Chuck Young

If you want to seal raw wood, have you tried runny superglue? Fumes are atrocious, so vent well. But advantages are: 1) penetrates, seals, and strengthens wood (heck - it turns balsa into concrete). 2) breaks off joints in swim bait easily. 3) provides a great base for paint - not too slick, even when sanded. 4) cure time is not bad.

Thanks for the response. The activity search worked fine - once I switched from all caps.

There is a lack of saltwater blanks on the market. I am thinking of buying a mini lathe for turning some blanks. Tried the search feature, but info was 6 years old. What features are most important. Five speed, full variable speed? Any recommended brands or sales I should know about? Basic tools? Any video links I should watch.

If you decide to go with polyurethane, do not use Helmsman. It starts yellow and turns yellower. Use a clear "moisture cure polyurethane". MCU is crystal clear and cures when exposed to air (oxygen). They use it to seal swimming pools. It has to be kept in an air tight container. Any air in the container has to be driven out with argon (Bloxygen). It is thin, so two coats will not give you the coating thickness as 1 coat of E- tex. Research it well before you use it.

I am having a horrible time with the search function on this site. The first search always comes up 0. Then, after widening the search to include everything and every date, it comes up 0 again. Am I the only one having this problem? Or is the search function actually as useless as a bubblegum machine in a lock-jaw ward?

I just started using E-tex. It tends to draw away from sharp edges - I can deal with that by rounding them a little. It seems clearer than D2T. Mixing extremely well makes a lot of sense. It is thin enough that bubbles work out well with a brush. And you don't want to have any doubts when it takes a full day to cure.

I had a lot of fun creating my entries. Came up blank again, but feel i made a lot of progress this past year.

Exactly. It is caused the same way also - by refraction. And by way of correction - that should have been "shipping terms". I highly recommend you do not sip any clear coat.

Cool color! Not too flashy - and that can be a good thing. For a layered paint scheme you might want to try P silver, then T olive (Createx colors - T canary yellow - 30, T deep blue - 1, T dark Brown - 3), The candy black ( T black - 3, T base - 3, reduce). Spray at low pressure, low volume. BTW that transparent olive color is very usefull.

https://www.paintwithpearl.com/shop/chameleon-paint/blue-green-chameleon-paint-pearls-4759bg/ I found this link to pearl powders that can be mixed in a clear coat or transparent base. Perhaps the green to blue color shifting one is wrong. They also have "ghost pearls" that have a holographic type of color shift. $25 woth of pigment does 1 qt of clear coat. Not sure about the sipping terms. But it might be worth a try. Keep me posted if you try it. Sounds like a cool effect. And if you do it right - it should stick better than the origional.

So a color shifting, metallic and holographic effect over the paint? or under the paint?

Good to see that get bit is back on line. For a while their domain was inactive.

You married a porcupine? Talk about the need to be carefull.

I have never seen one. But I will keep an eye out. Anything painted over chrome seems to have a tendency to peel. Chrome is pretty slick - no tooth. Can you describe the finish? Does it have multi colored metalic flakes, or is it more of a holographic thing?

The same way you skin a porcupine - veeerry carefully! No, seriously, with a wood bait i make sure joints are well sealed with superglue. Spray some paint right on the joints heat set it. The paint doesn't stick as well as epoxy for some reason. Then I apply thinned epoxy very carefully around the joints. Keep the nose up so excess flows away from the joint. Only one coat goes close to the joint. The other coats can be kept well away, as not much protection is needed between the joints. You will still get some on the joint. But you can work it with a drop of oil once fully cured. FULLY CURED epoxy is somewhat brittle. An old Exacto knife can also be used to clear some out. Just read Mark's comment - great minds! The water based paints don't stick as well as Krylon. You can even use the transparent base - paint with no pigment. Hope this helps. And I know some of you are going to ask.... Yes, i have skinned a porcupine. They have a strong flavor, though not bad in a survival situation.

Predator Bass Baits has them - SKO

This one was done with a Pearl white base coat (all paints were very thinly applied). All paints are Createx brand. wash with black and wipe off (highlights scale pattern) P white Below lat: BG 1 (one drop P blue, 5 drops P white) On lat line: I yellow Just above: I green Top, socket: Wicked gold stripe stencil: edge with reduced Transparent black Top, socket, tone: T olive Back, socket: touch of T black Lobe: T black mask bottom belly to under gills: Flo sunburst - very little unmask Touch up gill cover : BG1 Touch up belly: P white