BobP

It should work just fine with its .35mm tip. Practice practice practice.

Personally, I prefer Devcon 2 Ton because it cures faster and is thick enough to use a single application for a topcoat on bass baits. You can brush it on an rotate it by hand if necessary for 45 minutes to stop sags/drips and it will work fine. Etex is thinner and contains a solvent. It has a longer brush time but also cures much slower, requires a motorized lure turner, and usually requires at least 2 coats, more for saltwater/musky baits. There are adherents of both brands, as well as others like Nu Lustre 55, Flexcoat, and others. Do some homework with the Search function to get best practices on application.

Moisture traps are usually connected directly to the outlet from the compressor (or the outlet from the pressure control - wherever the stock hose connects to the compressor). It's not a slam dunk answer because there are two designs for moisture filters: a large model with a metal housing with female in/out ports and the filter element contained in a plastic dome which you can empty of water; and a smaller in-line version that can be attached between the airbrush hose and the airbrush. Most choose the larger version because you can empty the trap of water and keep on trucking. The inline models often have cartridges that have to be replaced periodically. It's not easy to prejudge what connectors/adapters you will need to connect up an airbrush BUT if you go to the tool section of a home center like Home Depot or Lowes, they sell the male/female adapters you need. They also sell the moisture filters for around $20. Use some plumber's PTFE (aka Teflon) tape on all connections to ensure air tightness.

You can buy Devcon Two Ton epoxy at Ace Hardware stores or order it from Wood Carving Tools - Texas - The Old Texas Woodcarvers Shop, Tools, Books, Classes among other sources. It comes in either a 30ml double syringe or in a 9 oz bottle set. Like most epoxies, Devcon hardens over just about anything because its cure process is a chemical reaction between its hardener and resin after they are mixed. It doesn't depend on outgassing a solvent and it will even cure under water. Also notable is that epoxy is pretty inert after it cures and can be paired with just about any other coating, solvent based or otherwise. You could still use the CS water based to cover your foil, or you could use Devcon over the foil and for topcoating. Vinyl paints don't play well with other solvent coatings but should do OK with epoxy if fully dry. That said, 90% of hobby builders use water based acrylic latex airbrush paint for its non-toxic quality, easy clean up and low cost. There is extensive info here on TU regarding epoxies. Just type the subject into the search box on the right side of the screen.

Dan, sounds to me like you need to thin it further so all the excess drips quickly off the tail of the bait.

EMTECH 9300 Urethane Top Coat: FinishingZone.com, by Target Coatings Inc. Mark, wondering why you use the "interior" 9000 versus the "interior/exterior" 9300 above?

Epoxy is popular - it's reliable, levels out well and makes a hard durable finish if you choose the right one. You do not want to use a quick cure 5 minute epoxy! Use a slow cure epoxy like Devcon Two Ton or Envirotex Lite (aka Etex). The Devcon is a "30 minute epoxy" that has a 4-5 minute "brush time". "30 minutes" is how long it takes to form a bond when used as a glue (which it is). ETEX is a table top epoxy finish with a long brush and cure time. There are also quick cure "5 minute" epoxies, including Devcon 5 Minute. They cure much too fast to brush on, will not level out, will eventually turn brown, and will generally ruin any lure if you try to topcoat with it. I'm not familiar with the epoxy you have on order. Several TUers have, like you, tried water based coatings with uniformly poor results.

Well, an Iwata Custom Micron goes for $373. Unfortunately, the finer the tip, the bigger the price because it requires engineering to smaller tolerances and custom tuning at the factory. I'd be surprised to find a GOOD micro airbrush that works well for anywhere near $100. By "micro" I mean tips smaller than .2mm.

I think 1 rpm will be OK if you only use D2T. For lower viscosity topcoats it would be worthwhile to look for something faster. I use a 4 rpm motor because it turns fast enough for just about any finish but slow enough that I can clip lures on it while it's running.

Lurebuilding 101 This is a musky lure building site with plans for gliders, fyi.

Probably the best variety of netting is available at fabric stores.

It's worth noting that as the tip size goes up, the volume of paint it shoots at full flow rises like the area of a circle (3.14 x radius squared). So, .2mm tip = .126 sq mm .3mm tip = .283 sq mm .35mm tip = .385 sq mm .5mm tip = .785 sq mm From .2mm to .3mm, you increase tip size by half but the tip area more than doubles. Of course the air pressure, the amount of trigger pull (and thus the position of the needle) and the taper of the needle are all factors, but tip size is a useful relative measure of how much control you can expect with different tips.

The compressor I use is a "no-name" model that resembles a Badger 180 and develops 50 psi max, 40 psi working. It's a freebie that passed through several hands and I'm not looking this gift horse in the mouth - but I'll buy a tool compressor when/if it dies on me! Something 68KingFisher said about pressure pulsing on small compressors stuck in my mind and I want to try a tool compressor with air tank. You don't know what you're missing until you upgrade and look back on things in retrospect. Silverdoc, you might take a look at the Iwata's diagram to see if it has an internal pressure control that might be adjusted to a higher output. Iwata airbrushes specifiy a max pressure of 45 psi so their compressors are probably geared not to exceed that, but sometimes.....

A tip assembly and needle on an airbrush come as a matched set and the whole set is usually referred to as "the tip". JMHO, I like a .3mm tip for color basecoating and "all over" color, plus for metallic flake paint, and a .2mm tip for color fades and moderate detail. The ideal tip size depends on what pressure you shoot at and the paint viscosity. I squeeze unthinned paint directly into a gravity feed cup and shoot at 20-40 psi, and these tip sizes work with only rare clogs or splatters. To do freehand fine details without a template, an even smaller .15-.18mm tip, thinned paint, and lower pressure would be optimum. If I could only use one tip, it would probably be the .3mm because "you gotta be able to spray it before you can paint with it." Some painters prefer larger tips, .35mm to .5mm. Some domestic brand airbrushes don't specify tip diameters and just call them small, medium, and large. I don't know what they measure.

Interesting! What kind of working pressure is the Iwata capable of delivering to the Eclipse and the HP B?

I use soft balsa for shallow baits with the line tie on the body's nose and I split the baits in half to install the thru-wire. The lip is not part of the thru wire so can't be pulled out because it's not under strain. The kind of balsa is important. Soft balsa requires lots of reinforcement. Splitting the bait helps because you get an internal epoxy backbone when you glue it back together. On hard balsa, which can be as dense as 18 lbs/cu ft, thru wiring is less important. If you plan a balsa bait with the line tie as part of the lip, I strongly suggest you use the hardest balsa you an buy and make the lip slot as deep as possible. And never never never slap that bait on the water to clean weeks off it!

Hmm.... I typed etex in the search box and got 232 threads.

I used the aluminum hvac tape and it works OK but it's pretty thick stuff, enough that it can be hard to hide the edges. BriteBak foil designed for stained glass art is much thinner but still has good adhesion. Here's one source: Mosaic Accessories by Venture at Sunshine Glass

Etex contains solvent and is quite thin compared to many epoxies. But you can thin it further with most solvents after mixing. I use virgin lacquer thinner on epoxy (buy it at an auto supply store) because it has a moderate evaporation rate. That extends the working time and the curing time a little but Etex already takes a full 24 hrs before it gets really hard (in fact, most epoxies continue to cure for about a week after application). The key to getting a reliable hard epoxy finish is to measure it accurately and mix it VERY well.

The example mixes 4 color fades on the body with a few generic stencils for the gill spot, body bars and scales. You could do it with rattle cans if you can do the 4 color body fades. Not sure I could do these fades with rattle cans, but I bet you can do something similar with practice. Yeah, an airbrush is easier.

I think most "dippers" use some type of polyurethane, either regular or moisture cured poly such as Dick Nite Fishermun's Lurecoat. I dip most of my lures in Dick Nite and like it for its thin durable coating, which is ideal for repainted plastic baits or wood baits with a good smooth paint on them. Nothing is perfect however. Moisture cured polys are touchy about how they are stored and applied. But putting a topcoat on a lure takes 30 seconds vs mixing and brushing epoxy, or spraying and cleanup for auto clears. Do a search on Dick Nite for lots more specific info.

68KF is one of the most experienced airbrushers on TU so you can trust his opinion on equipment. Unless you're willing to put out BIG bucks for a quiet airbrush compressor, a CO2 tank is the best solution for an apartment. I use a small airbrush compressor and wouldn't dream of running it inside the house when my family is sleeping, watching TV, or anything else!

Most of the Paasche line are reliable and widely used. A .038mm tip is fairly large but I don't shoot Testor's so don't know what tip size is ideal. IMO, for $70+, I'd also look at an Iwata Revolution BR, which comes with a .3mm tip (hose extra). The Revolution CR has a paint cup more the size of the Paasche but has a .5mm tip. I'm not running down Paasche, which is probably the best selling brand of airbrush in the U.S., but think Iwata quality is a cut above, JMHO.

If you have a small airbrush compressor you will see such a drop in pressure. It's probably not the airbrush. Solution - get a compressor that outputs more sustained pressure.

I've used some relatively cheap flat square artist brushes for several years now - got a set of different sizes for about $8 at Michaels. They last indefinitely if you clean them properly, which only takes a minute after use and IMO they apply a smoother coating than coarse bristled flux brushes. Wipe off the excess epoxy on a paper towel, dip them in lacquer thinner or acetone and fan out the bristles on the bottom of the jar, working it back and forth to get the solvent into all the bristles. Then brush them dry on a cotton towel. Repeat if necessary. The bristles eventually get fluffed out somewhat but it's still better than the alternatives.