McLuvin175

Not sure about other suppliers but LureWorks has Morning Dawn 160 colorant. In low levels it has decent transparency and looks kinda like pink; goes to red when loaded up. It aught to do the trick.

My WAG TOP: Hi-lite Green and Black 0.008" or 0.015" black MIDDLE: Morning Dawn, add a touch of Hi-lite Violet or Blue if desired. BOTTOM: Very Light Black (smoke) with Hi-Lite Blue. In the alternative you could use a solid blue pearl just go light.

This....?

You mentioned "sometimes" and "various colors". So does this happen with specific colors? Where do these colors come from? Not all colors even if from a reputable manufacturer are translucent. Are you saying one time a color will be translucent and the next time it wont? There should be nothing storage in a garage can do in my experience to cloud a finished bait. The only time I have had cloudiness is with undercooked plastic. Is that possible in your scenario? If there is moisture it would seem to boil off when heating. What kind of set up are you running? Another have cloudiness is by adding to much heat stabilizer; it will milk up a bait or color. Are you adding heat stabilizer? Are you running salt? Flotation Aid? Any other additives?

When matching a color it always helps to have an actual sample in hand. To save some time it helps to invest in a black light. You can pick up a cheap hand held from places like Amazon or Ebay or just pick up a bulb from somewhere local and stick it in a lamp/fixture. If that bait fluoresces in the black light you can guarantee your dealing with a fluorescent, likely chartreuse in this case. Ruling in or out a fluorescent dye/pigment in the beginning when matching a color can save time and headaches. Is it possible that this is a two color tube? Chartreuse underneath for tail color. Pumpkin of some sort for body? Either way looks like some form of Chartreuse Pumpkin. Thats my WAG.

How long did you let the paint cure before you shot your first bait?

One reason a solvent based lacquer can "milk up" after spraying has to do with the Dew Point. As the faster drying solvents in the lacquer evaporate, they lower the temperature of the substrate they left behind. If they lower it enough to hit the relative Dew Point it will cause moisture to condensate on the cooler surface. The moisture becomes entrapped in the lacquer and due to incompatibility you get milkiness. In hind site warming the can may have actually exacerbated the problem. The warmer the lacquer is the faster it drys the quicker it will draw moisture out of the air. It may be better to actually warm the bait/piece your coating instead of the can to keep the lacquer film from getting to cool to quick. Just a theory. The manufacturer should have some guidelines or perhaps a Tech Data Sheet they can provide to give some pointers to prevent this issue. It might be worth firing off an e-mail or making a phone call to the Tech Support and see what they say; if they have one.

Mylar is just a trade name for Polyester Film coined by DuPont I believe. This is just glitter like the rest, except it is not metalized and has nice rainbow-esqe look. Some call it Disco Glitter some call it Sparkle Glitter. It so far comes in three shades Green, Blue/Violet, Gold. Some suppliers sell it so you have to search for it. The key with this glitter is heat resistance as it is notorious for not being able to withstand high temps. When you do find the good stuff that can stand the heat you will know it because it will be expensive. If you want the actual film I know LureWorks sells the green shade like this. Dont waste your time on a Coffee Grinder that aint gonna work. You need an afternoon to waste and a good pair of scissors.

Looking at a Zoom Trick Worm it is Light Watermelon Red Flake back. And the belly is Sand with Medium and small Copper Flake with Medium Black Flake.

LureWorks wont have a color called Margarita Lime. If that color is a fluorescent I would look at Flo Lime 129 or Limetreuse 186. If it is not look at Spring Green 150. Bear would rename or even mix theirs to get his own unique colors so there is the possibility that this is a unique blend by Bear and no one pigment will replace it. As an alternative you might just try their Watermelon 101 and not have to mix different colorants to get the desired color.....it all depends on how particular you are about your shade of Watermelon.

The bait your showing looks like a Keitech Fat Swing Impact. Your photo really makes that belly look Chartreuse. Googling images of this BlueGill Flash either for Zoom or Keitech show similar coloration. For Keitech I am sure they use a Sparkle Gold or Sparkle Green Glitter in the belly portion along with some salt which accounts for the milky whiteness in other images. For the back just a light smoke with Blue 0.015", Black either 0.040/0.035, and probably more Sparkle glitter that matches the belly portion. If you dont have Sparkle glitter substitute a Yellow Gold or Light Gold glitter in place and you'll still have good looking bait. If your not running salt you could use a little white pigment to give that belly that look or better yet a light dusting of some Pearl White would probably look better.

You might want to try LureWorks Violet 193. It is a strong Purple that has a blue-ish undertone that your looking for. It is has a thermocromatic characteristic when hot; it will take on a pink or red shade. Let the bait fully cool before rendering a judgement on how it looks or finalizing your formulation. It is a good alternative to the Junebug 125 that is no longer available. A single colorant is usually preferable to having to mix multiple colorants.

And to boot if you swap the hi-lite blue for pearl white you'll have Red Shad.

For the back you need Black. For the belly you need a Hi-Lite Blue powder and a transparent red dye like LureWorks Cherry Red 120. Viola, Tequila Sunrise.

One thing to consider is if those O-rings are black in color they are made from Buna Rubber or Viton. These style O-rings over time will swell due to exposure to plasticizer; thus changing the OD. If they are orange in color then they are likely Silicone and are much more resistant to plasticizer. Nonetheless O-rings should be considered a consumable and you should keep a couple back up sets for replacement. Just due to abbrasion they will need to be replaced at intervals. The next thing to consider is the bore of your injector, how scarred up is it?

It will work although the manufacturer would not recommend it. If your planning on using a paint brush to apply make sure your epoxy is un-thinned or use a solvent like alcohol that wont "lift" the CoLure Coat paint. If your using an air brush the solvent you use wont be an issue. I have a buddy who uses it all the time on hard baits. He likes to have his color palate be consistent from soft plastics to jig heads to crank baits. He uses an air bursh to spray on epoxy.

Standard Glow or Natural Glow I use at 3% by weight for soft plastics. Had 1 customer who wanted a small amount of white pigment added to "milk" it up a little. For the more expensive Super Glows use only the amount you need to achieve the desired result cuz it aint cheap.

If your sprue or gate keep freezing off and not allowing molten plastic to fill the cavity you might need an additional step. One other possible solution is to actually de-mold the bait as soon as you are able to handle it without tearing it up or deforming it. In the past I have had issues with denting on large baits. Through lots of trial and error pulling them out of the mold much earlier than i would have normally and placing into a water bath yielded good results. I think this is as a result of the way baits contract as they cool. While in the mold the baits tend to create a vacuum as it shrinks. If the sprue of gate is frozen off then the shrinkage cannot be accommodated with more pressure or time injecting. The bait wanting to stick to the cavity walls resists until the vacuum is great enough to find the weak spot (the thickest part as it is usually still molten) and there goes the dent. As the bait cools in a water bath it does so evenly and doesn't have the cavity walls to contend with thus often eliminating the dent. The addition of some mold release may be needed if this step is necessary as it will aid in de-molding a bait that still has a molten center. Just a thought.

Amber 114, Gourd 172, or Scuppernong 202 from LureWorks should hit close to the mark depending on the shade you want. I would stay away from a Motor Oil of a fluorescent yellow as that will tend to get you the green surface tone you seem to want to avoid.

Soft plastic "odor" can come from many sources. The resin used by the manufacturer usually is the culprit. But additionally the plasticizer used, secondary oils, and even heat stabilizer can all add to a chemical smell. These all vary by manufacturer and can even vary within the same manufacturer based on the formulation used for a line of plastisol versus another line of plastisol. So it will depend on where the "big name"'s purchase their plastisol or what they use if they compound their own. None of them are likely to share that information with you. Oil seepage , in my experience, happens to all plastisols from all manufacturers. The only variable is how quickly and how much. This obviously varies by supplier and formulation. Usually storing in a hot environment over time will accelerate this phenomenon versus a climate controlled environment. One question is did you add anything to your baits when/after you packaged them? Softener? Worm OIl? Scent? Mineral Oil? etc.

Spraying may work but it will render a different look versus a dip. The additional amount of work you'll have to do to spray all sides of a worm tail probably isnt going to yield you any benefit. You might be better off just thinning the paint so that your not putting on such a thick coat. I would recommend the solvent system the manufacturer suggests. A generic thinner may be to slow in drying to help with this issue, then again it may not. You have to test it if you plan on using your own solvent. You might consider slinging off the excess as well. If applying a thinner coat helps it may become necessary to use the addition of a white base coat to make colors look bright especially over dark colors. A paint will give more eye appealing result compared to using a transparent dye like Dip-N-Glo. Painting the tails gives you the ultimate flexibility to have almost any color combination on demand with not near as much work as actually shooting a tail shot. The ultimate question is do your customers complain about the "puddle" and if not should you worry that much about it? If you have thousands to do (sounds like a good problem) you dont need to make more work for yourself. Just a thought. Use it as a positive trait. Hand poured. Hand painted. A work of art and no two are alike.

Watermelon 101 from LureWorks would do the trick so you dont have to mix your own. Keep in mind that stick bait is likely loaded with salt so if the baits you plan on shooting are not loaded with salt you get a different look.

It was Scuppernong 134. That being said I know that the Scuppernong 134 will be discontinued once they sell out their stock. The Scuppernong 202 will be the replacement and is a close match. Its up to you as which one you purchase. Just know that eventually the 134 will be gone and at some point youll have to switch to the 202.