The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

I was wondering how to make a mold for a hard plastic lure using my mirro lure as a blank. What materials and strategies would i need to use.

what chemicals should I use to make a molding for a lure?

Hey guys, not Larry, but everything you need to do such a mold is available on the huntforbigfish.com estore. I got started through the estore and with advice from Larry. Now, I'm cranking out prototypes every week. It's truely addicting. For casting your mirrolure, I would recomend getting some clay (not sculpey) and a pound of the Alumilite High Strength II. Then, get a lure box that would hold a little more width and volume than the mirrolure. Take the splits and trebles off of the lure with your split ring pliers. Then, take your dremel to the wire attachments to get the lure flush. Then, lay a layer of clay about half the depth of the box into your lure box. Press your mirrolure into the clay until it is about half covered in the clay. Then, take the eraser of a pencil and poke an indent in each corner of the clay. This will create notches to align your mold with later. Then, mix up enough of the HS-II to completely cover your mirrolure. Once it sets up, pull the lure, half mold and clay out of the box. Place the formed HS-II into the lure box with the mirrolure still in the mold. Then, spray the silicone and lure with Alumilite Universal Mold Release. The last step is to mix up another batch of the HS-II and pour the second half of your mold. Once this is set up, you can separate the mold and pull your blank out.

Next, for making the lure, I recomend the super plastic in white or crystal clear. Ream a small pouring hole into the top of your mold before pouring. Then, place your through wire in the mold and hold it in place with staples. Simply pour your resin in from there at you'll be good to go!

Another thing to note is if you make a smaller, similar shaped blank out of scupley, you can create a blank to cover in flashabou minnow body and then encapsulate in the crystal clear for that real mirrolure finish. Good luck, it's truely addicting!

-J

thanks for the help j

HI A and thanks J!
I'd follow J's suggestions, except I'd suggest NOT cutting off the hook hangers. Instead, either tape over them or fill them with clay. That way when you make the mold you will have perfectly located slots for your hook hanger wire.
If you use clear you can also fold Mirage or foil over the hook hanger before you pour and you will get a nice reflective finish.
good luck!
L