Fishwhittler Posted June 15, 2023 Report Share Posted June 15, 2023 Dang. This place has changed over the years. Managed to reawaken the old itch to both fish and build lures recently, and figured I'd see if TU was still kicking. It is, but...man, ten years is a long time. This place is much, much quieter, though I'm glad to see a number of names I do recognize still floating around. Time unfortunately has not been kind to internet forums in general, particularly specialized ones like TU. Too much commitment to long-term conversations...heh. A few of the long-standing members may remember me. Been about ten years since I was active on here to any real extent, and it's been just as long since I did any lure building (or fishing, for that matter). A bit of water under the bridge since then. Quick synopsis: Got married, had two kids, changed jobs several times until finally finding a good one I can stick with for the foreseeable future; bought a house for the first time almost a year ago to the day, and now my son is old enough that he wants to go fishing. One thing led to another with that, and I've actually started carving and painting again. Just collected most of my old lure-making stuff from storage and with a considerable amount of shock discovered how much crap I actually have. (Side note: unmixed Envirotex Lite has a shelf life less than ten years. Don't know how long, but less than ten years. Can confirm.) Now my son is in love with my old lures and stuff, so that's some fairly strong motivation to get back to it. He found an old swimbait I never finished that he's begging me to paint, and to make it blue, so that's going to be a project. Beyond that, not really much point to this except to say hi. So...Hi. Tight lines all! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arne Posted June 15, 2023 Report Share Posted June 15, 2023 Well welcome back. I was not around here back when you were. So pull up a chair and stay a while. Arne. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonyb50 Posted June 15, 2023 Report Share Posted June 15, 2023 Well, todays my 1st day and I can’t figure this site out. How do you make a full body mold for soft plastics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arne Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 I have never made one, but if you scroll down to member tutorials then to soft plastics they have quite a few ideas for making the molds. Arne. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishwhittler Posted June 18, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2023 On 6/15/2023 at 6:42 PM, Tonyb50 said: Well, todays my 1st day and I can’t figure this site out. How do you make a full body mold for soft plastics? Welcome! I'd try posting your question in the Soft Plastic subforum. I haven't poured plastics myself, but there are guys on here who've been doing that for years. Offhand I'd say that for making a mold, your most common options will be Plaster of Paris or RTV Silicone. Though if you're looking for injection-type molds rather than open-pour, you'll probably need something rigid such as plaster or a hard-cure plastic. If you have a CNC or access to one, that's probably going to give the best results overall in terms of mold quality and longevity, but that's considerably beyond the price range of most hobby lure makers. For injection molding, I'd ask around about what others use and recommend. Though if you're just getting into plastic pouring, starting with open-face molds may be the simpler and cheaper way to go. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jigmeister Posted August 21, 2023 Report Share Posted August 21, 2023 On 6/15/2023 at 4:42 PM, Tonyb50 said: Well, todays my 1st day and I can’t figure this site out. How do you make a full body mold for soft plastics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
