Newbie to soft plastic making!

[scoutsout2101]

so ive decided to try my hand at making my own soft plastics. ive decided to get some molds from lurecraft and give it a go. i know most of those molds are flat bottom or flat top whichever you prefer. i know these probably wont be the quality or coolness as ive seen on here, but i figure its enough to get my feet wet. so which molds would yall start with? ive got a beetle spin style mold already and im looking to get a few minnow looking style molds. any tips for the new guy? ive read most of the posts and kinda have a good idea of where to start but are there any tips or tricks yall would reccomend? thanks again and happy fishing!!!

[MO QWACK]

Well, first off there are ton of different molds out there but they can be tricky to pour.with practice they will get easier. The only open pour molds I have are bass ones. Fluke and senko style. If you think this is something you will like unwound save my money and go the injection route. You get better results and it faster plus you will most likely gomthe route anyway

[lcookie]

I am new to this to but like Mo said I would look into injection molds. The Pintail Minnow injection mold is a very good minnow style and the action is off the charts. Look at my post called mold reviews for more info.

[scoutsout2101]

yeah ive seen the injection route might be the way to go. was thinking maybe after a bit of trying to sell some baits as ive seen others do. so maybe down the road i may look into that. for right now just trying to get my feet wet!

[shipahoy41]

Welcome from Alabama. I have only been doing this for a few months. I started by trying to make my own plaster of Paris molds and then tried making Rresin molds. Both were not up to the quality I wanted. The fish did not care but I did. Then I got a shad mold from Jann's Netcraft. Again, my pouring was not the best. Snake River convinced me to try injection molding and I promise you I can never go back to hand pouring again. Whatever method you try, be sure and read the safety stickies at the top of this forum. I burned myself a few times and I just wish I had read the safety stickies first. Be safe. Have fun. Go fish.

[crappiefarmer]

Oh yeah, I see it already. First You will dabble with this. Then You will jump from pouring to injecting and then just hang it up dude, Your hooked on this stuff and be prepared to open Your pocketbook. I know from experience. This is exactly what I did and have seen several others fall in the trap just like me.RoflCF

[bxn]

well i have not taken the injection plunge as of yet.i hand pour and my baits have on side flat.don't worry about how "cool" people think your baits are,or how they look compared to others baits.consider and find out what the fish think about your baits. the beetle spin bodies work great even with one flat side.i think the flat side makes it glide through the water.i hook it flat side down with the hook coming out in between the twin tails.i even got a smaller twin tail grub mold from lurecraft as well.i use skulpey to make a master for the mold after baked in a small oven til hardened.after that i place the master into prepared/mixed rtv putty and wrap it around the master.it cures fully in like 25 min but starts to take shape around 5 min after mixing 2 equal parts of the 2 part puddy.i find it awesome to think up an idea for a plastic bait,go downstairs make the master,make the mold,than start pouring in the same day! also its good to bring hooks and jigheads downstairs with me and make the baits to fit the hooks i want.and it is still possable to make baits without a flat side as well with rtv materials.i did some 100% custom baits recently,but i have not posted pics yet.

[snake River]

well i have not taken the injection plunge as of yet.i hand pour and my baits have on side flat.don't worry about how "cool" people think your baits are,or how they look compared to others baits.consider and find out what the fish think about your baits. the beetle spin bodies work great even with one flat side.i think the flat side makes it glide through the water.i hook it flat side down with the hook coming out in between the twin tails.i even got a smaller twin tail grub mold from lurecraft as well.i use skulpey to make a master for the mold after baked in a small oven til hardened.after that i place the master into prepared/mixed rtv putty and wrap it around the master.it cures fully in like 25 min but starts to take shape around 5 min after mixing 2 equal parts of the 2 part puddy.i find it awesome to think up an idea for a plastic bait,go downstairs make the master,make the mold,than start pouring in the same day! also its good to bring hooks and jigheads downstairs with me and make the baits to fit the hooks i want.and it is still possable to make baits without a flat side as well with rtv materials.i did some 100% custom baits recently,but i have not posted pics yet.

looking forward in seeing your pictures I enjoy seeing custom hand poured plastic baits.

[hookum]

since i am ahandy man in the machine shop I have made a master out of aluminum of what I call a spike its about 2" long and 3/16round at the head and tapers back to a point. I then got some molding clay and some 2 part silicone at the craft store, and made me a 2 part mold of my master,then I kept making new molds till I got a 6 piece mold. You can go to You-tube and google "how to make a 2 piece mold" and it will show you ,its really very simple. A good site for pointers and you-tube has agood video is Smooth-On.com.But once you start making the molds you will find its pretty simple and you can reproduce anything and I do pour my own just make sure you include a a vent tube to let air escape when your pouring and I always use the biggest pour hole I can for the bait I am making. You can also buy an additive to add to the plastic/silicone to make it more sensitive to vibration - I make some that when you hold them between your thumb and finger your pulse will make them twitch. beleave me they are deadly for Crappie. Good luck!!!!!!