a few darters

[Diggin Jiggin]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Elegant plugs.
Watch out with the Mirror Coat. It is very hard and will crack when the plug expands and contracts with use.
Clear coat is murder in the cold. Also very sketchy over any scratch coat. Also is very fussy to mix in small aliquots (use a scale 4.3:10 ratio). Add the resin to the hardner, not vice versa. Avoid silicone (like in a syringe or on plastic mixer sticks), avoid wood (which absorbs the hardner faster than the resin), clean your cups/brushes with alcohol, rotate it in a dry warm room. Takes about 8 hours to dry. I still haven't mastered it ( I run into drag marks/clumps if I touch up a plug within several minutes, and persistent bubble acne when dry unless I torch it....which pulls it away from sharp edges such as on a darter/slopehead). ETex is easier, but thicker.

Its funny I don't usually do a scratch coat but I did on these. Maybe that was the problemw ith the clear coat. Last year I had good luck with the clear coat just flipping them a few times, no spinning.

I had tried to make a thicker darter to get to the 3.5 oz mark. There was a lot of bouyancy in the back, so then I put a small tail weight in. Then it would surf so I put a slug of lead under the nose. That seemed to correct it but I don't think it will cast as long as a thinner longer one so I may go that route. I've got one with lead and one without ready to test and compare. I just hate having more than 1 belly treble. 1 always seems to find me...