case of Bandit, take a look at the recent review of the Bandit 300 done by Tackle Tour. TT or any other user is just another opinion but they rated them pretty highly.

I suggest you click on the banner ad from Dick Nite when you see it. Dick Nite is a spoon manufacturer who sells paints and clearcoats to TU members at a good discount if they access his site from his TU banner ad. His topcoat product is very popular among TU members. I've been painting jigging spoons with water based acrylics and topcoating them with Dick Nite moisture cured polyurethane (dipping them, which is the way to go IMO!). They have turned out very durable. Using the solvent based Dick Nite paints instead of water based paint would probably increase durability but I would then have to contend with shooting solvent paints through an airbrush (toxicity) which I'd rather avoid.

There are lots of plastic molding companies in Japan and Taiwan and I think several small makers here in the U.S. who are known for excellent paint design order blank bodies overseas made to their design specs. Probably not cheap but probably cheaper than building your own plant. How they prototype plastic lures, tweak a design, or insure quality control from an overseas producer is a mystery to me.

504, painting scale effect is easy. Drape some netting over the top of the lure, secure it with some clothes pins along the bottom and top of the lure so the netting sits evenly on the lure surface where you want the effect. Spray over the netting with a color that contrasts with the underlying paint and voila' - scale effect. Carefully lift off the netting and set the paint with a hair dryer. Many of us use netting and home made painting templates for lure details (shad spots, gills, crawfish body patterns, bars, etc) so that we can get both sides of the lure identical. It's very hard to paint detail the same on two sides of a lure. Heck, it's difficult to paint small details on one side without screwing it up! Templates are your friend.

504, Go here: http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/forum/48-hardbait-how-to/ for some member submitted tutorials on crankbait construction. For specific questions, use the little Search bar (upper right hand of the page). Just type in a subject and you will get a bunch of info and opinions on 'how to do it'. TU has been up and running for several years and there are thousands of questions/answers available. I can't think of a subject that hasn't been covered in depth! Welcome to the circus

Iwata warns against using products containing ammonia (like Windex) in its airbrushes because it dissolves chrome finish. I've never used glycerin but think you can buy it at a pharmacy.

I'm not familiar with Flow Art. The hobby paint I used to buy at Walmart was Apple Barrel (which I liked), Folk Art and similar brands. Whether they will run through an airbrush depends on the size of your tip. If it's .35mm or larger, you might be OK. They won't shoot through my Iwata Revolution B (.3mm tip). When I used hobby paints, I thinned them with plain water. Adding a little glycerin as a flow agent will also help but the big problem is the large pigment particles will tend to clog. In the end, practicing with hobby paint may not be an advantage since shooting airbrush paint will be so different. I buy 4 oz and larger bottles of airbrush paint and only restock about once a year, doing 100-125 crankbaits. IMO, unless you are shooting lots of crankbaits on a regular basis, the cost for airbrush paint is very reasonable. It will last longer than you think.

Neck, if you do a search on FOAM and Alumite, you'll probably find quite a few threads discussing them.

Interesting design, I see Cabelas sells them. I'm guessing that since it has a lead head, the body section with the lip in it doesn't need any ballast.

I don't do many ghost patterns but my first choice would be 'transparent' Createx colors shot with a fine tipped brush. I like the way transparent Createx can be layered and use it a lot.