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I'll second that DT, I just started my 33rd year as a fire fighter and have seen them all, from spray shops to uncountable garage fires (we don't have basements here), usually it's not so much the spray booth going up, but all the paints, acetylene, L.P gas, spray cans, fibreglass boats etc, that are nearby that cause things to boogie. Saw dust and more so paint dust is a high explosive when flame disturbs it - you can make a good bomb out of saw dust!!!pete

Ted - I am really feeling left out now, I could have worn my pink crocks, or given them away to the lucky recipient of your suprise gift, could have made a full outfit. Fluro pink lures (any brand) are real trout killers here!!!!pete

I have had this one in my 'favourites' for a while which sounds interesting, in that they recommend their 'top coating', maybe you can epoxy over that. I also note the any chrome lures you see, 'Flatfish' etc, don't seem to have any thick top coat and usually scratch pretty easily, which tells me, that if there was a chrome available that could be toughened with a top coat, the big manufacturers would be using it (i.e. a tougher top coat). pete Chrome Clear Paint Kits :: Chrome Paints :: Paint Products :: Kustom Rides

Generally that colour would be called 'Black Chrome" also 'silverfrost'. you could probably achieve this by spraying over the pearl with a Tamiya clear colour called 'smoke' which is LIKE a watered down black.That's where I would start anyway (on a test piece). pete

Red, try it over matte white it gives a very natural scale effect, well I think so anyway.Excuse the fluro green, it's rattle can. pete [/img]

Well done Mac, just looking at your pic with all that buoyancy at the bottom of the balsa blank, I thought ballasting was going to be a near impossible !! It just proves you never know if we don't try- can't wait to see the finished product. pete

John, it certainly looks good, but those sizes are a bit big for mine, it would probably look good on your sizes though. Looks like it would stretch around a bit too.pete

Sorry, I thought you wanted a chamber with small holes at either end, I'm doing this a bit lately???. If you want a small hole in and out I think a piece of wire/rod through the mould in the appropiate spot and then just pull it out when the 'Feather Lite' is set. I know nothing about this stuff, but I suspect you will need some sort of release agent on the wire, and there are plenty of 'plastics' guys who make moulds all the time and should be able to advise you on that. What's a small hole anyway???? pete

Jamie In moulding jargon, what you are after is called a 'core', it is a seperate moulding (positive) of the void you require, which is then fixed in the primary mould cavity. These cores have to be made out of something that is dispensible/removable and in days past sand was used in most moulds, but today they probably use styrene or something. For your purposes, I think I would use bees wax, so you will have to determine the shape/area of this 'hollow' and make a pattern of the void required- I would not bother with all these fancy moulding materials, just use hobby clay (plasterscene), soften it up and shape it to what you need and then freeze it- remove it from the freezer, and then make a positive (2 piece mould) of it with whatever medium you prefer, let it set, remove the hobby clay - start pouring, make more 'cores' than you think you will need, then fix one in place in the main mould (you will have to work out how you are going to fix it in the main cavity), the master mould must be jigged to fit each new 'Core' back into precisely the same place every time you want to cast a lure, this way every lure will be the same (same as casting a hook into a jig). I say use wax because when the lure is cast and is removed from the mould, this 'core' will be stuck in there, so you will have to melt it out leaving your sound chamber. Whatever material you use for this 'core' should be disolvable/removable weather you dig it out or dissolve/melt it, so maybe you can come up with something!! sugar dissolves in water??. The best of all if you can shape it would be styrene foam, just pour petrol on it (or spray 'Carby Clean') an it dissappears. For a more hi/tech up to date material, 'Reeves' (George) 'dlaery' (David) may be able to help, they are all over these new silicones etc. Sounds easy!!, I just finished a swimbait and I thought that was hard, phew. pete

Mac- hope you have enough lead there.pete

rofish- those lures look even better in those pictures, I can get a sense of scale.pete

Blaze- white pearl over white matte primer might come up with some excellent scales - It's a bit hard to tell how big the holes are from pic. I will have to start circling the fruit section instead of haberdashery.pete

No sorry Mac, but I will be interesting to watch how it turns out. Good luck with it.pete

I'm with ya now Rookie, you meant to type "the band saw and you can cut a straight lip!" Slot. Good one, I like it. I'm a bit slow. pete

George/Dave- things are not bad here (yet) compared to some places, it's a real worry with this economic crap they have set us up with. Weather has been pretty mild for this time of year (90-100 deg), I must say I don't like it much, too much sunburn when I go fishing. I am taking some leave soon (about 3 months), just waiting for the school kids to go back so there is some space on the lakes to do a bit of fishing. I was looking forward to returning to the Clinton meet this year, and catching up, but everything is up in the air as far as cash goes, but I am planning to be there next year if things level out a bit. Hope you all enjoy yourselves there, have a beer for Phil and I, gee it's still 4 months away, and there is still time for me to change my mind ????????? !!!pete

I just logged on to 'Fleabay' U.S, wanting to have a look at 'Tiggers' baits, I searched for 'Muskie Baits' and up came all these lures (from US supposedly) at about 6.5 ", which is way too big for my purposes. They seem to be going for about a $, how are they doing it? Are they sourced from China- they appear to be better than $1 quality, they say they are 'woody', which could be card board? , I notice there there a few Australian shapes there too. Must be difficult for any local guys to sell at these prices. Still have not found "Tiggers' baits.pete

Thank's Dave, I see it all now, I will file that one in the memory bank, could be handy one day. Are you going to Clinton for the meet this year. pete

Yes Dave, a bit like the 'Tree sap room' (cant think of the name) in St Petersburg (Russia). pete

Just curious George/dlarey, what do you use Teflon rod for??pete

You can guarantee if there is something sticky, there is a bug around. The dots looked pretty good when I placed them (in my eyes), it's amazing what a dome and a bit of zoom does, they look like they were painted with a pointed stick. pete

chug- I had a go at this a few months back using D2T, they turned out all right but a bit hazy with some bubbles, so then used Glasscoat or something like that, they came out very clear with no bubbles (5mm eyes), I have never used hot glue, but if there is a clear, this may be the solution- I also found if you hang them upside down while setting they get a better dome. Very time consuming but what isn't in this game - there is a certain satisfaction in making all your own bits though. pete [/img] [/img]