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Tamiya, testors, krylon, rust o leum, house of kolor (if you can find it new old stock, no longer made) Havent tried montana, but the local craft store never has the ulta fine montana tips in stock.

Prism tape works best on flat surfaces. Does not hug to contours very well. Even on flat sided cranks the edge of the tape can be tough getting smooth epoxy finish. Multiple epoxy coats with fine sanding at edges bw coats helps. I think the tape adhesive(at edge of tape) may have something to do with this(difnt chemical properties with epoxy, they dont like each other....or something...) goood luck, i know exactly what you are talking about. Ive used the janns tapes as well as the 2" spoon tape (cant remember brand off hand). //super glue will more than likely mess up the finish, but ive never tried it in this application.

They actually still tank test their lures. Like rapala used to(maybe they still do but my gut feeling says they dont) Remember back when rapalas were made in finland, and the lips on floaters and sinkers would have file marks from fine tuning? That is how i fine tune some of my cranks, by filing the lip. Thanks, nice vids.

As mentioned might be shallot packaging. Ive also seen "tubular" plastic webbing used for cherry tomatoes. You can change the "aspect ratio" of the diamond scales by stretching either. If you are foiling, the tubular cherry tomato webbing works well bc it is easy to get the aspect ratio of the scales you want by putting it around cans of different diameters(li ke rattle cans). Then put foil on can over webbing and press to get pattern in foil. Peeling off may take a trial or two to perfect.

I use cheap runny super glue(6 or 8 metal tubes for a buck, maybe 2) Absorbs well into the wood but usually takes a few applications(typically 3 or 4 depending on size of bait). I drill the holes on the small side so it is a snug fit and i must twist/push the hangers into place. Then drop the glue in. After the last application a little sanding to smooth the surface and you are ready for paint or foil. Do be aware that super glue fumes (the same stuff that is used to reveal fingerprints), will cause lexan (lip material) to become cloudy. Though i sometimes use it for lips too when i dont feel like mixing up epoxy. An exacto can be used to scrape off the cloudiness(not for perfrctionists). But it does work well for hangers and ive yet to have a hanger fail-plenty strong. Sometimes i use epoxy for hangers but i prefer super even though it may add a couple days to the building process.

"I've found that, for the lures I make, the lower in the lure I mount my line tie, the higher the center of gravity becomes, and the more unstable the lure. " True "The perfect situation is for the lure to hunt, and not just roll. For me, that's a matter of fine tuning the ballast by adding a little at a time between the lip and the front hook hanger, until the lure is just barely stable." Yes. I generally spread my ballast over the bottom in 3-6 or so locations. I try to balance it such that "if it were to suspend"..."it would suspend in a horizontal position". I think by spreading it over more locations, it makes for a more stable bait and allows me to get away with more "slop" (to experiment with "I find it's easier to tune shallow runners like this, because they have small lips. Bigger lipped baits are more finicky. I find the larger the lip, the more sensitive they are to retrieve speed." Too fast and they'll blow out. Especially in casting and retrieving I think bigger lips help a bait to hunt. When you give it the "jerk" the big lip makes the action more erratic. It also helps it vary more off the "straight line of the retrieve", dart out, etc. "I also find that giving a crank bait a V section shape, thinner on the bottom and thicker on the top, helps to keep it more stable at higher speeds. That's something I first started doing with jointed swimbaits, and it works for cranks, too. I'm pretty sure it's a center of gravity thing, although I'm not sure exactly what. I did it initially to make the top of the lure more buoyant than the bottom, reducing the amount of ballast I had to add. Stability at high speeds was a bonus. I've found that there is a trade off between stability and wobble. Flat sided baits are more stable, but they don't have the wider wobble that round bodies have." Good stuff, lots of variables to experiment with!

Not sure why they sell the pinewood derby tungsten weight in powder form (other than convenience: mix with epoxy, fill, done). It kind of defeats the point of "being so much more dense than lead" since in powder form, tungsten has a significantly lower density "per macro volume" than solid tungsten. It doesn't seem like you are going to mess with the powder and I wouldn't either.

(obviously) on smaller lures, the lip doesn't need to go in as far. If you put all your topcoats on after lip installation and use multiple topcoats (like 3 or more on bass lures), you can also get away with a shallower lip depth. 1/4" seems like a good rule of thumb for plain lexan lips (not the kind with built in tie in), but you can get away with less, especially with smaller lures.

Bingo! Low line ties (positioned back for more effect)+ lips on the edge of being to long = Increased odds of being a hunter! The larger lure shown has been my best hunter to date and I think for this very reason.

my favorite thing to use so far is a large bolt. I've also used various files, shallot packaging, tubular cherry tomato webbing wrapped around a rattle can (you can use different diameter cans for different sized scales), different screens for porches, the inside of old auto tail lenses, old glass bottles with patterns that I found at the river, etc,etc. Lots of options. The below link, shows details of how I foil and make patterns. http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?t=122766

I like low line ties, especially for shallow running bouyant baits. In theory it should make them more erratic/unstable which may make them better hunters. Here are a few with low line ties that I will soon (lol) foil.

i use twisted wire hook hangers and tie ins. To glue them i use cheap runny super glue. the kind that is 8/$1 at wally world. never had a problem - usually takes 2-3 applications since it soaks into the wood.

Ovals will ever so slightly lower the center of gravity on baits when used as hook hangers. If you have smaller/lighter baits that swim slightly off angle you can use ovals (and combine them with sure set hooks for more weight down low) to help out just a tad.

some places sell mesh bags for doing laundry. Also try: cherry tomato "bags" (the ones I use are actually tubular and fit nicely around a 2" diameter or standard sized rattle can for foil texture), and shallot (like small onions) packaging(bags). These work for both painting and foil texturing.

If you get them, the first thing I would do is put another thin clear coat. The lips are not sealed to the bait very well (if at all on the back side) and as mentioned they are fairly fragile(dent and crack easily). They do work well though. How's that for not answering your ?. I got mine on ebay a few years back. I've also noticed the same model bait can vary significantly in both size, amount of lip sticking out, etc.

on minnow baits on the belly I like the old school rapala look (or current AC shiner look). A (pearl) white bar (ie not faded into the lower sides). The top of minnow baits get a light coat of a neutral solid color (not scales) such as black or darker gray. For non-minnow (shadish, etc. style) I'll do a fade of white on the belly. On the top I do scales or solid colors with a variety of colors. I guess I'm old school when it comes to minnow baits but more experimental on the other styles.

you might be able to find some house of kolor rattle cans (kameleon kolors, like yellow to green fade or red to purple fade etc) for $7. They aren't being made any more but a local hobby shop around here still had some(on clearance for $3). You might also consider getting some thin Al foil like "ultra foil" from the dollar store and covering the bait with it. Then try thin layers of difn't colors of paint over it. Another option is getting a base metal coat (rattlecans)like krylon "X metals converter-reflective base coat" or "Dupli-color metalcast - anodized surface color system metallic ground coat" and spraying them down. Then try thin coats of difn't colors over it to get a irredescent effect. Can't guarantee an irredescent effect with the last two but they they are something to play around with. I really like the dupli color metal cast and x metals rattle cans. I usually don't put anything over them. They are really sparkly (multi faceted surfaces on a very fine scale)and shiny.

I take it you haven't lost your first homemade lure yet. Or you first favorite homemade lure yet. That's when the fun begins!

I use Park brand "laquer and epoxy thinner". Seems like most here use denatured alcohol. To coat a medium bass lure I would guess it takes about 1/10th - 1/12 th the volume of the bottom of a pop can for one coat (I generally do 2 coats). The thinning ratio is going to depend on personal preference. I probably used about a 30 thinner to 70 epoxy volume ratio.

BTW if I had a band saw, I would try out your way for sure. I do it the way I do it out of necessity.

I eyeball cut all my lip slots after shaping using a hand saw (I just draw a line on one side and cut - you can see the line). No problems other than occasionally (1 out of about 5 baits) I will need to fine tune the lip by filing. Rapala used to do the same thing (fine tune action by filing lips) when they were made in Finland. Here is my first and only balsa bait (AC Shiner 450 Clone). It was an awesome bait catching 4-5 fish in 30 minutes, before my line broke after a big tug. I'm getting into the balsa minnows! Working on another 450 and a 375. The reason it doesn't look like balsa is bc I was messing around with some paint. If you cut the slot when the block is still square, how do you know you will shape it symettrically about the slot cut?

Uriah Faber is gonna sue you!!! I don't know what you mean by threading the eyes in(never seen eyes with threads on the back). I would just epoxy them in. Most weight will go in the front segment. How many linkages per joint? (2?) The more info you can provide the better people will be able to answer your ?'s. Good luck that is a nice shape!

"just peel off the rest" That sounds like it is easier said than done. Depending on how bad it is, where the spot is, and how particular you are on finishes, you could just fill in that spot w d2t.

what kind of brushes do you guys use to brush your epoxy on(medium stiffness bristles?) ? I do agree that the fewer steps, the less chance of things going wrong .