mark poulson

Ha, ha. I bet it wasn't pretty. I've screwed up so much by now that I feel like the Archeologist in the first Jurassic Park movie, who kept saying,"What'd I touch?" everytime there was a problem. I'm always waiting for something else to go wrong. So I wasn't really surprised, just a little po'd. I diagnosed the problem pretty quickly, once I read the "bad" alcohol's label a little more thoroughly. Pilot error. As usual. At least you're providing your family with a "liberal" education. I'm sure they didn't know the extent of your blue vocabulary until that happened. I've learned to make my mistakes as privately as possible, because I am tired of hearing the laughter.

I guess the time isn't right.

I agree. I should have said plastic instead of foam, but.......

PB, You're right about it being layers that aren't bonded, so it is prone to delamination, especially at the joints which are constantly banging against themselves, but I've found that rounding the edges of the joints, and taking my time in coating the joints before I assemble the lure and coat the faces makes them pretty durable. I use Createx and Etex over wood swimbaits, and for crank repaints. I've found that the type of wood I use, and how well it's sealed before I paint it, has a lot to do with how it reacts after a break in the epoxy. I use mainly poplar now, and seal with two coats of Minwax polyacrylic, sanded between coats and after the second. Then I prime with Krylon white primer. After I've finished my scaling, including shading and any other major paint applications, I spray on a layer of pastel clear fixative. Then I add details like fins, gills, and eyes, and finally top coat with Etex. I think that for my larger wood baits, this combination works really well. I like the fact that the Etex stays somewhat flexible, so that it can deal with the expansion of the wood underneath when it gets hot. I've had lacquered balsa baits that bubble and blister from the heat. I fish mainly for largemouth and smallmouth, with the occasional striper eating my lure, so I don't get much damage from toothy critters. Most of the damage I get is from overthrows, where I've introduced one to the rocks. Even then, if it's bad, I just retire the lure for the day and let it dry out, then touch up the bad spots with a brush, and some D2T, and it's ready to fish again. Of course, the topcoat winds up feeling like a bad case of acne, but the fish don't seem to mind. I even use brush on crazy glue for on the water fixes of small defects, and it's fine. I just make sure it's set before I get it wet again, or it turns white.

MT, Where were you BEFORE I coated those lures? Actually, I didn't thin the epoxy, I just used the isopropyl to clean and prep the brush I was using to apply the Etex, and just that small amount of the wrong stuff was enough to keep it from setting up. I washed them down with denatured alcohol, and recoated them last night, and they're fine now.

That's interesting. To my untrained eye, it looks like thru wires are important in balsa baits, not so much in plastic or harder woods.

I have the HPC eclipse plus, which, I think, has a .35 tip, and an Iwata knock off, by Master, with a .25 tip and manual air control valve. I like the MAC valve on the Master, but the quality of the gun, including the threads on the mating pieces that you take apart and reassemble when cleaning between colors, and the needle itself, are way below Iwata. I really like my HPC. I got the Master to see if the MAC valve made a big difference. It is really nice to be able to control the air right there at the gun, especially for fine lines, which is why I got the .25 tip, but it likes to spit any paint that's not thin and watery. Even a violet transparent Createx I had sitting for two months, which thickened a little after I opened it and used it once. I think I will rig and in line valve, after the regulator/water trap, that will do the same air control thing as the MAC valve. It should be easier to adjust than the regulator I have on the air line now.

Great lure and paint job. Fun to make a winner like that. Not to mention the thrill when a three pound crappie eats your custom painted lure, when you're fishing for bass. Looks like a bass smorgasbord to me! On a serious note, on the subject of paint jobs, the biggest crappie I've caught have either been really silver, or really black, and have eaten bass lures. I haven't seen many that have the same coloration that the pictures on the web show, but I don't fish for crappie. They're just an accidental catch, albeit a fun one.

Bruce, Does isopropyl give you less of a hangover? It must have something to recommend it, but it sure doesn't work with epoxy!

Here's my version of a crappie, but in an 8" swimbait. I don't know how to enlarge it (no wisecracks). I have it posted in the gallery. I've had it eaten when the bass wouldn't touch a trout swimbait. I think the silver color is the ticket.

Thank goodness for 30lb braid and a 20lb mono leader.

I think it was a mixing issue, if it was blotchy. I mix my 5 minute, D2T, and Etex by eye, either making the same length squeezeouts on a piece of masking tape with the 5 minute and D2T (thanks to the forum poster who suggested that), or pouring the same amounts in side by side salsa cups for the Etex. I've never had a mix proportions issue, but I mix my batches really well. Although I did just screw up a top coating by using the wrong kind of alcohol. Live and learn, hopefully.

Gene, That's funny. Those tools are unbelievable. I've drooled over those Powermatic tools for forty years. Meanwhile, I've used the same model 1953 Sears&Roebuck 10" table saw that my Mom bought my Dad new in 1953. I worked with a carpenter who had an identical saw to my Dad's forty years ago, sitting under a tarp in his back yard. $50 later, I had the same saw as my Dad, and it's still in my garage, and still runs great. I'll never forget his name, Babe. Obviously, a different era. But that never stopped me from drooling over Powermatic's saws. To this day.

Guess what I learned when I substituted isopropyl (I tried spellcheck, but it didn't have it) alcohol for denatured alcohol? Thanks goodness the Etex cleaned right off without disturbing the paint job. What a maroon!

I would think it's some kind of a foam. It's by far the cheapest, easiest way to mass produce exact copies of lures, time after time.

Pine, poplar, and douglas fir.

Table saw, band saw, oscillating spindle/belt sander, drill press, and cordless drill.

Congrats! Can't wait to see the finished bait, and the first fish you catch on it.