The new Finesse Swimbait head

[ctom]

Its a nice head to cast and the heads all come out very clean. The detail is amazing on the gill covers and the eye sockets.

I did these up with the air brush this afternoon and have them ready for an excursion as soon as the water temps start to come down. 50 degrees is my magic plastics temp but it'll be a while.

Seen here on the right are two 1/8 ouncers done on 2/0 hooks. Top center are two in 3/16 on 3/0 hooks. Below are a 1/4 done on a 3/0 and a 3/8 cast on a 4/0 hook. Victory makes all of these hooks, style 10111. The leg on 570 style hooks come up short for this mold. The Victory hooks are SHARP, as a bloody finger can attest.

I suggest using a somewhat harder lead than pure lead in these heads and people may find that drop-out is a good companion with the mold. That wide shoe on the bottom of the head along with the strong detail in the gill covers can make the castings a bit to get out of the mold, but I gave the cavities a shot of drop out and things went smoothly after that.

All in all, the mold casts like a darn and the cavities fill nicely. I airbrushed these so the detail wouldn't get lost.

That 1/8 head with the red Attack series eye make the head look like one angry Cuddlefish. All the other eyes are the Attack series but are the Mirror Minnow color.

[bigjim5589]

Those look great! I bought the mold, but have yet to pour it.

When I do, I hope that I can make them look as good as what you've done!

[ctom]

Thanks bud! Its a nice mold and casts really clean. Very little flash anywhere if at all. When you're ready to use the mold, do yourself a favor and lay your hooks out and put the springs on them, keeping them separated by hook size. For me this helped move things along nicely.

I was going to use the powder paint airbrush but I haven't used it too much and was afraid I'd lose too much detail if I stuttered, so I used traditional airbrush paints..... Createx to be exact.

[Lamar]

Those look great! I bought the mold, but have yet to pour it.

 How do you do that ? I got two new Do-it molds Wednesday and tried them out within an hour.

[bigjim5589]

I actually bought both of the new Do It molds, and some older molds. I haven't poured much at all in quite a while.

I've been spending time lately dealing with other things, household chores, my health, & my late wife's estate affairs.

My blood pressures been high and I can't take being out in the garage in the heat for very long. It had been in the upper 90's here until this week.

I'll get around to pouring them, but at the moment these other things are taking priority.

 

[ctom]

Here’s the new Finesse Swim Bait Head done in an airbrushed powder coat using the new Electric Shad powder paint. This thin gray paint goes on very transparent allowing the very brilliant blue glitter to explode with color. The color is just unreal on bare lead.

Clicking on the image may allow one to expand it to get a better peek at the glitter

[ctom]

Here’s another picture of several jigs (the six on the bottom of the same pattern) done using a base coat of the Electric Shad, also airbrush applied, then finished with airbrush acrylics and sealed with CS Seal Coat. The eyes are Do-It’s Ninja Shad from their Attack series. The super glitter in the base coat crawls right thru the acrylic colors. Uncanny.



Also seen here are some examples done by my good friend and fishing buddy, Tom Junge, pronounced “Young”. These are  only a couple of the many random colors he he does using powder paint and salt shakers. His ice baits are some of the hottest baits in the Rochester area and he puts the same great detail in the larger jigs. A salt shaker…. Who’d a thunk?

[Les Young]

Very nice Tom.