BobP

If you have airbrush cleaning solution, soak it in that overnight. It's formulated to soften and dissolve acrylic paint. If not, try some dish soap in warm water. If still stuck, let it soak in denatured alcohol for a day or two. What's best depends on the kind of paint used by the last owner. If it was lacquer or enamel, you might have to go with a more volatile solvent like lacquer thinner. But with a little patience, you can dissolve what's in there and get it running again. An airbrush cleaning brush will help get out any remaining paint particles.

Easiest? Don't glue the segments together until the bait is painted and cleared. If it's too late, try wrapping a rubber band around the joint until it doesn't flop around.

Does your brush say it has solvent resistant packing? Most airbrushes now do. Packing is behind the mix chamber and prevents paint from working its way into the back of the airbrush. Since some users paint with lacquer, solvent resistant packing has become pretty standard.

I'd check with Coast Airbrush or Dixie Art. Dixie carries quite a few types of adapters and the ones I've gotten from them were good quality. Only problem with Dixie is their shipping, which is exorbitant on orders less than $50.

Yeah, they were probably assembling Chinese SKS automatic rifles at the factory and a worker moved over to the airbrush assembly line without washing his hands, contaminating your unit with cosmoline grease. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a little lacquer thinner or acetone through the brush to make sure you got rid of any heavy lubricant lurking in the tip.

That's pretty much how I do mine, with minor variations. I shape and sand the bait before I cut it in half with a single edge razor blade on a center line scribed with a compass after cutting out the bait. I glue it up with 5 min epoxy, so minimal wait time afterward. The lip gets mounted with D2T after I paint the bait. Some custom builders (e.g., D-bait) use copper wire for the wire frame, I think because it's much easier and quicker to shape. I use soft temper stainless 'safety wire' .040" for the same reason. Easy to bend accurately, no problem with corrosion, and it's a little stronger than copper. It performs great. Since I don't mount the lip before painting, I insert a "false lip" cut from Lexan or circuit board in the lip slot while painting. It serves as a 'handle' to grab with locking forceps while painting. A little masking tape over it if required to get a friction fit, and a hole drilled in it so I can hang the bait up between color shots. The false lip also keeps paint out of the lip slot so you aren't gluing the lip onto latex paint.

What kind of paint are your shooting and did you shake it? Sometimes a partial clog in the airbrush will cause water to separate from the paint and spit.

Rotisserie motors turn slowly and Etex is pretty low viscosity when first applied, so yeah it's possible if you aren't being particular about how you brush it on the lure or the rotation has a hesitation. One thing that may help is letting the Etex rest for 10 or 12 minutes after mixing before you brush it on. BTW, if you motor hesitates now, it will probably hesitate regardless of the support system used.

JMHO, all epoxies have similar scratch resistance. If you want harder/slicker, you have to go to a catalyst enhanced auto or moisture cured polyurethane. That's not to say that epoxy is less good. It is very durable, impact resistant, tooth proof, and cost effective. Different finishes have different advantages.

A few years ago, Blackjack posted a design diagram for a 5" Japanese Balsa Pro walking bait for bass (it had a typical banana shape). Its single ballast weight was located about 2/3 of the length of the bait towards the tail. I made some baits from the plan and they worked very well, so I'd recommend a similar system. The position and the amount of ballast on a walking bait determines how the bait sits in the water at rest and how easy it is to walk. How much ballast can only be determined by float testing the bait before you install the ballast, because it's dependent on the material you use and the size of the bait.

I'm no Etex expert but the only Etex I've seen at Michael's Craft stores says "Envirotex Lite Pour On High Gloss Finish" on the kit box. Looking at various sites I Googled, they are all the same Pour-on product.

Mike, Envirotex Lite is sold as a "pour-on table top finish". Michael's craft stores carry it. Comes in 2 8ox bottles for around $15. We don't really care what epoxy is sold for. Devcon Two Ton, another popular brand, is sold as glue. What's important is the clarity, leveling, durability, and resistance to yellowing.

If you're shooting fine lines or small details at very low pressure, thinning might be required to get the spray pattern you want. But mostly I shoot it straight.

Most living crawdads are shades of brown. The thing that really gets a craw pattern popping is the accent color, which should match that of craws in the area where it is fished. Bright orange, yellow, red and blue are typical crawdad specie color accents. Google crayfish species in your state and you will often get a university study with pics. That's a good source for choosing colors that the bass in your area will gobble like candy.

If you're airbrushing, most guys use water based acrylic latex airbrush paint. I don't have a favorite brand, it just depends on the color I'm looking for, but Createx brand is sold the most widely.

Mike, if your epoxy took 72 hrs and is still soft, you have a problem. You don't say what brand you used but every epoxy I know cures hard within 24 hrs if equally measured and thoroughly mixed. Failure to mix enough causes the most problems. You can usually 'repair' soft epoxy by covering it with a second coat; it will cause the soft epoxy to cure out. One good feature of epoxy is that it levels better than other finishes. If yours didn't, you probably didn't put it on thick enough or there is problem with the brand you used. I use an art brush to get the most even coat. Envirotex Lite (aka Etex) is popular and yields a fairly thin coating. It has low viscosity so needs to be turned on a motorized lure turner for at least 2 hours to prevent drips and sags. Multiple coats are often needed to get a good finish. No epoxy yields a thin coating like a factory finish. For that, you have to go with a 1 part moisture cure polyurethane like Dick Nite Lure Coat or a 2 part high solids auto clear like Matrix. I won't go into detail, there is a huge amount of info about Dick Nite, various brands of epoxies, etc if you use the search feature. No epoxy comes with glitter; you either have to paint it on the lure before you clearcoat, or add it to the clearcoat before you apply it.

I think better jerkbait fishermen have a retrieve designed to make the bait dart at random intervals. The problem with fishermen is we naturally want to do things in rhythm. Bait fish don't dart rhythmically so you have to change up the jerk cadence with cranking the reel. Crank crank jerk, crank jerk, crank crank crank, jerk jerk, or whatever. Bass can't count but they sure can recognize what looks natural or not. Once you get a fish to bite, repeat that cadence. Then you have to consider how hard to jerk, and that depends on the mood of the fish, your rod/line setup, and the specific jerkbait. Generally, the cooler the water, the less energy you want to impart and the slower you want the cadence. A Rapala X-Rap has a lot more natural action than a Smithwick Rogue, so take the jerkbait into account. Also, if you're fishing with a non-stretch superline and a stiff rod, you are imparting a lot more energy to the bait than if you were using a softer rod and monofilament. Bottom line, like any presentation, you need to experiment to see what the fish want, then give it to them. Take a look at the articles section on the Bass Fishing Home Page for an article by Terry Battisti. It's the best primer on jerkbaiting I've ever read.

You don't want to strip a wood bait down to bare wood anywhere. The wood underneath the finish is much softer and it is almost impossible to sand the rest of the finish off and leave exposed wood areas intact. A DT-10 has decent buoyancy so I would sand it moderately with 400 grit paper to remove the clearcoat. Sanding will also enhance paint adhesion. Spray a white acrylic color basecoat (my fave is Polytranspar Superhide White) and then color. The right sandpaper makes a big difference. IMO Norton 3X is the best and is sold at Home Depot. I've done 4-5 baits with one 1"x3" piece. Wet sanding is mostly used to prevent clogging while sanding. Norton won't clog unless you're sanding epoxy. Guys who try chemical strippers on crankbaits usually regret it - it will often melt plastic, clouds clear plastic lips, and always makes a big mess.

I think Etex and Flexcoat are pretty similar. I don't have experience with Minwax so don't know what solvents it contains, but yes, DN contains volatile solvents. That's not an issue to me because I don't spray. I dipped 7 baits this morning. Total time from 'jar open' to 'jar closed' was about 5 minutes. I'm a slow dipper. If you spray DN or any clear containing solvent, you should be wearing an approved face mask for protection. I also wouldn't make a habit of applying solvent based coatings in a closed area unless you have an air exhaust/filter system or booth.

I've used them all and think "epoxy is epoxy". Once hard, slow cure epoxies seem to have similar durability and gloss. Etex is thinner than Flexcoat, presumably because it contains more solvent. It brushes on thinner unless you wait after mixing for 10 minutes to let it cure a little before you brush. From my experience stripping baits for refinishing, the durability of epoxied baits depends on keeping the epoxy shell intact. There is good adhesion to the surface of the underlying acrylic paint but the paint itself is weak. You can often "skin" an epoxied bait by lifting an epoxy edge and working around the bait, breaking the bond of the acrylic paint and the epoxy covering it. I mention that because DN is substantially different. It does not form an "outer shell" like epoxy and it won't crack or chip on impact like epoxy. It seems to soak into and through acrylic paint to adhere to the underlying plastic or to the undercoating on a wood bait. It's much thinner than epoxy but has a bit more gloss and it's slicker to the touch and thus has better initial hook rash resistance. It is very clear (also due in part to it's thinness). In short, it seems very similar to a factory clearcoat. Epoxy disadvantages - you have to measure it right and mix it thoroughly, its viscosity is temperature dependent, brushing is the only practical application method. DN disadvantages - it is very sensitive to moisture contamination and requires careful handling to keep it liquid. It can bubble and/or crack on the bait if the paint is not dry or if you apply a second coat before the first has dried. DN dries to the touch in a couple of hours but takes 3-5 days before the moisture cure process is finished and it becomes really durable. It is thinner than epoxy and will not level out like epoxy to cover over little "finish goofs". My personal preference is DN because you can dip baits in it. Dip it, hang it, done. Others brush or spray it. To each his own!

Good idea on the syringe.....but it would have to be a big one Since I started using Bloxygen Finish Preserver about a year ago I haven't had any problem with curing in the container. I dip baits and that's probably the worst case scenario for getting your DN dosed with moisture.

There are several different Dremel circular Cut Off disks you can use to cut slots. The best is the fiber reinforced cut off disk because it will not shatter like the others if you bend or drop it. They do a quick job of it.