McLuvin175

I guess it depends on which manufacturers bait you are trying to match. In all the Houdini colors Ive seen the base (belly) color is Sand colorant with small (0.015") and medium copper glitter (0.035"/0.040"). You can find Sand 208 at LureWorks if you want the exact color. If you have Carolina Pumpkin you could make that work, just keep it light and that should make a good substitute. Oh and the back color is Watermelon Red Flake.

Heres the White: https://www.ispikeit.com/product/293/white-3012 . For small jobs you could consider the Worm Paint in Unscented or Garlic here: https://www.ispikeit.com/category/4/lure-paints For even bigger jobs or production work you could step up to their VPI series here: https://www.ispikeit.com/category/85/vpi-paint That should keep you busy.

The FB consensus is wrong. I don't know where they get their colorant but its not from LureWorks. I don't think its from any of the other known sources either like MF or Lurecraft etc.

If your trying to match the original Bass Assassin "Chicken on a Chain" belly you need regular green glow powder. Use about 1/4 tsp of Natural Glow and 1/4 tsp Silver 0.015" Glitter per cup of plastic and that should be good. The glow powder is what gives it the milky-ness.

Cloudiness in a color can come from a few sources but one to consider is if there is salt in those bait samples. Salt will impart cloudiness with only a minor shift in the overall color. Its always hard to tell from a photo how to go about matching a color. Looking at those images I dont see any Hi-Lite effects but the resolution on those images is low. Adding Pearl White can impart cloudiness but usually it will also impart a sparkling effect similar to glitter that is easily seen if present. Hi-Lite colors tend to show at the surface of a bait and are usually easily detected if present. Not sure of the manufacturer of those baits but something else to consider is companies like Berkley and Keitech add a proprietary blend of stinky stuff to impart scent that also affects the color. I had a custom color match for someone that sent me a Keitech Swing Impact. It had stinky stuff only in one half the bait (the back portion of a laminate) similar looking to fish meal. It wasnt easy trying to match what I call fish meal with pigments. I got as close as I could but spent the better part of a day going round and round on that one. For me when I start out trying to match a color it is always best to work in small batches. I use a baby food jar about half full of plastic ( a little less than 50g) I start with what colorants I think will get me where I need to go (experience goes along way in this department). At this point I am not concerned about measurements just getting on the right trail. Pour small "chips", let cool, and compare or evalutate the color. Here it is critical to not only evaluate the surface tone (look at the bait holding it in your hand) as well as the undertone (hold the bait up to the light and look through the bait). Another thing to consider is lighting. Fluorescent lights often in the shop will make a bait look different than taking it out into the sun and evaluating. Tweak your sample batch as needed or you can discard it if it isnt getting you there and start a new sample batch. This can go 3 or 4 iterations before I feel like I am on the right track. Its a process of elimination of what colors to use or not use. I have gone 20-25 iterations on more difficult colors. Once it is looking good I can scale up the batch size and start taking notes on measurements of glitter/pigments etc. The key to a good color match is does the surface tone and the undertone match the surface tone and undertone of the sample. Physically having a sample bait in hand is the only real way to achieve this. This is where you learn how glitter can shift a color. How salt affects transparency of a given color. How laminates colors can wrap and blend at the margins and throw you for a loop. Also dont rule out the idea of "ehh close enough" so you dont drive yourself crazy. Good luck and let us know how fare.

That's basically Bass Assassins Opening Night with a Hot Chartreuse tail. For the back color use Hi-Lite Blue with a touch of black like a light smoke. That will make the Blue Hi-Lite pop and give the blue surface shine. Clear belly with Silver Holo string.

Not sure about other suppliers but LureWorks has Morning Dawn 160 colorant. In low levels it has decent transparency and looks kinda like pink; goes to red when loaded up. It aught to do the trick.

My WAG TOP: Hi-lite Green and Black 0.008" or 0.015" black MIDDLE: Morning Dawn, add a touch of Hi-lite Violet or Blue if desired. BOTTOM: Very Light Black (smoke) with Hi-Lite Blue. In the alternative you could use a solid blue pearl just go light.

This....?

You mentioned "sometimes" and "various colors". So does this happen with specific colors? Where do these colors come from? Not all colors even if from a reputable manufacturer are translucent. Are you saying one time a color will be translucent and the next time it wont? There should be nothing storage in a garage can do in my experience to cloud a finished bait. The only time I have had cloudiness is with undercooked plastic. Is that possible in your scenario? If there is moisture it would seem to boil off when heating. What kind of set up are you running? Another have cloudiness is by adding to much heat stabilizer; it will milk up a bait or color. Are you adding heat stabilizer? Are you running salt? Flotation Aid? Any other additives?

When matching a color it always helps to have an actual sample in hand. To save some time it helps to invest in a black light. You can pick up a cheap hand held from places like Amazon or Ebay or just pick up a bulb from somewhere local and stick it in a lamp/fixture. If that bait fluoresces in the black light you can guarantee your dealing with a fluorescent, likely chartreuse in this case. Ruling in or out a fluorescent dye/pigment in the beginning when matching a color can save time and headaches. Is it possible that this is a two color tube? Chartreuse underneath for tail color. Pumpkin of some sort for body? Either way looks like some form of Chartreuse Pumpkin. Thats my WAG.

How long did you let the paint cure before you shot your first bait?

One reason a solvent based lacquer can "milk up" after spraying has to do with the Dew Point. As the faster drying solvents in the lacquer evaporate, they lower the temperature of the substrate they left behind. If they lower it enough to hit the relative Dew Point it will cause moisture to condensate on the cooler surface. The moisture becomes entrapped in the lacquer and due to incompatibility you get milkiness. In hind site warming the can may have actually exacerbated the problem. The warmer the lacquer is the faster it drys the quicker it will draw moisture out of the air. It may be better to actually warm the bait/piece your coating instead of the can to keep the lacquer film from getting to cool to quick. Just a theory. The manufacturer should have some guidelines or perhaps a Tech Data Sheet they can provide to give some pointers to prevent this issue. It might be worth firing off an e-mail or making a phone call to the Tech Support and see what they say; if they have one.

Mylar is just a trade name for Polyester Film coined by DuPont I believe. This is just glitter like the rest, except it is not metalized and has nice rainbow-esqe look. Some call it Disco Glitter some call it Sparkle Glitter. It so far comes in three shades Green, Blue/Violet, Gold. Some suppliers sell it so you have to search for it. The key with this glitter is heat resistance as it is notorious for not being able to withstand high temps. When you do find the good stuff that can stand the heat you will know it because it will be expensive. If you want the actual film I know LureWorks sells the green shade like this. Dont waste your time on a Coffee Grinder that aint gonna work. You need an afternoon to waste and a good pair of scissors.

Looking at a Zoom Trick Worm it is Light Watermelon Red Flake back. And the belly is Sand with Medium and small Copper Flake with Medium Black Flake.

LureWorks wont have a color called Margarita Lime. If that color is a fluorescent I would look at Flo Lime 129 or Limetreuse 186. If it is not look at Spring Green 150. Bear would rename or even mix theirs to get his own unique colors so there is the possibility that this is a unique blend by Bear and no one pigment will replace it. As an alternative you might just try their Watermelon 101 and not have to mix different colorants to get the desired color.....it all depends on how particular you are about your shade of Watermelon.

The bait your showing looks like a Keitech Fat Swing Impact. Your photo really makes that belly look Chartreuse. Googling images of this BlueGill Flash either for Zoom or Keitech show similar coloration. For Keitech I am sure they use a Sparkle Gold or Sparkle Green Glitter in the belly portion along with some salt which accounts for the milky whiteness in other images. For the back just a light smoke with Blue 0.015", Black either 0.040/0.035, and probably more Sparkle glitter that matches the belly portion. If you dont have Sparkle glitter substitute a Yellow Gold or Light Gold glitter in place and you'll still have good looking bait. If your not running salt you could use a little white pigment to give that belly that look or better yet a light dusting of some Pearl White would probably look better.

You might want to try LureWorks Violet 193. It is a strong Purple that has a blue-ish undertone that your looking for. It is has a thermocromatic characteristic when hot; it will take on a pink or red shade. Let the bait fully cool before rendering a judgement on how it looks or finalizing your formulation. It is a good alternative to the Junebug 125 that is no longer available. A single colorant is usually preferable to having to mix multiple colorants.

And to boot if you swap the hi-lite blue for pearl white you'll have Red Shad.

For the back you need Black. For the belly you need a Hi-Lite Blue powder and a transparent red dye like LureWorks Cherry Red 120. Viola, Tequila Sunrise.

One thing to consider is if those O-rings are black in color they are made from Buna Rubber or Viton. These style O-rings over time will swell due to exposure to plasticizer; thus changing the OD. If they are orange in color then they are likely Silicone and are much more resistant to plasticizer. Nonetheless O-rings should be considered a consumable and you should keep a couple back up sets for replacement. Just due to abbrasion they will need to be replaced at intervals. The next thing to consider is the bore of your injector, how scarred up is it?

It will work although the manufacturer would not recommend it. If your planning on using a paint brush to apply make sure your epoxy is un-thinned or use a solvent like alcohol that wont "lift" the CoLure Coat paint. If your using an air brush the solvent you use wont be an issue. I have a buddy who uses it all the time on hard baits. He likes to have his color palate be consistent from soft plastics to jig heads to crank baits. He uses an air bursh to spray on epoxy.

Standard Glow or Natural Glow I use at 3% by weight for soft plastics. Had 1 customer who wanted a small amount of white pigment added to "milk" it up a little. For the more expensive Super Glows use only the amount you need to achieve the desired result cuz it aint cheap.

If your sprue or gate keep freezing off and not allowing molten plastic to fill the cavity you might need an additional step. One other possible solution is to actually de-mold the bait as soon as you are able to handle it without tearing it up or deforming it. In the past I have had issues with denting on large baits. Through lots of trial and error pulling them out of the mold much earlier than i would have normally and placing into a water bath yielded good results. I think this is as a result of the way baits contract as they cool. While in the mold the baits tend to create a vacuum as it shrinks. If the sprue of gate is frozen off then the shrinkage cannot be accommodated with more pressure or time injecting. The bait wanting to stick to the cavity walls resists until the vacuum is great enough to find the weak spot (the thickest part as it is usually still molten) and there goes the dent. As the bait cools in a water bath it does so evenly and doesn't have the cavity walls to contend with thus often eliminating the dent. The addition of some mold release may be needed if this step is necessary as it will aid in de-molding a bait that still has a molten center. Just a thought.