Hurley

For me, drilling in balsa, reverse has been the best way. And I just drill it by hand. The problem with using a standard drill in wood is that drill have a positive rake that wants to grab. You can alter a drill bit by straitening out the cutting edge. Take a grinder, or even a dremmel, and grind the cutting edge so the rake is straight with the shank of the drill.

I have never had any issues in using D2T up until that point. Although the baits turned out great I was still pretty disappointed. I came to the conclusion that I had a syringe go bad before I finished it. It was opened for 2-3 weeks and I figured something was up. I never really put much thought into the damp air. It could be possible.

Thanks for your tips. They align with my own trial and errors. I am seeing that with foil I need to use three coats of d2t instead of two. Although, It does look like I need to work on my d2t application because I am getting a milky hue in areas.

I just finished two baits that I foiled. Thanks to all the tips they turned out pretty good. I had two issues. The first one is that my d2t over the foil had some haze to it. I am assuming it is because I applied it to thick because I have never noticed this issue before. The second issue is my paint. It did not "stick" to the bait as good as I am used to because I did not rough up the finish before paint. Normally I rough it up and do a base coat. I am sure this will get better with practice.

Did you get a lot of wrinkles?

I have some adhesive foil tape bit I didnt use it because it's pretty thick. I might give this a shot before I give up. I am applying the foil after my baits are sealed with d2t. With such a hard base I did not have success applying the scales after. You guys are just confirming what I was hoping a simple trick will solve.

The thin generic tinfoil.

Looks like we are both having issues. Lol. I used the 3M spray adhesive and it seemed to work great. I have issues with the foil on the contours.

Yes, that makes sense. The problem is the baits I make are fairly rounded. Definetly not flat sided. I have several hours on youtube and nothing has solved my issue. I did not get good results searching this site. Thats why I asked.

I am struggling to apply foil on my baits. I also cant find solid info on this topic. I tried to cut out, scale, then apply. I could not get it to round the top and bottom to my liking. And trying to get it tight to the bait without smoothing the scale effect was very tough. Maybe its because my baits are pretty wide. But i figured there has got to be a better way. I am looking for any input.