Tristan

How does the photo application process work?

I'm looking forward to seeing which minnow you're talking about, I can't place it in my memory... Excalibur made several baits that were copies (licensed, I believe) of other well-known baits, such as the Super Spook, Spook Jr, etc. Was the excalibur a copy of bomber's long A minnow? Thanks, Tristan

Calhoun - finished product is nice, durable, low odor (plastic smell) as well as being quite cost effective, especially in 5 gallon and larger quantities. I've used both M-F and Lurecraft in the past. I'm happy with Calhoun.

gvetter - Like you, I'm used to motoroil being different than I got with LureCraft's version, more a changable deep green/chartruse/brownish tint... This weekend, I got a reasonable facimile by using equal amounts of LC Flourescent Chartruce and LC Motoroil. 1/2 Cup Plastisol 10 drops Chartruse (must be mixed with plastisol before heating) 10 drops Motoroil If you cut the colorant to 7-8 drops each, the color comes out more on the watermelon side. Add a little fine red flake to this produces a very nice color. Next, I think I'll try adding a transparent brown.

Are those hand pours?

Today, I stirred the bucked for about 10 minutes and then poured some out into misc. containers which would be easier to work with. Aparrently, I hadn't done a good enough job of the stirring yesterday; today the baits I molded are about twice as hard. I think I will add softner to the whole batch to get it about halfway between yesterday's and today's pours. Thanks for the info, folks! Tristan

Thanks for the replies. I'm afraid if I added any softner to this I wouldn't be able to get it out of the mold! Have to see how they are tomorrow.

Yow! 3-D! Looks good!

I just recieved my order of Calhoun from Del-mart. The baits I've poured are undoubtably the softest I have ever done. In fact, they seem sticky to the touch. Is this typical for Calhoun hand-pour plastic? Tristan

Markell, I would recommend using a small pouring pan, about 1 Cup size, to which you no more than 1/2 cup material that has been pre-heated in your microwave. You can keep the pouring pan hot on a hotplate or the stove between plastic heatings. Try that and let me know how it turns out! Tristan

Alby - That sounds great. I was thinking of doing the same thing; but I have a question for you: can you mold the sculpy material in resin? It would seem to be too hard after curing to be able to get it easily out of the mold. I'm going to keep a lookout for a good one to model after; sort of the southern california style is what I'm looking for. Good luck! Tristan

Motoroil is a goldie oldie, that's a fact. At one time (years ago in Florida) that was the first color I put on the hook and likely the color I had on at the end of the day. A great variant is Motoroil/brown laminate, with the brown having a slight touch of green in the background. Another of my old-time favorites is brown back/orangeish brown belly & tail (laminate) we used to call that orange craw, and I caught a bunch of fish on my 7.5" curltails in that color. When my plastic comes in, I've got lots of catching up to do! Bluegill, eh? I'll have to check the site if anyone has posted that recipe...

Man, that looks like a good idea! If I ever invest in a Lee pot, that'll be the first accessory to get...

I've used LC Flor. Pink before, and was able to come up with a translucent version by simply using very little. Black grape/Flor. Pink laminate was a pretty good color in the old days... As for the glomping, I had some success by putting a stainless ball bearing in the bottle and shaking the heck out of it, then transferring about 1/2 oz to a 1oz bottle, and adding softner to top; shaking the heck out of it before use. But of course, you have to add the color to the plastic before heating or it will will be nothing but lumps. - Tristan

I'm interested in doing some medium to large swimbaits; does anyone have a source for good swimbait molds in the 4 - 10" range? Thanks, Tristan