gone2long

Have you looked at basstackle bob and him are related somehow and they used to list each others stuff if I remember correctly but its been some time, I know the minnow mold I bought from basstackle is no longer listed but it is on BTS site so maybe you'll get lucky and they have it over there.

Ultra molds shooting star is larger

X3 on the syringes drill a hole with a tight fit in the cap of each bottle and keep them inserted for each use, just turn the bottle upside down and draw up what you need and pull it out of the cap. There was a video of someone doing it that way and I've been doing it that way ever since and I too use Bob Smith. Note: make sure you replace the syringe back into the right bottle or else

Well unfortunately I've read almost the same story over the years with all of them so if they get backed up your going to have the same issue with everyone of them its just the market were in.

How much of a sprue did you give yourself, as the plastic cools it draws from the sprue and if it is not of adequate size it can make the bait contract in on itself

Most will pour an amount of plastic in the closed mold then quickly shoot the core color with an injector which will push the first color to the outside of the cavity but your mold configuration will also dictate if it's possible to produce it with this method, It is hit or miss but gets the job done you may want to log into Do-It's forum there is a thread going on over there right now with some type of new procedure that by the pictures does a fine job I just haven't read the thread to explain how their doing it.

Bojon's method is pretty straight forward he used small baking pans for the plastic the smaller the better as you won't need a ton of plastic to get a complete dip. His rods were home built don't remember diameters but that is to your liking but they were bent 90 degrees and the approximate length of you final product the nice thing about his method is that you can easily make laminates by dipping once with one color let set and half dip the other color I had his CD but I think I passed it on to a member of the local forum I'm on.

Don't waste a good bait, while painting a new scheme shoot a piece of pvc pipe while you paint and that way you can test new processes with a fair degree of representation of your original paint scheme - something tells me water based colorant is not the best choice I think dye/ink/alcohol based may be a better fit. Also if you shoot soft plastic the colorant may also be an option.

I will always recommend spending the extra buck on high performance reducer it just works and takes allot of the issues out of reducing paint water only reduces the film properties of acrylic paint and windex if it has ammonia in it is also a no no it will damage the chrome over time.

I've sprayed pledge acrylic floor shine for an inter coat clear without any problems but have not run a bait without a clear coat of Bob Smith Epoxy as the top coat. If you do try it make sure you use a respirator.

Good point although I don't have that issue I could see that being helpful.

Well not sure your going to find the mold your looking for but Winco's Custom Baits has the product your looking for spot on.

HaHa I thought you would ask that question I have 5 brushes 2 Iwata HP-BS's 1 Paasche Talon with 3 needle/nozzle combo's, a Talon bottle fed and a NEO which is an Iwata in name only as it's made in china go figure but with all that said I use my BS's 90% of the time. The talon has a .25, a .38 and a .66 needle/nozzle set and it also has a fan nozzle for massive coverage that I'll never use for bait making I will still tell you all day long to go .3 or .35 for your needs as stated pearls and heavy particulate paint will not shoot very well with anything smaller. The Talon has a large honking cup on it but weight certainly might come into play the thing is a beast. I might add that we are talking about the Eclipse HP-BS I think you may be looking at another model as the Eclipse comes with a .35 from Iwata but I didn't mention that CS, BS, SBS and BCS are cup configurations for all models of Iwata brushes in several model lines Confused yet :-) Edit: Picture to show variation of brush type per OP's question

I'll try and make a suggestion: the HP-CS has a large cup, the HP-BS has the small cup I prefer the BS for the reason you posted I only do baits for myself and it just makes sense to me to use the small cup as in my opinion you have a better view of the bait while painting the big cup can get in the way. As for needle size I personally would go with the .3 or the .35mm as you may want to experiment with different brands of paint and contrary to some they are not made equally, purpose made AB paint has a more refined pigment hence the overinflated price per ounce but many cheaper brands do not refine theirs and are a bear to get spraying correctly in smaller needle/nozzle combo's you should be able to pull fine detail with the .3 or .35 while painting almost all types of baits.

If he's airbrushing cars chances are he's using auto air, autobourne, house of color, custom shop or something similar ask him what he's using it may be one of these or similar, true automotive paint is not often used for airbrush work because of suitability issues with the equipment.

Sure sounds like a result of dissimilar material not much different than gasket scrub on a cast iron block and aluminum heads? Sorry for the automotive analogy but it sounds very similar since wood and bondo certainly will react differently due to temperature. No matter what the cause if your using water based paints this will be the result if infiltrated.

I will only add this whatever paint system you use get yourself a bottle of high performance reducer it's expensive but it will take alot of the learning curve out of getting paint to spray correctly, down the road if you want to experiment with home-brew or even water ( water I do not recommend ) then go for it but your off to a good start. Tip dry and reducing seem to be the primary hurdles when fist getting started and can get very frustrating. I personally bought a bunch of cheap blanks for both practice and color experiments if you want to go on the cheap get a piece of PVC pipe to practice on.

Just purchase the regular cap they are cheap enough and will save your fingers with the inevitable stabbing plus it will ensure you don't damage the needle.

+2 Me too Iwata you can't go wrong just don't go for the NEO it is not a true Iwata and vey temperamental, I have one it works well but I would stick with true Iwata.

My take is this if you find one that reduces you from shaking it death from settling out based on your use then thats the one for you if the product requires you to shake the hell out of it every time you use it then home degassing is prolly a consideration you should make, but a good heating plan based on your micro's characteristics will pay in dividends in reducing the volume/chances of bubbles.

Those are some sick stencils and the end product is awesome!

Just finished watching a John Skinner video on youtube he has what appears to be a purpose built hot pot cradle I've never seen one before pretty neat for the hot pot, get chance check it out: https://youtu.be/b4eBYsAyvBg

Well then when considering your plastic purchase the number 1 complaint seems to be settling of the solids with the smell 2nd runner up and 3rd would be clarity so when searching use these key words while surfing and you should get quite a few hits on the subject I have used Lurecraft (settled a little to much for my limited use) Chemionics (liked it but don't know if still available its been awhile) and calhouns (smell) but these are issues that I had starting out many years ago so take it with a grain of salt for instance I hear that someone is de-airing calhouns with good results just not sure if the smell thing has been addressed I believe lurecraft may have had a formula tweak as well so you see that's why many folks will hold back suggesting, then some are downright salesmen of a said plastic so the best I can offer is read up you may find someone who has got them all right.

Well I won't go into the brand wars but to be honest you need to just go with one and see how you like it almost all will tell you that they've tried them all what it comes down to in the end is what works for your type of process. I would go with some hand pour molds from say lure craft get a gallon of plastic some colorant of your choice and start from there. It's quite expensive to get started in the neighborhood of $200-$500 for just the basics with an injection mold and injector alone can eat up a large portion of your budget, now if you don't have a budget go for it and on the flip side molds and injectors seem to hold their price so you take a hit if its not for you but not too bad.

I salt but only after they are injected I use it to keep the tails loose and free from sticking I see no need to salt the plastic and to be quite honest if your pouring for yourself and a few friends then who cares if they are a little weaker if it gives you confidence then ad as much as you see fit! I personally choose to sent mine instead.