BobP

Though it seldom ices over here in N.C., it is miserable fishing weather in January, February, and early March. The bass agree and unless you build crankbaits that dive 30-50 ft deep (ha ha) a true test to see what the BASS think of your lure is limited to seeing only what YOU think about it. I don’t consider that to be sufficient testing. But what I CAN do is build batches of baits that have proven fish catching ability, to have a supply on hand when fishing resumes. I can build those baits with confidence that they will conform and perform to spec. I don’t tune every crankbait before it leaves my hands. If a user doesn’t know enough to tune a crankbait, he really has no business throwing custom crankbaits. I buy custom wood baits and always expect to tune a new bait the first time I throw it, even if the builder thinks he did it for me. So to me water testing every crankbait I build is a moot point. Jmho

I don’t much like defensive blank sellers. But I’d also buy a few test blanks before springing for a big buy, regardless of past experience with that seller. It’s just the nature of the beast with generic Asian blanks that the quality can vary from very good to dismal. If he knows the quality is poor, he should take it up with his supplier and not stick his customers with the baits. If he knows. And if your complaint gets no redress, well, do what you think is best.

There’s nothing saying that you can’t create the next great lure and give it a beautiful paint job too. There’s a wide array of interests among TUers. My main interest is making crankbaits that catch fish for me and my friends. But others concentrate on painting crankbaits as an outlet of artistic expression. No harm there. Still others seek acclaim and profit. No harm there either. Innovation is wonderful and I admire guys who are willing to put up with the hard work and repeated failures on the pathway to success. I don’t have the time or patience for that. I just want the satisfaction of making lures with my own hands from basic materials and then confirming my efforts by catching fish with them.

One thing to note. If you use MCU to topcoat your baits, you can get a solvent incompatibility between the basecoat and it causing the paint to wrinkle in some cases, especially if the basecoat is an enamel. Best to do a test before trusting it.

I use Polytranspar Superhide white; lots of pigment, dries faster than normal to a smooth hard surface. Most airbrush paint brands include a highly pigmented white intended for color basecoating, with which you can basecoat with two coats of paint on wood lures. Is it a hassle? Maybe but necessary for most color schemes.

I’ve made them but only with wire that I could twist with my fingers, like Malin leader wire or soft temper stainless. A barrel twist where one leg is twisted around the straight other leg does have more glue area but a regular dual twist shank epoxied into a drilled hole has never failed me and it’s easier to make. Hopefully someone who uses a barrel twist with larger hard temper wire can chime in.

A .02 mm tip is pretty small and usually has to be used with thinned paint. .03 mm is average size and that’s what I use 95% of the time. .05 mm is large and useful for shooting heavy pigmented color base coats and flake paints. As far as storage goes, you say your paint is “lumpy”. Freezing water based paint causes it to separate. If you can’t agitate and stir it back to smooth consistency, it’s toast and will always clog your airbrush. How well cleaning works depends on what you used and how you did it. Nonetheless, you need to soak it in airbrush cleaning solution occasionally to soften and flush out paint deposits that normal cleaning methods do not get.

The first thing I’d check is to make sure you are using the correct tip with the correct needle. They’re easy to mix up. If you stored the paint in an unheated garage over the winter and it froze, you may need new paint. It should never be lumpy and you should be able to shoot even the thickest Createx through a .05 mm tipped brush, unthinned. Even though you cleaned the brush religiously, it needs to be soaked in a dedicated airbrush cleaning solution occasionally to remove paint deposits. If these 3 possible problems are eliminated and the brush still malfunctions, then it’s a problem with the airbrush itself. Since you don’t know the manufacturer, you’ll be stuck at that point unless you have contact info for parts/service in the box.

The needle on a Revolution fits into a very small Iwata nozzle so unless it has been forced and split the nozzle, it’s fairly fool proof. There’s always the possibility that a replacement part was the wrong part for your model. If you have the original parts, I’d refit them to see if the problem persists, just to check. If it does, I’m betting the airbrush needs a soak in restorer. I’m pretty good about cleaning mine with acetone between sessions but after a few months, a soak in restorer still removes an amazing amount of gunk.

I glue them in with Rod Bond slow cure epoxy Paste. If the epoxy bond is broken on a balsa bait’s lip, you don't really have to worry because it will begin absorbing water and destroy itself anyway. I run a Dremel sanding disk over the part of the lip that will be epoxied to give the glue better grip and cut two small slots in the back of the lip to further anchor it, with a Drexel cut off disk. If the user does not slap the bait on the water’s surface to remove grass, it will last just fine. If he does, no anchor system I know of will save a balsa bait from eventual destruction. I choose epoxy for lips because it is more impact resistant than super glue or other adhesives I’ve tried. It also cures slowly enough that you have time to fiddle with the lip alignment to get it perfect before the glue hardens.

I’ve never heard of an Iwata problem with parts fitment, assuming you are using the correct parts, so my first suspicion would be a buildup of dried paint partially clogging the end cap hole. Dried airbrush paint doesn’t clean out entirely even when flushed with a solvent like acetone, so you need to disassemble and soak the airbrush in a dedicated airbrush cleaning solution overnight occasionally to soften and remove those deposits. That’s what I’d do first before thinking a part was damaged, misaligned, or the wrong part.

Well, reading the reviews I think you would be disappointed. Obviously meant for shooting food color and not airbrush paint, plus the reviews complain about the low pressure and broken parts with no resource for repair. For less money you could get a marginally better Chinese airbrush and run it off cans of compressed gas from Michael’s craft or other hobby shop. Unfortunately you only get what you pay for in airbrush equipment.

http://www.dicknite.com/TU_Lander.htm

Dick Nite has a special web address for TU members to get the discount. I don’t have it here on my IPad but someone can supply it. KBS Diamond is sold by various auto sites including JEGS at competitive prices. No kidding about reading up on storage and application techniques. MCU has a tendency to harden in the can pretty quickly from moisture contamination and it is frustrating to pay $50 for a quart of MCU and have to throw away most of it in a few months!

D2T is short for Devcon Two Ton epoxy. I suggest not using any quick cure epoxy including Devcon 5 minute version because it cures too fast, will not level out very well and it quickly turns an ugly brown from UV exposure. You want slow cure epoxy for topcoating lures. Truth be known, I don’t like epoxy on metal spoons because it draws away from the sharp edges of a spoon as it cures and will chip off much more quickly than alternatives like MCU. A lot of guys like KBS Diamond Coat MCU. It seems to work well and is reportedly less sensitive to moisture curing in the storage can than others. But I haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. What I am using right now is Dick Nite S81 Fishermun’s Lurecoat MCU, which is sold to TUers at a discount by Dick Nite, whose main business is commercially manufacturing spoons. Before jumping into any MCU, you should search the site and read up on best storage and application techniques. It can be tricky to use and store but once you have it down, it is hands down the best topcoat for spoons. Thin, factory-look, super durable, and non yellowing. I use the “Tap the can” storage method, quickly flood coat lures with a brush, and hang them up to drip dry. Works for me.

I’ve used 3 brands of MCU but not KBS yet. All of them are prone to bubble if rotated because rotation, instead of allowing excess MCU to drip off the lure allows it to pool somewhere. As the solvent flashes off and forms a skin, the trapped pool of MCU remains liquid for too long and tends to wrinkle paint and bubble. I haven’t tried KBS and maybe it is less prone to do this but if it does, that’s why. When I paint spoons, I just hang them up to drip dry and that seems to work just fine.

Hard temper stainless rings can’t be repaired as far as I know, but the’re cheap so... A good pair of ring pliers like Texas Tackle helps get them on undamaged. Going to larger split rings also helps since they don’t have to be flexed as much to get them on.

I suggest you PM Woodie and ask him how he clearcoats his commercial baits, and with what products. Epoxy is a very good topcoat BUT it’s labor intensive compared to other topcoats that you can simply dip baits into. Dipping is fast, insures complete coverage, and many dippable coatings harden more quickly than epoxy. Whether epoxy is viable for a production setting depends on how many baits you plan to coat in a batch and how long you want the process to last. When all said and done, you’ll find that your labor time is by far the biggest cost in making a bait. Material costs, even for seemingly expensive products, is minor on a per-bait basis. Building good baits that catch fish is not so hard as a hobby once you have a good process down. Building good baits in quantity for sale is a whole other universe and it demands efficiency that us hobby builders simply don’t have to be concerned with.

I wouldn’t dream of topcoating with any brand of epoxy without a drying wheel. For D2T it takes about an hour of curing to become sag free. You can rotate it by hand until that happens or you can put it on a drying wheel and get on with your day. Many other brands of epoxy take even longer than D2T. If you are going to be in a production setting you also need to choose your epoxy brand according to how much time it allows you to brush it after mixing. That determines how many baits you can coat before mixing a new batch. For instance, Devcon will allow you about 3-4 minutes of brush time before getting too stiff to brush. For me, that’s three baits max. Envirotex Lite contains some solvent, makes a thinner mix, goes on thinner, and allows a much longer brush time (at least 10-15 minutes), but also requires several hours of rotation time to be sag free. You can Google Devcon Two Ton to find online sources. It’s sold in approx 9 oz bottle sets, two bottles totaling 9 oz. Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX) comes in slightly larger bottles and is sold in many hobby stores like McMichaels, etc. i use artist’s brushes for epoxy, flat 1/4 or 1/2” nylon bristle brushes. To clean, wipe off the excess epoxy and agitate the brush in a jar of lacquer thinner, then brush it dry on a clean cloth. Repeat until you're Happy. My brushes last several years

I made a few flat sided craw baits where I carved out indents for the body segments, painted “wrong way” forward. One of them is my all time best catching bait and I only use it when I really really need one. But I don’t think the look of the bait is the main attractor but rather its very staccato thump on the retrieve. As far as claws go, I’ve read that in a test with real crawfish, it was the craws with one or both claw arms removed that were eaten first. If we knew what bass will always do, it wouldn’t be much of a sporting pastime.

I’ve built and painted them both ways and it didn’t seem to make a difference when fishing them. My takeaway was that ultra realism is not the determining factor in getting what is usually a reaction bite.

Not many hobby builders use catalyzed auto clears due to the toxicity and the need to employ an exhaust system and a solvent rated breathing mask. It’s a good alternative for production builders who can afford the setup. There’s a reason you see auto painters outfitted in tyvek space suits and full head hoods. Isocyanates.

Is there a crack proof topcoat? Don’t think so. You basically have 3 epoxy choices. Decoupage/bar top epoxies like Envirotex Lite. Maybe a bit more flexible than others. Contains a solvent so is much thinner and cures slower than others. Usually requires multiple coats. Cheapest per volume. Glue type epoxies like Devcon Two Ton. Cures faster, goes on thicker, one coat coverage. No solvent unless you add it. Rod guide epoxies like Flexcoat. More expensive, contains some solvent but less than Envirotex, some have UV inhibitors at extra cost. Yet another epoxy is Bob Smith Industries 20 or 30 min epoxy. Not sure how to categorize it but it’s popular too. Each of these has fans. Each epoxy has idiosynchronies in how best to apply and cure it. It’s a learning process. I learned epoxy with Devcon and it’s still my choice when I want to use epoxy, not least because I’ve got it down pat and never screw it up anymore. If I were building baits in a production setting, I’d probably use either moisture cured urethane like KBS Diamond Coat or a UV cured polyester resin like Alumi-UV. Both are tougher than epoxy on a per-coating-thickness basis and are less prone to UV yellowing.

I used slide rings on the handle of a micro rod and they work well. It allows you to adjust the reel’s position on the rod for best balance. Once I got the reel where I wanted it, I used linerless rubber electrical splicing tape to anchor the rings in place. Not sure that is required since the rings seem to hold the reel fairly securely but figured it couldn’t hurt.

I like to fish in cool weather which is Nov-Dec here in N.C. And one of my most productive presentations is a jerkbait that sinks slowly by the tail. It mimics the shad that are cold shocked. They slowly sink tail first and struggle to get to the surface where the water is warmer, and bass are attracted to this easy meal.