BigZ Posted September 2, 2004 Report Share Posted September 2, 2004 I don't know if these guys work well or not, but I was scouring the web for info as usual and I found a few links to different stuff, some the same price as we pay from the usual suppliers, some a hell of a lot cheaper. Hope this info is interesting if not entirely useful to my worm pouring friends. Pitsco only has 4 colors but they're dirt cheap. http://www.shop-pitsco.com/pitsco3/catalog.cfm?dest=itempg&itemid=3468&secid=29&linkon=subsection&linkid=220 TAP Plastics has more colors, reusable mold pans for you resin heads, and pretty good pricing on RTV Mold kits (? the price of LC). I'll stop by there on my commute and pick up their color kit and see what the results are and keep you posted. On the page I linked, there are also "Microspheres" listed, these are what LC sells for floating additive. http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=7& Glow powders including Hot Dip for jigheads: 9 colors, claim 10 yr shelf life. http://www.glowpaintpro.com/products.html Well, it's a couple of links anyway, I will try the TAP stuff this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigZ Posted September 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 OK, I went to TAP today on my way home. I got some of their TAP brand premium pigment in purple and some Castin' Craft Transparent Green Dye. I tried both of these out with negligible results. The TAP pigment is in a nasty snot like paste form. I mixed it with a little calhoun in the bottom of a pyrex until I had a viscous purple liquid. I then added more plastic gradually until an estimated purple color was reached. I heated and poured a few worms, they came out OK, not exactly what I expected, but I am just experimenting with this stuff. A little bit of this stuff goes a LONG way. The things that scare me about it are: its sensitivity to air, the cancer causing warning on the label (Which I think even baby food has on it in California) and the packaging. This stuff comes in a plastic bottle with a push fit cap under a plastic film under a GNARLY screw on cap. If any of you ever saw "The Blob", this container looks like it is supposed to contain that amorphous creature. I am going to try mixing this stuff with some LC colors, it's almost time to start throwing junebug here and it might be a good base for that. The Castin' Craft dye is very similar to LC or MF, but unfortunately far less concentrated. It took 12 drops in ? cup of plastic to get a light watermelon color. That tells me that it is about 1/3 the concentration of the standard worm colors. It also tells me I wasted 4 bucks on it. I was hoping for a super concentrated dye, but I got the opposite. Oh well, it was worth a shot. The guys at TAP were very helpful and assured me that the colorants could be used for my application but weren't specifically designed for it. I think there is hope for the pigment, as you can mix colors together amd a very small quantity is needed. I asked the guy if you could use MEK to thin the pigment and he said "Most Likely." He is going to call their specialist and let me know. If it's possible to create liquid colors from this pigment base it will be awesome! I did get Microspheres or "Super FLoater Bubbles" there and they were $5.65 for 4 OZ. LC is $5.30 for 3 oz.... In conclusion, for now I think MF and LC have the market cornered on colors, but you're going to have to buy the volume size (pint)bottles of colors to get a real good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojo Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 I quit playing with model airplanes after about 8 years of building and flying RC. I just hit on the fact that you are using microspheres, or glass bubbles, to add to your plastic for floating ability. There is a much cheaper alternative to Tap's or LC's product. Aircraft and fiberglass industries use microspheres with their epoxy to both lighten and thicken it. Here is a link for 1 lb. of microspheres for $6.45. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/bubbles.php Any of the aircraft and epoxy/fiberglass suppliers should carry it. Just do a search for aircraft supplies or epoxy supplies. Or try composites. I'm still looking for alternate plastisol color sources as well. No luck as of yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojo Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 Right after I typed the above message I did a search for plastic pigment. The first hit was this: http://www.dow.com/emulpoly/na/paper/ltype/plastic.htm Hollow Sphere Plastic Pigment! What more could ya want. It's for the paper industry however. But it might work. I'm going to poke around some more and see if I can locate it at the retail or wholesale level. I work nights and spend a LOT of time on the internet. Perfect for researching new stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigZ Posted September 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 I was reading another thread where DelW said you could use softener for a color suspension. I am gonna try mixing the paste pigment with softener and see what the results are. I'm getting some pigments from Cardinal paints too, I have a friend that paints industrial parts (and my beat up rattletraps) and he bugged their rep for some sample bottles. Hopefully we can find a cheap hobbyist alternative, I don't mind paying 11.00 a pint for the stuff, it would just take me a whiile to use it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigZ Posted September 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 Here they are...not bad, not great...good bait though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
