BobP

Many craft stores including Michaels carry ETEX - aka, Envirotex Lite, sold as a table top pour-on epoxy. It comes in 2 ea. 8 oz bottles.

In my experience so far, Dick Nite doesn't react with dried airbrush acrylics. But if you put it on too thick, some of it can collect in one area on the lure and stay in liquid form after the overlying Dick Nite forms a skin. As the lure rotates on a rack, the liquid then runs back and forth under the skin and usually causes the paint to wrinkle. I dip lures in Dick Nite and let any excess thoroughly drip off before putting it on a rotating rack. For spoons, you can just dip it and hang it, no drama. You also need to let it dry/cure for about 24 hrs before applying another coat or the new coat can cause it to bubble.

Mpashnt1, I've used D2T on quite a few jigs and never had the same problem as long as the epoxy was fully cured and hard. I switched to Dick Nite for jigging spoons because it was originally designed for that application and it's easy to use - just dip'em and hang'em. But you need to let Dick Nite cure for about a week to become really tough. It dries in a few hours but it takes days after that for the finish to moisture cure into a really tough coating. It has a higher sheen and is very clear, plus it's already thin consistency works well when dipping.

Kahawai, very nice bait. You Photobucket pics show some superb finishes!

Dean, you're 100% right about premium sandpaper. I get Norton 3X in 8' x 10" sheets from Home Depot. It will cut without wearing or clogging until the backing gets so soft that you want to cut a new piece of the stuff. A 1" x 3" "finger piece" of 220 grit will easily do the finish sanding on 10 bass baits. There's really no comparison with run of the mill sandpaper and the cost is not greatly higher.

You can thin D2T down to 50/50 and it will still level and cure out - but why would you, unless you're using it as a waterproof undercoating? For top coating, I mix 3-4 drops of thinner into enough epoxy to paint 2-3 bass lures. I've used denatured alcohol, lacquer thinner and acetone and have personally never been able to tell any difference in the end product in terms of durability, leveling or sheen. I haven't had coating failures with any of them. How long your brush time is extended depends on the solvent. DN is longest, LT shorter, acetone shortest. I only thin when I must to get the D2T to brush well in cool conditions.

I use a Dremel sanding cylinder to shape balsa after cutting out the basic blank and the lip slot on a scroll saw. It's all about control, and it's too easy to "go too far" with a knife, at least for me. My wife won't let me play with sharp objects, nor run with sissors.

I don't know of any very flexible but durable top coats suitable for acrylic painted plastics. Aren't most soft plastics dyed versus painted to get a particular color?

I want epoxy along the margin of the lip where it joins the bait. I hold the bait by the lip with locking forceps to help me manipulate it and do a neat job. You can remove stray epoxy before it cures with either naphta or denatured alcohol without clouding the lip.

Dick Nite storage - it begins to cure in the container if there's not a good seal (I doubt a strip of tape will hack it) or if there is a lot of moisture laden air in the container. In my experience, even in a wine bottle or other small necked container, it will still begin to cure when the level reaches about half full because of the air in the other half. Hobby builders or small volume builders don't use DN fast enough to preclude the problem. I don't think you'll ever have success storing it in the can it came in because removing and tamping on the lid always results in air leaks. The best you can do is decant the quart into smaller containers that you can fill to the top and seal tight. I'm trying something called Bloxygen, an aerosol can of argon/nitrogen that you spray into the container, forming a non-reactive layer of gas between the DN and the air in the container. Bloxygen is sold as a paint and finish preserver and can be ordered from the company's website or other outlets. Does it work? A few TUers already using it say YES. Ask me 6 months from now and I'll have an opinion.

I think you'd be happy using paulownia for small topwaters. It has a nominal density of 18 lbs/cu ft, intermediate between balsa and hardwoods such as basswood. And it's hard enough not to require thru-wiring. Finding a paulownia dowel is a whole 'nother question. Unless you have a lathe, it's probably not an option. JMHO, the best topwaters are made from light weight woods to have the most lively action.

A general guideline is that ballast should be installed as low in the bait as possible. You probably found that out already:)

Build enough baits and you'll realize EVERYTHING matters! Wood selection is mostly about buoyancy, which determines how much ballast you will need and how lively the action will be on a lipped bait. Wood hardness is a factor in baits for toothy critters. For swimbaits, I use basswood most often. Cedar is an alternative. I think the same woods should be OK for glide baits, but I've never built one. Other guys undoubtedly use different woods, especially when we're talking about hardwoods.

1. What is the best brush to do fine detail work on small baits? Airbrushes with small diameter tips (.2mm or less) can do finer details but may not be best for general painting. A .3 or .35 tip may be the "sweet spot" if you want to use a single airbrush for lure painting. Many guys (and factories) use stencils so both sides of the bait end up the same. In that case, the brush tip size is not relevant. 2. What air compressor shall I purchase? Any tool or airbrush compressor that can output a sustained 40 psi of air. Tool compressors are cheaper but louder, though they run only part time since most have an integrated storage tank. Neither type is especially quiet. 2. What type of paint is best paint to use on balsa? Most hobby builders use water based acrylic latex airbrush paints. 3. What is the toughest clear coat I should use? A majority use epoxy. Devcon Two Ton or Envirotex Lite are popular brands. There are an increasing number of alternative epoxies - check recent threads. Some use one part auto clearcoats or moisture cured polyurethanes like Dick Nite (see his banner ad often at the top of any TU page). 4. Where is the best places to purchase all the equipment? If you're looking to single source, Dixie Art is one of the more comprehensive. If you want to shop around, Google the specific item. If you want to see extensive discussion and opinions about any of the above, do a search within this forum for tons of info.

Dave, it's the machine featured in the #1 permalink (the first post).

Go to the Member Sumitted Tutorials in the Forum section of the home page, then click on Hardbait How To. Only the tutorials recently added will be display. You can expand the list by going to the bottom of the page and changing the Display Options to "From the Beginning". There's a wealth of info there!

Testing it unshaped may give you an approximation of how it will swim when completed, but I don't see why you'd want to do the swim test at that point. Why not shape it, install the ballast and all hardware, waterproof the bait and THEN do the swim test? If the lip is not right, you can cut it out and try another shape/angle without ruining paint and topcoat. If you cut out the lip, use an epoxy putty stick sold any any home center to fill the void left from the old lip, then recut the slot. If you're uncertain how the lip will work but think the lip angle is OK, make the lip as large as the max you think may work, then use a Dremel sanding cylinder to shorten and reshape the lip as you do the swim test. That works particulary well with square lips. If you want to really tweak the bait for best performance, this is the easiest way I know to do it. Yeah, it's more work but when finished, you can build any number of copies that you know will run the way you want them.

You can lightly sand epoxy with 400 grit or finer paper to get a matte finish but when wet the surface reverts to partially gloss as the scratches are filled with water. Probably the most effective matte is the soft plastic coating you see on some baits. But it's not especially durable and it has a milky color that requires especially bright finish underneath to show through to the bait's surface.

I like that striper swimbait. Much of the emphasis on fish art is to catch the fisherman and to give him confidence that the bait will catch fish. Bass are not art critics. If it's the right size, in the right place and looks roughly like something the bass eats, you're probably going to get bit.

There was a thread recently on a flounder bait that you might check. There have been a few commercial baits designed to lay on their sides but I can't remember any of them becomming popular. One somewhat similar mod I've used is to tail weight a suspending jerkbait so it swims upright but slowly sinks backward when paused, like a dying shad. The guy who originated the mod based it on observed bass behavior in a large tank. I've modified several Pro Rogues that way and they are killer baits in winter when shad die-offs are common.

Clemmy, yes you could but I just hate handling stuff that small. I like the patch to have about 1/8" overlap around the hole to ensure enough glue surface so I don't go crazy trying to superglue the patch on the bait Pop cans are surprising easy to cut, bend, glue and sand. The repair can be impossible to detect if done on the back of the bait under dark paint.

Look up Custom Lures Unlimited. He sells painted baits but also sells a few of his plastic blanks unpainted. They are custom designed lures he orders from the Far East. Definitely out of the ordinary and unavailable elsewhere in small lots.

My airbrush compressor is small, has no air tank and cuts on whenever I pull the trigger on the airbrush. If I lived in an apartment, it would surely not disturb the neighbors but if my wife were sleeping, I'd probably end up with a few extra dents in my head. There are models advertised as quiet units (e.g. Silentaire for one) but they are quite expensive. Yet another option - I read here on the site awhile back that someone was using a tank of compressed CO2 on his airbrush. A moderate size tank should last for a long time and the gas is perfectly dry. It might be a good option for truly silent painting depending on the cost of refilling the tank and the cost of the tank itself.

Well, I like a compressor - one that can deliver at least 40 psi SUSTAINED pressure. I use an airbrush compressor received as a gift. If I were starting from scratch, I'd choose a tool compressor due to the lower cost and ability to use it for other things around the house. But of course, that hikes cost by $75-100. That's why I suggested Propel canned air. A big can of Propel sells for around $10 and will do quite a few baits depending on how wasteful you are. An air tank ($20-30) or a spare tire can also be used but I've never used either. Most guys who get an airbrush are going to buy a compressor sooner or later, just for the convenience. And over time, the initial cost is amortized as you paint more baits.