chasing120

Thanks for all the replies guys, sounds like everything there is a down side. I primarily make lures for Barra and Jacks so I was just after something a little more durable but if it is going to be hard to shape it might not be worth it. I don't so much mind the battle scars but the swelling of wood is a PITA. Maybe I need to look at my sealing, Any suggestions?

I've had a look and it looks OK, the density is Ok as it is for 3.5 Inch plus lures and I'm partial to suspenders anyway. Thanks for the heads up. Cheers, John.

Hi All, This is a question for all the Australian members out there, does anyone know of a Cellular PVC Board supplier in Australia? I'm over working with wood in regards to swelling during use but don't really want to get into moulding. Any help much appreciated. Cheers, John.

Hi Everyone, Just had to have a brag about a Barramundi I caught recently, it went 121cm and around 30kg (65-70lb). The beast was caught on a 3000 Stella and 4-10lb St Croix legend spooled with 20lb Braid and casting a heavily modified local soft plastic. It launched itself 3 foot clear of the water on its' first of six or so jumps and my first thought was "Man I think I just brought a knife to a gunfight....". Anyway I need to change my user ID now, I was thinking chasing140 maybe....

Yep, same type of lure. No kidding, this lure is what got me into pouring plastics. I have been making hardbodies and pouring jigs for ages and now soft plastics are viable because of this lure (the materials to make them are expensive here too). It's crazy.

Thanks Guys, The plastic is too soft to get the right vibration on a lift, pause retrieve but hopefully that will be fixed with the hard plastic I have coming this week. I think it will work, I hope it does anyway, this style of lure sells for $20 each at the moment! And when you can easily lose 5 in a day it can hurt!

Exactly my problem, due to shipping restrictions retailers in the US won't ship Soft Plastic Paints to Australia. Hence the quest to find an available alternative.

Hi, Just wondering if anyone has come up with effective alternatives to Airbrush soft plastics with. I can't source any application specific paint in Australia and the Createx and Tamiaya model paints I use for my hardbodies rub off. Is there something else I can use or will dipping the model paints afterwards work? Cheers, John.

Thanks Guys, The premixing with new plastisol and then adding to the existing mix sounds like the go until the hard mix I ordered turns up. Cheers, John.

Hi All, Just wanted to post up my first ever pour, Sorry about the picture, bad lighting, quite happy apart from some light fuzzing where the moulds come together. This particular pour was a test of the mould and the hardness to give the bait its' action isn't right, so for the sake of trying to get the hardness right I have noticed that it is mentioned to add hardener before heating the plastisol. My question is just to sort out how much I need without going through heaps of plastic can I add hardener at all after heating just to get the hardness right for the prototype? Won't be fishing with the result just looking to not get a heap of waste. Cheers, John.

Collect up all the baits you never use and practice with them if you really must but I would start making moulds now as that way you will have plenty of time for the POP to cure properly between stages. Making the moulds is the hard, time consuming part. Actually pouring/injecting the baits takes no time at all.

Thanks, I have only hand poured so far but I think it is time to step up to injecting after seeing the results that can still be obtained from a POP mould. I have access to a machine shop so I think I might make an injector, They aren't available here in Australia as Soft Plastic Pouring as a hobby is still in its' infancy over here and getting supplies can be painful. Cheers, John.

Sorry for the late question but these Critters you did turned out awesome, How did you end up pouring them? And at what temp? I have my moulding down to a fine art now but the pouring is the next stage of my evolution. Just really impressed! Cheers, John.