SPA Modeler

Looks really good. I've heard of salt fading before but not sure exactly how its done. Have you ever showed your process?

Great work on the prop!

Superb work on that prop John - I've had to clean up many looking like that in the past.

Thanks guys! Just a few steps forward to report but at least its moving!

Floki wrote:Looks really good. I've heard of salt fading before but not sure exactly how its done. Have you ever showed your process?

You are essentially using salt crystals to form a random mask pattern. Some people use this as a chipping technique but I like to use it to portray surface wear/stains. I've used it on most of my builds and will use it again on this Corsair after the main camo painting. Here is one build where I went over the steps...

http://www.spamodeler.com/forum/viewtop ... &start=500

Your prop is very well-done, John. The micro mesh rubbing got the weathering looking realistic and lovely.

As to that rod and reel combo, that looks very nice. I’ve heard of baitcast outfits with computer-controlled brains in them but I haven’t seen one or fished with one -I rarely use conventional gear and when I do it’s usually a spinning rod). That reel is very nice-looking though and that setup looks like you could cast a crankbait a mile with it LOL. Very very nice.

My latest acquisition is a 5wt. “Drifter” series fly rod from Moonshine Rod Co. It arrived just in time for the Sacalait spawn. It’s a nice rod. I can cast quite a distance with it, and it is also sensitive enough to detect the soft bite of Sacalait in cooler water. And of course, it’s super light so any bass I might unintentionally hook while bluegill and Sacalait fishing feel like Moby Dick when I’m fighting them.

I haven’t hooked into too many like the ones you and your son catch, due mostly to the fact that most of the time I’m constrained to local ponds. That said, there are 4-6 lb. bass out there in those ponds and every so often we get lucky. My pal Mark, who started fishing as a means to help with his recovery from Alcohol addiction, caught a 6 lb. female in a local retention pond. I about flipped my lid when he showed me the photos. I’d like to battle one of them on my 5wt. for sure. Maybe it’ll happen one day.

Sacalait? I had to Google that... crappie! Does that term refer to both white and black crappie? Those are such cool fish. Barrett Lake has some black crappie in it and we've gotten some decent ones. The biggest I've weighed is 2 pounds 2 oz....

jkim wrote:Sacalait? I had to Google that... crappie! Does that term refer to both white and black crappie? Those are such cool fish. Barrett Lake has some black crappie in it and we've gotten some decent ones. The biggest I've weighed is 2 pounds 2 oz....

John,

Yessir, a Sacalait is indeed a crappie, only, down here in the bayou it only refers to the white crappie. “Sacalait” is Cajun French for “sack of milk”. We don’t have the black variety this far south I don’t think. They’re something of a delicacy down here. Cajun folks gut them, then batter and fry them, and basically eat them whole almost. Very tasty. And they can get large, indeed.

It’s interesting to note these little fish. I’ll share this with you because I think you’ll get it.

Bluegill and crappie are fish that lots of people who get into fishing fish for in the beginning. Makes sense right? There’s always action from panfish. You probably get that. Downsize your lures when you’re fishing for bass and you’ll likely end up shaking off bluegill and crappie all day. You can catch them any old time. But it goes even further. Why do I like fishing for them nowadays? Because those fish, especially bull bluegill, fight. Hook a big bull bluegill on a lightweight rod and you’re going to have a whole lot of fun fighting that fish. Other anglers have speculated that pound for pound, if they grew as big as bass and still fought as hard as they do, they’d be very difficult to land unless you had gear like what you use. They’re so much fun that way.

Panfishing with light gear is really fun. Sometimes when the bass bite dies at Barrett, we'll bust out the ultralight gear and throw little lures for bluegill.

The gear reduction housing has been painted. The black magneto is from the Vector resin set. The P&W logo is a kit decal and the data plate is an unused decal from the Barracuda sheet.

Amazing work on that Engine John.