.....ala airbrush.
I had time today to play some since its been raining most of the day. I had the chartreuse tails done from other injections and tossed them in the mold and injected a pearl white in for the bodies. The pearl was straight super sparkle in clear plastic which made for a great base to play on.
The bellies and throat patches went on first, in that order. Then the pearl blue was mixed up with some transparent blue and shot on the backs. Pearl plum was mixed with some purple fluorescent and pearl fuscia then thinned out real well and lightly applied at the head end of the baits and feathered out and down over the gill flap area. After drying the eyes went on then the baits got a clear coat.
The concept of air brushing soft plastics is alluring but trying to keep the plastic under control when the air hits it is yet another adventure....its like trying to air brush an eel. Then comes the handling to put the eyes on....the acrylic isn't notoriously tough and will come up if touch hard enough to feel sticky. In the end though the finished baits' colors are unlike other soft plastics and are very vibrant.
I'm not sure how practical it is to think about doing lots of these...as in for selling, but for nice baits to use at a personal level one can be fairly well assured that there isn't much like them on the commercial market. I made up a couple dozen of the pearl bodied baits with the chartreuse tails today and sprayed what is shown here. As time allows I plan to go in other color directions using the soft plastic/airbrush. These are headed for the walleye tackle bucket.
