goldenshinner

yes it was! 100% silicone rubber caulk that is. i am now woundering if the silicone ruber caulk does infact contain sulfer in its chemistry??? it seems to be setting up slowly. so that is actualy probably a good thing as the slow cure will make for a longer lasting more durable mold.

ok todays update. interestingly i experimented with very large blocks of silicone to very small. it seems there might be some ideal(opitmal) cut size. interestingly in the areas that i finely choped and mixed high ratio of cut(well cured) silicone in with rtv those areas are not curing at the same rate. infact they are still liquidish(24 hrs latter). i would mention that i slightly overdosed the catalyst to make extra sure that no soft uncured spots exist. also i mixed very well. i re-skim coated the lure and those areas cured compleatly, so im somewhat mystified what is causing the areas with the cut cubes to cure so much slower! i am also now running an experiment with bonding the rtv to a block of silicone, and the reverse applying liquid silicone rubber to cured block RTv. if the liquid silicone shows good adherance to the rtv then next week i will attempt to cure a block of caulk over a skin coated RTV.

hmmmmm...im going to read between the lines on that ...thanks....well my aquarium hood is nearly a rain forest. it seems strange that being silicone seeps some kind of natural lubicant oil, that it will bond after curing!! my fingers are sore and beat up after an hour of chopping all sorts of old molds and dried sil caulking. ive got every finger and appendage crossed!! hope this works.

oh so one last question. so no one has tried curing regular silicone(adhesive-rubber tube) over an RTV skin directly. that would be an ideal process if someone could figure out how to make that work!!

thats a very bizzar process. sounds amazing. i just placed 3tubes squirted out on a plastic plate to dry. also was lucky to find a few tubes of old cured silicone. one is 100% other is 100%pure silicone ruber w anti molding stuff added(not sure if that matters).im dying to get this bait molded. picked up RTV and started skim coat drying, its been going for 4hrs and is still liquidish. ok so to do the fast cure silicone(water added) i just pour the stuff in a container add tons of water mix it up a ton. pour off excess, and should set up quicker?? i am super nervous about adding chips of silicone to my mother mold(first time, ha ha). that whole floating deal. not sure how im going to deal with the floating portion. more than likely i will have to build the mold up in layers. once again thanks all for the comments. i plan on posting some picts when done.

ok, dry the silicone(either let sit, or mix w water) out chop up, and mix w. RTV pour onto already fully dryed skim coat. is their a mix ratio for the water mixing?? im dying to pour this mold. also im thinking of trying one with the skim coat and letting the tube silicone cure on the skim.

i used to know guys at a custom acrylic fabrication shop that would do all sorts of crazy projects. bending acrylic with heaters was and is a fairly standard production scene. they left the heaters on on a large piece and left it on to get a head start or something. that night the entire building blew up from gasses that were released. on the same note there are many cell cast acrylic products but it probably takes very expensive tooling to do . im not sure though.

Thank everyone! last clarifining question . according to the tutorial the dap silocone must be first cured then mixed with RTV, Why not just apply directly to the skim coat and save adding more RTV???? Also why add Water to the siliicone wont this cause the mold to shrink with time(if you ever would need to go back and cast more).

Thanks for the pointers. let me get this understood. filling layer of 100%silcone is added while the skim coat is not set up or after it has compleately cured, or does it realy not matter in the timing. also my goal is a fairly large bait. as i understand the hooker baits are foam type. i just need to get say a dozen built (hopefully in the next month before fishing is done!!) is the urethane resin eaiser or stronger than the foam?? i supose at least the resin distorts a silcone mold less. finaly while i have cast a fair amount of non-lure castings, i am somewhat concerned with joining lines from the two sides of the block.i am somewhat clumsy in my artistic abilities and am somewhat unsure if i can get the clay base sufficently flat enough(it has been a long long time since a made a mold). by the way. thanks husky for the input.

any one have experience w. finepoints and tricks to get this to work? I would like to attempt using an expensive RTV grade(catalyst) silicone for a skin coat followed by a cheep "run of the mill" calking silcone(1$ grade! ha ha). i have seen some interesting threads in the past, but am still i tad unclear on exactly how this would be preformed. Q:would any cheep tube of silicone work? Q: how long do i wait after applying RTV GRade silcone before i apply the filler silicone, or does that not matter. i am allitle concerned that the filler might not adhear well to the skin layer. oh and for the sake of arguement the final goal would be a foam hardbait(lure) casting. also trying to decide the best method for addressing the hanger(eye) placemnt, should i cast some space in, or cut it out with a knife or just attempt to compression hold the thru wire eyes in place.

I agree with this:) older baggley made balsa baits are among some of the finest baits on the market! i have long been interested in this companies baits, and simlar companies cheeper plastic coppies.The balsa baits have the ability to hunt. My supporting argument would be based on a comparison of the width of the wobble! the plastic model, which is nearly identical in every aspect, but desity and weight, will not woble as wide! I suspect that the distribution of weight through out the bait may slightly influence this action, but the majority of this effect is due to the extreamly light weight of the central core of this companies baits. serriously when the two baits are run side by side they are compleately different action! so my definition of a good bait, or the hunting effect: is an extreamly wide woble. ... the effect of wobbling outside of the typical path expected........ and that does catch fish! ps. although somewhat rare bagley made an 11inch version of the DB9's that is arguably the finest trolling bait ever made. problem is that they can shred if you get a realy big hook up(as will the other balsa serries). many claim to be thru wire. but the wire is just stuck in. its not compleate! just my 2cents to donate to this interesting topic.

fat fingers this is exactly my same concern! I too fish the toothy criters(occasionaly).and i have had an ongoing problem with separation of layers.

say is it possible to post vector based files attached to this thread? if so i would like to post a starter resource for lips that im working on.it is a pdf file.

wow! i was buired in work and was away from the computer for too long! you guys went crazy on this subject....thank you. i also believe we solve our problems differently. the good and bad news of my own research into this matter: good news.i have a friend in the auto R&D industry that claims there are programs out there that will actualy generate such a desired program. but the bad news is they are not available and I would not be able to use them. - ....some could actualy scan a starter lure generate the formula that represents aerodynamic resistance, and then go from there . he claims im making this more difficult than it needs to be. it is actualy very simple. my best corse is to start with a simple model(lure) and use only one changing variable. say for example we plot lip length against woble on a graph. as the length changes this will produce a nice curve that will be easily graphable to precict max, min, slopes . then we produce another test for lip width. graph these all out. and so on and so forth. it should produce trends to predict were the ideal sizes would be for a particular lure design. I agree that these specs should be posted on packaging. as in all reality a lure has an operating speed that it functions best in. fishing is definitely becoming more of a science than an art. we can fight it as i did with gps, high grade fish finders, underwater cameras etc,.. but in the long run there is more to gain by acepting that the future is here.yes i believe we are on the verge of seeing new classes in lure types evolving. sure patented new designs are great. if they work well.and the money is there, then others will also come out with alterations and updated versions of the same.and thats good because that means your design is a good! but back to the main subject. modeling. I think that we would benifit from such a resource.

I just have to say. I love the pattern. im not sure what the fish would think, but I would bite that! Awsome. looks like a typical illustrated veination in an insect wing.cell wise that is...minus the viens. THanks a very inspiring image.

No offense to the elders and Founders(i have massive respect) but Some of this age old testing and Tweeking with endless unknown failures in lure building seems wastefull. It seems we should be advanced enough to at least roughly model lure design using pure mathematics. I know there are design groups out there that have developed such basic formulas for Computer aided design. Anyone have any sharable formulas in the aid of lure design. Im interested in modeling lure shape size relations to lip size shape and possibly add in varriables of weight. or better yet is anyone developing a shareware of such a thing. this would cut wasted Development time down, and would be verry usefull in predicting absolute optimal designs.

ha ha ha ha... im sorry to post this. but i agrree with hazmail ha ha ha

say. some discussion on the unique weighting system that the Huges river baits have interests me. can anyone share any x-rays from these style of baits? as I understand there is some kind of unusual centrally placed horizontal weighted shaft, and then a number of additionally placed smaller finishing weights. thanks in advance.

Husky that is an awome template website! thanks

did you seal and finish coat with the cups, or just seal? I plan on an epoxi finish seal. im mianly interested in a penetrating sealer. perhaps I will have to devise some sort of comparison test between the styrene and the propianate.The Cd jewel case class of styrene interests me..im currious how the built up layers of paints and epoxi's bond to this.

you could also try a rod(fishing) drying rack. designed to turn a single lure or ahhh..rod. some rigging would be needed to make it work.

I was re-checking the solo cups. on sale A $2bag seems almost a pound weight worth! but looking on the bottom I see that several different classes of plastics are represented in the solo cup line. on the bottom of the cup I see a recylcling triangle with the number 1 PETE. and some others have a 6! neither is actualy propionate. any one know which is the useable type of cup?

my interest is not in clearcoating but penetrating sealant. ive had ongoing problems with cracks etc that reach the wood base, causing failure. Does the cellulose propionate have another name, chemical formula, or trademark? and what is it normally manufactured for??? The Solo cup method is interesting, but it is atad too expensive. also I dont think the solo cups are actualy made of Propionate, but of some other soluabale plastic.I would love to get my hands on some n-itroCellulose as I understand that was what the original rapalas were made from.

GRoby: Grusstich aus der USA. I believe Cabelas has such a thing. request a freshwater fishing catalog, and a saltwater fishing catalog. also you can try Stamina tackle. I think there are other sources on this very website. oh im new also but welcome

Vodkaman. how about submerging the lure for 24hrs at a time in aquarium and cycle the dry/wet times. I think a fair test would also include a puncture reaching the surface of the wood. as somewhere the water will likely be reaching the wood in an actual top coat failure. very interesting you may be pionerring a new field in lure quality ratings.