capt mike

They are plastisol. Glued in place. Very lively.

What’s the highest percentage of mb that you can get away with on a big bait? I’ve always thought 50/50 was max and anymore would be too brittle. I’m wondering if any have tried more than that.

Dave when you say injections, are you talking hollow plastic baits? I too have wondered this very same thing. How to make the transition from solid resin baits to mass produced plastic, hollow baits.

Dave I would love to have a copy of the calculator. Thanks for your generosity. capt_mike_herrmann@yahoo.com

Yes!! its purple mesh right? perfect scale shape.

How do you pour it. Are both halves of the mold attached when you pour? Injector?

I may have an opportunity to buy a couple of Rogue SB blanks. Any of you have any of the Rogue swimbait models ? What do you think about them; and what size swimbaits work with them?

Well Vodkaman made another great point. Why go through the pain and trouble to get the wood bait to perform only to cast it in another material. Never swims the same, especially with resin/MB mixes. Featherlite is .60 appx. Specific gravity. That’s supposed to be a 1:1 volume of resin and MB mix. Any more MB’s is not recommended due to structural reasons and probably pourability. Basswood is less dense than featherlight (.50 SG) according to what info is on the net. I’ve been through this problem before. My glide swimmers did not swim anything like my wood masters despite several attempts at ballast adjustments. So all that being said, cast your material of choice and experiment with that till you get what you want.

Been a few years since I’ve posted much of anything. Kinda quit making baits for a while. But I’m back at it. So I made a jointed topwater swimbait with sockets holes for pectoral fins. I made the mold, casted the fins and glued them in place with super glue (off brand). Seems to hold it in place really good. Anyone have a better suggestion? The swimbait is a 6” mullet with soft pectoral fins and soft tail fin. With a lip, it’s a wake bait; without lip it’s a twitching dog walking bait. The redfish will probably nail this thing without mercy, so I want to make sure they’re glued in well.

100% agree with Mark. Mold the solid carving. Then make several castings. Cut them all the different ways you can think of and she which swims best. Exactly what I do. I’m on my 8th Bluegill bait from a solid mold. I am about to make a two piece mold off of my favorite jointed version . carving is the longest part of the process, don’t limit it to one shot. have faith in your original carving and mold it. Then you can try all kinds of options. Like I told you on the SU site, that bait is nice , you busted your ass with the details and it’s definitely going to work for one thing or another. Mike

Spike it co lure paint. Made for soft plastisol. Airbrush or paint brush. Has a Clearcoat as well. Or dip it in hot thin plastisol for a clear coating. Water based paint.

I just ordered some auto air Krome that is sprayed lightly over a special gloss black. Did I waste my $$? I've also been using silver leaf. Not bad, but tricky to deal with. Not shiny as chrome. I've used foil tape with success; but not on jointed swimbaits. It breaks apart and the epoxy coat flakes off. Same results with aluminum foil. Anyone have any suggestions?

is that a copy of the savage gear trout? What did you make the core out of?

I just ordered the new spike it co lure02 paints for painting large swimbaits. I did not order the solvent clear. I guess i will need to, unless I dip an 8 inch bait in clear plastisol. Don at Spike It told me that some people are painting hard baits with the colure02 and clearing them with epoxy. Says it looks really good. I believe he said that the clear02 will suffice, as long as you keep the baits seperate from one another. Good to know the powder hi lites will work in the clear. Thats 2 more colors i can put together now.

I have used alumilite foam. It looks like the 2x expansion foam. That foam is hard to use in a silicone mold. It swells bad. You have to clamp it or it comes out swollen. Im working on something like this right now. Foam has the specific gravity of less than balsa.. If you can tame it.

Anyone use pam as a release agent between a two part silicone mold?

The eye sockets are already built into the mold. I would need reverse eye sockets for that to work. Another words, the master blank had open sockets, so the inside of the mold has two protruding studs so that the poured bait will have the same eye sockets ready to accept eyes. Next time, maybe I will make a master with the eyes in it. Then I can do what you suggest. Thats a good idea. Gotta work. Thanks for the idea.

i dip it to about the gills. just the head really.

I will make it big enough (not too big) to add the weight I need. And, like baitjunky said, I can always add lead to the resin pour which will lock the lead in and not react with the plastisol. I like a slow sinker that works like the Osprey Talon. Im using fairly small inserts from Basstackle in a 5oz platic swimbait. It barely gets the baits to swim straight. Too fast and it goes sideways. But it's slow enough to fish deep. My only question is, will the resin react with the plastisol. Carolina Mike, thanks for that info. I will definitely look into that coating.

I've been doing the same but the clear peels off.

All of my soft swimbait molds have recessed eye sockets just like the ones at lurecraft. How do you guys attach your lure eyes after they are poured?

My next idea is to use a urethane plastic resin insert that I cast myself. Do you think that will react with plastisol?

Really.. I guess I need to go in a different direction here. Anyone making baits that way on this site?

Where can I get good inserts?