BobP

I've gotten SB forms from both Jann's Netcraft and Stamina tackle. I haven't seen any with titanium wire lately. They didn't sell well because spring-back titanium wire is very iffy to bend when attaching the blades. You have to heat the wire to bend it. Unless you heat it to the correct temp and cool it down just right, it becomes brittle. Improper heating/cooling is probably the why titanium wire SB's sometimes break, even when done by the Big Boys like Terminator.

I don't like the hassle of mixing custom colors but if there's one I know I'll use multiple times, I do a small bottle of it.

Since it is a suspending jerkbait, I'd opt for a thinner topcoat like Dick Nite or another polyurethane instead of Devcon. But as far as painting a bait that you don't like the color of, you might as well do it. You won't fish it unless you have confidence the color will catch fish. That said, I'd probably give it a whirl in present condition to see what the fish say about it.

When I thin Devcon topcoat, I mix up the epoxy then dip my brush in lacquer thinner and shake in a FEW DROPS. Mix it in and shake in a few more if that isn't enough. You just want it thin enough to brush smoothly on the lure, anything more and you get a thin, weak topcoat. It also extends the brush time by a couple of minutes and requires rotating the bait for a little longer than with unthinned Devcon - say, 1 hr 15 mins. The lacquer thinner flashes out of the Devcon after a couple of hours and the cure progresses as normal - hard enough to handle lightly in about 6 hrs, very hard in 24 hrs.

Your line tie may be too close to the nose of the bait. Line ties are generally put at 40-50% of the distance from the nose to the end of the lip. When you start moving it towards the nose, you get more "thump" but you reach a point where the bait becomes uncontrollable and blows out at lower and lower speeds. To correct it "as is", I'd try trimming the length of the lip a little at a time to see if you can get it under control. Since the lip is circuit board, you can do that on the water with metal snips or a battery operated Dremel sander.

ABEC is the American engineering association that classifies bearings according to their internal tolerances. Higher number = closer tolerance. Most reels come with ABEC-3 to ABEC-5 bearings. You can buy ABEC-7 bearings from repair facilities for less than the factory charges for replacement ABEC-3's or 5's, so it's a good deal if the reel needs new bearings. A C4 4600 has 6.2:1 gears and retrieves line much faster than a C3. However, if you are throwing heavy musky baits, faster gears also mean you will have to work harder to crank in lures with the taller gears from a C4. That can be a big consideration! Opinion: I would leave the plastic gears that drive the level wind if it is working OK. They are lightweight and self-lubricating and work just fine in a situation like this where they are lightly loaded. Metal is NOT always better than plastic and stainless is NOT always better than brass. I'd call southwesternparts.com for advice on the gears and what upgrade options exist. You may be able to upgrade the brass bushings in the reel to bearings. If I was happy with the performance of an old reel, I'd be looking to replace the spool bearings, maybe upgrade the bushings to bearings if the cost was reasonable, and maybe replace the main and pinion gear set with the same ratio replacement.

Gene, I've had good luck solving growling gears by lubricating them with Shimano Drag Grease. It's a heavy, sticky cosmoline grease intended for fiber drag washers but it can work wonders on gears when something gets nicked up.

The last time I bought ABEC-7 bearings for my Shimanos was a couple of years ago, cost $7 ea. The TG ceramic bearings were double that. Do I need a spool that will freewheel for 2 minutes? I understand some guys like hotrodding their reels and can spend hundreds on just one reel doing it. No problemo. But for practical fishing, it's a simple question: "Can I reach that casting target from here, or do I need to stay on the trolling motor button for an extra second?"

I don't see any reason to use it on top of Minwax. IMO, there's a lot of confusion about "primers". What is the function? To waterproof the wood? Keep grain from rising? Cover minor surface defects? Improve adhesion of paint? As a white color basecoat? Depends on who you ask. JMHO, as long as I have a smooth waterproof surface on the wood before I start shooting color, I'm good to go. It can be epoxy, propionate, polyurethane, whatever. If a coat or 2 of Minwax does it, I don't need anything else. I certainly wouldn't use BIN just to get a white color basecoat. I can do that more quickly, more smoothly, and less smelly by shooting a coat of white acrylic paint. I'm not particularly worried about adhesion, which is the classic reason to use primers. If I topcoat the lure with Devcon, it will encapsulate and hold the paint scheme on the bait through a lot of abuse. If it's so abused that it fails, a coating of BIN under the acrylic paint won't make a bit of difference. Bottom line - I'd lose the BIN. Use it next time you're covering stains in the wallboard or repainting wood window trim. Like I said, JMHO.

My HP-B and Revolution came with little wrenches designed specifically to remove the nozzles. If you look at a parts diagram for yours and the nozzle is a separate part, it will unscrew. I don't remove it except if there's a problem I can't fix with it in place - it's too easy to lose and too expensive to replace ($33.30 ea!).

Shoot, you could probably thin Devcon with spit and it would still harden. But the isopropyl alcohol I see is usually 30% water, so I haven't used it. I've used denatured alcohol, virgin lacquer thinner, or acetone. Of the 3, lacquer thinner works the best. First, it extends the brushing time reasonably but doesn't prolong the cure time. Acetone flashes out of the mix too quickly. Denatured alcohol works OK for extending brush time and the results when you use it as a top coat are fine. But when I use it to thin Devcon as a waterproof undercoating on raw wood, the alcohol causes wood grain to rise, a definite negative. So I stick with lacquer thinner and don't have to worry about the incidental problems.

Epoxy is one of the best sealer/waterproofers IMO. I use Devcon 2 Ton cut with a little lacquer thinner, then lightly sand it to remove the gloss before painting. ETEX already contains solvent and should work well, it just takes longer to cure. Epoxy can give you a really smooth, waterproof, durable undercoat. And you don't have to worry about it being incompatible with other coatings.

I think a lot of builders do thru-wire in a slot, except they use one slot in the top or bottom, not all around. Top if the bait has the line tie on the nose, bottom if the line tie is on the lip surface. Many custom builders dispense with thru-wiring and epoxy .092" ss screw eyes in hardwood musky lures, with no failures reported. That also makes ballasting the bait and installing the belly hanger(s) easier. As far as wire diameter, it depends on the diameter you can accurately bend. .040", maybe .051" hard stainless in a stretch, is my limit using hand tools.

BIN is a tinted shellac primer. It should do OK as far as sealing wood so you don't raise the grain with water based paint. Several of the reviews I read also commented on its strong odor, which is a killer for me. Lures exuding a solvent smell can really stink up a tackle box. You don't say what other coatings you are going to use. If you put other solvent based coatings on top of it, you may or may not have a problem. The only way to be sure is to try it.

I do mine the same as you after a session but I don't hesitate to take it apart if needed. I don't remove the itty bitty nozzle unless I'm soaking the brush in cleaner overnight. A clean brush is Job #1 if you want it to work well. Whatever routine you use, the brush will let you know if it isn't enough! If it starts to leak through any of the threads, rub them with a little beeswax. Most brushes, including Iwata, come with sealant on the threads that eventually wears off.

You don't want to plunk the whole brush in solvent because it can damage the O rings in the air valve. Some airbrushes had packing that could be damaged by solvent. Most now have solvent resistant packing so the brushes can be used with solvent based paints. The packing is in the barrel of the brush behind the mix chamber. The needle fits through it and the packing stops air and paint from migrating into the rear of the brush. I don't think there would be a problem with soaking just the front of the brush in most any solvent, but how you'd keep the solvent from evaporating overnight? It's easier to get a pint of airbrush cleaning solution. Mix it 1:8 with water in a little Tupperware container. Take the airbrush apart and throw everything in there overnight. It won't damage O rings. Rinse the parts with plain water. Works pretty well. I do it when the mood hits me, every month or so. The cleaner I got was EZ Air. It contains soap and sodium carbonate.

Look spiffy? "Aerate the tip"? Use the tip as a Popeil Pocket Julienne tool to carve radishes into those little flower thingies? I was thinking it let you see whether the tip of the needle was accumulating dried paint while at the same time affording it some protection. Like you, I prefer a solid end cap that you can cover with a finger tip to backwash the brush.

Yep, you have the right epoxy. Failure to cure is due to bad measuring or bad mixing 99.99% of the time. "Thorough" is relative of course but I mix the devil out of it, until it is milky with tiny air bubbles. When I brush it on, the bubbles disappear. I mix in a jar lid covered with tin foil and use a plastic strip cut from an old credit card as a mixer. The point is, make sure that there is no unmixed resin or hardener hiding anywhere because you can brush that on the lure and it will never harden. Devcon is thick stuff. I can't imagine using more than a single coat on a bass bait. It's not like brushing paint. You want to keep the brush wet with epoxy at all times and think of 'smoothing on' the epoxy as you wet out the surface of the lure with it. You don't want your brush dragging over dry areas because that promotes bubbles and fish eyes. Coat around the lip, around the belly hanger, and the tail hanger then start from the top and work your way around the lure systematically so you don't miss a spot. If you feel you need more time for brushing, you can thin the epoxy a little by adding 3-4 drops of lacquer thinner after it's mixed.

I wrap rubber bands around the joints to keep spray out. It also keeps the joints from flexing while you're airbrushing, so you don't mar the paint accidentally. I get my wife to save the thick bands that come on produce at the grocery store.

Jay, there are good reasons to build your own crankbaits and some not to. You can save money compared to buying custom crankbaits at $15-20 a crack. But if your point of comparison is a $7 Rapala (I agree, they're darned good baits), you're borderlne. Most of the guys who build enjoy the craft aspect, so the process of building them is a reward in and of itself. Catching fish with them is icing on the cake. With experience you learn to build crankbaits to perform in ways different from standard commercial baits, and in some ways better. You can build them to be very durable and paint them to your own taste. Building crankbaits has taught me more about fishing crankbaits than I ever would have learned just by fishing crankbaits. The downside is that it's a lot more work than ordering a Rapala from BassPro, and to do it well you need to become something of a crankbait specialist. So like anything else, it's not for everyone

Just pull out the needle and look at it closely. If it's bent, you will be able to tell. Wipe it clean with solvent if it has any paint on it. If it's not the needle, check to see that the nozzle is properly screwed in (the little bitty wrench supplied with the ab is for that) and that it has not been split or bent. You might need a magnifying glass to examine the nozzle for damage. None of these things should be wrong with a factory fresh airbrush. If they are, perhaps it was damaged in shipment and you should contact the store. If you buy one used, well, you pays your money and takes your chances. Used brushes sometimes have partial paint clogs left by the idiot that sold you the airbrush. If you suspect that, you need to disassemble the brush and soak it in airbrush cleaner (not acetone) overnight, then rinse it out with water. If there is no apparent damage to the needle or nozzle, bubbles in the cup almost always indicate a partial paint clog. Airbrushes are simple machines with few moving parts. Don't be afraid to take it apart and see how everything works. Just be careful you don't bend the needle or the nozzle and you'll be OK.

Createx is just water based paint, like interior latex paint, only formulated so it will run through an airbrush. I has almost no durability until you clearcoat it with a clear topcoat like epoxy or polyurethane. Then its durable as long as the topcoat holds. Enamel is a little more durable but not enough for baits. JMHO, I don't want a lot of finish build up on blades because it increases the weight and makes the blade harder to spin. I spray on a primer coat of white acrylic latex, then the acrylic color, then dip them in polyurethane (Dick Nite moisture cured polyurethane lure topcoat). Epoxy works OK but it adds lots of weight to a blade and it also draws away from the sharp edges while curing, leaving the paint to erode there.

X2 what Mike said. Nothing against the PS brushes but IMO it's hard to beat the quality of an Iwata. The PS seems like a great deal, the Iwata ensures great quality. You choose.

Don't know what tip it came with (presumably .2mm or less) but this is about what kinds of paint you will use. For me, some metallic flake airbrush paints won't shoot through a tip smaller than .3mm without clogging.

I think you will have to reduce the amount of ballast to get them to float or suspend. By the time you patch a hole drilled in plastic, you're adding the weight back again. If you reduced the size of the trebles, minimized the weight of the finish and it still sinks, I'd drill out the ballast and replace it with smaller ball bearings or shot - or return it as a defective. Colder water is more dense and makes baits float more easily.