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It's tough to give you an exact, "always start this way", sort of rule on thinning C-tex. Some of the colors shoot fine right out of the bottle (transparent red and tint black, for examples). Others need lots of attention. As a couple of examples, mixed in 1/4oz color cups: 1) Chartreuse...10-12 drops paint : 2-4 drops water : 2-4 drops retarder 2) Ghost brown craw...12-16 drops paint : 3-4 drops retarder : 6-8 drops plain transparent medium : 6-8 drops extender : 6-8 drops water If you look at these mixes you can get an idea of the PAINT:OTHER STUFF mix ratio. The first mix is my basic chartreuse for sides, bellies, highlights...a nice dry shooting, brightly covering in 2-3 coats chart. The second is a very light, dry shooting, color that tends towards opacity at about 4-5 coats, but will still let light come thru a clear bait. Wouldn't shoot either of these below 35psi, mostly 40-45psi.

Troy...the short version is: Usually need more psi with any acrylic, and should thin createx more than you may be. I shoot most of my baits between 30-50psi (Paasche VL and Millennium brushes), only dropping to 15-25 or so for splatter effects or some other specific low psi effect. Check this thread for some more specifics on issues with C-tex & feel free to PM or email me. Once you get used to it, you will not regret the switch. http://www.tackleunderground.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=5038

Got it. Basically talking about doing the same thing I think, just different mold materials.

You can also get to a GYCB sort of cinnamon by using LC pumpkin, just less of it than you would need to make regular pumpkin. It will darken up a bunch whne you add the flake.

As I understood that post...they are pouring soft plastic over the proto bait, then resin. Not sure how this would work, see some problems, but I certainly could be off course. If you could somehow resin coat/hard liquid plastic coat the proto you might be in business.

Out-dirty word-standing sir!!!!

Curious...doesn't this method slightly increase the size of your bait vs the proto?

Thanks for the info Jim. May still pick one up for kicks and giggles. If it doesn't work out...there's always ebay.

I prefer Grafix brand medium weight Stencil Film. Has a matte finish so you can use a pencil to draw or trace your pattern then cut. Have the best results cutting it with a stencil burner (kind of like a really fine tip soldering iron). have also made stencils from manila folders, frisket, anything else that wasn't nailed down or too expensive to cut up LOL. The Grafix film is about $4/ four sheets (9"x12") at Hobby Lobby/Michaels. Found it in the scrapbooking/stenciling section. Very easy to make some nice stencils using a scanner, digital pic, or original design from a sketch or a paint program using this material. Just print it, trace it, cut it, shoot it. Cut about 7 new craw and tiger patterns yesterday, plus some rib patterns.

Glad I could help, that's what we are all here for. Feel free to email or PM if you have more Q's or problems.

think it was around $40...might be the deal for craw patterns, back stripes, vertical striping, gill highlights.

I'll put in a vote for the scroll saw. I can make more time, I only have 10 fingers. My ryobi has worked well on lexan and balsa using the round blades that have cutting surfaces on all sides.

We want pictures! Hopefully I will be shooting some pics of the winter's work on Thursday. About 5 or 6 new wart colors, some new rogue colors.

If you can consistently push C-tex at 10-20psi you probably have it thinned too much. I use 10-20psi to get a splatterback effect on rootbeer baits just because it won't fully mix the air and the paint at that pressure. There are lots of references to thinning c-tex to a milk like consistency, but I have had no success with paint that thin...maybe milk with lots of chocolate syrup is more accurate. Try backing off on the water and run your psi up to at least 30. An example: tonight I am shooting phantom or ghost craws with very thin and extended createx (for the see thru effect) at about 40-45psi. Paint is going on flat and dry, unless I foul up and trigger too much paint flow. I am blow dring between layers of color. For sides, bellies, and blending you want lots of air and very little paint. You can do this with the trigger, lots of air, but release minimal paint. Try shooting on a nice white basecoat...should be able to see the paint leave the gun and hit the bait in a dry, flat finish, a light strip of color with each stroke. Subsequent strokes will build the color to the value you want, can't do it all in a few strokes. If your paint looks wet when you shoot it, it may be too thin, too much paint being released by the trigger, possibly wrong tip & needle (but a medium is usually fine), or a psi problem. You also need to trigger the brush and move your strokes right along...moving slowly will cause excessive build up/overspray/runs. I also like to blow dry the bait after the first layer of color...makes the next layers cover better and lets you identify areas that are weak in coverage. If you've been shooting other liquids I would certainly break down the brush and clean all components thoroughly. Overspray is a fact of life. Best results will come when you plan on it and use it to your advantage. Example: Shooting sides on a base coat and belly color...to avoid overspray on the belly color, work from the belly up in light strokes leading to heavier application of color. This way your overspray will end up in the middle of an area that you are going to make the same color anyway. Keep a second brush or cup with your belly color ready to blend the color change. Try to think of using an airbrush as shooting color not paint. When everything is dialed in correctly that is what you will be doing. Color will jump out of the brush and cover the bait, but you should not really see "paint" in the liquid sense on the bait. Shooting vinyl or lacquer kind of puts that bugaboo in your head, but it is not helpful with the acrylics.

You can thin createx with water. Extender is actually used to increase transparency and reduce the color. Plain transparent medium wil do the same thing. Both will have a thinning effect, but you will still need water to thin the paint. If using medium or extender you will also want to use retarder to keep the tip clear. Not really as complicated as it looks, just have to play with it. Best places to find createx are mostly on-line. Can sometimes find it at Michaels Craft Store and similar, Dick Blick stores usually have some in stock. An auto paint store (or cycle detail supply shop) may stock the Auto Air colors.

I don't think it has any hi-lite. If it does it would almost have to be gren hi-lite. My guess is they are trying to duplicate some of the blue crawdad colors (like the old blue wiggle wart) and match some of the green pumpkin/blue flake or w'melon/blue flake silicone skirt materials. Probably a good clearwater color, but that would mean I'd have to cut off my brown and purple jig to find out. Not gonna happen. Think I would heat the plastic then add black to get to sort of a lite to med smoke, then a green (thinking green pumpkin LC or MF brown w'melon) to green it up, then LC blue to blue it up. Looks kind of like a GYCB fade color. I think the hi-lite is from reflection in the pic, but could very well be wrong. One easy way to find out...

Createx. Good colors, widely available, can get some really nice effects. Compatible with devcon, e-tex, and flex coat. Also a good hazard free paint.Biggest issue is due to its thickness. Most people who have told me of troubles have not been thinning enough, not shooting enough psi, or trying to shoot thru the wrong needle and tip assembly.

There is also supposed to be an olive green, but can't find a good pic of it. Best I can do is this: http://www.landbigfish.com/tacklestore/showcase.cfm?PID=672 Color #173, but if you can see anything but greenish smoke you have me beat.

A follow-up...finding that the initial RTV mold will take a little longer to cure than an RTV mold poured in a "hard" box (wood, foil, glass). My guess is this due to the RTV being surrounded by soft plastic. They come out fine, just takes a few more hours than you would expect. Other option is to bump up the amount of hardener in the mix ratio. If I ever get done painting warts and rogues I might even get some poured

here you go: http://www.backwatersonline.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=416&CFID=7406&CFTOKEN=72072995 great folks to deal with...ordered a bunch of mask and Lucky Craft jerkbaits from them last month. FYI...the color looks FUGLY! I was thinking it would be more of a "pro-blue" in watermelon or green pumpkin. Looks like something I would hide to protect my reputation LOL! Might work in clear water on a brow/green jig, but so does blue.

You can definitely shoot fine lines with a Paasche, even with the #5 tip. Mostly an issue of paint viscosity, psi, and practice. Shooting fine lines is probably the hardest technique to learn. Helps if you move across the bait quickly (preventing build up and splatter) and keep the brush close to the bait. The Paasche brush at Cabelas is a VL, double action. Not a very good price on that set. Should be able to get into a complete VL set for $50 to $65 USD. I prefer the Paasche Millennium (needles, cones, tips same on both brushes) but that has more to do with the size. If you have small hands or are going to paint for several hours the VL is kind of a beast. Lots of love/hate on the VL's. From email and PM's I've exchanged, a lot of guys get down on the brush because they try to make it do things they should not. Especially when shooting C-tex, a lot depends on viscosity and psi...get either dialed in wrong and the VL will just hiss and spit at you, get both right and you will shoot some super baits.

anyone tried this critter? http://www.paascheairbrush.com/parts_2003/FP-1_32_Flow%20Pencil.pdf#search='paasche%20flow%20pencil' That is a link to a pdf file, also pics of it at the dixie art site. Kind of an interesting concept.

basically... Single action brushes let you control pressure, but not paint flow & mix air and paint externally. Kind of a finer version of a spray gun. Double action brushes mix paint internally, and control both air pressure and paint flow with the trigger/button. I think most of us are probably using and prefer double action brushes, typified by the venerable Paasche VL or the Iwatas. Gives you more control for color blending and detail work. Should be able to get into a Paasche for about $50-60. Iwatas will be quite a bit higher, some swear they are better and worth it. Will also need some extra needles and cones in the various sizes. I would go ahead and pick up some of the rubber trigger washers also...if one of those goes out you are out of business until you replace it. Good set of cleaning brushes helps if you are going to shoot Createx or the other acrylics. A good compressor set-up will make a world of difference. The acrylics require the ability to run some fairly high psi's at times. I have used a TC2000 from SimAir (see Dixie Arts) and really enjoy it...quiet, foot switch, good moisture trap, will push paint with multiple brushes attached and all valves open using a manifold. Shoots well from 15psi to 50+psi. Good luck and enjoy the challenge!

For my part at least, pearl is C-tex Pearl White (thinned, extended, and with retarder) shot over a C-tex Pro Flo White basecoat. Thinning and extending lets you shoot thin coats to blend and mix the pearl in with other colors. For other patterns, it will also let you sort of shoot just the pearl pigment (less white) for different accents and hi-lites. Retarder helps with the pearl colors by reducing tip clogging. Hope it helps.

Pic of some I shot last spring, forgot I had the pic. Little different pattern than the most recent baits. Back and shoulders are chartreuse, tough part is blending and coming up with a blue-green you like.