hillbilly1

I agree and I second that on the foam. @ Ken Feather lite seemed a little weak for me and if your going for stripes the lure may not survive RC3 with balloons will get you the desired floatation and durability that you need. IMHO if you are going to do a few molds of the same type bait, on the first run do 3 castings with different amounts of micro balloons record the amount of MB's for each then run some tests (hardness floatation) for each when you have a winner you got the mixing formula and can replicate the bait over and over wether you want it to sit high or ride low.

Its Ancient Chinese magic

IMHO I would make one as a sacrificial and use a small screw eye with X amount of weight attached to it and just move it forward or backward till it set level but this isn't fool proof the center of gravity will be below on the bait witch may change the stance when the X amount of weight is incorporated in to the body. The best thing that iv found to do guesstomations on ballast was the storm suspend strips and dots put them 2/3rds down from the top on both sides till you got it the way you want then weigh the strips/dots and put the same amount of lead in the same area.

Have you tried local moms and pops shops thats where most of my baits go but I have sold some on Ebay but it was a hassle with the fees and shipping so now I take a few each month to the three stores may only sell a few a month but Im in it for the fun but I do know how to break even

It dependeds on the application I have 8lb (3.5 mono) braid tipped with a 7 ft floro for my drop shot rod and 80lb braid for my frog stick. I hold now brand allegiance some company's make a line that is suitable for one thing and some do for others.

Asian carp are one of the most evasive speces of fish in N. America to date. There was a show on Discovery ch. a few months ago about them and I was amazed and alarmed The fish have made there way up the Mississippi and the Missouri river basins and some DNA from them have been found in lake Michigan if they reproduce there well that would be a echo nightmare.

That is how I did the master in the vid I have a friend who has a compucarver he did the cavity for me out of white wood and I did the profile and sealed the wood ,but I imagine you could get the same effect from a rotary tool.

Last year I made a mold with a modular lip slot (3 different slots). All I did was cut 3 peaces of lexan with concave ends to fit around the throat of the bait at different angles. Set bait and plates half way in clay pour RTV let cure then do other half while trying to keep every thing square. Let cure. Then just turn the plates around and insert (1 of 3 use other 2 as plugs) square end to required depth in the mold. I covered the plates with patrolium jelly to keep them sealed and with some release spray just for giggles. Then pour with resin. As for the lips I cut and bent 3 different type lips with the same exact measurements for the insert part for the slot from lexan made a mold and used clear polyester resin to cast them As for removing the lip if the lip is part of the baits cut with a hack saw along the profile of the bait if its slotted in saw along top and bottom of lip and wiggle it out as best as you can. Good luck I all ways over power the bait and rip it out ruining the slot.

Blick art has a decent deal on the Oomoo 30. Rookie made more seance buy in bulk when or if possible.

I ordered some RTV from www.hobbysilicone.com @ $29 + $11.99 shipping for a 2lb kit IMHO its just as good as the Alumilite High Strength TAP's is $23 + $10 and some change shipping for 1lb kit. The only draw back with hobby's is the shipping takes a little longer than I like. As for the vac. I use a 5 gal bucket and sit the mixed RTV (in a smaller container) in the bucket and use weather stripping around the lid and put a peace of lexan over it with a hole and suck it out with a shop vac. works good for small 2-4lb jobs.

Holly sheep bat man that is a nice bait and very very impressed and as for mark but its all good

Its all good Iv done just a strait twist I might have to give the barrel a try.

Here is a vid to help you I picked a pair of the pliers from harbor freight for $9 works wonders

test cant enter last pic ho well I hope yall get the point

About forgot thee negative side of the pour

Trim an remove excess RTV and clay Tip if using water base clay just pray it with water lightly let set and scrape or wipe off. ">Reset mold box just as before spray and brush with release spray be sure to cover any exposed RTV and brush in reg. keys and between the mold box and the bottom part of the mold then pour top cap and let stand. ">Next demold and remove any thing that dosent belong. (Positive and negative) ">Then pour with resin be sure to press the mold together wile rocking it to get any air bubbles out and let cure Then sand or trim seams till they mate up square and true. Its kind of a rag tag TUT but I did it on the fly Hope it helps the vid. I posted some time back about pouring balisting and hard wareing.The bills are done in a 2 peace solid mold but with clear polyester resin. Thank goodness for pics I would have fried my brain doing a vid

">Next lay a bead of clay on the bottom of the mold box and in all 4 corners then press and smooth with fingers to prevent leaks. ">Mix RTV and vacuum out the bubbles and pour with a small thin stream in a corner the flow and spread of the RTV in the box will push out any air bubbles (I know crappie pic) "> Let stand and hit it with a blow dryer our heat gun on low to bring some of the air up to the surface dont do for long the RTV will set and trap bubbles Notice I still got 2 big bubbles ">Remove from smooth sub strait gently there will be suction. [

[">Next take a half and pack the seam with clay">Then press on a peace of smooth surface sub-strait ie. glass polycarbonate other I will get to the purpose of a smooth sub .a min. ">Now press the half as hard as you can to the smooth sub. and get as much of the clay squeezed out as posable the get the seal as thin as posable. ">Trim as much clay as you can ">Position other halves with at least 1/2 an inch between them. ">Set the registration keys in place (nuts, acorns or other ) seal them to the smooth sub strait with

Just for educational purpose DANGER READ ALL WARNINGS AND CAUTION LABELS FIRST Iv been asked a few times about a vid of molding 2 peace hollow body baits well a vid would have wound up being a mini series So here is a short TUT on the subject. First you will need a 2 peace bait I had one that was smashed on a rock and was crack down the seam I just finished splitting it with an exato knife clay

Try this Masters look down the page for Model E90 its the same as the HF brush. I got the .35 needle and repair kit both worked fine the bad thing is the repair kit costs as much as a new HF brush.

I wish I did a vid of the mold making The best thing to do in mold making is just take your time and check, check and recheck everything from the mold box to the seam line. If one thing is off the bait will come out bad and with the loss of the RTV and the time it can get on your nerves. I used Alumilite quickset RTV for my molds this is the instructions I used to do them Mold Tut it took a while but in the end there not perfect but I like'em and so do the fish.

IMHO its just an jig saw mounted upside down on a router table. I had one that I made with just a cheap walmart B&D jig saw it worked wonderful on balsa pine and ceder but when I used it with hard wood I would get off square cuts. And IMHO it looks like this (Rockwell Blade Runner) would give the same performance

Matt said it best I just have fun and tinker