quickdraw

Somewhere in all of the info I read it says that oxygen is a good thing when it comes to Solarez as opposed to about every other type of finish out there. I have 3 liters of it and plan to periodically open each container to switch out the air to keep the Solarez fresh.

I believe that Solarez cures from the outside in. When it is exposed to UV's for a few minutes it will setup on the outside but the bonding point where it contacts the paint or wood isn't fully set or bonded. As the curing process continues the bonding point will continue to cure even to the point where it may have penetrated slightly. I have recently become a fan of "over exposing" it for up to several hours.

If you are talking about only using UV's then it needs continued UV exposure to fully cure. I think I may have underexposed a few baits in the past as the Solarez peeled off way too easy. The MEKP continued to cure but it is taking a long time to get fully cured. In the future I will use MEKP as an insurance policy for anything that gets into areas too difficult to get good UV exposure and still "overexpose" it to sunlight to get it as hard as possible. I'm getting a good feel for Solarez and have come to the conclusion that it is best applied above 75* and given as much UV exposure as possible for at least a few hours.

That message has been there for the past few months which is why I haven't already ordered from them.

After playing with Solarez a little I've found that even though it will setup in a few minutes it is no where near fully cured and hardened. I was sealing a new swimbait with it today and used the leftover to put on a piece of scrap wood. After 5 minutes I could still peel it off of the wood with my fingernail. The surface seemed hard but the bond directly where it penetrated the wood was still soft and it separated. When I let it cure in the sun for another hour the surface was even harder but the bonding point where it had penetrated the wood was solid. It was truly bonded to the wood. I also used MEKP in this batch. I put 1 drop in around 1oz of Solarez. This was the first time I have used MEKP and I was curious how long it took to set and harden. I was brushing the Solarez on the new bait and also did some repair to some other baits I was refinishing and repairing. The Solarez was still usable for at least 30 minutes before it got goopy. I kept it out of the sun and after 4 hours it had solidified to a firm gel consistency and after 8 hours was more solid but still a little wet to the touch. I would imagine it would take 16 to 24 hours to fully cure but even then I would still want to wait a few days before trying to continue working with it. Sunlight does a much better job but when trying to use Solarez directly on an unsealed surface or any situation where it may not get hit with UV's I plan to use MEKP in addition to UV curing.

After turning a swimbait on the lathe and finishing the woodwork I think I'm going to put a first coat of Solarez directly on the sealed wood before starting to paint. It should bond well to the wood and give me a strong sealed base to work with. After that I'm thinking a light sanding and a wipe with Acetone to give the surface a good bond with the white primer.

I got my order of red cedar in from an Ebay today. It was somewhat wet but will dry relatively fast in our desert atmosphere. I'll start turning it next week and will probably get something in the water within the next week or two. My poured resin baits of the same design pulled in a 9 & 14lb stripers last week which was nice. Trying to get a balance between durability and performance is the challenge. Hopefully the red cedar will get me closer to that end.

Trying to match a color using a manufacturers pallet never has worked very well for me. I've found it easier to start with colors that are somewhat close and shade from there. Mixing will help to get close but even then shading seems to take care of those mystery colors better.

That paint looks pretty basic, 3 colors. Without trying to come up with the color match it looks like they started with a white base coat then mixed down a green shade with something like a transparent base and fogged the upper half with it. Then apply a mesh over the body and spray a copper coat to the upper 40%. Then remove the mesh and shade the top 20% with a transparent black. You can use Createx Transparent Base to mix down any color to make it lighter and more transparent. Sometimes even a drop or two of water will even make it lighter but you need to be careful when spraying that it doesn't run because it will also be thinner.

The single biggest limitation I have found using an airbrush to do a quality paint job is having an adequate and consistent air supply. I started with a smaller compressor like the one in the kit and fought it every time. Since then I have connected a filter/regulator to a bigger compressor with storage tank I had in my garage and now I have unlimited options with my airbrushes.

Look up ^^^^

This is a good water base adhesive. http://www.amazon.com/Speedball-Mona-2-Ounce-Metal-Adhesive/dp/B00083KPCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366600958&sr=8-1&keywords=mona+lisa+adhesive

Amazon of course

I use pre-manufactured screw eyes but mainly because I don't want to take the time to split my lures and do the work to set a wire. Interesting info here: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/Outdoors/Subject/SubjectRead.aspx?sid=19&aid=175338&type=T

I use a dryer on high to dry/heat-set after each layer of paint. I spray with an airbrush using several different manufacturers paint so I want everything completely dry before spaying the next layer so there is little chance for any adverse reaction between different paints. The paint is already pretty dry within a minute or 2 when sprayed anyway because there is very little humidity and usually warm temps where I live. I have found I need to keep the heat moving when using it on poured resin lures or it can bubble.

So after you make those screw eyes how do you install and secure them in the lure body? Split halves and epoxy, screw them into a predrilled hole, cast them into resin?

I just finished the 4th coat of clear on some swimbaits with a hinge using 2 eyescrews. With 4 coats the screw eyes got filled in pretty good so I used Dremel with a very small size bit to get in and around the eyes and not cause any leaks.

This is what I learned years ago also. For me it is hard to find 1/2" or larger eyes for big swimbaits. Last year I ordered from Europe but since then I have found them in the US. The European were very nice, especially the pupil. They were teardrop shaped.

I just put the tip of one side of a small pair of needle nose pliers through the hole and twist. The extra clearcoat and paint pops right off.

Go to an office supply store and have a rubber stamp made with a signature and whatever else you want. Stamp it on with the ink and heat set it. Quick and easy.

My thoughts are more, "do you want to use an eye"? If so then these prefab eyes are much easier to use than painting eyes. I finish my painting, final heat cure, press on the eyes and topcoat. It sure beats doing 2 or 3 different payers of paint for an eye and they look much better to me. I like that and the fish don't seem to mind.

right down the page about 10 threads.... http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/26248-rattles/

Scroll down through these videos and there is 1 or 2 using foam. Go to the products page and there are several foams and they tell you the expansion rate. You can call their 800 number to ask questions of what product will meet your needs. http://www.makelure.com/HowTos.cfm

I found another Ebay listing for Western Red Cedar for less than 1/2 the price on that listing and free shipping also so I decided to give it a try.

Thanks but no. I turn my wood on a lathe and while I still could do that I'm not looking for even more places to deal with something separating or dealing with any balance issues. I will just order the right wood and deal with the shipping charges. I'll have wood for 50 or 60 swimbaits so the $40 shipping charges aren't really that important.