COLOR ME FISHIN

Are you buying a 150 or are you looking to buy the C-Tex bottles? I have 3 Badger 150's and use all Paasche bottles and tops, along with the Badger bottles and tops. I shoot lacquers and urethanes so I have not purchased any C-Tex bottles.

Thanks Guys...I like the marker idea....never considered that! I tried to brush on the worm dye with a cotton swap once, but it is so agressive it wrinkled the tails.

That is where I buy my epoxy from.....I buy the thickest viscosity they offer, and mix it with some thinner stuff for the winter months here. Be aware..the hardener that they use is super slow. I have better luck using Devcon hardener with USC resin. You need to play around until you come up with a combo that works for you. This stuff tends to trap a lot of bubbles also. Haven't found the perfect epoxy for what we do yet. Too slow and we get to look at the lure for days before we can touch it. Too fast and it separates from the basecoats We need to have a chemist friend like Hughes does.

I just got some Mojo reefers from a store and I need to give them a brownish tinge. They are smoke w/flake. Can I just use plastic coloring from Barlows or Stamina to do it. In the past I used to throw them in with brown worms, but the new plastics don't bleed like they used to. I tried brown Lake Hawk dip, but it tends to disintegrate the thin tail on the reaper. Any ideas?

My bait is not a photo finish...all artwork and airbrush.....

Lousy photo, but here is my bluegill. You can't tell but the scale pattern on the side is actually holographic which really flashes.

I have been using a Paasche for 10 years and did not have the problem you guys are talking about. Too thick of paint is a likely suspect, but you will know that with the first trigger pull. I keep my airburshes very clean!!! When I am not using them the heads are soaking in thinner in a cup I modified to fit the airbrushes. Even acrylic or waterborne paints need to be soaked in lacquer thinner or M.e.K. to loosen up hardened pigment. When the carrier or water in you paints dry, the pigment is the same as lacquer or enamel and can only be removed with strong thinner. I even have an actual Spray Gun Kleener made by Kleen and Strip when the tip gets really dirty to soak my parts in. If you are getting a stutter in the airflow, this usually indicates the whole tip asssembly is not tight enough. Careful, I have cracked tips off trying to get them too tight. PM me if you still have problems......

Most of the colors you guys are referring to are what we called Flip/Flop pearls, they shift 2 colors. The true Chameleon , which is a brand name for House of Kolor Automotive paint, will throw the whole spectrum of colors as you turn the lure at different angles. There are two dominant colors, such green to gold, but it also flashes purple, red whatever at different angles-really wild. Some of it is too guady for lures and I have learned to tone them down. Any of these colors are more intense over black, but again, too gaudy. Try some over a dark grey pearl for a more toned down look. I use PPG Harlequin Paint which is much more concentrated than House Of Kolor. Warning.....$30.00 an ounce for the stuff, but it goes a long way. Surf the cutom automotive sites for your really wild stuff.

Start Simple...Just paint a few white or black just to get the hang of it. I painted cars for 25 years and still messed some up now and then, mostly because I cut corners in the prep work. Plastic doesn't always need to be primed if you are using lacquer based paint, it will etch the platic on its own from the thinner. Just make sure the plastic is clean. At best a good wash with soap and water will do the trick to remove the silicone used in the molds. No lure is indestructible! You don't need a $200.00 air brush to get started. If you are going to use water based acrylics, you will need to put on an adhesion promoter first as the resins will not adhere to plastic well. Start at you local hobby shop and see what is offered there for painting models. Thats where I first learned about paints... Mike-Color Me- Fishin-Skwira

This is my latest color. I know I take lousy photos but it's the only digital camera I have. This color is a hot version of firetiger. Tore em up with this color on the Chicago River system a few weeks ago.

The Fishin Technician has it correct. It's the carbon dioxide from the flame that disperses the bubbles. I usually breathe into the cup while I am mixing the epoxy. I have caused bubbles to appear by getting the clear too hot after it is applied. Don't rush it. This is supposed to be a relaxing hobby!!!! Use the slowest epoxy you can and it will disperse most bubbles on it's own.

No way Cody...I am not that ambitious!!!! Just old junk lures some one was going to dump. I just stripped/refinished them.

I don't believe you will get epoxyto really stick unless you have a good adhesion promoter as a basecoat. What you are doing is encapsulating the lure or whatever, and you need to get a film thickness evenly around the lure. Unless the lure or wood is sealed-the epoxy will get absorbed into the wood fibers which leaves less of a film bulid on the outside, causing it to fail down the road. Epoxy needs 24 hours to fully cure @ 70 degrees. Any cooler and it's a crapshoot.

MAN, YOU ARE ONE AMBITIOUS DUDE!!!! EXCELLENT WORK ON THE TUTORIAL/CRAFTSMANSHIP. I WISH I HAD THE AMBITION TO BUILD ONE OF YOUR LURES, BUT AFTER SEEING ALL THE WORK YOU PUT INTO THEM, I THINK I WOULD JUST BUY ONE OFF YOU!!!!!

TRIED IT ON A COUPLE OF BAITS-DRIES SO FAST IT SEPARATES OFF THE BAIT. ALSO DRIES TO A TACKY FINISH. USE EPOXY. I HAVE DONE SOME GELCOAT REPAIR ON BOATS AND I HAVE TO SEAL THE RESIN WITH PLASTIC OR PVA TO ELIMINATE THE TACKINESS. NOT A GOOD CHOICE FOR WHAT WE AE DOING.

SOME NEW COLORS...GREEN ONE ON THE LEFT USED MARBELIZER-CANT SEEM TO GET THESE PICS ON THE GALLERY.

I do it all the time.....if you are using lacquers-you can use clear lacquer to reduce the amount of pigment in a color. If you are using water base-look for a blending medium or intercoat clear you can reduce the pigment with. For a really transparent look-buy transparent colors.-i.e.-Candy Apple. Intense, whatever the manufacturer calls them-be warned they are bleedind colors and will bleed through any other colors you apply over them!!!

I use the foreceps(roach clips). If you visit any sport shows, the guys selling the powder coating for jig heads usually have them for sale. The ones at medical supply stores are too expensive! I like the round ones . If you go to a Menards or Lowes-they sell a small vise that can be positioned at different angles, just the ticket for painting. Sell for around 15.00. With the round foreceps, you can move the bait to any position for paint.

On some of the musky baits I do I take a screw eye, longer than normal and after fastening it to the lure. cut the eyelet off with sidecutters. then coat the remaing threads with super glue. also make sure you put some super glue where the tail rests on the lure itself. Hold in place for 30 seconds and it stays on pretty good

Is the bait for you or some one else-if it's for yourself-throw it! The fish won't care. If this is a customers lure-strip it and re-do it. If you try to fix it it will probably get worse. Devcon 2 ton only has a working pot life of about 15 minutes at a cool room temperature-heating up the resin/hardener will make it set up even quicker. too much hardener will keep the mix from hardening, so that wasn't your problem. Try adding a small amount of M.E.K. -methyl ethyl keytone-this will slow it down a little, but it will also thin it down to a point where it will yellow or become very brittle. If you like the thick body of the devcon resin, use it, but try a different activator. Get some Flexcoat and substitute it's hardener for the Devcon hardener. If you break the plungers where they are joined you can cover the hardener tube and just press out the resin. I have done it, but it gets expensive that way.

I SOMETIMES LEAVE EM ON THE WHEEL OVERNIGHT AS IT GETS COLD UP HERE. SLOW TURN GEAR MOTOR USES VERY LITTLE JUICE, SO THATS NOT AN ISSUE.

WHAT ARE ZOOM BAITS? SHOW ME SOME PICS.....

PPG"s Harlequin can be purchased at any automotive refinishers supply that carries ths manufacturers paint line. Like I said before the stuff is wild!!!!!!! You can mix two together to get a different flash/sidetone, you can apply over a transparent color and the color will bleed through the Harlequin and give a different hue. All the auto paint manufacturers have their own version (Dupont, BASF, House of Kolor, but The PPG is the most intense. Thinned down, an ounce goes a long way. Hooray for ILLINOIS!!!!!!

Do a search for Wildlife Artists Supply Company-(Wasco). Look for white wood sealer. The wood carvers use it for their work. I have had good results dipping or wiping on a coat or two, then light sand and sealer. This is a lacquer based product and seems to seal the wood fairly well. Also my color coats adhere to the stuff fairly well. Just let it dry long enough because like all lacquer based products it tends to shrink up as it dries.

I have painted spinner bait blades with auto paint (lacquer and urethane). They will hold up for awhile but will chip easily. I even went as far as to sandblast them and apply a self etching acid primer to them before I shot color on them. They will still chip. Powder coat is the ticket if you can learn to master the application. I haven't...............