BobP

You can buy unpainted knockoffs of the popular and expensive ($27) Megabass Ito Vision 110 from several online sources for $4-5. These are fairly good Japanese copies of the 110, but as usual with knockoffs, they are not EXACTLY the same. The RC Stick looks just like the knockoffs and I suspect they are from the same Japanese source. I have a few of the knockoffs and a few real Megabass 110's and my opinion is they have different actions and flotation rates. You may like the RC Stick or the knockoffs in their own right but no, you are not getting a $27 Ito Vision for 5 bucks.

Don't know how you clearcoat your baits but if can get the stains or paint off with sanding, you can dip the lures in DN to make them clear again. Auto clearcoat might do the same thing but I haven't tried it. Lips I've sanded with 400 grit and dipped looked virtually new again.

I usually buy from lurepartsonline.com or from Jann's Netcraft. LPO was formerly Stamina Tackle. They have somewhat reduced their range of inventory but have greatly improved their shipping speed. Jann's has always provided good service. I don't do much price comparison since I only buy small quantities and speed of delivery is more important to me. If you build lures in quantity, you should check out Barlow's tackle, which sells large quantities of components at a discount.

Honestly, I can't see paying big bucks and many hours to hotrod or super-tune a reel. I get why guys do it but in practical terms, instead of being able to cast 10 ft further than the next guy, I'd just as soon troll 2 seconds longer and 10 ft closer to my target. An extra 10 ft casting distance is about all I'd be willing to concede to a super-tuner. My "stock" reels cast farther than the distance at which I can get a reliable hook set anyway. Ok, Ok, I know nobody said we have to keep everything practical.

I wouldn't use 5 min epoxy because it really looks ugly after awhile. It doesn't just yellow, it turns brown. I won't even use it to mount lips in lures because of that.

Except for the toxicity, many of us would use auto clearcoat. It does a nice job and performs well. The thickness you see on custom baits is usually due to using epoxy as a topcoat. It's just more viscous than other options, not better.

I used hobby acrylics when I started with Badger and Paasche airbrushes. The hobby paints have larger paint particles and do not contain flow additives, so a particular color or brand may not work with your airbrush if it has a smaller tip size. There is no standard on particle size, so it's a crap shoot. Hobby acrylics became an instant hassle when I switched to .2mm and .3mm airbrushes - just too many frustrating clogs. I decided that you use so little paint on a crankbait that going with the more expensive airbrush paint is not really gonna break the bank anyway - and it sure makes life easier, not to mention the availability of transparent airbrush paints, etc, that let you expand your painting repertoire. To save money on paint, I buy it in 4 oz or larger bottles.

As far as topcoats go, DN S81 is a relatively new option compared to epoxies. It yields a very thin tough glossy coat but some guys (including me) find it hard to do multiple coats without it bubbling or delaminating acrylic finishes. I like S81 for bass baits very much but can't comment on how well it will do on musky or saltwater lures. If there is a classic topcoat for musky baits, it is probably Envirotex Lite applied in multiple coats to build up a tough, tooth-proof topcoat. It's "classic" because several very good musky builders here on TU favor it. D2T is much thicker than Etex, cures faster, but maybe is a little more brittle when cold and maybe yellows a little faster than Etex. Opinions vary. If you're interested in Etex, take a look at the member submitted tutorial about achieving a perfect finish. It is the textbook on using Etex.

Shimano came out with its new G series Curados for 2012 recently and retailers are discounting the 2010-2011 E series Curados to clear inventory. With Shimano "re-jiggering" their reel lineup for 2012, buying a Curado E series at clearance prices has become a sweet deal. For instance, you can find a brand new 5.7 ounce Curado 50E for as low as $133 right now. Retail a few months ago was $179. Original retail was $199. Small frame, 7 bearings, super-free pinion system, light spool. The E series also contains 200 and 300 size Curados. Here's the kicker - the new 2012 G series Curados have fewer bearings and quality features and have been priced in the $150 range to recalibrate the Shimano reel lineup. To get a reel with the exact same specs as the Curado 50E, you now have to buy a Chronarch 50G, which retails for $199. Except for changing the paint color and calling it a Chronach versus a Curado, the two reels are virtually identical. I like Shimano reels and anytime I can get something as good as a brand new Chronarch for $133, I'm a happy camper.

I don't store baits in my boat. I have a soft side tackle bag that holds my hardbaits, jigs, and spinnerbaits in medium size plastic boxes. For the plastics, I don't try to keep every plastic I own in the boat. I have a zippered 12"L x 8'W x 8"H Tackle Logic bag that originally had envelopes held in place by a ring binder. I got tired of stuffing plastics in envelopes pretty quickly, so I took the envelopes out and just throw plastics in their original bags in there. I'll mix them up depending on the season/day. It will hold 20 bags of plastics. If I can't find something they'll bite with that many choices, I shouldn't be let loose on the lake. Limiting my choices from the 200 bags of plastics I own has actually improved my fishing.

Fishnart, some things about the "art" of epoxying baits are hard to describe. If you have too little epoxy on your brush, that can lead to missed spots, fisheyes, and creating bubbles. You want all your brushing to feel nice and smooth as far as the "touch" of the brush as it spreads the epoxy. That requires that you keep the brush loaded at all times. It's not like painting a wall. More like smoothing icing on a cake. What to thin it with: like saltshaker, I've tried the same solvents and denatured alcohol works best. Acetone evaporates too quickly. Lacquer thinner, being an "undefined mix of various solvents" has occasionally caused my epoxy to fail to harden. When I hit on denatured alcohol, I found it helps epoxy level out and de-bubble, extends the brush time moderately, but has never caused any hardening problems. I use it in cool weather to get the brushing viscosity I like. In hot weather, D2T is thin enough to use without. One thing I don't like when brushing epoxy is DRAMA. I don't want to worry about whether I can brush epoxy on X number of lures before it gets too hard and I start screwing up the lures. Get in a hurry and you will eventually screw the pooch. For me, that means doing 2 lures at a time - rarely 3 if they are small and I'm feeling frisky. Is it more of a hassle if I have a dozen lures to coat? Yep. Don't epoxy the lip on a repaint! You won't like the way it looks or the way it yellows.

Ditto what Arkie said. If the epoxy is too thick, say if you are using it in a cool garage, you can mix in a FEW drops of denatured alcohol to thin it slightly. The alcohol will extend the brushing time a minute or two, will help the epoxy expel bubbles, but will not significantly retard the curing time. Most important: measure it accurately by volume and mix the heck out of it. Personally, I like to use a flat 1/4" wide artist's brush, which I clean thoroughly with lacquer thinner after use. When I started using epoxy, I occasionally missed a spot - which ruins the job and requires a complete re-coat to fix. You want to be systematic in how you work around the bait so you will not have any missed areas. Also, you don't want to be re-brushing areas. Keep your brush wet with epoxy so you won't be dragging a dry brush and causing bubbles. It's not like painting something with paint - think in terms of smoothly spreading the epoxy over the lure. I epoxy around the lip, then around the hook hangers, then start at the top and work all around the lure, brushing from nose to tail at all times. And I only mix enough D2T to coat 2 bass lures at a time. I don't worry about getting epoxy in the hardware - you can zip it out after curing with a small drill bit or piece of stainless wire chucked in a Dremel.

"Build it, fish it, and see if it breaks" is the way I do it too. Every builder has to decide how much is "enough". Like a lot of guys, I try to err on the strong side. But you need to consider what fish are likely to hit your lure and the price you have to pay in 'build difficulty' and most importantly, performance, when deciding that. The bait is part of a system that includes the trebles, the knot, the line, the rod, the reel, and the fisherman. Any part of it can fail. A couple of factoids stick in my mind when thinking about this. You can break 50 lb braid on a snappy hookset with a flipping stick due to the instantaneous strain. Most pro fishermen go with 65 lb braid or better when fishing heavy grass for that reason. On the other hand, rods are tapered to 'give' and prevent such failures. Rod builders do static tests on the break strength of guide wraps find that at only 10-12 lbs of dead lift, standard single-wrapped and epoxied rod guides will pull off a rod. I'm not sure how these factoids blend into the system but they're worth considering. I've destroyed baits but have never had a bass do it for me. If one ever does, my hat will be off to him (or more likely, her)!

Never used one but looks perfectly OK to me. Most Badgers are good workhorse airbrushes. If you're a staunch 'Buy American' advocate, go for it (I don't know where it's built but it is a U.S. company). If that's not an issue, you can compare its specs to several foreign brands. For instance, the Iwata Revolution series airbrushes are comparably priced and have a very good reputation.

Greg - About finding bearings in a reel. Did you really take the reel completely apart down to the last screw? For instance, there are often bearings at the ends of the worm gear inside the levelwind tube. There is often a bearing at the end of the handle drive shaft where it fits into the right side of the frame. The anti-reverse bearing is also counted as a bearing and is trapped inside the right side cover. Some reels have bearings inside the paddles on the handle. The pinion drive is often surrounded by a pressed-in ball bearing in the right side of the reel frame. Some Shimano reels have a 3rd axle bearing trapped on the right side of the spool shaft. You can't take all of these bearings out of the reel, some are press-fitted, some are loose. But they are real ball bearings and should be listed on the parts diagram as bearings if there is a listing beside the diagram.

JMHO - Thru-wire is needed only on balsa baits (we're talking bass baits only). Thru-wiring will not stop a balsa bait from being destroyed. You can still slap a thru-wired balsa bait on the water to clear weeds off and have the head break off or the ballast shoot out the bottom of the bait due to instantaneous stress. Been there, done that! But thru-wiring gives a balsa bait some internal reinforcement that will make that less likely to happen if you insist on doing stupid things with balsa baits. The reinforcement is due as much to the glue used to rejoin the halves of the bait after the thru-wire frame is inserted in the bait. JMHO, thru-wiring isn't needed on bass baits made from anything other than balsa. I have bought, built, and used balsa baits that performed acceptably without thru-wiring. Others were junk in an hour. You have to consider the bait as a whole: How dense is the balsa? Is it thru-wired? How tough is the undercoating and topcoat? If screw eyes are used instead, what type are they and how long? And perhaps most importantly, how durable do you need/want the bait to be? If you are building baits solely for your own use, build them however you want. If you are building balsa baits for sale and want them to gain a reputation as durable, thru-wiring is a good step in making them durable products.

Here's what Bloxygen is: http://www.bloxygen.com/ Not cheap, don't know if I'd bother to buy/use it unless I planned to purchase DN in larger quantities.

Dick Nite, like all moisture cured urethanes, is hard to store. When exposed to the humidity in air, the cure process begins. Most hardbait guys buy it in pint or quart quantities and take heroic measures to keep it liquid - regarding both storage and use. Storage: I decant a quart into 2 or 3 smaller jars with good airtight lids, then spray Bloxygen finish preserver into the jars every time I close the lids. Covering the lid with foil and a rubber band may help if there's ANY possibility that the lid will leak air. Jars that have minimal air space filled with an inert gas like Bloxygen will keep indefinitely. Use: you want to minimize the time that DN you will want to store later is exposed to humid air while applying it. Pour the amount you will use out into a separate container if you are brushing it on. When finished, throw the unused finish away because it will be contaminated with moisture. Do not pour unused finish back into your storage jar. If you dip lures, minimize the amount of DN you allow to drip off the lure back into the jar. Some guys just can't bear to 'waste' DN by allowing much of it to drip off a lure onto a newspaper instead of back into the storage jar. But If you don't, your jar will begin to cure much more quickly. I don't know how this applies to your situation with small 2 oz jars, but hope it will give you an idea of the measures that need to be taken with Dick Nite.

All you can expect here is personal preferences. Mine is an Iwata Revolution B. Excellent .3mm tipped airbrush for the competitive price of around $80 retail.

I'm with you - it's a major disappointment to buy a blank, finish it, and then find that it's a complete dud! I think you have to pick and choose wherever you buy them - each seller has winners and losers. For me, the most consistent have come from Bustin Bass Baits, especially those advertised as "high quality Japanese manufacture". Janns Netcraft also sells a few good ones, including their very smallest fat pastic unpainted bait. I think Janns also has chromed Megabass Ito 110 jerkbait knockoffs. Not saying there aren't others from these two sources, or others, that aren't good - these are just the ones I tried and liked. You can do worse than delve into the $1 bin at a local Walmart, Gander Mountain, or Dick's to get "known good" commercial baits which did not sell because of unpopular color patterns. At least you will know they will work based on your own experience.

How handy a method is depends on how you hold your baits for painting. Some guys clamp baits onto a stationary fixture so both hands are free during airbrushing. Using netting clamped in an embroidrery hoop works fine for them. If you hold baits with a hemostat in your off hand, you would need a 3rd hand to airbrush the bait using a hoop. I hold baits with a hemostat, so have to wrap the netting over the top of the bait and clamp it with clothes pins at the belly (and top as needed).

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm Here's a Color Wheel site that give you a basic idea of how to mix primary colors to get secondary and tertiary colors. If you Google "color wheel", you'll get lots of explanations and examples.

I bet the LC lures use a custom laser cut scale applique. A friend of mine did something similar by cutting out small squares of adhesive silver tape and sticking them on the lure. It wasn't as ordered or as large as the LC applique but it was an attractive effect. Sort of like giant silver flakes.

From my limited experience with resin, I'd say it would be quite different - much heavier and more dense, with less action. A buddy of mine likes to mold Alumite baits and sends me samples occasionally. When I asked for lighter baits, he got to a point where he couldn't add more microballoons without having problems with the mold process. The lightest he could mold were considerably heavier than balsa. I know zip about molding but know you can also make baits from 16 oz urethane foam, which is in the ballpark of balsa density. I've got a couple of Suddeth crankbaits, a company that molded baits out of urethane foam (now out of business). They work nicely. When you ordered from Suddeth, you could specify quick or slow floating baits of the same model, so I guess they had a way of controlling the density of the foam used. I also saw a Larry Dahlberg video in which he molded musky baits with a resin shell, then filled them with foam for buoyancy. The bait was a big cigar shaped surface bait. Don't know how that would work on smaller, more detailed bass baits but suspect it might be much harder to do.

Just an aside about Superglue - it works great to fix those painful skin splits on your fingers that occur in the wintertime! I often coat the bait with 30 minute epoxy which levels out very well over balsa imperfections. If any imperfections remain when it's cured, I'll give it another coat. You want to be careful not to sand back into soft balsa after you undercoat the bait. Alternatively, you can dip raw balsa baits multiple times in an acetone/propionate solution to build up a nice smooth surface. I use either method and both work fine. I tend to use epoxy in warm weather and propionate in cold weather because I work in an unheated garage.