BobP

Yes, it the right stuff but you can buy it at most Walmart stores (in the paint dept with the glues) for $1.97, and avoid shipping charges.

You can buy straight stainless "wire forms" in various thicknesses and with/without pre-formed twisted line ties at staminainc.com. They also sell coiled stainless wire. I get .029-.032" dia. For thru-wire, I get .040" dia soft temper stainless steel "safety wire" from mcmasters.com. It's easy to bend by hand, easy to fit into thru-wire frames, and easy to twist into home made screw eyes for hook hangers in hardwoods. I don't make spoons but suspect the regular hard stainless might be better for that application. Any stainless wire will do, it's mostly a matter of what looks best and what diameter wire you can bend accurately and neatly. Some round nosed wire bending pliers from a craft shop will come in handy.

Actually, I like propionate for sealing balsa. 10 dips puts a nice smooth hard shell on it. How it would work on cork is a ??? Have all those Chopper Bluefish left the Chesapeake? Durability of ANYTHING is a question when they are around!

Most lure companies are inveterate design thieves. A successful design WILL be knocked off in a matter of a few months and the originator will find that a patent or copyright is only as good as the tons of money you are willing throw at lawyers to enforce it after it exists. Practically speaking, that's a loser's game. The Chatterbait is a good current example. That lure placed high the the Bassmaster Classic a few years ago, and demand for them rocketed. They worked around the clock to get out as many Chatterbaits as possible in the window of time they had before other lure companies came out with a copy and started to chip away at their market. Within a year, there were knockoffs being sold by every major and most minor lure companies in the U.S. I hope they made tons of money in that short period because the bloom was certainly off the rose quickly. If your 'great idea' is truly great, IMO the best you can hope for is to partner with a small to medium sized company that can ramp up manufacture quickly so you can make some bucks off it before the herd tramples you under foot. Sad but true.

Another variant you might try - I made some "Forerunner" type baits that are similar. 1 1/2" long, a simple cylinder shape turned from balsa with line ties and propellers on the front and back, a #6 treble in the middle, no ballast. Tie it 18" in front of a Spook, popper or prop bait and it looks like a tiny minnow being chased by a larger minnow. Get those smallie competitive feeding juices flowing:)

I doesn't have to be rocket science:lolhuh: Dissolve some pellets in the acetone. If it's too thick, add solvent. It's like mixing pancake batter - I don't use a computer or a digital scale for that when I'm half awake in the morning. Dave probably does...but we know "he's special"!

Ditto what Benton says. I use 1/16" (.0625") on all bass baits. Whichever you choose, I suggest you stick with one for awhile. Changing thickness will change the lure weight and balance on subsequent baits considerably. That in turn requires changes in ballast amount and position, so you end up starting from scratch in perfecting a design through multiple prototypes. The 1/16" seems like a good median thickness. Polycarbonate is somewhat flexible so thinner stuff will flex more on long lips (good or bad, you be the judge! I think it's bad). For short lips, it won't matter much.

For a Shorty Spook, you want to remove about an inch of body between the two trebles in an area where the body has the same diameter, so when the two halves are rejoined it will match up. I used a Dremel fiber reinforced cutting disk after drawing lines around the circumference of the bait. After separation, sand the cuts so that the bait is straight and the halves touching all around when glued. I rejoined the halves with Oatey PVC/CPVC cement (primer and glue) from the local home center. It's available anywhere for joining PVC pipes. The primer comes in either clear or with purple dye (the clear primer is not sold in all states) Get the clear if available because the purple will leach through your paint job, leaving a ring around the finished bait. While I had the bait open, I added a ball bearing to make the lure sit in the water at 45 degrees versus laying flat on the water. IMO, that makes it easier to walk, plus the trebles are closer together for better hookups. And the tail down attitude seems to present a more desirable target to bass.

I'll add or subtract bb's in lipless crankbaits to get different action and sound. Shave the sides of lips to get more roll and softer action (aka a Timmy Horton Fat Free Shad). Add ballast to the chests of wood baits to get deeper. Resection a 2 hook Spook by removing 1" of body between the hooks to make a "Shorty Spook" with the same diameter body as the original. Sand the bottom lip on a popper to make it spit more than chug. Cut the lip off a so-so 1/2 oz factory crank and install a wire buzz bait in the front. Weight Pro Rogues so they sink slowly backwards like a dying minnow. Cut the downward pointing barb off the belly treble of a Bandit 200 and bend the tine backward so it makes the bait jump over cover instead of snagging. Drill a hole in a Bandit 100 so it fills with water and has a different action. I've probably tried other mods, but these are the ones that come to mind and seemed to work as advertised. Yep, I'm dumb enough to try ANYTHING once!

People write differently so I don't try to read between the lines. If you have a deadline, please mention it in your original post. Anyway, I'm glad to know the problem is OBE, so I'll hijack the thread and make a comment about treble hook sizes. What is one design feature that almost always makes one bait more popular than others? Number and size of treble hooks! Look at the most popular jerkbaits and you'll usually see 3 trebles, not 2. Smithwick Rogues, etc. How did Lucky Craft upgrade the Pointer? Put 3 vs 2 hooks on it and renamed it the Slender Pointer. Saltwater hard baits seem to take it to ridiculous extremes, with 3" baits festooned with 3 #4 trebles. Look at the "hottest" shallow baits and you'll see #4 trebles, not #6's. How often do you read about pro fishermen DOWNSIZING hooks? Never. That's something to think about when designing baits. It can be taken too far - far enough to hurt the bait's action (you gotta get them to bite it before you can hook'em) - but it's a factor to consider if you make baits for other fishermen to use.

I have a similar one gathering dust in the garage. You want a compressor that will output at least 35 psi SUSTAINED pressure. My Central Pneumatic unit shot 40 psi for 1/2 second, then dropped to a sustained 15 psi. You'll be happier with one that outputs more pressure, JMHO. I've seen other inexpensive units mentioned here on the forum, you might search for those threads or someone mention the source.

Loud - I don't know any compressor that's quiet enough to use inside the house when my wife's asleep. Dedicated airbrush compressors are quieter than tool compressors and there are some models that are engineered to be pretty quiet, but they are also the most expensive. Maybe if you have a tool compressor with a big enough storage tank, you could charge it up in the garage and bring it inside and use it long enough to do some crankbaits? An airbrush doesn't use much air volume and several gallons pressurized to 120lbs might last awhile.

Try a shot glass full of pellets. The measurement doesn't have to be precise, you just don't want to overdo it and make the solution too thick. It should end up being quite thin, like the viscosity of a can of polyurethane varnish. I dip baits in the prop solution and when the jar gets too low, I add some more acetone and a teaspoon or so of extra pellets. BTW, Bigfish1's comment about a digital scale is good advice apart from measuring prop pellets. I weigh my blanks, ballast weights and final crankbait weights on every batch. It's the only way you can replicate things on subsequent baits. And it shows you the things you need to adjust to make later baits better.

Wadaya mean "nothing"? 38 guys looked, nobody had a solution, so didn't comment. That's an answer:yes: I avoid baits that 1) won't cast well or 2) carry hooks so small they can't snag short striking topwater bass. If it comes down to a #8 round bend treble being too large, I start thinking about putting a single octopus style hook on the tail and forgetting about a belly treble.

I don't know if the hooks are some special VMC's, the brand Rapala usually uses on their baits. I have a few Jigging Rapalas and the hooks look like #10 or #12 Carlisle or Sproat panfish hooks. Staminainc.com sells those in Mustad brand. You can easily snip them with a wire cutter to make them any length. With 2 end hooks and a belly treble, I'd plan to cut the bait in half, lay in the end hooks, ballast and belly hanger and glue it back together with 5 min epoxy - just like on a balsa bait. Thay way, you know the end hooks are gonna stay where you put them.

Lexan is a brand name for GE's polycarbonate. Polycarbonate was invented back in the 1940's by GE and the brand name Lexan stuck, sort of like "Kleenex" for tissues. Here in the US, you can get polycarbonate from glaziers, home centers, or it can be ordered online from several sources including McMaster-Carr

You can find plastic bodies that look SIMILAR to a commercial bait, but only rarely can you buy the real bait unpainted. The "copies" often do not have the same internals, so they behave differently. Doesn't mean they're bad baits per se, but they aren't the same. if you want a DD22 or a Hotlips, it's repaint time. I've never seen unpainted versions of either. Best bet is to check out sites like gofishin.com or the Walmart $2 Bin for ugly patterns that never sold.

CA Delta, I have several putty sticks, all different brands, and they all seem to work about the same as far as cure time, consistency, etc. I don't know the brands 'cause it's printed on the paper liner that wraps the stick inside the plastic tube, and I throw that away. Just cut off a thin slice with a razor blade, knead until it's an even color, and voila. You can get them at home improvement centers.

As far as weight and density goes, I guess that depends on the kind of wood you're working with. Lately, I've been using an epoxy putty stick and it's handy stuff. Depending on the brand, it is workable for several minutes and cures hard in 5-10 mins, plus it has a density similar to hardwood. A very thin slice of stick is enough for ballast holes, so one stick lasts a long time. Dip a finger in water or solvent to smooth and shape it. Sand it after it begins to harden but before it fully cures. It works well for repairing gouges, filling ballast holes, or even to fill in an old lip slot if you need to install a new lip.

Cutting lips - You can also do rough lip cutouts with metal shears sold at any home center for $8-15. I like the Wiss brand with the yellow handles (yellow=straight cut). It's faster and easier than cutting them out on a saw in my experience. Finish off the outline with a Dremel sanding cylinder like Rookie and Dean said. The variety of lips sold by suppliers is somewhat limited so you may as well roll your own and get exactly the shapes you need. Staminainc.com and Janns Netcraft sell a few models. I'd buy only Lexan (polycarbonate) or circuit board lips. The plastic variety just don't hold up. If you settle on one lip and plan to do many baits with it, you may find someone to machine a lip die for you and punch out a few thousand. Ain't cheap!

Usually you get what you pay for in airbrush equipment but since you will be painting in the garage, you COULD use a small tool compressor with integrated air tank (around $100 give or take) and buy a separate airbrush w/hose for less than $100 too. The only extra parts you need are a pressure regulator, a moisture trap and a few hose adapters to put a system together (another $40 maybe). Now's a good time to shop for compressors. I've seen a 3 gal Porter Cable model on sale at Home Depot or Lowe's for $99. Tool compressors with air tanks are nice because they run only when storing pressure in their air tank. Since the airbrush uses so little air, the compressor seldom runs - unlike an airbrush compressor that runs every time you pull the trigger. And there are some nice looking airbrushes being sold for $39 to $69. Check some of the threads in this forum for further info. As far as airbrush styles, I strongly prefer a gravity feed internal mix brush with a .2 or .3 mm tip. At the discount prices available now, you could buy 2 brushes for well less than $100. Check nbimarketing.net and find the recent thread in this forum about their brushes. They're even offering TUers a discount from already good prices. A nice extra, their products have a MAC air valve on the brush for fine tuning the amount of air you are shooting (but you still need the regulator on the compressor to limit pressure to about 50 lbs maximum). I paint in my garage and run an exhaust fan in the window or open the garage door. You can wear a paper particle mask for protection as long as you only shoot acrylic airbrush paint. Solvent based lacquers require better protection.

Dean, thanks for showing Benton's quote or I wouldn't have been able to dope out what the subject was! This thread is too long and winding! Whatever the heck I said about airbrush types, I never intended to denigrate gravity feed airbrushes! I never use anything else, and for the reasons you cite. It's just a better system IMO! But if you use a siphon brush, that doesn't mean you're a hopeless! Plenty of those siphon brush guys can paint circles around me! A great artist makes great art with any tool at his disposal. Great tools just make it easier.

If you have the airbrush worked out, all you need is water based acrylic airbrush paint and a system to clearcoat your lures after painting. Hobby stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby sell Createx, a standard brand. WASCO at WASCO -- Wildlife Artist Supply Company carries a multitude of airbrush colors including many wildlife colors. Most guys heat set the paint with a hair dryer after shooting each color. As far as details on lures, you can buy some small fabric netting at local stores to make the fish scale effect. Wrap it around the lure and hold it on with clothespins while you shoot through it. And you might want to buy some "frisket material" at the hobby store to make templates for your gill slits and "kill spots". If you want factory made eyes, you can order them here from a TU sponsor or from other sources. That's a start on painting. For clearcoating, one of the simplest and best is Devcon Two Ton epoxy (NOT Devcon 5 Minute!), sold at Walmart in a double 30 ML syringe for around $2. It's an epoxy glue that cures slowly enough to brush on, and it cures in 24 hrs to a clear, durable, waterproof coating. It's used by a lot of hobby builders and some custom builders too. Mix it thoroughly and brush it on, then rotate the lure for the first 40 mins to prevent running or sagging. You can do that manually or use a homebuilt lure turner that runs 2-8 rpm. There are lots of variations and refinements to lure finishing and you'll find your own as you progress. A search on this forum and in the TU "How To" tutorials will provide tons of more detailed information.

I've seen multicolor swirl/feathering jobs on split grip rods so think crackle might be possible - but hard to control over the whole length of a rod. Besides, as the rod tapers, the crackle effect would have less and less visual impact. I only have experience with acrylic latex crackle and you might want to investigate other types to get better adhesion. Like Kellure says, you'll have to clearcoat the whole shebang which will add quite a bit of weight to the blank. And like other rod finishes, it would be subject to lots of stress, flex, and marring. I'm a strictly functional rod guy and am always looking to put LESS stuff on a rod, especially one where I paid $200 to get the lightest and most refined rod blank available!

Several variables exist when crackling paint. Don't expect that a specific brand of crackle medium, or a specific top paint, or a specific set of procedures will "get it done" until you put them all together and try them! The first variable is your crackle medium procedure. I spray the base color and then brush on the crackle medium. When I tried spraying it, I got crackle medium filaments all over my work bench that looked exactly like spider webs! If you give it some swirls while brushing it on, that will also affect the crackle pattern. The 2nd variable is when/how you dry the crackle medium and color top coat. The instructions say let the medium dry, then apply the top color and let it dry. That may work, but I got zero crackling with the medium and paint I used. For maximum crackle, I brushed on the medium, then immediately sprayed the top color and dried them both at the same time with a hair dryer. That allowed me to get both sides of the lure roughly similar, which was a big plus. The drier the crackle medium is before you paint it, the finer the crackle pattern will be. At least that's true for the brand of acrylic crackle medium I bought! The last variable is the specific brand/color of top paint. Some brands/colors of paint will crackle much more than others. It's a function of the specific formulation of the paint and I can't predict how a particular shot of paint will crackle until I've tried it. Bottom line: It's not as simple as buying a particular brand of crackle medium! And you thought it would be straightforward and easy:roll: