gone2long

Yeah you could imagine how long it would take the way we do it in scale, putting 20,40 or even 60 pre shot tails back into a mold

Basstackle still offers one model in 2 different sizes search slide bar on his site. It's my understanding that the big boys use them on their huge injection molds.

I'm gonna say it's a cost thing lots of difficult programing and machining there with the tight tolerance. Machine time costs money and I think some don't want to tie up there machines.

The colorant used in soft plastics is usually proprietary to that manufacturer but if I remember correctly they are DINP based, but as a quick fix crayons, oil based pastels and some dry type laundry dyes can work in a pinch but It appears you already know that water based is a bad idea. The glitter is high heat polyester.

I'm sure lots of folks will chime with excellent advice but to quickly understand the do's and don't there is a sticky on the subject at the top of the plastics forum

Notes, notes, notes, the pigment sizes are different on certain colors so check to see what works and make a note of it as that is what you'll need to use more often than not for that particular color. Kinda likening it to the way airbrushes have different paint reductions or PSI for different colors in the same paint line.

The more prep the better off you are but if you round them off you tend to get a nicer nose to the bait, if you're going the dipping route it's expensive but make yourself a rotary cutter with fabric blades it makes your life much more pleasant cutting tails!

Check Basstackle's site he has a lot of swim bait molds

Yeah go to the mold makers forums they all have a 4 sale section one guy over on Bears site is dumping 60 or so molds!

I agree the cost of the material and time it will cost you more, lurecraft is the way to go the only reason I would consider making an RTV mold is if I was hell bent on copying a bait and that's not going to happen.

I know the water based soft plastic paint is getting great reviews and I'm ready to place an order. My question is for you guys that now have used both how does the solvent based hold up without dipping, I pour for myself and I'm not real picky about the life expectancy I can imagine you need to dip the water based but does the solvent base hold up well without clear dipping.

Bluegill is a basic smoke and loaded with flake of your choice. You should be able to see what colors are in the bait your trying to make.

tjcrenshaw on ebay might have them I dealt with him good stuff, contact him he will probably make them for you if he doesn't list them.

Basstackle sell M-F plastic I've read many good reports about it but no personal experience with it. I found out very quickly that a single source is cutting yourself short.

Sorry bud didn't mean to leave you out your kinda new on the scene and I didn't want to make a recommendation based on unknown sources. your a site sponsor so feel free to sell your product through this thread I'm good with it.

Might be a little off the wall but I fished the Delaware river at the outflow of the Trenton power plant and that water was toasty at around 50 degrees so if you have one near by you might give it a go. Or maybe the outflow of a water treatment plant.

Yeah they carry inventory but these mold makes for the most part lest a few are mom and pop operations so it can take some time with some orders. It can be safe in the house but you do need to make it that way, ventilation is paramount before anything else if you cannot provide proper ventilation then I would say no and the garage is were you'll be setting up. A hood system is preferred by most do a search there are some very good tips and pictures of others setups and work stations to give you and idea what needs to be done.

You might want to do a search on the HD additive from Do-It, it may be an option I've read that it toughens up the plastic without sacrificing a lot of the action just don't know if that will affect your sink rate.

I would err on the side of a larger injector and here's why you think today you'll only shoot a few but trust me before you know it you'll have several molds to shoot at one time and nothing is more annoying than running out of plastic in your injector before that last mold is filled I personally have the medium from Basstackle. And yes Caney Creek is now Do-It and Jerry would be your contact person. A presto pot is an electric cook pot that has a relatively accurate temperature control and is used for cooking up larger batches of plastic at a time I suggest you stay with micro until your mold collection and production needs increase as the pot is not good for smaller batches and most including myself would tell you that you need a stirring system with it. As far Del is concerned I didn't recommend his site because I've spoken with a load of people including myself who have issues with getting molds in a timely fashion you order today and wait tomorrow and the next day and next week, month then months nuf said on that subject. Will say though that from what I'm hearing that if you order from Kim at lurecraft you get Dels molds in a time frame comparable to others.

That there is a loaded question, to be honest the best plastic is the one you find works best with your methods I will give some of the feedback I've read and have experienced. Lurecraft is a good plastic in the finished product I had 5 gallons of medium and I liked it a lot the one drawback was it hard packed quite quickly, hardpacking is when the solids fall out of suspension and becoming a hard layer on the bottom of the bucket it can and does reincorporate but its a pain, with all respect I would call Kim and ask if that has been resolved as this was a few years ago and maybe the formula has changed. Calhoun has a smoke problem when heated its a fine line between bringing the plastic up to the right temp and smoking it also has an oily finish which some liked some don't. Chemionics I currently have 5 gallons of supersoft its good overall but I'm having a micro bubble issue, could that be atmospheric its possible and its not the end of the world the finished product is nice. Do-It has been having a yellowing problem and the price point is a little high for me but again contact Jerry to see if it's been reformulated and or corrected I know their aware of the problem. Ispikeit/lureworks by far has the most options the price point is good they are very friendly when contacted about product and did I mention the price point is good. The thing is I can't give you my personal experience as I've yet to try it, it's next on the list.

Well Do-It has an original senko mold authorized by GY so I would start there they have all the other material as well but I would shop around: Basstackle Bearsbaits Lurecraft Ispikeit/Lureworks That's just to name a few

The only thing Ben's been doing is beating his chest over what I'm not quite sure the original poster asked about heat curing Createx paint I tried to explain that it's not quite curing that is being done in tackle making but setting the paint between coats the reason I sent him to the technical data sheets were for him to understand the difference of the two but for some reason Ben went on a one man mission to discredit what was being offered. You win it's now time to come down from your soap box the fight is over. Everybody have a great new years!

The recommendation to go to the manufacturer's site is to help make informed decisions on how he would proceed, the fact that you don't do that never came into question. The original poster asked specifically about heat curing which is not recommended on hard surfaces of any line of paint that I am aware of heat setting is being misunderstood when it comes to it's use warming would be a better way to describe it, Createx original paint line was designed for textiles, shirts, leather and the like that is where heat setting comes into play the technical data sheets will give some baseline as to how he should proceed.

For $180 it not only should be painted but should come with a years worth of fish Did I read something wrong who in the world would want to throw such an expensive bait, it should be in some sort of trophy case.

I highly recommend looking at the technical data sheets on the Createx website, we use many different types of paint Createx standard line was created for textile's but Wicked and auto air were not And most of us are using all 3 on a bait. Check the hard surface page you'll see what I mean with the heat no heat question although it may work for some the manufacturer has formulated these guideline's so you achieve the highest quality results from their product.