bassguy

Seeking 56, didn't find the Barbarians, but I did find a VMC 8527PS Permasteel 6X in a 5/0. It looks similar and it is a VMC. It was on njtackle.com, I hope this helps... Jerry

I have a friend that caught a few, and he said it was like hooking a moving freight train! Jerry

"I feel a bit smarter already, though I doubt the effect will last long." Little River.... I hear ya Vic, I think I have a slow leak some where. LOL Jerry

So after reading what Ben wrote, doesn't this kind of circle back to what a suspending lure does; ie, getting to a point of neutral buoyancy so the bait will suspend a desired depth? Oh great, I think I just threw more wood on the fire so to speak. Jerry

I like the going fishing part Mark. LOL Jerry

I've used the Folk Art paints and others I can't think of right now, that I've had success with through the air brush. I did have to thin them down quite a bit but just with tap water I have in the shop, nothing special. Besides, when that paint is $1.29 on sale at Michael's, why not take the chance on a color you don't have. I too strain the paint the same way Ben does with the nylon stocking material. Jerry

Hey Ben, neither did I, the wife made the suggestion when we were in our local "Cash and Carry". Jerry

For the little cups Ben is talking about, I checked out the local restaurant supply house which carries the little cups they use for condiments, ie: mayo, mustard that sort of thing. They don't have the graduations on the side but work really well. One batch of D2T and in the garbage. The cost is minimal for around 200 cups. Jerry

Being a carpenter, this is one of the tools we carried in the box when doing mortise joints and door butts (hinges) for lay out. You can use a pin type or pencil type. Me personally I use my middle finger as a guide and while holding the pencil between my thumb and index finger, I scribe around both sides that gives me a very accurate center line. Ben if you would like to build your own here is a tutorial in a pdf format. Jerry

A well done video and very informative. Great stuff!! Jerry

As my building progressed, I found that if once all my holes were drilled, lip slot cut and the bait carved, sanded to finished proportions. I would "load" the bait with hook hangers, lip, line tie and ballast weight, once that was done, I would place it in a pot of water and test it for "floatability" if you will. I would find, if I placed the correct amout of ballast in the bait, it would sit lip down below the surface and what I call "square to the water". Giving the bait this attitude, it would indeed dive right away and perform flawlessly. Once and a while a bait would list to one side or the other and I would drill a 3/16 hole and insert a small chunk of lead, tape over and check for attitude in the pot of water. When that was taken care of, I would epoxy paste the plug and go about assembling the bait for paint. After working on the bait for sometime, I did make a template with bill angles, hook hanger locations and a line tie location which allows me to make an exact copy of the bait before carving. Jerry

That looks like a winner G2L!

Ben I thought of that too. I also shake all the paints before I thin or blend colors because of separation, although I didn't have any stainless ball bearings, and being water based paint I wouldn't want to put something in the paint that would rust, again more problems and "chunking". lol Jerry

I've noticed with some of the Createx paints (ie pearls) have a tendenancy to "chunk up" too. I've solved that problem by straining the paint through a nylon stocking stretched over mouth of the bottle with the top in place. Jerry

I use an egg sinker and install my own twisted ss wire for the hook hanger.

I haven't heard about anyone making PVC blanks for sale, but I've been known to be wrong.... Jerry

Been there done that, she likes them but hasn't worn them, and they're even pink with dark pink dots.... Jerry

What? You can never have too many.....only my wife thinks so, then I ask her how many pairs of shoes she has.....and that's how the fight started.

I save a few of the cut-offs for "boo-boos" also and toss the rest into the recycle bin. Jerry

I might as well be the first to mention the search button. It's located on this page in the upper right hand side. I just typed in "how to make scales" and came up with 69 hits, with that many hits, you surely can find something to use. Jerry P.S. Sorry to be so mean but some of the guys on TU may not even answer the post......just sayn'

"Now that's funny!" Jerry

Welcome to TU. Jerry

I've found if I use a "primer" on my baits made from PVC, you can get different results for the finished product, i.e., dark primer vs. light primer (gray or white). Light primer makes the paint "pop" and the dark primer makes the paint color more subdued. Jerry

Is that the material for duct work? Not duct tape mind you but a very light weight foil tape? Jerry

You mean there are other tackle building forums, don't think so. Jerry