After reading the new Fly Tyer mag, I decided to try making some poppers. Got some Perfect Popper kits and have the first 10 about done. I just colored mine with sharpies and am using some clear finger nail polish to coat. I could not find the Sinful Colors Opal Glitter that Ward Bean mentions in the article. Walgreens did not have that color.
How are you finishing your poppers with? Let’s see some pictures of your fish catchers! I’ll post a pic of my first 10 as soon as I get tails tied on them.
Since you did not specific how well the poppers had to be made, I will show these. I give away more popper than I use because I tend to favor flies with a little less air resistance. All but the black one are foam, its balsa, the white bug with on the back right ( from the face side) is made from old Nike running shoes, the rest from flip flops.
I am working on a batch now. The bodies are done, but I need to add the feathers. I had hoped to get that done today. I have not seen the new Fly Tyer yet, but it is on the way.
I don’t have any pictures, but I like cork for the bodies, cut and/or sanded to shape (craft store bottle stoppers work okay, but wine corks are better and more fun to obtain), and use Testors enamel model paints. I start with a base coat of white, then whatever colors I want over that. The enamel seals the cork and provides a pretty tough finish with no need for and additional clear coat. The Perfect bodies are nice and simple, a great way to get started, but the cork gives you a wider range of possible shapes and sizes, and it’s easy to work with.
I’ve tried using some hobby foam of different colors and even though I made a cutter to cut out the discs to make the bodies, they still come out uneven. The first one I made I used goose biots for some odd reason and learned that they can unfurl a furled leader… D’oh!!
Waynep, I started this past week end myself. I do the same with the sharpies and nail polish. I have not had time to test them but they look good. My camara is not working so I can not post any pics, sorry.
These are craft foam plugs. Cut a slit and SA glue a kink shank hook in. Paint and dress as desired. Pretty straight forward. There is a smaller size , but I have to find them in a craft store and refuse to pay more for shipping than the 99 cents for the item on-line.
Theses are a bit more complicated but require no finish other than dressing with tailing material.
Even more complicated but very fun to make. This was for a pike diver, but finished shape possibilities are endless.
A. Rough block of dense urethane foam. (shown about 1"x1"x1.5")
B. Corners knocked off with 2" finish nail driven through center as a mandrel.
C. After chucking up in mounted drill or dremel (I did both) the block was turned to a straight cylinder.
D. Turned to final shape using small chisel set and sand paper.
E. Nail removed after ‘stem’ turned down to nothing.
F. Bottom sanded flat.
G. Wapsi 2/0 Saltwater Perfect Popper hook
H. Epoxied to hook and entire head coated with epoxy
I. Finished painted head ready to be dressed.
Cant find the pics of my balsa. will post when I locate them.
The bodies are a soft foam that somebody gave me. Much like the Perfect Popper body in soft form. They also make Perfect Poppers that are in a much harder foam, but I like the soft foam better. I push the foam through the hook shank, and super glue gel it. I have some balsa popper bodies I need to work on, but I was not in the mood to do any poppers until recently. I have to feel a creative urge to do poppers, mainly because of the time involved to do them. This last bunch I did I used 5 coats on the body. I used two coats of interior/exterior varnish. I put the eyes on, added two coats of Sally’s Hard As Nails. Then I did another coat of exterior/interior varnish. (I spinned them om the fly turner) You wait at least two hours between coats. I can only do 9 at a time, so it is quite time consuming to do. I have foam cutters now, and am almost out of the soft popper bodies. I will have to find a source for soft foam, then use a cheap tool I bought to finish them after cutting them. (it is a rotary tool you get at Harbor Freight)
The 3/8"dia, make nice simple plugs. Just attached to hook and dress with a tail and/or skirt.
The 1/2" makes plugs big enough to turn down to desired shapes.
The only thing with this softer foam is that cupping the face is not the easiest. Shaping this foam by turning is done more by heat/melting then by a sanding action. At least that’s what I have noticed.
Since posting this original thread, I have been plying around with different sizes of copper pipe and fittings. 3/4 pipe and couplings up to 1". Couplings have an I.D. where pipe has an O.D. in the given size. Using variations of pipe with reducing fittings to be able to chuck in a drill gives many in-between sizes. No preference on any particular size yet.
Note: In my original post of making the layered bodies, I stated I used Pliobond. While this is indeed a viable glue for laminating foam sheets the subsequent conversation in my thread turned me on to using 3M 74 and spray adhesive. Spray adhesive is SO MUCH easier and quicker to use.
Spend rifle and pistol casings make good tubes for cutting popper bodies.
Take a file or grinder and grind a window down the side stopping about 1/4" to 3/8" from the end. Makes removal a breeze. Sharpen them by using a file or sand paper on the open end.
I chuck up to 30-06 into an old drill to cut the bodies.
Thanks Bass Bug. I was thinking of buying a set of laboratory cork borers from the job. The only thing the set contains some smaller sizes as well which would not be too useful. A set runs about $35.
As many pointed out, any sturdy metal tube will work. If you know a plumber, scraps of copper pipe and tubing can probably be had obtained for free. Old golf club shafts etc. Brass tubing at hobby shops and Ace type hardware stores is not too costly. Short pieces of copper pipe from the big box Home Centers.
One of my favorites it to browse thrift stores for usable items. Got a coffee grinder for mixing dubbing for $1.91. Heck you might even pick up a golf club for a couple bucks just to cut up the shaft?
I prefer chucking up whatever I’m using for a punch in a drill…actually a drill press…so the size of the chucking end becomes an issue …anything over 1/2" requires some inginuity. and yes I know it can be done by hand but that has drawbacks.
My favorite cutter come from umbrella shafts, the telescopic automatic opening umbrellas will yeild a couple of sizes, I made a 1/2" with a 1/4" by turning down a wood core inserting a 1/4" bolt and gluing it in a piece of thin wall conduit. I pull the plugs out of the 1/2" by using a dry wall screw. Be sure to get you a ramrod for the cutters to push out blanks.
I’m with Duck on preferring to chuck up the cutting shaft in a drill. A drill will yield much cleaner cutting. Also if the shaft is at least 4" long or so, you can get several plugs at a time. Remove from drill and poke out with a dowel slightly smaller than the ID of the cutting tube.
For those of you who use a drill or drill press, one good way to make a plug cutter is to drill the primer out of a spent rifle shell casing and slip in a 3/16 inch bolt so that the threaded end protrudes out the back of the shell. Then simply tighten down a nut against the back of the shell, I like to add a second nut to lock it in place. Now it fits into the drill chuck perfectly and it cuts foam and balsa wood like butter. I have an entire set of cutters from 22 caliber upto 50 caliber. I actually wrote an article on this that was published in Warmwater Flyfishing Magazine titled “High Caliber Poppers.”