[MDC]

That's pretty good for 15 min Vman.
Like Gloomisman said I'd go to a toy store and get a plastic snake to use for a master then do a search on how to make POP molds. You could have a mold poured and coated and be pouring baits in about a day and a half.

[BaloneyTony]

Alright so I tried using a little Bondo I found in the garage to make a mold last night...just to test some things out. The lure im trying to make DOES have permanent bends in it, so when at rest, ide like it to re-coil up. I took a rubber worm I had, glued it to the bottom of a container in an 'S' shape, and mixed up and poured the bondo over it...Let it sit for the night..

This morning, I flip the bondo hunk over and take the worm out and theres a great mold of the worm in the S shape.... So I melted up some old rubber lures and poured it in...gave it a few minutes, took it out and the worm came out pretty nicely...BUT...They're straight....they dont hold the S shape that I molded them in.

As for that silly putty idea...Did you mean use the silly putty to shape a snake out of, or can you litterally pour this molten rubber into silly putty without the sillyputty melting? Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

[Vodkaman]

shape the snake out of.

My picture shows that it is possible. Obviously spend a lot more time than I did. One thing I learned, after rolling, cut a flat before getting into detail work, or you'll destroy the work trying to cut a flat.

[JSC]

Sounds like you took them out of the mold to hot .. laid them straight and they staid that way.
They need to cool down in the "S" shape.
JSC

[weighinalimit]

I'm surprised nobody's told ya the true low buck way....drop a 10.5 or 11 inch paddletail worm into boiling water for about 20 seconds, pick it out, lay in the desired S shape & let cool. Just the reverse of straightening swimbaits with boiling water.

[BaloneyTony]

haha yea you guys might be right...I was eager to get those things out of the mold the first time. Ill let one sit for 10 minutes (or longer?) next time. Thanks again for all the help.

[MDC]

Once you take it out of the mold, let it sit overnight. The plastic will cure and will hold it's shape better

[HJS]

Originally Posted by MDC

Once you take it out of the mold, let it sit overnight. The plastic will cure and will hold it's shape better

What MDC said. I extract them from the mold about 10 to 20+ minutes after pouring. 2-piece molds take longer still. The extracted plastics are set very carefully on a cookie sheet in the exact position I want them to look like. Then don't mess with them for 24 hours!!! Popping them into the frig will speed up the posess but still takes hours. Sometimes I'll even put the tray of lures in the freezer. Or if it winter I'll place the tray out on the woodpile.

[Vodkaman]

It seemed such a shame to just roll the snake up for the next job, so I went ahead and poured some PoP over it.

While juggling with everything, I forgot to grease up the plasticine snake, consequently I couldn't get it out. I had to bake the mold, which absorbed the moisture out of the clay and picked it out with a tooth pick. It took about an hour! Another lesson learned.

I use this clay for lots of jobs, like vent channels, locating holes, sprue funnels etc. It works really well with RTV. In hind sight, a meltable clay may NOT be the best solution for a long thin pattern like a snake in PoP.

I added 5% Elmers to the PoP. With all the scratching with the tooth pick, I think it made a big difference by giving a hard surface to work with. No damage.

I cut the scales with the tool shown. I cut them at varying depths and severity, to see the effect. Some look OK, others, a bit deep or undefined. It was a useful exercise, now residing in the BIN there, done that.

Well, it gave you all a laugh, so it was worth it.