BobP

Plastic yellows as it oxidizes and there's no help for it. You can use a mild solvent like denatured alcohol or naphta to surface clean plastic or Lexan without clouding it but Dean's advice is the optimum way to help.

If your wood is dry and the acetone has not been contaminated with water, you should just air dry the undercoating. If you blast your undercoated lure with a hair dryer when the top of the coating is dry but underneath isn't, you will boil the underlying solvent - bad result. If you're using prop/acetone, let it dry and harden overnight. It will be ready to sand and paint tomorrow. If your prop coating isn't drying overnight, it's too thick. It will look and perform better if you mix it thin - not much thicker than water.

Mark, I tried undercoating wood baits with aerosol auto primer or Kilz. Later - months later - years later - when I lifted the top of a bait storage box, I got a distinct and not very pleasant solvent smell wafting out. I figure it's hard enough to catch'em with nice smelling baits, much less stinky ones. Now I use epoxy followed by a color basecoat of white acrylic latex.

Here's my experience and opinion: Note: I build bass baits, not for pike. I feel undercoating's main function on hardwood is to prevent raised grain when I paint with acrylic latex. IMO, take care of finish durability with your topcoat, not the undercoat. Soft balsa is different - the undercoating also strengthens the wood. 1) brush on Devcon 2T epoxy thinned 1/1 with acetone. One coat. Hang it to cure 6 hrs or overnight. Lightly sand to remove gloss before applying color. Advantage - penetrates well; levels well to fill small sanding imperfections; quick to apply. 2) cellulose propionate pellets disolved in acetone - These are Swede's 'prop pellets". The solution needs to be thin, NOT thick. Dip the bait, hang it to evaporate the acetone. Repeat. I dip 3-5 times on hardwood, 7-8 times on balsa. Time between dips is 5 mins. The coating is soon touchable but not really dry for some hours. Allow to dry overnight, then lightly sand. Comment: a hard resilient waterproof coating but multiple dips are more work than a single brushed coating of epoxy/acetone. Good leveling properties. Dick Nite - JMHO, a superior topcoat but not ideal for waterproofing as it has zero leveling. When I tried it, some areas absorbed the DN completely, others had a glossy coating. I use a hair dryer to flash dry acrylic paint but not undercoats. If you want fast epoxy, you need to construct a heat box lined with foil and a couple of 100W bulbs to speed curing time. I'm not in that much of a hurry. Also note, I don't build with cedar or wood containing oils that can leach through an epoxy undercoat and ruin the finish.

I think yes, you can prime with oil and shoot acrylic over it. You need a non-water based primer over raw wood before you shoot water based acrylic. If the primer is thoroughly dry there should be no problem with adhesion. I prefer epoxy, polyurethane or propionate/acetone as a raw wood primer because I've often ended up with "smelly" baits using oil primers. Clearcoats: a majority of guys on TU use epoxy, often Devcon Two Ton (NOT the 5 min Devcon). More and more guys are trying (and like) Dick Nite Fishermun's Lurecoat, a water cured polyurethane. Devcon is nice since it's tough, thick and levels out well to hide any small sanding or finish imperfections. The Dick Nite is harder, thinner and glossier but doesn't level over imperfections as well. Player's choice.

ST, I use a Dremel extensively and have a Dremel router table collecting dust in my garage. The main problem is that the biggest Dremel router bit is a 1/8" roundover. Even on small baits, that's not enough rounding to make buying the table worthwhile. It really only eases the edges. I think if you want to round over baits with a router, you'll need to get something larger.

On plastic #5 Shadraps RS clearcoated with D2T, I haven't had any problems - still suspend, still catch fish. Is the action exactly the same as the original? Maybe not, but close. If they're balsa Shadraps, I would just lightly sand, paint, and clearcoat with Dick Nite Fishermun's Lurecoat. It's very thin and tough. Weight difference would be minimal. I like to repaint but if it's a "fish magnet", I say patch cracks/chips rather than repainting if possible. Anything and everything you do to a bait changes it - including fishing it!

Ditto on good dry paint. Think you'll like the DN. It's very nice to dip with or you can brush it on. Be sure to read prior threads on DN, especially advice on keeping it from curing in the container. Plan on using a lure turner if possible - it's very runny and if you let it collect into a thick mass at the bottom of a hung bait, that area will develop a bunch of bubbles.

I'm not a taxidermist but the fish skins must be cured. My eel skin wallet is tanned and lasts better than cowhide, plus it's very thin. What do they do about the scales, which are the external manifestation of a baitfish, not underlying skin? Smokey, I think the lures are beautiful like most LC's. It's an interesting process. But I don't see it as so beautiful that I'd pay a premium above an already premium priced lure. That's JMHO. LC regularly differentiates a small segment of their product line and charges a premium for it (American Shad finish is another example). I think those decisions are usually marketing strategy and not related to manufacturing cost. If so, yeah, it's a gimick to sell more lures. That's what LC is in business to do. I'm not offended and have a bunch of LC's in my tackle box to prove it. Just not any real skin Pointers Yet.

Traybird, if you mix paint and glitter, the paint coats the glitter and it disappears. You need to apply it after colors, either as a separate layer or mixed in with the clearcoat.

Stick with gravity feed. I think the Iwata B size cup (1/16 oz?) works great. You don't sight down the brush like a gunsight so it won't obstruct your view. the B size cup holds plenty of paint for crankbaits. Can't think why you'd need a bottle unless you're painting motorcycles, helments, or 100 crankbaits at a time. Can't comment on the Smartjet except to say everything Iwata I've tried works better than most other brands.

Hey Wetluers - I had a Central Pneumatic (Chinese) "30 psi" compressor that I used a few months. Just want to note that its "30 psi" is max pressure. Pull the trigger and that 30 psi becomes a steady 15 psi, which I felt was very marginal. My new compressor maintains a constant 40 + psi. IMO, 15 is right sometimes for details but it's nice to have more when you want it. Working pressure and horsepower usually correlate as you look at different models.

Just a gimick? Something to make them seem different from the growing competition in high quality finishes? The baits are obviously painted after the skin is applied with net scale on the back, shading, red gills, etc. Looks very nice but I'd bet LC could do just as nice a job with paint if they wanted. Wonder how the finish will last on such an expensive bait. LC's aren't noted for finish durability! But that hasn't stopped me from buying a bunch

A bad spray pattern usually means your needle and/or nozzle tip are clogged with paint. They need to be cleaned after every color change. Sometimes a bad pattern is caused by a split nozzle tip. You can make a decent brush cleaner with isopropyl alcohol, dish soap and water. Dixie Art sells a set of cleaning brushes that work well. Pipe cleaners are an alternative if they fit inside your brush. It helps to completely disassemble and clean the brush occasionally. Soak the parts in cleaner overnight to loosen deposits. Scrub the interior with brushes, loose parts with a toothbrush. Lightly coat the internal parts including the needle with grease such as Superlube (a multipurpose white grease with PTFE). Soaking in a volatile solvent such as acetone may work faster BUT it can destroy the needle packing in some airbrushes. Unless your brush specs say it has solvent resistant packing, stick with alcohol/soap.

Wetluers, not sure you'll find a compressor that can't be heard in the house. They tend to be pretty noisy, even the dedicated airbrush models. Some of the more expensive units with tanks might work in a room with the door closed. If you want really quiet, you might investigate a commercial size CO2 tank. I don't know about initial cost or whether a tank could be had with a security deposit from a commercial gas company, but it might be worth investigating. You'd only need the tank, a pressure regulator and fittings to reduce down to your airbrush's hose size. CO2 is completely dry.

I like to use the 2 oz bottles of paint-on glitter sold at Michaels, etc. Thin it with water and apply with a soft brush. The advantage? You can exactly control where and how much you apply. It's cheaper than dry glitter and comes in a wider range of colors and particle sizes.

I've used balsa, paulownia and basswood. I think paulownia or basswood is better and both clack louder than balsa. You do run into a durability problem with body segments whacking each other repeatedly. I usually put extra epoxy at the touch points but that's a temporary fix at best. I haven't come up with a reasonable fix (i.e., one that doesn't add lots of weight or work) and maybe you just have to accept that and touch up the segments occasionally.

Ben, water based acrylic paint applied with an airbrush is the way to go for most hobbiests. Acrylics are non toxic, clean up easy, and dry faster than other options, especially if you flash dry them with a hair dryer. Clearcoat afterwards with epoxy. Use the Search feature at the top of this page to check on terms like "airbrush" "acrylic" "balsa" and you'll see lots of threads to read. There are also excellent TU tutorials on making crankbaits on the site. As far as equipment, you get what you pay for in both paint and airbrushes. But cheaper stuff can do the job if you're on a budget. Yes, a $250 airbrush and compressor is very nice to have and easier to use. But a $40 Badger running on aerosol cans of air gets it done too, just not as easily or with as much detail. Anyway, those are just the tools. The main ingredients are skill, experience and love of the craft.

I've never heard of melting and pouring Lexan into a mold and I wonder if some of its desirable physical properties might be changed by that? If you make small batches, I think cutting/sanding is best. For large production, a hydraulic press and custom dies are often used to stamp out the lips. For small batch work, I rough cut the lip outline with a pair of tin snips (aka aircraft metal snips) and then sand down to the exact lip line with a Dremel fine grit sanding cylinder. You can do a set of 6 lips in 30 minutes. It's reliable, exact, and fairly quick. Not lightning fast but you can change lip shapes easily, which I consider essential. It will be interesting to see if anyone melts/pours Lexan!

BJ, there have been many recent threads discussing airbrushes, Iwatas particularly, and which model is best for crankbaits. Do a search on Iwata and you'll find lots of information. There is no "best" - it depends on whether you have other airbrushes, what paint you use, the level of detail you want, etc. I think you're on the right track with an internal mix gravity feed Iwata.

Old age, poor eyesight and failing memory (among other things). Ken's lucky I recognized his name Hey Ken, I'm still catching fish on a couple of Deadfall Rogues you invented. Thanks for the fish bites!

I've read a few comments on the board about wooden lipless cranks, you might do a search and see if a thread on it still exists. There are of course lots of sources for plastic unpainted lipless cranks if that's what you're after. staminainc.com, Jann's Netcraft are two. Topwaters are a good place to start since you don't have to worry about lips, lip angles, etc. Check out some of the tutorials and you'll find lots of "how to do it" information.

Pikester, I used a VL for a year and never had your problem. I used mostly hobby acrylics, not airbrush paint, shooting at 30-40 psi, and thinning with water to the consistency of milk. Always with the #1 needle and tip. You need to clean the brush between colors and at the end of the day. It's a necessary evil. Some paints are not compatible and make each other clump up. I use a round toothpick and cool water. If you're sure it's clean and the problem persists you may have a different problem like a bent needle, a misalignment, or a split in the nozzle. The VL is usually reliable. I assume you have a moisture filter on your air supply, too.

Hey, is that THE Ken Nance of BFHP fame? Welcome to the board and hope you are doing well! Hooks - My personal favorite is Gamakatsu Round Bends, and they are more than most, but not too bad. Super sharp, tough, and I like the "stealth" gray/brown color. Worth the extra, IMO. I also use VMC and think the quality of their top line trebles very good. Their short shank trebles are great if you want to upsize but the standard trebles will tangle. They also make Rapala trebles, including short shank and the new inline trebles designed to sits flat on the belly of a bait and swing in a balanced manner. Little things make a difference in crankbaits, so I'm giving them a try. BTW, the best (only?) source I've found for VMC Rapala trebles is Cabelas. The prices are competitive.

I use a Makita scroll saw and crank the blade tension tight with pliers. Not much deflection after that. I agree with Palmetto B a scroll saw is maybe even preferable to a band saw for balsa. The stuff cuts like butter anyway and a thin kerf saw blade makes a neater cut. But for hardwoods, a scroll saw gets mighty tedious. I've been doing it with my scroll saw for a couple of years now and would love to have both.