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Mattlures

Hard baits are kinda fun

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Nice job Mattlures.

What material did you cast the bodies with?

I'm guessing RTV for the mold, with that ventral fin arrangement.

The original has incredible detail.

I can't tell if it is painted of photo finish. What ever it is, it is impressive.

What made you go with the lip on the last one?

How do they swim?

Dave

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Thanks guys. They are of course painted. No photo finish. You cant get the reflective pearls and depth with photo finishing. Plus it would be difficult to wrap the photo around all the conteurs.The baits are made from my own custom mix of resins. The original is all hand carved. If you have ever tried to mold a real fish, especialy a small one you would quickly realize, you loose most of the detail. Yes I did each scale by hand. It takes forever but You only have to make 1 perfect master. I put the bill on one just for something different. They come in floating, sinking, and a billed floater. The action is different in the 2 floaters but I havent decided which one I like best. For now they are all availible but I will probably discontinue the billed bait because its a little harder to make.

I do use silicone molds but they suck. I can only get about 20 pieces per mold. I have to keep making new molds. The molds are also very complex so it makes it more of a pain. It is fun for now though. I have a bunch of new hard baits I am working on.

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Thanks guys. They are of course painted. No photo finish. You cant get the reflective pearls and depth with photo finishing. Plus it would be difficult to wrap the photo around all the conteurs.The baits are made from my own custom mix of resins. The original is all hand carved. If you have ever tried to mold a real fish, especialy a small one you would quickly realize, you loose most of the detail. Yes I did each scale by hand. It takes forever but You only have to make 1 perfect master. I put the bill on one just for something different. They come in floating, sinking, and a billed floater. The action is different in the 2 floaters but I havent decided which one I like best. For now they are all availible but I will probably discontinue the billed bait because its a little harder to make.

I do use silicone molds but they suck. I can only get about 20 pieces per mold. I have to keep making new molds. The molds are also very complex so it makes it more of a pain. It is fun for now though. I have a bunch of new hard baits I am working on.

JMHO, but you could save yourself a lot of work and time by making a "Mother Mold" out of POP. :twocents:

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Matt those are INCREDIBLE lures! :drool: You NAILED the color patterns also!:yay:

Matt I am suprised that you can only get 20 or so lures from the RTV mold. Is the expansion of the microballons stressing the mold?

Or are the fine details of the mold wearing out?

Fantastic job!

John

Edited by Tigger
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PoP would not work for any part of the process I use. I have masters but the mold need to be continualy remade. No stressing of the molds, but a breakdown in the silicone do to the resins. A smooth casting with no undercts is not very damaging to silicone. A bait that is entirely covered in detail and undercuts will wear out silicone realy fast. I have a few ideas that should double the amout of pieces I get from my molds but I will still need to replace them.

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PoP would not work for any part of the process I use. I have masters but the mold need to be continualy remade. No stressing of the molds, but a breakdown in the silicone do to the resins. A smooth casting with no undercts is not very damaging to silicone. A bait that is entirely covered in detail and undercuts will wear out silicone realy fast. I have a few ideas that should double the amout of pieces I get from my molds but I will still need to replace them.

Out of curiosity, which Resin are you using? My Smooth-on, 28 Shore molds have stood up to many more castings than 20, casting Shopmaninc.coms Urethane Resin.

When I said " Mother Mold" I meant a POP mold of your Silicone mold. Just Box in a mold half, Cavity up, and fill it with POP. When it cures, you can pour your silicone into it and you'll have an exact duplicate of the original. Just be sure to use a light glossy coat on the POP mold before casting the silicone.

Here are a batch of Candy molds I made, the orange casting was used for the master. You can see part of the master @ the upper left.

DSCF0003-1.jpg

Edited by Husky
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Husky I know that the guys making similar baits have about the same life in thier molds that I am getting. I am using a platinum cure Sil from smooth on. I think its smooth sill. As far as mother molds go, unfortunatly on this particular style of molds I cant make a normal mother mold. I have kinda of partial mother molds. The molds are complicated but effecient. I will try other resins but I am satisfied with my blend. I wish I could mother mold them, Then it would be easy and fast. I apreciate the suggestions though. In most situations a mother mold would make great sence. :yay:

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