Vodkaman

Comming along nicely, learning lots. I have made a few novelty rubber nose door stops for amusement (gelflex), they work great! I should add that alginate is a 'one shot' medium. It deteriorates after a few hours as it dries out. So, the plaster stage has to be performed in the same work session, not the next day.

I've been messing about with alginate, doing face casts for another project during the last few weeks. It may well be a good solution to this problem. Alginate starts off as a powder, similar to PoP. Add water to make a thick paste and apply to the fish, all over. It goes off very quickly, under 3 mins, so you have to work quick. Once it is set, it is a very soft rubbery material. If you are making a mould of a larger fish, you may have to reinforce the alginate jacket with modrock (a PoP impregnated cloth). With a sharp knife, split the jacket down the middle and remove the fish. Close the split and seal, with modrock, or wax, or glue etc. Make a pouring spout at the nose and fill with plaster. This will give you a plaster master. Once the plaster is fully dried (oven), any seams or faults can be sanded away and/or filled. From here you can proceed how ever you want. Alginate and modrock are readily available in craft shops and are very cheap.

Fantastic!! You could really get carried away with that project by adding a spring loaded mouth as the door. I can see a new business arising!

An excellent addition to the library.

Too bad, but thanks for getting back to us.

I can't see any benefit with an eye to eye cross installation as there would be hardly any light differential between the two sides. I still think that there is a third opening on the back for the surface light to enter the fibres and feed the light to the eyes. I take the point of the effect of the flash photography, mirrors and reflectors. This would give more than enough light to illuminate the eyes on the photograph, thus beating the trades descriptions problems. How about one of you guys go ahead and by one and cut it up for the greater cause of the furtherance of TU knowledge!

I used to use one for cleaning my draughting pens, before CAD. The process works very well, but it is not quick. You will probably have to leave the components in the ultrasonic bath over night.

The e-bay photo shows the eyes apparently glowing brightly! I cannot figure out how this can be achieved without a power source. Optic fibre needs a light source at one end. Then by total internal reflection, the light is piped down to the opposite end. The only way that they could have a very modest effect is, if the light receiver end was positioned on the back of the lure, facing the bright surface, from there, the fibres split and feed the eyes. This would make the eyes twinkle a little.

As you said that you were buzy, I have delayed this reply for a week. Your last activity was three days ago, ample time for a response. So what exactly did you share with us?

Second wind. I always clean my lids with a suitable solvent and apply a smear of petroleum jelly to the joint surfaces. This ensures an air tight seal and the lids flip off very easily. Care must be taken not to tip the tin in the future or the clean process will have to be repeated. Also do not wipe excess off the brush into the can, for the same reason. With dick nites, allowing the drips back into the tin will reduce its life anyway. Over the top? May be, but it works for me.

I did a TU search on pink, I was returned 63 articles. So pink cannot be that bad. Not my first choice in the past, but I may reconsider on the evidence!

Could you post a picture of the damage, it might help.

One devious plan is to involve your partner in the hobby, this ensures minimum resistance to the time consuming activity. I think that you are correct with the creativity idea and it would be nice to see a few more ladies on the forum, I only know of one at the moment. I'm sure that many of the wives and girlfriends of members would have plenty to say to other TU members. I think it is a great idea.

Welcome Keram. The wheel looks good. How many rpm does it run?

BJ. Looks like a very successful process, that I am sure many members would like to check out. Is it possible for you to post more information about the dye, such as product name, manufacturer, maybe a link to the product. What method do you use? How long does the process take? Is the stuff safe? Any and all information would be very useful and welcome. Thanks in advance for sharing.

I don't think you are going to find an answer based on sound experience. But Mattmans proposed method is how I would have tackled the job.

Great post Out2llunge. How long does it take and how difficult is it to change a blade?

More than double the area of the jet.

Grosari lures

Great post Del. Ironic, an aluminium mould manufacturer selling everyone on home made PoP moulds!

Is it alginate that you are talking about, as used by dentists. If so, in the UK, many craft shops carry it, so it should be available in US. Coincidently, I actually have 2Kg on order, I should take delivery in a few days.

It does not matter how it performs, you gotta fish it to make you aunty happy. At least take a photo of it in a fishes mouth to show her.

mere detail, the solution was genius.

Blackjack. The question that I have been wrestling with may have been different to your intended question, but the answer is the same. As stated in the death roll thread, the eye position determines the dive angle by balancing the water forces above and below the lip. Referring to the two diagrams that you have drawn, there is very little difference between the two eye positions. Looking at the lip angle, I would estimate the line angle to be about 30 degrees. This would give slightly more lip and therefore more dive angle on the lower diagram, but the difference would be small. The problem that I was thinking about after all that theorizing, was why fit the eye to the lip when the geometry could be arranged to give the same dive angle with the lip on the body, a much simpler solution. By exaggerating the situation, the answer becomes obvious. After the dive angle has been established by the above/below the eye balance, I stated that the lure would then take the path of least resistance. This is not true, rather it takes a path somewhere between the tow and the path of least resistance. This angle is dependant on the resistance of the lure. Imagine a pencil thin lure, set as a deep diver. The tow line is trying to pull the lure at say 40 degrees. Because it has little resistance, it will be pulled more toward the line than the path of least resistance. If the lure was wafer thin, it would have no resistance and would follow the tow line. If the lip was increased in size to 12 inches square, it would have a very large resistance and would follow a line closer to the path of least resistance. So, the answer to my own question is, that a larger lip means more resistance and therefore a deeper dive angle. The balance still has to be set, by moving the eye position forward onto the lip. Sorry the answer took so long. I learned a little more on the way!

SmokeyJ, you obviously like logic puzzles!