hollow belly swimbait

[chrisper4694]

Has Larry or anyone else ever successfully made a hollow-belly swimbait? I made an ok one with just a semi hollow tail and then slit the belly up the middle after pouring the plastic and it setting. It worked ok but i wanted to make a more detailed one with the hollow belly too and slit already in the mold.

When i tried it i got a lot of air bubbles in the tail section and when i pour the plastic the mold that sticks in the tail to keep it hollow doesn't always line up right and i end up getting holes in my tail. My master was destroyed beyond repair taking it out of the mold so i have to start from scratch this time i think i'll try to make a two piece mold and very very slowly let the silicone flow into the tail section that makes it hollow.

I couldn't find any information on making your own hollow belly swimbait so idk if it's even possible to do it really well but the first bait i made has such good action i just had to try and improve on it a little. the tail pumps at moderate speed and causes the sides of the body to ripple almost subtly. and when you slow it down the tail stops pumping so much and the lure starts wagging like a stick crank bait and then if you kill it it wobbles down head first at a 45 degree angle.

[dahlberg]

I've seen several swim baits with air pockets molded in, but the air pockets were in the back so the bait would not float upside down.
Sounds like you got a good concept going. Not sure if I follow you totally, but if it's working keep plugging.
Post a photo if you have time.
best
L

[chrisper4694]

Yeah it's hard to explain i'll try to get some pictures or maybe a video of it working. My original design with the molded hollow tail but the solid belly (and then i cut it after the plastic cools) worked much better in the water than my more detailed totally hollow one that i recently made. so i'm going back to my original design and adding some fins for a more realistic profile to it to see how that works (hopefully the fins don't ruin the action it had).

I think i went too heavy on the tail paddle for the new one...these swimbaits are hard to design, if you don't get the right paddle size and angle they just don't work it seems, but they're one of my favorite baits to use and i really want to perfect this one because of it's rippling action action through the whole body and how it has a big wobble as you slow it down and shakes back and forth as it falls if you kill it.

[dahlberg]

I'm ready to bite it myself!
L

[kanaka1000]

Chrisper, have you seen the D.O.A. "Airheads" yet? Their hollow with a paddletail.

[chrisper4694]

i haven't seen those. I had previously used the shadlicious hollow-belly swimbaits but these that i'm making wobble when you slow down and stop the retrieve and the sides ripple better when it's going at swim speed and the ones you buy in the store don't have as nice of an action. If i could only make a nice efficient mold for it haha.

[chrisper4694]

so i ran into a little problem...the silicone rubber i mixed and poured to make the second part of my mold still hasn't set and it's been about 24 hours. I'm thinking maybe my scale is no longer accurate and i didn't add enough catalyst? Has anyone had this problem and if so will it eventually set fully but just take longer? or am i forced to start from scratch again!?

[dahlberg]

You might have been a little light on the catalyst, not had a good enough stir and mix, or the temp might be a little too cool.
I would most certainly give it more time before starting over.
If the mold is on a plate or board so it's moveable I'd say to put it in the warmest place with the highest humidity possible.
(I have a sauna at home and use it all the time to cure my rtv molds. Set at a couple hundred degrees with lots of steam I can get the stuff to cure in a couple of hours!!)
Best
L

[chrisper4694]

thanks larry, i'll move it to my deck since it's very humid outside and see if that works...i had it in the garage so it was pretty warm but idk. It's been 48 hours and it's kind of set but a little sticky i guess. I mixed it pretty well, i think my scale is broken.

This might be a dumb question, but if i rub a little catalyst on the mold will it maybe seep in and help it set or will that not work?

I hate wasting that silicone it's too expensive to waste! I was wasting a lot of it trying to invent lures that would end up not working so now when i'm trying a new design i make a rough mold out of silicone caulking, glycerine, and acrylic and pour a few lures out of it to test. They never look too nice but If they move how i planned in the water then I make the real mold instead of wasting the good alumilite silicone mold material on prototypes that might not work.

[dahlberg]

sure hope it works out for you. If it's seems to be setting, although slowly, just let it be until you can't take it any longer.
I don't know about the addition of any catalyst. Don't think i would suggest it. Maybe Mike has some ideas...
best
L

[chrisper4694]

It seems like it's mostly set but the outer layer just won't lose that sticky feeling...maybe i didn't get a good mix like you said...i felt like i mixed it very well though but maybe not.

Anyway i split the two piece mold and it seems pretty set on the inside, but the outside is sticky feeling so idk. Also, the hollow tail section got some bubbles in it and is pretty flimsy so i put a thin nail through it to support it; I'll try pouring it and see what happens.

My only other idea is to drill a small air release in the belly of the hard clay master up into the hollow tail and then inject the silicone into the tail with a thick syringe so no air gets trapped in there before i pour the rest of that half.

[Mike - Alumilite]

Baby powder should take care of the tackiness left over on the surface.

Mike

[chrisper4694]

cool, thanks for the tip i'll try it

[chrisper4694]

instant fix! thanks a lot!

[a-mac]

Cool, I learned something today! I need to incorporate a sauna and baby powder into lure making.

[chrisper4694]

so i ended up jamming a nail of desired circumference through the back end of the tail in the mold for the hollow-belly (which i'm realizing i should just call hollow-tail) swimbaits. seems to work pretty well surprisingly haha. I bent it until it was pretty much centered and i pour the swimbaits with the nail providing the hollow space in the tail. Then i just slit the belly up the middle with a knife and i can have my favorite type of swimbait in any color combo i can imagine. Plus i can make them softer than off the self versions.

you just can't beat the hollow tail. It doesn't spin like regular tail/boot swimbaits it more of a pump/wiggles. I'll post some pictures of the mold and some that i made...as soon as i read the 'how to post pictures'

[Mike - Alumilite]

I'm intrigued and look forward to seeing the pics. If you have problems, let me know and I'll try to help.

Just go to this link and post the pics on the Lure Photos page ... super easy ... http://makelure.com/Lures.cfm

[chrisper4694]

i submitted some pics there, i thought there was a way to put the pictures into the forums directly. That's what i didn't know how to do, but i've submitted some pictures of the mold and lures into the photo gallery.

[Mike - Alumilite]

Nice work and thanks for posting the pics. As they say, picture is worth a thousand words and multiple pics are even better.