The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Mike, Larry, or anybody else...... do I need to prime my lures made with Alumilite Regular or White before painting? I'm using acrylic paints and common sense would seem to suggest it, but I don't want to waste the time and materials if not necessary.

Just make sure they're clean and free from oils from your fingers. Wash em off in alcohol, then paint. I've been having fun with our new Alumidust and haven't picked up my airbrush in months! Just dust the mold, pour and clear coat!
We'll be posting a tutorial on makelure.com soon. I promise, this process will blow your mind and it works with both hard and soft plastic!!! Much better than paint from a durability standpoint not to mention no compressor, no airbrush, no cleaning of paint pots and gun every time you change colors, plus you can airbrush over it if you want!
best
L

What is a good clear coat that is impervious to water and fading?

Thanks Larry! I can't wait for the tutorial on Alumidust and once I see for myself what it will do, I plan on making a large dent in Mike's inventory....

most guys use either flexcoat or etex. both are epoxy and will yellow over time. Mike and I have been working on some formulations that are showing promise. trying to reduce the drying times, need for spinning lures etc.
best
L

Larry,
When using micro balloons in the mix, if I sand any areas then spray acrylic, enamel, etc, those areas never dry. I mean I have sticky lures I shot last summer. Have tried every sealer I can think of.

Any tricks you recommend?

Thanks again!

KB

Not sure why multiple paints or sealers would not be curing or drying to sanded areas of Alumilite and microballoons for you? As long as the resin is mixed and cured properly it becomes inert. There is nothing that would interfere with a paint drying. We and many other lure makers have deflashed, sanded, primed, and painted Alumilite with microballoons in it thousands of times. Perhaps expose your paint to some mild heat to see if you can drive the dry process of the paint.

Couple questions: Is the sanded area of the part soft or gummy after sanding and before painting? Does the paint no cure or remain tacky everywhere or just in certain areas ... specifically where sanded.

Mike

Yes, it is slightly tacky sometimes in the sanded area before painting. By slightly i mean hard to feel it but pressing paper to it i can tell. Mix is right according to scale. It's even worse when I slush and fill with 2 part foam. Only tacky in sanded areas, other areas with skin paint just fine. Have tried heat guns etc before and after painting. I once used super glue over an area, even that eventually turned tacky.

Haven't tried the alumilite clear urethane yet, just got it. I'll see if it does the same thing.

The resin should be completely cured, hard, and inert. It should not be tacky, wet, or soft in anyway. Couple more questions ... is it everywhere the material was sanded or do some areas cure without a problem? How soon after pouring are you sanding and painting? My only thoughts ... and I'm sure you've covered these however we are simply trying to get down to the bottom of the issue ... are that if its not everywhere but only certain areas, it could be a mix issue where the sides or some are part of the cup isn't mixed and we get a portion of the resin that gets scraped into the mold that doesn't crosslink fully ... there are still "x's" looking for some "o's" to crosslink with. The other is if the resin wasn't completely cured and crosslinked. Typically it doesn't take 72 hours but may take longer than overnight to fully crosslink, especially in thin or smaller lures.

I'm sure you've crossed these bridges but to make sure we are not missing something I bring them both up.

If neither of these are possibilities, run through your process for me ... % of microballoons, slush casting, back filling with foam, how and with what you are sanding with,type of paint, yada, yada, yada ... and let me try to reproduce your issue.

Mike

Larry here. By any chance have you added dye to the mix? The only time I've had issues similar is when I tried "swirling" dye into the final mix and it got too concentrated in one spot. Actually they looked really cool, but it's been three years and they are still tacky where I had excess dye!
best,
L

Haven't added any dye in a long time Larry, although I may try that soon enough. I do have to back pedal on my original post though, it appears the white resins I was using are not from Alumilite but are my slightly older urethane bottles from Smooth Cast Inc. The foam is from Alumilite that I'm using inside. The ingredients look basically the same between the two but I need to open a new set to be sure Alumilite does the same thing. I dump them into squirt bottles with caps to make life easier and didn't notice I was using the Smooth Cast bottles this time around.

I do have Alumilite clear and two part foam so I'll try that combo tonight and see if the sticky issue continues. I am at my wits end with the painting problem.

To answer Mike's question, I'm not a fan of cleaning out the air brush for 1-2 lures so I've been trying various off the shelf aerosol cans from Krylon etc, both enamel and urethane sprays. Not nearly as pretty but can still make some nice looking designs using the correct combinations. Over laying a clear coat before they dry completely tends to "blend" the colors very nicely, but I have this sticky issue with clear or not.

Thanks for the help.

Kevin

We've recommended fast drying acrylic from Krylon for years and am surprised that is the one you are having issues with. Its pretty dependable. Please let us know the results of your test and lets get down to the bottom of the mystery!

Mike