Anglinarcher

Not sure I agree with you. I did a density test and a couple of hardness test on it and it is outside of the range plastisol plus scent and color should give. But, if you have an inside with the company, I'll concede that.

Same question as 'is a redhed, a blond or a brunette better'. Because I married a brunette does not mean that was the best choice for everyone. LOL You will need to determine what you prefer, and there are a lot of people that will tell you that the plastisol they use IS THE BEST. I am not convinced, but it might be the best for how they use it. I have settled on Alumilite Alumisol and use softener or hardener as needed, and a heat stabilizer on re-melts. I believe I get the best results for most of what I do and it will do all of what you are listing just fine. Still, I have several others I have used with great success. As for colors, Alumilite makes a few but I find that I end up going with a lot of other makers. Yes, some colors do bleed, but the bleeding colors also tend to be the brightest and the most transparent. Some are sold as Non-Bleed, and they do not migrate to other colors or out of the lure, but they are also less transparent, usually less bright, but serve a great and useful purpose. Don't get overwhelmed by the number of brands, and I suggest if you are new that you resist the instructions by some to by 5 gallons of it. You will be asking us why your pours are sticky, how to mix your old plastic, etc., like so many others have. By small amounts and try several until you find the one YOU like, then, if you really need 5 gallons of it, then buy bulk.

In part it is their plastic. They have a specific plastic that is NOT a plastisol, at least if it is it is highly modified. It is almost impossible to get an exact duplicate if you don't use the same components as they do, and the plastic is their kitchen made only.

If this is your first, it is always good to pursue because you will learn so much. The profile is not especially new so I see nothing there that will cause a problem. The issue may be that you say turn with a lathe. That makes the cross section always round. The top version, with the diving lip, will be harder to get enough ballast low enough in that round shape to make it stable, but, it is doable. Again, I see nothing new or especially unique about it so go for it and see what you can learn. The bottom version is just like a 100 other surface and subsurface slap and glide baits already on the market, so properly shaped, and ballasted, I see no issues. Jump into it and see what you can come up with. You never know where it will lead you.

Monte, I don't use that model, but they are almost all the same. You must have some paint residue that is in the valve. There are paint removers for Air Brushes that you can use by soaking the brush overnight. I suggest that you tear it down as much as possible and soak it for a night, then clean it and soak it again. After a couple of nights you can clean it again and it probably will be fine. I had to do that on my Talon once and it works great now. You can also contact the company and get their suggestions. I believe Iwata has a professional cleaning/repair service as a matter of last resort.

????? I have thousands of plastics I fish with, stored in Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas satchels and they have lasted me for at least a dozen years. Before that they were store in Plano boxes or tubs. I have plastics that go back at least to the late 70's and they are all in good shape. Most are stored in zip locks, then in the plastic sleeves of the satchels, which protect them from sun. Is there really an issue with storing soft plastic fishing lures?????

Sorry, now your post is clear to me. I am glad the others got on and cleared up how they do this. There are also some new plastics that are "sinking" that should work as well. I know GY uses a very fine grind. Frankly I think that MonteSS is on the cutting edge of transparent sinking sticks for sure.

The problem I was having with the ZMan stuff was clearly not a design issue but a quality issue. Once I noticed that a lot of their connections were not closed, I started to close them up with pliers. That took care of the issue, but by then I already had my own stuff and the Blackmore stuff. I don't make this stuff to sell and I have so many that I cannot see needing to get more in the near future, but lost blades were an issue. If they were not for you, you either got them before, or after, their quality problems, or never fished with them much. LOL It was a real issue on several "fishing" forums for a time several years ago as well.

Sounds like we think a lot alike. Could you post your set-up? Sounds pretty much like mine.

Not sure if that is a rant or a true question, but I do have some input for you. First, NO, transparent is not necessary to catch fish, but Senkos are, by nature a finesse bait. Finesse baits have been proven to be more effective if they are understated in color or super realistic. Transparent is a great way to go understated. No, fish are not art critics, but they are programed to compare what they eat with what they are observing to eat. Transparent gives them less cues to turn them off. Pretty tough to pour super realistic and in many of our experiences transparent seems to give less negative cues. Still, opaque colors will catch fish. Black is, by nature pretty understated though. One last thing. Yammamoto makes baits to sell. His company clearly feels that transparent baits in the "natural" line sells better. That alone explains it all.

That is not hard, done it, just not worth a patent. As soon as I get back on my feet (total knee replacement) I will post the combination of components I use to do it. Then anyone can do it. LPO has what you need already, just a little bit of a trick to do it.

It is their right. What I think is ridiculous is how poor their blade to jig connection is. I won't use theirs anymore and stocked up on the Blackmore version before they were forced to stop making them. I don't know how many blades I have lost on the "Chatter Bait" jigs.

OK, now we are getting somewhere. A glide bait is a bait that when twitched or jerked will turn to the right or left and "glide" several inches to several feet. Another jerk/twitch and the bait turns to the other side and does it again. Glide baits are by nature unjointed, and being you are familiar with River2Sea you can refer to the Dahlberg Gliders they have as excellent examples and River2Sea has videos of how they work. The second video I gave you is also excellent on this. Swim baits are designed so that the body "swims" back and forth like a swimming fish. The S Waver and the Bull Shooter are two sine wave swimming type swimming baits. Vodka Man, on this site, did a series of excellent multi-joint videos a few years ago so search on his videos or PM him. The single joint swimbait like the Bull Shooter and S Waver are much more difficult IMHO and are not good starter baits. Ballast on the single joint swimbaits seems to be more sensitive. Ballast is not as sensitive on the multi-joint for some reason. I had a video on YouTube of my Wandering Taildragger, similar in nature to the S Waver, but it might have been lost when I closed down my account and channel. Still, you might check it out and see if it is still there.

I researched this out some a few years ago and there are a few Saltwater gliders in that size range. I know that Rapala made one as well. I have a Rapala I purchased a few years ago, a slow sinking one, but it functions more as a subsurface slap bait then a true glider. I have made a few and they work great, but the floaters do not glide "feet" like the 7 or 8 inchers can; they glide maybe 8" to a foot. The subsurface even less. Still, it depends on what you want to do with them. Due to the density of water and the size of the lures you are talking about, there are certain limits that the laws of physics impose that limit what can be done.......but, again, within limits, yes, and they are effective.

I can jump start your learning curve by giving you some recipes to look at. http://www.lurebuilding.nl/indexeng.html I can link you into a good primer on the theory of glide baits. http://www.makelure.com/store/pg/54-How-To-Videos.aspx#prettyPhoto/7/ I can also point out that "Swim Baits" and "Gliders" are completely different in our use of the terms, so that can be confusing when you ask your question. Last, I can tell you that you can make a floating glide bait, or you can make a slow sinking bait that will tend to suspend in use, but a true suspending bait must get it to depth first and glide baits have no control surface to get it to the depth. Thus the sinking nature of that subcategory of glider. I hope this helps, but it looks like you are in the early stages of this so like suggested, start looking at videos, use the search feature, and start your research.

Not sure what you will fish for, but I know some Toledo Bend Bass that would take it. The joint between legs sections in the abdomen will be a week spot. You will need to thin out the legs to get your action, need to sand up and smooth out, but .......... Good start for sure.

Thanks to this site, I didn't make that mistake. Someone else warned me. LOL

One of the reasons I like Alumilite is that Hobby Lobby has a lot of what I want and they are in most major cities. Smooth-On has a lot on Amazon, so......... tough call. I do believe that for my applications that the Alumilite was better, but......

I cannot forget the rest, I just adapt and still catch fish. Perhaps not the biggest, but I do OK.

Moisture is NOT your friend for sure. I drop mine in a plastic container and pop a top on it.

The art of pouring, sounds like a great book title. I respect that, and still hand pour most of my own, but my family and friends want me to upsize to a production guy and ....... not sure I want to take a hobby I love and turn it into a job I might hate.

Lucky, your question is a lot like asking if it is better to marry a blond, a red head, or a brunet. What I like and what you like is probably going to be completely different. First, are you making a mold of something with lots of undercuts? If so, you will need something very flexible and the HS2 or even an HS3 from Alumilite is awesome for that. Smooth-on also makes similar products. If you are going to inject or you use a foam, then you want something more dimensionally stable, like Alumilite Quick Set, HS1, etc. Again Smooth-on has similar products. I am giving you tin based silicones because they are easier to use and do not react to residual chemicals like the platinum based silicones. Still, each have their place. I call my tin based silicones my prototype silicones. I don't expect them to last 100 pours, although most of mine have lasted more then that. If I am moving up, then the platinum based give longer life span and often more dimensional stability. Once I have moved passed prototype, and if I am able to use a two or more piece mold, and I don't have undercuts, I then can use something like Alumilite Vac-Master 50 and get aluminum mold quality and durability without the price. Yes, Smooth-on also has similar products. But, if you are going to Aluminum molds, what is the point of using platinum based molds at all. Go from your tin straight to Aluminum. I hope this helps, but, IMHO, you need to watch some more videos and decide what your goal is. Perhaps, just perhaps, the choice or blonde, red head or brunet can be easier to answer if we know more, like height preferences, age, etc. LOL Tough Question. I will give you a link to a bunch of videos to check out that can translate to both Alumilite and Smooth-on with a little research on available products. I am an Alumilite guy, but I have used Smooth-on. I cannot compare all of the products, but I have my preferences....... PS, I married a brunet. http://www.makelure.com/store/pg/54-How-To-Videos.aspx

OK, first lets talk scale. Bottom heating has scorched more plastic and created far more bubbles then any other method I know. Been there, done that. For small batches, a microwave on a lower setting, stopping often to completely mix, is far better. Still, I have poured dozens of pounds with my old Netcraft kit from the 80's using a pan on a stove. Lower heat, mixing often, is and was the best way then. The difference is that the pan heats the plastic from the bottom up using conduction and the microwave heats the plastic from the center out using radiation. The three types of heat transfer are conduction, convection, radiation. For Large scale, tons of very sensitive heat controlled bottom pour pots out there by several companies. They prevent scorching by keeping the top temperature from getting too high, and that is what creates the bubbles (and mixing too aggressively) . Mixing is still important, etc., etc. Absolutely a microwave is great for re-melts. Better then a bottom heat that heats the small point of contact and transfers heat as the ball of scrap melts. Microwaves still start in the center of mass and extend out so it heats by radiation, not by conduction. But both methods work and adding some fresh liquid plastic and heat stabilizer will help. I COMPLETELY disagree that microwaves are not the best for re-melts. Toaster ovens will work to maintain temperature (convection). I use mine, but I was using an old analog version and I found that I preferred a newer digital version to keep the temperature controlled better. The old analog is still a good powder coat oven but I wanted better temperature control for plastic. Pouring plastic is easy, and fun, but there is a lot of misinformation out there about how to do it. Most of the manufactures of the plastic have tutorial videos on it so check them out before you get back into it.

In theory, it will work, but downsizing also requires downsizing the through wire/rigging as well to keep the floatation. I had some 3 inch resin baits I was making for Red Fish that I wanted to float, but could not get the hardware light enough to keep the floatation. First thing I did was to eliminate the through wire and go to single hooks instead of treble and it worked great. Wife caught a 30 # bull before we left the South on it. Most of the time you don't need the through wire on a resin bait. I also did some with a roto mold style with the resin exterior and a foam core, leaving the through wire and rigging as before. It also worked, but took some extra care in getting the proper roto mold shell thickness and uniformity. I guess that it all depends on what strength you really need to begin with.

Yes, just get the right decal transfer sheets for inkjet. Inkjet is all I use because I cannot afford LaserJet in color. LOL