Float making.

[Aknib]

Apologies if this has been covered, but 47 pages is a lot to trawl through - can anyone please tell me the best way to apply fluorescent acrylic paint to float tips?

I'm just modifying existing floats at this stage, to make them more visible... experimenting / fettling... call it what you like.

I've got some paint, but it's very thick (Pebeo High Viscosity), so I can't get it on smoothly with a paint brush and it won't run off if I dip the tip into it 'neat', as it were.

I've read that if I simply dilute with water the paint will lose some of its properties and may rub off.

Do I used acrylic pouring medium to make it more liquid, then apply? Do I bin the paint (it only cost £2.00 for 100ml) and use an alternative?

Guidance would be appreciated.

(Lovely floats p.peanut.)
.

I find flouro paints a bit of a 'mare to achieve a good opacity.

I do brush them on and have never diluted them myself but i'm not knocking it... my own way is to slap several coats on as thick and heavy as possible without worrying about the finish and then seal them with a coat of fast drying lacquer before very lightly sanding and repeating the process until i've got the glassy finish I want.

Sounds laborious and probably is compared to other methods but drying times of the materials I use are very quick which definitely helps and it works for me.

My favourite touch is to apply the first coat of finishing lacquer before the acrylic paint has properly hardened off, it seems to melt together giving a perfect finish but don't overlap colours with your brush on the initial coat as you'll see on your brush if you try it that the acrylic and lacquer have 'blended' together and the colour will drag and cause overlap where different colours on your float occur.

 

[purplepeanut007]

5AAA Antennae Wagglers in Charcoal & Slate Grey

fishing,float fishing,float making,hand crafted floats,traditional floats,purplepeanut007,mike cootes,float making,PP007,peanuts fishing adventures

purplepeanut007.blogspot.com

5AAA+ Antennae Wagglers In Charcoal & Slate Grey.

 

[grzyman12]

5AAA Antennae Wagglers in Charcoal & Slate Grey

fishing,float fishing,float making,hand crafted floats,traditional floats,purplepeanut007,mike cootes,float making,PP007,peanuts fishing adventures

purplepeanut007.blogspot.com

5AAA+ Antennae Wagglers In Charcoal & Slate Grey.

What material did you use when making these?
It looks like a balsa+reed/cane combo to me. I am not sure.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I’ve become fed up for waiting for lacquer to dry, even fairly fast drying acrylic lacquer takes ages, particularly if you have to do multiple coats.

I belong to a couple of lure making forums and many lure makers use UV lacquer, similar to woman’s nail varnish. This lacquer/resin is also used in jewellery and model making. I bought a bottle from Ali Express and I also purchased a UV lamp from Amazon.

From what I had read; the lure, or float has to be turned to prevent the resin from pooling/running. I had a rod turner that I had made from a microwave turntable motor and I cannibalised that by fixing a small crocodile clip to the shaft. I decanted some resin into a small black plastic pot with lid, as if it’s exposed to UV it would harden and be ruined The resin was a bit thick and gloopy at first so I put the container in warm water to thin it a bit. This seemed to work okay. I coated the float as evenly as I could and switched the turner on to allow the resin to spread evenly. Whoop, whoop, after hitting it with the UV lamp for a short while ( about 5 mins ) the lacquer was hard enough to touch and sand. A quick rub with some 360grit wet and dry and another coat and I had a brilliant hard gloss finish. It was a superior looking finish to the Liquitex coated ones that had received multiple coats.

These are some I coated last night, the middle one I did differently and instead of whipping at the joints I used shrink tube instead. I think I prefer whipping TBH.

 

[ian g]

Very nice Ray , I agree about prefering the whipped ones

 

[TrotOn]

Enjoyed looking through this thread !
Here's a few of my own, able assisted by my youngster on our home made lathe a good few years ago. Great fun

DIY whipping jig

 

[ian g]

I have a cheap Chinese lathe which works fine but I have found I now tend to use my bench drill which works fine.

 

[TrotOn]

I have a cheap Chinese lathe which works fine but I have found I now tend to use my bench drill which works fine.

Definitely, keep it simple works well . Unless I was making floats commercially this type of set up works fine. Proper DIY

 

[Notts Michael.]

What do you float makers recommend as a good hi viz paint (orange) for repainting existing floats or when making new ones?
I have tried the small tins of Humbrol gloss bright orange, but the stuff takes days and days to dry properly and isn't a very dense colour so layers need building up. any better brands about?

 

[@Clive]

I use water base paints from hobby shops. Revell is the brand that I use. Fluoro' paint needs a really good shake to mix properly, but it goes on smoothly and dries in around 10 minutes?

 

[Keith M]

I use water base paints from hobby shops. Revell is the brand that I use. Fluoro' paint needs a really good shake to mix properly, but it goes on smoothly and dries in around 10 minutes?

Same here

Keith

 

[ian g]

And myself

 

[Aknib]

Well...

It doesn't look much like a trophy yet!

It will though, it's the beginning of Simon's memorial trophy for the Big Perch Challenge and there are a couple of hints as to this year's colour scheme in there. I managed to get the float made and undercoated where the tip colour is going to go along with the first coat of varnish on what will be the underside of the pebbles, I also managed to get a good rinse on the shingle which is drying in the foreground.

Ordered the plinth the other day and just need to order the engraved plaque which I'll do this afternoon and I'm hoping to have it all completed in a couple of weeks time.

Must admit I had hoped to have this all wrapped up by now so apologies once again, I have the other wrist op coming up imminently too so it will be nice to have this finished and I'm fairly certain it will be now that everything is finally well underway.

I'm actually quite enjoying myself, I think this is my first dabble since the last memorial trophy.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I’m sure it will look amazing.

 

[ian g]

The last one has pride of place on my mantlepiece . I'm sure this one will be just as good

 

[purplepeanut007]

Heavy Irwell Sticks With Hardwood Stems

fishing,float fishing,float making,hand crafted floats,traditional floats,purplepeanut007,mike cootes,float making,PP007,peanuts fishing adventures

purplepeanut007.blogspot.com

6.5g Irwell Sticks With A Thicker Hardwood Stem.
I am going to enjoy fishing this winter with one of these and a big bait.

 

[Aknib]

All done...

The sharper eyed amongst you will see that the word 'Challenge' has been mis-spelt by the engravers but a replacement plaque is on its way when it will be a two minute job to permanently fix it in place, oddly enough they made a similar mistake last year which also ended up in a replacement plaque being sent out.

Anyway I hope it will be enjoyed by who i'm sure will be a worthy winner

 

[purplepeanut007]

Looks great Aknib.

 

[Aknib]

Cheers PP.

Sod's law Mr Postman delivered the corrected plaque an hour and a half later so all put to bed now until the winner is announced in March...

 

[Aknib]

Hmmm...

The dipping of the toe back in seems to have started something.

I was mooching around earlier, looking for something to do when my attention turned to my float collection and not un-substantial amounts of homemade Avons and their derivatives but something still troubled me, namely the quest to make the largest weight carrying Avon i've yet to make.

It currently stands with the very buoyant goose quill tip and stem on balsa body versions and I honestly think they will be hard to beat but I bought some cork bodies some years ago and decided to knock something up during the earlier bbq, namely a carbon stemmed Avon...

I have previously made Avons from the cork bodies which i've used and caught plenty of fish with but the stem material always troubled me, thinking that there were lighter and better materials which would allow for more bulk weight down the line, for the job.

Very early days of course and i'm still not convinced that cork has a superior buoyancy to balsa but I think I will see it through in a couple of tip colour variations.

The tip itself being deliberately squared off so as to provide as stark a contrast to its surroundings as possible and I may add slider eyes... I'm not sure yet, but given I have plenty of those already I may just run with it as it stands and add them as a retro fit later if need be.

Very much intended for either high season long trotting or Winter flood work.