Chuck Young

You should order the matching needle as well. The taper varies, as does the diameter of the seat.

My suggestion is to look forward, not backward. You have purchased a very good airbrush and excellent paint. Don't question these choices - everyone will have an opinion. Here are some additional suggestions:1) Get a good regulator / water trap combo. The ability to vary air pressure between 0 - 30 psi is very important. 2) Get the brand recommended reducer and transparent base (basically paint with no pigment in it). This will allow you to make colors more transparent, creating more depth to your color schemes. 3) Watch some tutorials online. 4) Search the threads on this site for color recommendations and homemade tools.

For Purple Tiger try Createx fluorescent violet over the yellow base (possibly fluo yellow). The fluorescent colors are translucent - not opaque. So the yellow darkens the purple a little.

Getting both sides to match can be done - even by those who do not have a great eye. There are always points of reference on a lure blank. They will be transfered to the stencil you make - like where the lat line meets the gill plate and the rear end of the blank. So here is what I do. I create my clam-shell stencil and cut the stencil on one side. Then I tape some tissue paper to the hinged part. Next I put the paper between a lure blank and the cut part, close the clam-shell, and paint the paper with dark detail paint. Next mark two reference points on the paper. Then remove the blank, push the paper to the other side, reinsert the blank, and line up those reference points, and back-light it. You can now use a sharpie to duplicate that pattern on the other side. What can I say, those who lack the talent to do things by "eye" have to compensate with other talents.

I have tried with partial success. IMHO you would need a true vacuu-form machine that preheats the plastic sheets. Or possibly preheat the sheets on a frame in your oven. Also you would need to create a positive slightly bigger than your lure. Also since the sheet would have to stretch the full depth of your lure (instead of just 1/2 needed for stencils), you would have to have a strong vacuum and a good seal.

Ha s anyone recently done business with Avid? First reviews were not good. I am wondering whether things have gotten better.

My wife is a red head too! After 35 years, she is finally adopting my sense of humor. Now I can see how unfunny I really am. So I guess the joke's on me.

I will post a link to the vaccuu form device and methods I use. The sheets are available in office supply stores and are dirt cheap.

Has anyone used Tung oil? I know it soaks in and hardens the top layer of wood. Just curious.

You could use a chainsaw to cut a troth in the ice. Then you could troll. But as cold as it has been here, you would have to cut every 15 min.

If you hang it by the nose, and put a piece of wire in the tail eyelet, the drip will go down the wire and the eye will not clog. Also with a smooth bait, one coat may look good. But the protection won't be as good. You will really see that when you coat a bait with a deep scale texture. You can still feel the scale texture through one coat.

If you can get your hands o one, an old glass alka seltzer bottle would work with 4 oz pretty well. My wife buys this alfredo sauce (I believe it is 10 oz) in a glass jar that is 6" tall and 2"wide. It would work for most lures.

I guess that makes us a backward bunch.

I have a badger 150 and remove the needle from the back. There is extra needle length back there that never gets used, so tool marks are no big deal. The front is the working end, so reinsertion must be done very carefully. By the way, owners manuals can usually be found on line.

1)Try moving the line tie up 1/4". 2) Use it as a jerk bait at slow speeds. 3) Recess the weight - but wait for suggestions from others about weight distribution. 4) Throw some salt over your shoulder. 5) Have another shot. I love that relief carving btw.

Keep your eyes on craigslist, sometimes you can get a kit with an airbrush and compressor for cheap. The quality and variety of spray bombs is very limited. Transparent, pearls & iridescent colors are not available in a can. Drying times are long. The delivery system stinks. The ones with a fan shaped pattern do a slightly better job. Look at the nozzle - it has a groove in it. You need to vent laquer fumes. For silver and gold, I have found Rustoleum 2x coverage to be best. Pick up some meshy fabric at the sewing store to make scales. A toothbrush can be used to spatter black paint to the back of a lure for a surprisingly effective and simple paint job (research spatterback).

also a great excuse to go fishing again real soon. For to dust we shall all return.

Might not catch too many fish, but they are clean, shiny, and free of dust!

Probably the strangest thing I have used on a fly was a hairnet. I thought it would imitate a pupal shuck quite well.

BTW - Dryer lint is a fantastic fire starting material. Go ahead and try it sometime. It will convince you to keep that lint filter clean. I always carry some with me as part of my survival kit when ice fishing. As for dog fur, I saved some from my favorite dog (Gypsy) before she passed. She loved to fish with me. Well I tied some gold ribbed hares ear nymphs with some of her fur. So in a way she still does go fishing with me.

For a rattle can silver or gold, Rustoleum 2x coverage silver and gold work well. It can even be decanted into an airbrush by spraying it through a tube. But I hate the laquer and drying time. I started using Wicked metallic gold pearl. I love it. I havent tried the silver yet - but I will. There are many self adhesive films out there. But you can get mylar wrapping paper (the kind without the paper backing) at Michaels. You can get gold, silver, and holographic clear. You can heat shrink it to some extent to a lure body using a vacuu form and heat gun. Then it can be applied to a lure blank with epoxy. Personally I find the pure metallic shine of the gold and silver to be too flashy. The clear seems more useful to me.

Certain patterns - like "purple tiger" or "Purple clown" require a UV white base.

The Createx colors and base are not glow in dark, but fluorescent. The glow base, when mixed with any color, turns that color fluorescent. Every glow in the dark paint or powder that I know of also fluoresces when hit by uv light. Go ahead and try it if you dont believe me. The really good GID particles (like rayburn guy mentioned) are too coarse to go through an airbrush. Colored powders can be mixed in epoxy and applied over a white, flo white, or flo colored base. Even when they stop glowing on their own, they continue to light up under the UV that penetrates snow, ice, and water.

The specs sound to me like solid pvc - with no air bubbles in it. 9ooo PSI tensile strength is a whole heckuva lot. It would sink like a rock.

You will need a pretty powerful fan to suck out all the fumes. A small dual blade window fan is what I use. Computer fans will not cut it.