[the_hide]

Has anyone here tried using any of these plastics themselves.

I'm told by a local (australia) pro that the product they use is called Elastomeric Gel.

It can be heated and reheated in our existing melting equipment and is significantly softer and has upto 10 times the elasticity, by all accounts it takes standard pigments well. Traditionally it was used as electrical insulation, as absorbent material in shoes etc.

PLastisol over here is as expensive as hell and I can get the gel for similar money, I was wondering if anyones used it yet and if so how it faired ?

[SRPLASTICS]

We are using the stretchy plastic in our salt water swimbaits, it is very expensive, however, it is practically tear resistant. I am getting reports of anglers catching 5-6 albacore ber bait versus 1-2 on the standard plastic baits. Available colors are limited and the process is time consuming. It can not be heated in a microwave and has to be melted down the the pots. I predict this product will have a short life span on the market.

[Tubeman]

Hide. sounds as if you are dealing with a different material. The one SR and I are using is not compatible with plastisol pigments, you can only use powdered pigments. Is there a web site that sells or has info on this Gel ?

Thanks !

[the_hide]

The two companies I'm dealing with don't have this product information listed on their websites, ones offered me a few kilo's as a sample product.

I spoke to one of the techs for a long time who works with the stuff, you fellows are correct the pigments we use in the plastisol aren't compatible with whats required in the elastomeric gel. You need to use pigments designed for use with polyurethanes, hence your powder success (most powders used in plastisol are multipurpose products). Fortunately when I initially imported my plastic and colors from lurecraft I forgot about 5 or 6 colors i wanted. I have since supplemented these locally, the local versions turned out to be polyurethane pigments which work well with both the elastomeric gel and the plastisol.

The gel Im using can't be heated in the microwave but heats almost as easily and to as thin a consitency as the lurecraft 502 plastic, it also appears significantly more bouyant than lurecraft 502. I haven't yet tried adding salt etc. I'll let you know how I go.

The cost to me is almost the same between both , I'm told that the reason why plastisol is so expensive here is that some of whats used in your cheaper local plastisols has been banned for usage here. From what I'm told the level of carcinogens when over heated exceed our acceptable safe industry standards policies or some such. So the stuff our importers bring in for local sale is significantly more expensive than the list of available products to yourself. Its actually cheaper for me to use the elastomers gel.

[Mercury]

You may find that the smae problem exists with the super plastics that are made here.

That is the salt makes tha plastic weaker when added into the plastic.

Reports from strike king said they are trying to modify the plastic to accept the salt in the plastic.

Good luck on trying to add salt. I hope it doesnt fall appart on you.

The plastic would be better with salt added. But if not it still lasts for a long time.