First attempt - Mold build and pouring

[BassChief]

I got an idea during the week for a water beetle mimic soft plastic. I don't know anything about molds or pouring but you gotta start somewhere so I made my first attempt tonight. Any positive or negative feedback as well as any tips would be appreciated. This was my very first pour and its rough around the edges but I figured out the trick for a sleeker finish. I didnt put much effort into detailing the mold because I wasn't sure how the pouring would work but now I plan to add some detail. I am calling it the twin-tail water beetle.

Chief

[attachment outdated - deleted by admin]

[Brocksdad1]

I like it   Can we see the mold.

[Polaris425]

Looks cool to me. I have some yum creature baits that look similar & I've caught fish on them so... They should work great once you get some poured.

[SenkoSam]

Suggestion:
Moving parts move better if thin, whether thin at the attachment point or thin period.
One way is to tilt the mold when pouring, allowing the moving parts to drain and thin and then re-pour the body to the thickness desired. Here are a few creature bait examples:



As you can see from the above free hand shapes, thinner areas emphasize texture and also allow more action. The minnow finesse lure below has a super thin tail that flutters even under a float when the water ripples. IMO fish go nuts for lures exhibiting finesse action at the slowest speeds.



A single edge razor blade is one of my most essential tools for shaping thin parts and for cutting off defects!


Didn't mean to steal you thunder, but I've been pouring and designing my own for ten years. Tips are usually welcome even with my experience!

[BassChief]

Suggestion:
Moving parts move better if thin, whether thin at the attachment point or thin period.
One way is to tilt the mold when pouring, allowing the moving parts to drain and thin and then re-pour the body to the thickness desired. Here are a few creature bait examples:



As you can see from the above free hand shapes, thinner areas emphasize texture and also allow more action. The minnow finesse lure below has a super thin tail that flutters even under a float when the water ripples. IMO fish go nuts for lures exhibiting finesse action at the slowest speeds.



A single edge razor blade is one of my most essential tools for shaping thin parts and for cutting off defects!


Didn't mean to steal you thunder, but I've been pouring and designing my own for ten years. Tips are usually welcome even with my experience!

That is some good imagination and nice looking plastics. Thanks for the great advice! ... I have a ton of ideas and I will take all of this into consideration.

I will post more pics as it comes along.

Chief

[SenkoSam]

Looking forward to seeing your creative designs. Sometimes I think what provokes bites is novelty.

[BassChief]

I am definitely having fun with it and that's all that counts.

[BassChief]

Looking forward to seeing your creative designs. Sometimes I think what provokes bites is novelty.

I agree with that. Sometimes less is more. Look at the senko for example; One of the most simple designs ever created and very deadly in the right situations. Fished a tournament yesterday and the bite was tough; River rising, Strong east wind and the low temp a 20+ degree drop since friday. I was able to get several bites early in the day on the senko when nothing else was producing. I think without it we would have came out in the bottom half but instead ended up placing 4th and missed 2nd and 3rd by only ounces.

[Wizard]

Those look nice. Pretty good looking first try. When I started pouring in the 1970's, I would carve what I wanted out of a bar of Ivory soap and then made a plaster mold from that. I took me several years to get the large grubs I made to work correctly. Senko is right about the action being better if the plastic is thin. When I had the grub exactly right, I took the plaster mold to a machine shop and had them make metal molds for me. When I buy smaller grubs online the tail is often too thick. I gently sand the tail on both sides to make it thinner.
Good Luck on your future attempts.

[BassChief]

Those look nice. Pretty good looking first try. When I started pouring in the 1970's, I would carve what I wanted out of a bar of Ivory soap and then made a plaster mold from that. I took me several years to get the large grubs I made to work correctly. Senko is right about the action being better if the plastic is thin. When I had the grub exactly right, I took the plaster mold to a machine shop and had them make metal molds for me. When I buy smaller grubs online the tail is often too thick. I gently sand the tail on both sides to make it thinner.
Good Luck on your future attempts.

Thanks! ... The ivory soap is a great idea. What I did was free-handed the profile on paper then cut out with an exacto knife. I glued the cutout down with elmers to a 1 x 4 piece of pine and outlined the profile with an ink pen. After that, I used a dremel tool with various cutters to cut out the profile into the wood. After I was content with the contour of the profile I mixed a 2 part, 5 minute epoxy very thick and brushed it into the mold and also the surface of the mold. Doing this eliminated all the cut marks and mis-matches and when cured also made a glass-like, nonstick surface that the cooled plastic easily parts from.... The bait has a flat bottom obviously because it is not a 2 part injection mold. I am very pleased with the action it has in the bath tub but I want to fish with them a bit before I spend a great deal of time modifying or detailing my mold.

Here are a few more I poured last night with my leftover plastics from last Sunday.

Chief

[attachment outdated - deleted by admin]

[Brocksdad1]

Look really neat