BobP

lurehardware.com

I haven't heard any opinions on side feed brushes but they seem to be syphon brushes. Half and half? Quasi-syphon? Whatever. Gravity feed uses less paint to start shooting, less pressure to shoot an equivalent pattern, and it's easier to clean. I can do small shots with my HP-B by dripping 2 drops of paint into the cup. JMHO, the B size cup is just right for bass crankbaits. If I were doing crash helmets and gas tanks, a big cup would be better. As far as the Eclipse versus other brands and models, it's mostly about the size of the tip - .35 mm - which is in the sweet spot for an all purpose crankbait airbrush. ps RJ, I posted without seeing yours.

Think I read awhile back about drawing in the fin rays in with a pencil. If you check out the User Submitted Tutorials, you might find some hints.

OK, he bought a bait back in 1972 and it was one of the 10-15% of that model that worked and caught fish (mostly uneducated bass back then, vs bass with graduate degrees like now). Anyway, before that bait exploded from water absorption, it was a winner. But it went the way of all wooden baits that get fished eventually. So now he has a bad case of Bait Nostalgia, an disease including auditory delusions of a small voice whispering "If you only could get a bait just like Ole Blue, fish would surely be jumping in the boat again". Unless you can go back in your time machine, or can dig "Ole Blue" out of the local landfill, it ain't happening. Every wood bait is unique and once lost or broken, will never exist again. Think you can make him happy? Building great baits is the best we can do. Building wonderful memories is up to the fishermen who use them.

Thinking about all the airbrush posts I've read in the last several months, I'd recommend the Iwata Eclipse. Users are very satisfied with the quality and performance. It has a .3 or .35 (I forget) tip, which is just about ideal for crankbaits (shading, color basecoating and details). IMO, the Iwata HP series brushes with .2 mm tips are too small when you want to color basecoat. In the Eclipse series, I'd choose the Eclipse BS, catalog ECL2500 in Dixieart.com, selling for $109. You may find one on Ebay at a discount. And yep, you'll need a compressor. If you have a tool compressor, you can adapt it fuw airbrushes with hose adapters, a filter and air control. If not, a small tool compressor is probably the cheapest way to get sufficient air pressure/cfm for an airbrush, since airbrush compressors are rather pricey.

Fisheye, do a search on "airbrush" and read a wealth of information on different types, recommendations, etc, etc. Or you can just page down to the bottom of this page and see a few related threads.

I strongly prefer round bend trebles and there are lots to choose from but I like Gamakatsu #471's or VMC #7451's. The VMC has a slightly wider gap than the Gamy. Otherwise, they have very similar shape, weight and length. The Gamy's are sharper, the sharpest I've found anywhere. Look also at the VMC Short Shank trebles, which allow you to put stronger #4's on baits that would otherwise require #6's. The VMC trebles sold by Cabelas are a distinct "Rapala" treble and are also nice, with strong wire. Cabelas also has VMC "In Line" trebles with the eye situated so the tines lay equally on both sides of a crankbait's belly, lessening "hook rash" on the side of the bait and equalizing the weight on both sides. Great idea! They also carry a short shank Rapala version. I build to a design weight which includes the trebles and split rings, so hook weight per se isn't an issue. IMO, sharpness and durability are the most important attributes by a long shot and Gamy round bends are the best. Guess what's hanging on all my personal-use crankbaits? JMHO, choose the best trebles and design your bait to carry them, not the other way around.

I use prop disolved in acetone to waterproof and smooth baits before painting. It's excellent at reinforcing soft wood and a number of dips give you a hard very smooth surface to paint. However, JMHO, I don't think it's as tough or gives as reliable results as epoxy or moisture cured polyurethane for final clearcoating. Maybe that's due to where I live in the humid SE U.S. JBlaze, prop is cellulose propionate and comes in small bluish clear pellets about 1/16" dia that you disolve in acetone. A little goes a long way so it's a good cost effective product. I got mine from Swede too (thanks again!).

At room temp, properly measured and well mixed D2T will not sag after 60 mins. I usually give it 2 hrs just to be safe, then hang it to finish curing. 8-10 hrs, you can remove epoxy from hangers, put on trebles, etc. Wait at least 24 hrs before fishing it.

I think paint looks better. I use different size holes cut in an old credit card for a stencil because I get nervous freehanding the very last bit of paint that goes on a lure!

I think ballast is for both castability and action (not sinking depth). Castability is also affected by the shape of the crankbait and its lip, i.e. the bait's aerodynamics. Some designs will never throw long distance because of their aerodynamics. On some, that really isn't an issue - I'm thinking here of shallow cranks you typically cast toward shore cover from 20-30 ft distance. As long as there is adequate ballast to throw them on a baitcaster, I don't care about casting them 100 ft. The vast majority of wood bass crankbaits employ an integrated ballast slug/belly hanger. You can cast your own, buy them commercially, or try alternative configurations by moving ballast forward-back, or both. The ballast keeps the bait upright and also supplies a counterweight to the forces generated by the bait's lip, so just getting a bait floating upright isn't always the end of it. You have to experiment. A good place to start is copying a commercial crankbait you admire, then experimenting with ballast and lip design to improve it. When experimenting, I think 2 things are essential: first, a scale to measure ballast, body, hardware and finished weights; and second, a notebook to write all that stuff down so you have a chance of repeating the winning formula when you get it just right. Once the hardware is buried in the bait, a misty fog develops in your brain when you try to recall exactly what you put in there!

I think of sinking crankbaits as something to use for deep suspended fish only. Otherwise, you'll be losing lots of baits. I remember an article in ?Bass Master? about some guys who developed a system of putting worm weights 18" in front of various commercial baits so they sink at a defined rate and can be counted down to where the fish are holding. That allows the bait to maintain its original configuration and action so it seems like a good system. The main problem I see with ultra deep divers is they require so much ballast to get deep, they usually have very poor action. There's never any free lunch in lure design

Whew! If I made a six segment bait I'd be looking for something like Kevlar line too. Otherwise, I'd be having a breakdown after installing ten wire hinges! Nice work!

Look at some deep divers. Most have a very shallow lip angle, maybe 3-5 degrees down from horizontal. An imaginary line backward along the lip exits the back of the bait just above the tail. The "standard" placement for the line tie is about 40% of the distance from the nose of the bait to the end of the lip. You'll need to experiment with your particular bait to get the placement for the greatest depth and action without the bait rolling over. If you're using balsa, considerable ballast will be necessary. You generally want a very slow float. Look at some deep divers like the Rapala DT-16 or the Luhr Jensen Hotlips Express. Their wide long lips are necessary to get deep and you'll probably want to emulate their general shape. For circuit board, I drill a hole and put in an "L" shaped line tie that tucks under the lip. The wire is .032" soft stainless twisted into a long screw eye. You want a tight fit through the surface of the lip, and on really long lips, I epoxy the wire to the bottom of the lip surface after it's installed in the bait. I cut a small notch in the center end of the lip that goes into the bait, then wrap the wire up and crimp it over the lip to secure it. Many guys prefer drilling 2 holes and running the separate wires back into the body. That's probably a more secure method if you can do it neatly, and it's definitely easier if you're using hard stainless steel wire. It takes a little practice to get the bends tight and neat regardless of the style. Good luck with the project. I'm sceptical about getting a 2 1/4" balsa bait down past 15 ft if you want it to float (the smallest Hotlips is that size with a huge lip and only gets to 12 ft on 10 lb line).

Like Benton, I brush 2 baits before D2T is too thick to use. You don't need to dilute it and yes, it levels out extremely well. Rotate the bait for about 60 mins after application. It's probably the thickest clearcoat available, which is good/bad depending on what you need. If you are working in temps below 70 deg, you can put 3-4 drops of a solvent in it after mixing to thin it a bit, but that also extends cure time by about an hour. It's typically hard enough to touch after 5 hrs and 90% cured in 24 hrs. The only problem I've ever had was when I didn't measure accurately or mix it well. I haven't noted any significant yellowing on baits coated 3 yrs ago, but mine don't spend much time in UV light.

I can't speak for Createx white but Translatex sells Cover White that is highly pigmented and meant for white basecoating. Many hobby acrylic whites (eg, Apple Barrel flat White) are also highly pigmented and are good base whites if you have an airbrush that can shoot them. The flat white Apple Barrel sprays well thru a Badger 175 and when dried with a hair dryer, turns from shiny to dull white, so it's easy to tell when it's dry. Cheap too!

Dick Nite Fishermun's Lure Coat is a very thin tough clearcoat. I usually dip baits twice, 24 hrs apart. Dries to touch in a few hours but takes several days curing to make it really hard and tough. It has more gloss and is slicker feeling than epoxy. BTW, epoxy actually takes about a week to reach maximum hardness and final cure.

JHMO, a scent can't hurt but I'm unsure if it helps on hard baits. I don't know of any oil or water based scent that will damage a polyurethane or epoxy clearcoat, at least not any worse than normal fishing wear and tear does. I've occasionally put fish oil based Kickn' Bass on hard baits and haven't noticed any finish deterioration. Alot of fishing success stems from confidence. If you have confidence in scent attractants, a bait incorporating them is bound to be a good thing

If store bought screw eyes would be too large and heavy, it's easy to make screw eyes in any size you need from .031 stainless wire. Bend the wire around the right size nail or drill bit, grab the ends with vise grips and twist away. Clip to length with wire cutters. Malin Hard Wire stainless leader in .029" size 12 (180 lb test) also works well. Can't help on glow paint.

For comparison purposes, here are some wood densities from a standard materials table, in lbs per cubic foot. Moisture content and the particular hunk of wood you get can vary significantly within the same species. Based on this data, Jelutong is almost 3x as dense as balsa. Balsa 11.2 Paulownia 16.0 White Cedar 22.0 Basswood 23.0 Poplar 26.2 Jelutong 28.1

I haven't used an Iwata Revolution CR but think most Iwatas are a step above most others as far as quality and reliability. A .3-.5 mm tip is a good all-around size for acrylics. I use a 1/8 hp compressor that is adjustable up to 50 psi and can maintain 35-40 psi continuous load. The max psi is often very misleading - what's important is the pressure it can maintain after that first instant you pull the trigger. I have a chinese compressor that develops 30 psi max but drops to 15 psi max the instant you pull the trigger. That's on the ragged edge of inadequate, IMO. If your compressor maintains 20-30 psi, you'll be OK, IMO. Can't comment about the price but check dixieart.com for comparison.

I also use a larger tip airbrush to shoot thick stuff like thinned hobby paints, thick pearls, and color basecoats. It's faster and easier, when all is said and done. I reserve the .2mm gun for details and shading. I don't think there's any "trick" way to do all acrylics with a .2mm airbrush unless you're a lot more patient than I am.

Hmm, BJ, you didn't actually tell use WHAT you dipped it into, did you? On foiled baits, I overshoot them with transparent yellow Createx for a very nice gold tone.

Cedar is also used here in the U.S. by several crankbait manufacturers. If you want a bouyant wood, paulownia is an option. It is tough and, at 18 lbs/cu ft, is intermediate in bouyancy between balsa and basswood.

Yes, McMaster-Carr is a general materials retailer. A good source for RAW MATERIALS for crankbaits, like wire and lip material. Lurehardware.com carries the belly weights plus some wood blanks and pre-made lips. Jann's Netcraft also has wood bodies and lips. It all depends on how much of the crankbait you want to make yourself. I don't build enough of any particular design to warrant buying a bunch of belly weights of a specific size - so I often use lead solder to ballast lures.