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WOW! so all it was the entire time was the epoxy was cold from the temp here in Illinois, that makes sense, wish i would of known that earlier, lol..........(digs through garbage to find box of devcon) thx for setting that straight bass100, ill try heating it up first before i clear any baits, i guess the warm water i was letting it soak in for a while was NOT doing enough to the top portion of the bottle, that was probably a bit cooler than the bottom area, ill do the hair dryer and see what happens.

Well i just did a 2.5 Friday night with BSI 30m base coat, let that dry overnight, than i went over it with E-Tex, put it on the wheel over night and this morning its nice and clear, but somewhat thick, but i like that considering its a crank bait. now i have to wait until all this ice goes away here in Illinois to see how well the bait tracks.

So i'm curious to know Has anyone ever used E-tex as a top coat OVER another Coat of a different brand of epoxy? Or is that just better to go with 2 top coats of the same brand, just a thought....not sure if im going to get flamed putting that up in the air for discussion. lol

i got the 4.25 Fl oz (125ml) big bottles of the home kit, yes thats what it says

Thx bob for the insight, i myself was a strong advocate of Devcon the first year i started using it, worked great, had no issues with "chalk pigments" as the Box clearly says it may cause (devcon 30m home) when this information was passed onto me from above poster jign4bass i checked my box, and sure enough it says that right on the front, As far as E-tex clear goes, ive only done one coat for each bait, all came out like glass, i may give this a try in the future for crank baits, and see how the durability holds up, i got 3 nice baits coated last night with BSI 30m and all came out crystal clear, thanks again Richard:) I'll continue to use this product on my cranks, but E-tex will be my Choice of clear for top waters, ill take into consideration about doing more than one coat, thanks to everyone on this site, i now feel more confident with my clear coat options.

I just did 3 baits with the recommended clear coat BSI 30 m from Richard Prager, all 3 baits are on lure turner, and all look like glass, very happy with this product, BIG THANKS RICHARD! The devcon is in the trash, not even going to think twice about using this product again. Thx to this site my trouble shooting days are over with /smirk for now anyways.

About the plastic cups, i was using those, but i noticed some of the inside wax coating coming off into the clear coat, i got the cups from a food vendor, i ruined a few baits using those cups, so i now instead us the soda can as my base mixing area, as far as the mL cups using those to mix in, im afraid those as well have the wax coating, you know the cups sometimes are Completely transparent, and others are kinda a clear plastic with a hint of White film inside them, ya i got those kind, so im sure they are also lined with wax, ill try mixing LESS and applying faster and see how that goes, at first i was under the impression that the D. alcohol was the cause of the streaks. ***UPDATE*** I am using the Devcon HOME 30m epoxy, thanks for that above Jig, i read the article posted here, and looked aat the Box.... that package does say "May contain chalk pigment" MOTHER FLOWER! SON OF A BISCUIT *&!@#()&%(!@&(!@#*

Going to keep it to the point from start to finish, ****Critiques are welcome!**** Devcon 30 min. Is what im using. Step #1 Prep clean surface bottom of soda can with D. alcohol & wipe Off stamp/colored dot from MFG, Let air dry. #2 Pour Equal amounts of resin/harder into Small plactic ___ml___ marked cups to get equal amounts correct #3 Using a Wooden Popsicle stick, i scrape each cup on sides/bottom well and pour into the well of the Soda can, at this stage nothing is mixed yet. #4 After epoxy has settled i start mixing with Popsicle stick, rotation in circles, While mixing i notice the epoxy has started to change colors, goes from clear colored, to more of a White Milky look, with few bubbles, i use a straw and blow the bubbles out. #5 Add ONE small drop of D. alcohol into the mixed epoxy, than continue mixing total timed mixed all together about 3-5 minutes. #6 Room temp is at 70-72, Humidity is steady at 20% (have a digital humidity/temp gauge) #7 Using cheap plastic colored brushes i apply epoxy working my way Around the bait, first couple pick ups of epoxy go VERY SMOOTH, everything Looks great, after about 2-3 minutes the epoxy starts getting thicker, almost like cool maple syrup, surly not what i started with, cloudy patches are showing **ONLY** in Natural sun light, cant really see them in room light, the bait looks great in room light, but under out door sunlight its almost as if you see these patches of cloudy streaks under an initial clear coat, the epoxy Levels out even, all sides look good, i have no dimples or area's which i missed. #8 Place lure on turner, in the same room temp i started with, with the same 20% humidity. what am i doing wrong? I use E-tex on my top water baits, same method above, and those baits come out like GLASS, so transparent, but i heard Devcon is better for baits which make contact with rocks, more durable, so i like that feature. anyone use e-Tex on cranks, and have any durability issues?

Thanks much for the info, sure glad i didn't order to many of the vision 110's and pointer 100's they might not suspend like the "real" ones, But ill find out when i paint em. I'll check out those sites mentioned above, and even the ones on this site.

Hey new to the site, and new to painting, I wanted to ask everyone what some good sites are for purchasing some crank bait bodies, I ordered some already from Bustinbass and they came out great, but a friend said those are all "knock offs" of the real thing, (l c 2.5) so i guess my question is where are the "real" body blanks that i can purchase? if they are available even? If those are only for the Mfg? where are some Bodies like the strike-king 1.5 2.5 silents/rattling.