aulrich

I don't buy the bottle empty, it's the 25c is what I get for the bottle at the recycling center, around here we pay a deposit on all drink containers we get it back when we take the bottles in to be recycled. But windshield washer fluid we don't, they seem to be the same plastic but a bit thicker. Mind you I get full price on bottles my dog has chewed up so maybe I can cut the flats out and still get my deposit back

I started with a 2lb silicon kit and that was fun, it hurt when the shapes I made were not quite right, to a certain extent the silicon is recyclable but it’s still is the biggest expense in the process. But I switch over to Durham’s( a POP equivalent) I figure there are two skills I need to learn. making the masters, and making the molds, and that is much more doable with the cheaper materials. As I collect shapes I like and catch fish with then I will upgrade the mold material to get a more refined look or use an injector vs open pour. I am still in play mode get an idea, make a shape in modeling clay and make a mold and pour some.

So I have been playing with, the concept of a generic tail, I saw the concept on an alumilite youtube and ran with it. At this point I am limited to hand pour molds mostly Durhams just to keep the cost of experimenting down. The first is a topwater frog-ish /buzz bait sort of thing I guess it could be a small lobster jig tailer if I was to fix it the disks would be bigger , closer to the body , more on the side and maybe thicker. The second This was to fill a hole in what I could pour, I have swim baits that are not too big, but I wanted a basic grub like thing to throw onto 1/4-1/2 oz round head jigs for when walleye are on the todo list. One tail version not shown, is a leach cut. The concept I was playing with is it is fairly easy to pour a thin sheet in a larger size and cut to suite rather than trying to pour a curly tail grub. I was also thinking one mold multiple formats. I do anticipate getting into injecting and a grub is probably best injected, it's not really a cost effective shape for a homer to make. Last This one though on the huge side illustrates the concept it is easy to pour a thin sheet the cut to suite vs pouring fin details, but this mold did give me some troubles, I made it too big the next version will be about 75% the size of this. The tail was too specific I had a triangular sheet witch limited me to normal fluke configuration. the next will have a disk. I also ended up with lots of bubbles in the plastic I guess even though there were two coats of sealer there must be some sort of imperfection.

Oops to late , been using them the from the start. Trade names and what it is, don't always match.

Are hilite powders the same as perl powders that I can get at my local art supply shop?

They are not imperfections, they are carefully planned surface features to facilitated alignment.... really not that creating a parting line on a soft bait is like herding kittens

The closest I have come across is a local hobbie shop that deals in alumilite products, but to keep the shipping costs down I have to bundle my orders with periodic store orders . So I would check for a local alimilite dealer and give them a call.

I don’t know if it is needed, but with the couple of molds I have made so far, they seem to respond well to being dried out in the oven. 150F oven overnight to speed up the drying process. One you tube I saw, the guy just used cooking spray, I tried that and it did seem to work, but it got me thinking. If you use cooking oil on the surface will it condition like a pizza stone or cast iron frying pan. Then I got thinking spray the mold down with cooking spray bake at 350 ish, I don’t know how much heat the putty can take and the durham site does say it will breakdown if it get too hot, but they don’t give a temp. But you should be able to build up a glaze that does not affect dimensions. One question about 2 part molds , since this is a rigid material 3 locator pins should be plenty, and really 2 should do it, or am I missing something

That is what I do, but I use a tube jig head not a regular round head. I am contemplating knocking off what storm does, a jig hook but the lead is essentially a blade, taller, much thinner and longer

Mold silicone is easy to use, but not cheap. And can have odd outcomes, I tried to copy a Berkley Gulp bait and the silicone did not completely cure, it does make usable bait. I don’t know about Plaster of Paris, but I ran into some Durham’s water putty (very rare here north of the border ) but is was very easy to use as well. But as with all of the hard mold materials no undercuts unless the master is soft. My first attempt turned out reasonably well. Since they set up fast bubbles can be a problem, there are ways to slow down curing and reduce the bubble issue. I will go back and buy the rest I saw it’s not as cheap as POP, but not what you would call expensive. I have not tried bondo/resin yet

Just wanted to post that, I was able to fix my brush. I had called IWATA and the service tech told me to thread in a toothpick and have it pickup the debris and get it out of the thread and as it turned out it worked, my airbrush is back together.

I am not sure what a sheet of stencil material is, but ironically a milk jug is 25c around here. Still a good idea, and nice stencils

As it turns out, the mold works, once cleaned out the surface is a bit "tacky", so I expect long term durability is shot at least on the details, I'll have to find some worm oil that should help. The details are rounded but pretty much intact.

Is anyone playing much with the PVC foam sign board? http://goindustrial.ca/index.php/en/products/90/46/signs-display/sheets-substraits/sintra-detail

I was ice fishing with a body from an ebay Chinese supplier, and as I watch the pike ignore it (they were ignoring our smelts too) but this one had a nice wiggle on the drop. Unfortunately the DVR was out of battery or I would have video, I'll be out this weekend and should be able to run a segment, to see it that is what you are looking for.

You know sometimes common sense comes and smacks you on the head , I have a few options solvent wise that I will test on the bottom of the mold. The rest of the mold seems sound, I guess it all depends on the boundary layer between uncured and cured if it is nice and distinct then I still probably have a useable mold. If I had to guess it would be equivalent to using a clay with sulfur in it in a two part mold setup, sulfur is supposed to inhibit the curing of RTV silicone.

I have been using a plumbing pipe cutter(for cutting copper pipe). to cut my lead wire, keeps it mostly round, mostly flat , and no lead shavings to worry about.

So , I was making a mold of commercial swim bait (the Karma infraction) and it seems this gulpy plastic had some sort of reaction with the silicon and a very , very thin layer did not cure. the detail is 99.99% intact, is there a way to wash out the uncured silicon. I guess a POP mold would have been the better option, if I was to tempt Karma again

I was thinking a watch repair shop, that is some tiny thread, but I'll call Iwata first and go from there.

Yea the thread in the body is what got damaged and it is right at the start, basically I can see a bit of a burr, and clean thread after that, I think there is a local shop that does repairs, but it does look like that part is pressed into the brush body if they can't clean that thread up it looks like I have a few spare parts for my next brush. I will contact the place posted as well see what the say.

I have an iwata revolution CR, and it seems I messed up the threads for the nozzle cross thread maybe but it almost looks like if I could find the tap the thread should clean up. Has anyone dealt with something like this.

If you ask my wife ... there was that time she asked me if I wanted to go knee boarding around this place called seal island, she said swimming with seals is cheaper than swimming with dolphins. Other than the obvious "any sort of wood", on YouTube I have seen baits out of paint brush handles, and a pooper out of a standup dish scrubber