spare tire

Diemai , The screw eyes are he biggest available, they are 1 1/8 long the picture in the middle is of the broken screw eye, over half is still in the bait, and all hardware is 2tonned in. Dave, I know I hit the lead cavity in mine as well but I thought the 2 ton on the eyes would help this. Mark, Thanks for the compliment, the runny superglue in the holes might help, but the ballast is a lot in these baits to get them to sink, I dont think I can raise the hinge pins high enough to clear. Thanks everyone for the advice, I hope I can salvage these for my own personal use and take new lessons with me. Tim

Dave does this mean that if I let the baits dry out they will swim again? I soaked the sections in prop pellets for 20 minutes, then dipped four more times, all I could think is if that is the problem, mabey it is through the screw eyes I 2 tonned them in but mabey they turned with the force of the slapping of the water. I think what you are telling me Dave is to oversize the holes soak with prop pellets then set screw eyes in 2 ton with out screwing them in. just let the 2 ton do the work. Pete, do you think .063 diameter pins will hld up better than .093 brass tubing? .093 diam is the biggest size that will fit into the large eye holes. Thanks Tim

I made these three swimbaits and am having lots of trouble that I would share plus ask for some advice. They are 12" long made of basswood, slow sinking, about 4.5 oz. hinges are brass tubes with big stainless steel eyes. I showed a video of these swimming about a week ago and was told to leave the anal and caudal fin off to help with the swimming. I did this and they swam great. My problems began with the weighting of them, I weghed the proto which wasn't painted so I made these a little lighter to make up for the paint and topcoat, I was all finished with them ready to go to the lake to give them the ultimate test but I decided to put them in the sink first, guess what they floated, I was devastated. I called my friend up told him the news and he said he would fix them for me. 2 days later they were back and touched with paint and still looked pretty good considering. I wont waste your time with the other problems fishing that day 3 dead batteries, treble in the hand deep , and a changing wind, but back to the baits. I took one and my friend took the other one. My first cast had a nice 30" pike follow to the boat, nice swimming action cast 3 & 7 had light pike hits but no big takers I was thinking I had the best bait ever made. After about the 25th cast the action started going away, I had to jerk the rod a little to get the swim action I wanted, but no more follows after the action gave way. My buddy threw his about ten times and it come in without a tail section, not because of fish. So he picked up the second bait threw it about 40 times, his action started going away also, but then the back section eye screw broke, again not from a fish. He then modified the lost tail one and that started losing action as well. We counted pretty close to the amount of times we threw it and it was about 300 times each:oooh: After close examination I figured a couple of things out I think. I didn"t drill the holes for the brass tube all the way through the bait so I wouldn"t have to hide the hole in the belly, by doing this I think I made the tail section tube to short and only glued to the top, and it slid up and off, also I should of used 2 eyelets in the tail section. Second bait after looking at the eye screw my buddy drilled 3/4 of the way through when drilling in the added weight it was bound to break. I also just poured the lead in and it seemed to want to break through the bondo and the topcoat. I also tried a new top coat acrylic spray, it looked good but I don't think it was to strong as the paint wore at all the spots where the sections hit when swimming. My question is does anyone know why they don"t swim anymore, I dont think the tube bent and they are just as free swinging. Is a bait that is close to 5 oz heavy 12" long, thrown as hard as you can 300 times supposed to swim and look as good as the first time? How are your lead weights put in? Stainless steel pins better then tubing? I used 3/32 diam tubing which fit the eyes perfect, mabey to perfect? not sloppy enough? Hoping my problems will help others not to have the same problems. Sorry I was so long winded Thanks Tim

Nothing can hold up for ever, but a treatment to the wood before it is painted is key. I've used 2 methods, prop pellets, you can do a search on this for lots of info, also a mix of 2ton and pure alchohol, both work great if done correctly. Both will let the epoxy or plastic get soaked into the wood. This will prevent in most cases paint from peeling off in chunks. Also make sure to use 2 ton on hardware being installed so you wont let water into those points as well. With all this and a good topcoat water based paints are fine, same holds true to other paints as well. Tim

I agree the Devcon doesnt like the sharp edges, so it will pull off the spoon, DN is more forgiving on that. Tim

Mark I used the brass tubing in a bait. It seems to work great, the advantage to the tube is if it needs to be changed, a slightly larger diam drill bit drilled inside of the tube will remove it clean as a whistle. a compromise might be a stainless tube, but I don't think the brass will wear out to fast, but I will try it and see. Tim

I use gorilla glue it is waterproof, the stuff does expand when setting up. I carve grooves in both sides of wood put glue on both sides and clamp together overnight. Most of the expanding glue can be cleaned off with a razorblade, than sanded. I have also used 2 ton epoxy to glue back together, but I wont use the five min stuff because that says water resistant not waterproof. This may all be overkill since top coat will seal it anyways but I just like to be sure. I have also drilled and inserted rattles then plug holes but in my opinion it is easier to clean up the seam on the half bait rather then the hole. Also while the bait is in half it is a good time to put the ballast where you want it. Tim

I think Vodkaman posted a picture of a can rattle made from brass tubing it worked great for me, you can also buy the glass rattles for rubber tube baits from bass pro shop they also work but not as loud as the cans. I also hollowed out a cavity in a cut in half basswood bait and just put the steel shot in the cavity and sealed it up. Tim

happy birthday Tim

very nice action on both love the flounder Tim

Thanks again everyone I'll keep you posted on the future of this bait Tim

Pete, all the shots in the video have the fins. The fins are made of polycarbonate (lexxan) I cant see that softer fins would help this, they would seem to have to lay almost completely flat when in motion to make a differance, I think.Can I leave the tail on or does that kill the action as well? I could try a little smaller fins but I think this would effect the swim as well be it slightly less, it would still slow down the action. I would think that no matter what one did it would effect the action somewhat, even fiber fins. So why does anyone put fins on at all? Thanks Tim

Thanks everyone for the advice which I will listen to. Tim

It does swim good with fins, but a little better without. I don't think a different material would help, a rudder is a rudder. Isn't the nice paint jobs and details more for the fisherman and less for the fish? I mean the right color might be important but the looks I think are mostly for the fisherman. Does this bait swim well? Thanks Tim

Here is a pic of my swimbait I'm working on. My question is when does apperance become more important than good swimming. This bait swam extremely well before I attached the fins, it still swims good just not as well. I would assume that the fiber fins react the same sort of like a rudder. I thought of heating up the fins and giving them a little bend out, top opposite the bottom , also the tail the fork could be bent opposite directions as well. Would this disturb the keel affect enough to make it swim better? Please check out this video with the fins Thanks Tim

Just a shout out to Howard have a very happy birthday, You are still older than me:p Tim

I use createx paint and I heat set with a heat gun on low setting and keep it moving. I have also bubbled the paint , to much of a good thing I guess. It only takes about 10 seconds on a small bait for me, and I dont do it after every color, just before scaliong or during scaling, before gloss coat and after gloss coat. KEEP THE GUN MOVING AND NOT TO CLOSE Hope this helps Tim

I'm At work right now But I had the same problem you are having. I looked everywhere, finally found a small pc at wallmart in there fabric department, it has octogon shape and is soft. I bought all they had for $4.00. I then ordered a bat " I think that is the right word, I feel strange for even knowing this, see what this hobby will do for you. It took about a week and I dont think it cost me $20.00 and it is enough to last me a lifetime I,m sure this is what you are looking for.See the scale on this, Tims Trout Lure If you need the part # of the material let me know and I'll see if it is still on the material Tim

Jeff, This happened a few times to me frustating, I was told by someone on this board to top coat with the createx topcoat gloss then heatset well but be careful not to bubble the finish with the heat. This cured that problem for me, it gives it another layer of protection. I tried spraying DN through my airbrush and it messed up my gun, you have to be real careful about cleaning the gun well, and use a cheap gun to try. Tim

Lapala, Howard made these pens for me, and they work great. It's nice to switch pens by just pulling apart the pen at the RCA plug and inserting a new one. This comes in real handy when burning in scales of different sizes. The same design will work for any woodburning unit just modify the rca plug to what ever your pen uses.I use a Nibsburner Red Hot System at 65 watts. This pen has all the heat I need with a rapid heat time and cool off time. Here is a link to that unit Red Hot woodburning system for your woodburning tools by Nibsburner! Howard made 12 of these pens for me and they all work great. Hope this answers your question. Tim Thanks Howard

Dieter, You can also buy lengths of stainless hinge in Mcmaster carr at different sizes. Not to expensive, been thinking of the same design for about 6 months now but couldn't think of a way to secure them to the bait, thanks to your post you got me thinking again , real cool Tim:yay:

Have a very happy bday