Grisley

I’ve dipped pop maxes and similar baits with gill slits in the alumi-uv. You can either clean out the slits with a toothpick before curing it or clean them out afterwards with a dremel. The only problem with clearing them out before curing is that any clear coat that you get in the passages inside of the gill slits won’t cure. This leaves uncurred resin in the passages that would need to be rinsed out with some isopropyl alcohol. I’ve done both , but now I usually just clean them out with a dremel after curing. I just didn’t like the idea of having the uncurled resin sitting inside the passages of the bait and having to flush it out with alcohol, which could soften the topcoat.

I was looking into exactly the same thing. Haven’t found any info yet. I’ll probably end up making a silicone mold of an appropriately sized Colorado blade and a flat bottom piece and casting the parts out of tough plastic. Once out of the mold, I’ll put the rattles in the plastic Colorado half and then super glue the flat bottom piece onto it to seal it up. I’ll more than likely end up buying the Teckel Maraker when it comes out before I actually get around to casting my own part though.

I use alcohol markers a lot with the Copic airbrush system. I also use a traditional airbrush with acrylic paints. When I use the copic markers to airbrush, I do a very light coat of Krylon clear after every color change. When I say a light coat, I mean a light dusting of clear from about 10-12" away from the lure. This dries almost immediately and sets the alcohol ink so that you can proceed with the next color. Some of the copic colors do not dry very quickly, but a light dusting of Krylon clear helps those colors to flash off. If you apply the Krylon in too heavy of a coat, then the colors will run. After I finish painting the lure, I do one more light coat of the Krylon clear, follows by a wet coat of Pledge Floor Care Finish through my traditional airbrush. This is basically just a clear water based acrylic. I then heat set the Pledge with a heat gun until I am certain that I have it completely dry. This protects the paint job from the solvents in the final epoxy/clear coat. The last step is to apply the final clear coat. Sometimes I use Alumi-UV and sometimes I use Devon 2T 30min epoxy. I have never had any problems with my alcohol markers running using this method. I hope this helps.

Probably won't work as well over the rounded tops of the wider bodied lures like larger square-bills, due to the greater radius on that style of lure. But on the lures pictured in the original post, it looks like the scales are mostly on the flatter surfaces. The stuff is pretty forgiving though. It stretches a pretty good amount and it is fairly easy to stretch it almost to the top center line on each side most baits using 2 pieces, one on each side of the lure. I have done it successfully on lipless cranks and also some Sammy topwater baits.

I still think that everyone is overthinking this. Why not just use the holographic scale tapes that are made for lures. You can get them by the roll on eBay, or you can buy smaller quantities from Barlow's Tackle. I have even purchased small sheets from Cabelas once or twice, though they were extremely marked up in price. They have a few different styles/colors. It is holographic scale shapes that are printed on a transparent and flexible film. I have been using the stuff for years and it is very easy to work with and thin enough to hide the seems with a single layer of epoxy clear coat. I think using this stuff is alot cheaper than buying a vinyl plotter and alot quicker than using masking fluid. The first picture that I posted seems to be the exact product that was used on the lures that the OP posted. Here's a link: https://www.barlowstackle.com/Lure-Tape-Die-CutbrHolographic-Dot-Pattern-P989.aspx