How I make balsa popper bodys

[salty fly 0]

Tools I use brass tube in drill.

 

 

 

Drilling plugs.The drilling tool is as long as two popper bodys, the blue tape line.I do not drill all the way through the balsa block, I stop at the tape line on the bit I cut the block at the marked line. This way the plugs dont get stuck in the bit, the plug falls out of the block..

 

 

 

 

Useing a pencil sharpner you sharper bolth sides of the plug.

 

Then cut at a nice angle,no set degree just nice.

 

Now I have some popper bodys,kinda,almost.

 

 

Then a lot of sanding, a little zip with the Dremel tool for the cup in the face, just nuff to make a nice pop. Now the bodys are ready for hooks, primer, paint and epoxy finish. up on the fly tuner they go.

 

 

Now you have finished light, tuff, home made balsa popper bodys. Tie on some simple dressing and rip some lips.

 

 

[Peterjay 0]

Nice tutorial, thanks for posting. I really like your cutting tool.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Salty, I like your brass tool too. I just use up to 1/2" tubing and just chucked it in the drill and kept turning the chuck and it squeezed the end of the tubing down; works good but I like the way you have the nut driver glued into the end. I think its glue, looks like epoxy putty?

I don't think I've tried the hand sharpener yet. I have an old Bostich hand crank sharpener with different sized guide holes and believe me, it chews it up much worse than that hand sharpener. I have a few of those shop pencil hand sharpeners around, may have to give them a try.

If you really have time on your hands, go check out my youtube channel and look for the video I did on making dowels from balsa sticks, I got the idea from an archery site where they make arrows out of hardwood sticks. I think if I use my router to turn down the corners, it would go through the chisel jig dowel maker better. I was teaching a class and needed a bunch of balsa dowels which is why I went that route.

For doing a handful of dowels for a batch of poppers, the brass tube is the best way to go.

 

Thanks for posting,

 

Kirk

[salty fly 0]

Thanks,

 

The brass tube in the pic is 5/8'' I think. For smaller bodys the tube fits in the chuck of the drill. The nut driver is held in with JB weld

 

Kirk, JB Weld, you can fix any thing with that, held the nut driver in there good,I have 2 sizes that way. The pencil sharpener for the larger bodys is from one of those jumbo pencils at the dollar store, I have 4or 5 sizes of them for different body sizes.The tip on the other post with the sanding block is a good idea, it could work good for my small pan fish poppers. I have seen your your youtube videos, found them looking at Copic air brush videos,really cool. Your paint jobs are insane, so much depth.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

That's a great idea with the nut driver and the JB weld, I've heard some good stuff about it. That youtube video on making dowels is okay for a volume of dowels but I wouldn't set all of that up for just one dowel. Thanks for the compliment on the painting, yours look really good especially for using Testor's paints.

I made that sanding block by drilling a hole in a scrap piece of 2x4 and then ripping it on my table saw. I later got a big groove bit for my router when I had to make twenty of those blocks for a class I was scheduled to teach, went a lot quicker.

Now, I look forward to seeing some pictures of fish with your poppers in their mouth!

 

Kirk

[coinman66 0]

Rip them lips Bubba.

[ditz2 0]

What??? No Yaller!!......nice poppers in any color. Thanks for posting. Nice to see poppers out of something besides preformed foam.

[Phish 0]

Nice! Another different way of doing it and yea way better than premade stuff!

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

JB weld is the best that stuff will hold a motor together so drilling wont break it lol great tutorial now I know how to use this 10x10 inch block of balsa I have had for a decade or so

[wayne offord 0]

Could these be purchased somewhere online? I have been looking, but I haven't been able to find some preformed...

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Wayne, WAPSI sells preformed hard foam bodies. You're not going to find pre-formed balsa though but they are easy enough to make yourself. For WAPSI bodies/hooks, they come as a kit, just Google up WAPSI Perfect Poppers. Even though they come with hooks, you can use what ever one you like that you have.

 

Kirk

[Phish 0]

Wayne If you are wanting pre shaped balsa bodies i can do them for reasonable costs.

[salty fly 0]

Phish, come on man, this post is about Makeing the bodys not selling them.

[salty fly 0]

Phish, come on man, this post is about Makeing the bodys not selling them.

[mybadhabit 0]

I was wondering if you could do that with a shell casing cut down after the taper or where can one get their hands on that kind of tubing?

 

Blane