How to Build a Mold for Soft Plastics

[FutbolGuru]

This is my first time passing by this page of the Forums and I have to say I'm quite intrigued! For some time now I've had a soft plastic bait I'd love to have as part of my musky arsenal; however, this particular bait isn't made in the size I need and I'm thinking the only way I could make this happen would be to make it myself. Can anyone offer any advice as to how you'd go about making a mold for soft plastics? And the procedure you'd use to creat this?

Thanks all!

[mainbutter]

Make a mold with RTV silicone and the master you're trying to copy. It's pretty easy to carve a master out of some hard material (balsa wood works fine), seal with with epoxy (to get nice smooth sides), and then your master is ready to make a mold from.

Basically you make a box with legos or some other material (plywood works fine), no top no bottom, just 4 walls. Glue your master down in the middle of the box with elmers or some similar easy-to-peel-off glue for after you're finished. Then you fill up the box with RTV silicone, let it cure, take down the walls, turn the silicone mold upside down, remove your master, and there you go you're ready to pour hot plastic into it.

You'll have to be creative with your engineering of the lure to make sure it is easy to fill up the cavity with hot plastic. If you're going to have an internal harness thing like bulldawgs or other large plastics, you'll have to engineer a good way to suspend that harness within the mold cavity while you fill it up.

If you're going to have a twister tail on the end like bulldawgs and grubs, the best way to make a musky-sized twister tail is to have just a plain plate-shaped mold with a lip. Pour a plain filled circle of hot plastic. Just use a knife to cut a spiral in the plastic, its' lots easier to just cut a large twister tail out of a circle than to try to pour one to the shape you need. You can then use a soldering iron to melt plastic to attach the tail to the end of your lure.

[ddsbyday]

Same as above!! Results are only limited by your imagination.

[FutbolGuru]

Perfect,

With the ice leaving early this year and it still being a long month and a half till opener... I figure now is as good a time as any to start experimenting with this stuff!

Thanks guys I appreciate your help!