BobP

Guys use all kinds of wire joints on baits, so you can go in any direction you fancy. The simplest is to link 2 screw eyes together and install them. I use hand twisted screw eyes made from .031" hard temper stainless steel wire: make one screw eye, then thread it onto the second before you twist it into a screw. I use 2 pairs on each joint and it gives the bait a very free action, which I like. You can also recess the holes in the bait segments so that the screw eye joint is very inconspicuous.

I shape and sand the bait, cut it, sand the sharp edges, then paint and clearcoat both halves and lastly put in the joint hardware. Do a search on "joint" to explore various alternatives for that.

Not sure about the 100, but a Jann's Netcraft 3" medium diver looks like the spitting image of a 200. Cat. # 341-123-007

To get baits symmetrical, I have to mark sanding limits to guide how I round over the edges by hand with a Dremel sanding cylinder. I use a good quality compass to mark a center line on the back and belly of the bait (for hardware placement), then using the same compass setting (half the width of the bait), run lines around the sides of the bait. Reduce the compass to 1/4 the width of the bait and run it on both sides of the top and bottom of the blank. That gives you a sanding guide that you don't have to 'think about too much" while doing the main round-over. Just sand it more or less flat between the guidelines, then smooth the remaining minor edges for a symmetrical bait. The guideline on the sides is 2X as wide as the guidelines on the top and bottom of the blank, which gives the bait what I consider to be a more natural shad shape (but to each his own!). Yes, it's a little more work to mark up the bait this way - but it's the only way I can get a consistent rounding by hand. When I try to do it "just by eye", the wood grain and compound curves of the bait fool me every time.

Yep, you brush it on. Measure it well and mix it thoroughly! Those are the keys to a good hard clearcoat. I use a 1/4" flat artist's brush to apply epoxy on bass baits, then clean the brush in lacquer thinner and reuse it indefinitely. You can buy a set of various width brushes for $7-8 at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Just IMO, the fine bristles of an artist's brush do a better job because they tend to pop bubbles in the epoxy as you apply it. Everyone develops their own "epoxy method". I squeeze out 2 equal size pools of hardener/resin in a small jar cap lined with tin foil and mix it up vigorously with a piece cut from an old credit card. 2 pools about the size of quarters is enough for 2 bass baits and 2 baits are usually all I try to coat at one time. If it is cool and the epoxy is stiff, I mix in 4-5 drops of denatured alcohol after mixing the epoxy. That thins it a little and gives you a little longer brushing time. When brushing it on the lure, you want to maintain a wet edge and a wet brush. Dragging a semi-dry brush causes bubbles and voids. Think of it as smoothing on the epoxy, not brushing it on. I do around the lip, eyes, and the hook hangers, and then start on lure's back and brush around the lure, brushing toward the tail. I'm not concerned about getting epoxy in the hook hangers - I can easily remove it with a small drill bit chucked in a Dremel tool after the epoxy has cured. Devcon cures fairly quickly. You have only a few minutes (maybe 3-4 min unthinned, maybe 5 min thinned) to brush it on the lures before it becomes too stiff. So it pays to have everything you'll need laid out on the table before you start: lure clamped in hemostats, foil-lined jar cap, clean brush, mixing stick. and a lure turner to rotate the lure after the epoxy is applied. It will take 45-60 min for the epoxy to harden on the lure before it becomes drip and sag free. Hard enough to touch and handle lightly in about 5 hrs. Ready to fish in 24 hrs.

You can't go by a prescribed pressure for a particular paint, just what gives the best spray pattern for the effect, as shot through your particular airbrush. I use 40-45 psi on my .3mm tip Iwata when shooting all-over base coats of heavy paint. Maybe 25-30 psi for shading, then 15-20 psi for small area shots with a .2mm Iwata. One thing to keep in mind is that paint shot at high psi will bounce off the lure's side and downward, giving you stippling down the side of the bait which you probably don't want. Even within the Createx line, which is more consistent than most, paint varies in viscosity and the amount of pigment it contains. So you just have to try it to see how best to shoot it. Don't hesitate to shoot a trial on some paper before you point the brush at a lure! Airbrush paint is inexpensive.

You have about 3 minutes after mixing D2T to coat your lures, before it begins to get too thick to brush. If you want to double the brush time, thin the D2T with a few drops of denatured alcohol after mixing. Yes, that's MUCH faster cure time than Etex. There's time enough to do 2 lures, 3 if you're practiced, but no time to fool around!

I rough them out with metal shears and then take the last millimeter of material down to the template line with a Dremel fine grit sanding drum. I think the Dremel offers best control . You can use a Dremel felt polishing cylinder to polish the edges afterward. Most epoxies are formulated to reach functional hardness after 24 hours. Guys who make lures in volume need hundreds of one lip, not onesies and twosies like hobbiests. That usually means contract laser cutting or building a hydraulic press with a custom cutting die to punch out the lips in volume.

Yeah, sounds like you used the 5 Minute Devcon. It's worthless for top coating baits. You want the Devcon Two Ton variety, which is also a glue but is a "30 minute" epoxy. Brush time for it is several minutes, sag-free in about an hour, and "touchable hard" in about 5 hours.

The "classic" way to get thin lines is to reduce pressure to 10-15 psi, thin the paint if necessary, and hold the tip of the brush close to the surface you're painting. Some take the tip shield off the brush so they can get the tip nearer the surface. If there's another way, I don't know it.

Ken - Sent a separate PM to you. I've used a Garmin 240 for the last 8 yrs and it has been faultless. Had it on the helm, moved it to the TM when I got a big Humminbird SI sonar and it has continued ticking away perfectly. I removed a Lowrance 51 from my TM when I got the boat - and threw it in the trash! No comparison to the screen detail and performance of a Garmin! I'd be using all-Garmin all the time except for the fact that when I moved up to a GPS/mapping unit, I wanted one from a company that used Navionics map cards versus proprietary map cards like Garmin does. 2 problems I've had with the sonar in 8 years, neither of which were Garmin's fault. One, the cable on the transducer eventually broke from being torqued back and forth on the TM shaft. Second, the connectors on the power wires to the sonar head became corroded and were not passing enough amperage. That was hard to find since 12V was still being indicated on a voltmeter! But easy to fix. If you can find a Garmin sonar head to borrow, you can easily diagnose your problem. Plug your existing cable into the loaner. If it works, your sonar head is broken. If it shows the same problems as you are having on your sonar, your transducer is going bad or you have an electrical problem. In my experience, most sonar failures are due to the transducer. Some are caused by guys leaving their sonar heads on the boat, stored outside under a boat cover. The extreme changes in temp eventually defeat the seals in the unit. Symptom = fogged screen, followed by head failure. If your electrical connection to the sonar has been in place for awhile and was not done with marine grade connectors (melted plastic interior/heat shrink exterior), it's worth re-doing them to get guaranteed good power to the unit. Lastly, check the connection to the battery or the fuse panel where the power originates. I've also heard of intermittent problems caused by a loose or defective fuse inside an in-line fuse holder, if that's what your unit employs.

Yeah, I've also seen that defect in some plastic Chinese origin bodies. If there is excess glue at the center seam of the body, not only can it glue the ballast off center, but it creates a hump inside the bait so the ballast will not shift freely from side to side as it is supposed to, causing the bait to swim erratically. The knockoffs usually look pretty good on the outside, which is what catches fishermen. It's what's inside that determines how the bait performs and how it catches fish, and many of the knockoffs are lacking in that area.

RG, of the bodies I've tried, the Jann's Netcraft FG Shallow Diver, cat # 341-122-015 comes closest to the RC1.5 in shape and performance. The differences are: The FG is 1/4 oz, smaller and lighter than the RC. The FG has rattles, which the original RC does not. Outfitted with #6 trebles, the FG weighs .29 oz. That's light, but still heavy enough to cast on baitcasting gear (which I consider a must). #6 trebles will not tangle on it. Nice little crankbait with good 3D features. The FG is the best unpainted crankbait body I've tried - and I've tried quite a few! JMHO

Any epoxy, including the 5 minute quick cure variety will hold strongly. The only problem with quick cure epoxy is that if there's any squeeze-out from the slot and you don't remove it, it will turn brown in a few months. Also, having only 2-3 minutes to adjust a lip is not enough time for me! My solution is to use Devcon Two Ton 30 minute epoxy. It stays clear on the bait for a long time, allows adjustment for 10 minutes, and you can mix one batch of it to do the lips and hardware on a small batch of baits before it gets too hard. I install lips and hardware with Devcon and can go ahead and clear coat the bait in 2 hours. I think most brands of "30 minute" epoxy glues would have similar performance. Envirotex, being a thinned pour-on finish epoxy, is TOO slow for me.

Maybe when Rapala first started building baits they topcoated them with propionate. I bought my first Rapala minnow in the early 1970's and still have it. I'm pretty sure the topcoat is not propionate. With the advances in coating chemistry during the intervening 40 years, It's hard for me to believe Rapala doesn't use some form of polyurethane topcoat nowadays. I use propionate pellets dissolved in acetone for undercoating baits. Works nice but I just think there are tougher topcoats with better clarity than prop. To each his own!

Seems like you have nothing to lose! However, I rarely get good results reshaping lips. Another reason unpainted baits often won't run well is the ballast is insufficient to stabilize the bait as it swims. If that's the case, changing the lip won't fix it.

I made some 7" triple segment cranks from basswood that swam well with 2/3 of the ballast behind the front hook hanger in the 1st segment and 1/3 in the front of the 2nd section. I second the notion that ballast in the front 1/3 of the bait is a good place to start when you are prototyping a segmented bait but you really need to float and retrieve test every design to get it just right.

I use either Devcon 2T thinned with denatured alcohol or propionate (aka prop) dissolved in acetone. The Devcon needs to be sanded afterwards. The prop is done in multiple dips and leaves a smooth surface that doesn't require sanding. Both products also form a durable waterproof undercoating, which I think is a good idea on wood baits.

I use both Devcon 2T and Dick Nite, depending on the lure. Both work well, as do other epoxies like Envirotex, Nu Lustre, etc. One coat on bass baits. Most epoxies yellow to some extent over time but if it is measured and mixed well, the yellowing will be slight and will take years to develop. Yellowing is dependent on exposure to UV light. Some higher priced epoxies (a version of Nu Lustre) include UV inhibitors that slow yellowing.

On small tipped airbrushes, sometimes you just have to use the needle to push any clogs out through the nozzle tip.

Cleaners like Windex contain ammonia and will erode the chrome plating on an airbrush. They work well, but you pay a price in the long run. I use plain water in a spray bottle to clean my gravity feed brushes between colors. Shoot it in the bowl, spray it through the brush into a trash can, then backwash the brush by holding your finger over the tip and pulling the trigger. Gets it clean in less than a minute. At session's end, I disassemble the brush and clean everything with solvent. Every few months, I take the brush apart and soak it overnight in airbrush cleaning solution. If you prefer to mix your own or use an alternative cleaners, check out airbrush.com's Tips and Tricks section. There are dozens of home brew cleaners/reducers/thinners suggested there.