Hi guys! I woke the other morning inspired and though I was not planning on building a Flaptail for the contest......something urged me to do so! It came out pretty great I think! I can't wait to get some paint on it this week.....not sure what colors yet? Also started painting my Nike and that looks great so far! Looking forward to PlugFest very much!

Oh! Flaptail is a Lido style copy!

f-tail food for thought:

flaps on needles straight out the butt...go for it...adds flash.

it's a known fact that flaps screwed to the bottom of a plug work much better then out the butt on surface plugs.

fishmaster/ did jerrys design straight out of the butt only because it was an easy production method for them.

It's funny how easy it is turn this into work. I like the woodworking but I've been painting, wiring and epoxying this week. I dread the finishing part but I guess you can only put if off for so long...

Anyone got any good tips on wiring the fornt half of a jointed plug?
When I did the tail loops of the front section I kept scraping the paint trying to form the loop.

Rockfish9 has a nice method. Clean and neat no wraps..I still botch it...:smash:
http://stripersonline.com/surftalk/s...iring+jointeds
found it , it wasn't here..

After rereading and reviewing the pix, I realized why I was messing up my plugs. I was doing it completely bassackwards.:wall:

yes joe showed me that and it is a very good method.

funny I like the turning the least and like the paint, assembly, but dread the epoxy

Good morning all. I am behind on everything as always i start off like gangbusters and then get distracted and then have to hustle again to get finished. As for those barrel swivel you guys were mentioning i have seen them somewhere just can't remember.One side has the loop and the other side has a extra long wire so you can wrap it yourself.

Stripes,scales and jigs.... - SurfTalk


missed that .. thanks Joe/Fred ...

We got 30" of snow yesterday so I spent last night digging out. Was hoping we didn't loose power as I had a bunch of plugs on the spinner. Got some stuff wired but still need paint and epoxy on a bunch of stuff. Looks like it's been a winter of procrastination for everyone. I have to tell myself to stop turning stuff and finish what I have. Finished up my plastic needles I did for a swap over the other place and some small flaptails. I had some tails cut from stainless that were making them sit a little deep in the rear so I swapped them out for some colorado blades.

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...estivus007.jpg

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...estivus008.jpg

Ted those Flaptails are smokin' nice! Man I just love those!!:drool::drool::drool:

Fantastic flaptails, Ted. Your creativity is inspiring.

I'm not sure that is backwards, Fred, that is the way everyone else used to do it. I think Rock may have a better way, however, since it eliminates the need to use an oversized grommet and lets you squeeze the wire less tightly, hence it is easier to reopen. It does help to anneal your wire before doing it. Heat just the loop you want to reopen to cherry red and let it cool slowly (don't quench it).

:laugha:....I'm having the same issues...been to CVS three times this week for black, white, and yellow nail polish to fix scratches...:hee: I keep telling the cashier its for my toe nails...

Whew, thanks for the link Fred....will be trying this technique tonight. Also, thanks to Rockfish for sharing the technique.

Flaps look great Ted ... The needles ,, How are they in the water ,, Float ? Sink ? .. need micro balloons ?

They sink. Not like a rock but they sink. Straight alumilte will sink without the microballoons. I don't fish needles alot and when I do I don't fish them well. I'm very impatient and thats probably why. I only use needles at the end of the year and I need them to be heavy and small where I fish. I thought I would give them another try and would have the ability to move weighting around easy in the mold. What I thought would be an easy bait to build has been one of the hardest for me. I have had good luck with weakfish on a small needle I make that we fish with light tackle. It's only 4" and weighs about 5/8 oz. Other than that I am still trying to make a productive needle.

Awesome flaptails Ted.

Finish the epoxy on the original armada and the contest plugs. I did 42 in 3 hours. Mixed 12cc total 5 times. Ran the heat gun over them and hung them to dry on an old foldable clothes hanger and flipped 3 times. Moved them in front of furnace to finish curing. I wired them first. That was an neverending task. Ran out of swivels and 200 wires are down quite a bit. You never realize how much e-tex gets used. I started with an eight oz. kit and there is a third left. I won't have to worry about it going sour!

Am I the first one up?
 

That never happens...
Yesterday I started to paint some plugs, and my OSJL Special airbrush for 6.99 , decided to be broken. The trigger would only work if i pushed it in just right and I couldn'r figure out what the h it wanted.
Soo I rattle canned them. Not too bad, just not the finer control that I'd have liked. I used Krylon. Wide selection of colors and candies. Experimented with layering colors. Just had some fun. A whole 'nuther look this year.
One of my goals in plugbuilding this year is to get organized. My shop looks like a bomb hit it and is generally inefficient. I also want to make a duplicator. So NEXT weekend I'll be asking lotsa questions .

Good info there ,,, wish I saw that first ... I got a couple of surface,, out the butt Jerry's way ,,,whoops ?? .. Did make some needles that way too .. That's funny because JS started, just screwing the barrel swivel to the bottom of the plug ..and later went to out the butt method ..

GOD I HATE EPOXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :fury::fury::fury::fury::fury::exp:

After reading Rockfish's thread I have a few thing to do today!:) Perfect timing since I have a few jointed to wire when the sun gets up a little higher.

Thanks for the post Joe. Wish I would have seen it sooner.:uhuh:

Actually, now that Larry isn't talking to us anymore, whatayasay we go over there, beat him up, and steal his clear coat. Fred and Eddy, you guys can take him and I'll grab the clear coat.

:rotf2:I've been made similar offers, ask about the great strawberry heist...If there's running to do, I"M your man.

Good Morning to all you plug afficienodos. I'm done with with my original plan. I have a few dozen bodies to make for friends who want to finish them as kits. I too George had some epoxy problems?? You would think after a few years of doing this epoxy finish with success everything is cool. "NOT". I've been hanging and flipping . I noticed "dry" spots on 8 of the same plugs and in the same place. Mind you human hands never touched these bodies after painting. Blew them down and finished. The bellies had unusual dry areas. I recoated the entire plug. Tried to spot in the areas but you can't get the blend right. Not that the fish give a S**t. Oh well never "assume" you got it by the "balls". The demons are out there.

Finally finished! I am so slow. This is my largest batch to date (30). They are all epoxy sealed red cedar. None have been tested but I'm optimistic. I've learned almost everything from this forum (& clumsy trial and error), so thanks to all.

If the flaws are all in the same spot you may be able to trace back and find what may have touched every plug there. a spot in a jig, a tool, you never know doesn't have to be your hands. I traced a similar problem that I had to a slick coating that was on the coathangers that I cut for plug hangers.

Very nice work!!

Is M&D open today? I'm headed that way in a few..

Good morning guys. I didn't get too much done this week. I got some darters epoxied and I did get my flaptail plug sealed & primed... Maybe do some painting on some topwater stuff today or tomorrow.

Eddie, just for kicks I tried that scale with the circle thing. I'm almost 2 hours in and its still not done. :smash:

here's some of the darters... bottom ones are 2.5 oz, top 2 are experiments an inch or so longer and an ounce or so heavier.