BobP

Nice tour Phil! Better get production up after appearing on Bassmaster!

I use Polytranspar Superhide White to color basecoat lures. It has lots of pigment to hide wood grain quickly, sprays well, and dries quickly to a hard smooth coating. I've tried other "cover whites" but this is the best I've found. Createx is the biggest name in airbrush paint for a reason - it's high quality, consistent, and sold everywhere. If there's a downside, it's that it has a rather limited color palette so you need to either mix colors to get specific effects or go to other sources. I do the latter and buy taxidermy paint that comes in an almost infinite array of specialized colors/effects. Of the taxidermy paints, I like Smith Wildlife for consistency but will try anything that catches my fancy. Mixing brands of acrylic latex on a bait has not been a problem for me. Taxidermy paints come ready-to-shoot. taxidermy.com is a gateway site for many of the suppliers and most companies sell both acrylic latex and lacquer versions of their paints - so be careful to order the version you want.

I use a variety including Createx, Auto-Air, and several brands of taxidermy acrylic latex. Mixing and matching is not a problem. As to why use "transparent" versus opaque colors - you can layer colors with transparent paint, which allows you to blend colors for a more natural effect. Shoot them heavier and they become opaque, so they offer a wider range of effects. Yes, you can thin opaque colors to get to something resembling a transparent color but I'd rather not fiddle with paint mixing and thinning if I don't have to. Opaque paints cover quicker with less paint so I use them mostly for color basecoating, usually white, to hide wood grain and give a consistent color base for later paint layers.

I do baits with either 1/16" Lexan or 1/32" CB. Yep, the CB is lighter. On the same crankbait, I feel it gives you a slightly deeper dive and sharper wiggle and it certainly gives you a different rebound and sound off of hard cover. Many tournament guys like CB on shallow running crankbaits thrown around rock. My impression is that the CB seems to click while Lexan thunks off cover. Whatever the case, I seem to do a little better with CB lips on shallow crankbaits and I personally have not experienced what I think of as undue wear on the lips. Different strokes for different folks! I also find CB easy to cut and shape with hand tools and the 1/32" (.031") thickness fits perfectly in a slot cut with a single pass of a standard 12 TPI scroll saw blade, which is convenient.

Mark, well, anything you add to a bait changes its performance in at least a small way - but I regularly undercoat baits with Solarez and topcoat them with epoxy and both coatings are fairly thick. I don't think it has noticeably changed their performance from when I used epoxy to both undercoat and topcoat balsa baits so I guess my answer is a qualified "no problem". Of course, changing the weight distribution of the bait also has effects but all you can do is try it and see how it works. If you are switching from AC to Solarez as a topcoat, the difference would be greater because AC is much thinner than Solarez. But except in the case of building a suspending lure, I doubt it would be a deal breaker. Is that response wishy-washy enough?

I like solarez for undercoating wood because it's fast but i don't like it for topcoating because it has a wax haze that kills the gloss. You can use epoxy to topcoat after undercoating with solarex on wood baits. In fact, you can use most topcoats over either epoxy or solarez.

Yep, as you can see, there are lots of options that work. Which you choose depends on how you want to process your topcoat/undercoat, how patient you are in letting topcoats harden, and how much you want to spend. For wood baits, I still like Devcon Two Ton epoxy after a dozen years of building lures. It's tough, hardens over night to a nice level, thick, beautiful finish. You have to brush epoxies on and it's recommended that you use a lure turner afterwards to keep the epoxy from sagging or dripping until it begins to harden. You can use Devcon both as an undercoating/primer and a topcoat. For plastic baits that don't require undercoating like wood, you just paint and topcoat so a thinner product like AC1310 (a solvent based concrete sealer) works well. My favorite is Dick Nite S81 moisture cured urethane but if you choose it, be sure to read up on all the handling and coating threads here on TU before choosing it. There is no cheap, easy to use, works-every-time, quick topcoat with optimum beauty and performance so you have to choose what to use, then learn its ins and outs, and maybe experiment with other coatings before you settle on the ideal product for your baits and the way you want to build them.

AC as a sealer: It might depend on what you're planning to use as a topcoat over it. Shouldn't have problem with an AC topcoat, or epoxies, but might with a solvent based topcoat like a urethane. Personally, for undercoating lures I'm looking for something that will armor the wood so it's tough and waterproof. If it's also fairly thick so that it can level out over minor wood imperfections, all the better. I prefer using an epoxy, Solarez UV cured polyester, or multiple dips in propionate. The AC seems a little too thin for that but I suppose it would work OK if the wood is perfectly smooth to begin with.

Looks like maybe it's another polyester UV resin (e.g. Solarez) but very pricey. A 2 lb can (looks like a quart?) is $90 - three times the cost of Solarez. But if it is crystal clear when cured, it would be a candidate to guys for whom money is no object. I hate the wax haze you get with Solarez.

If you're talking about true "heat setting" of Createx, you have to get it hot enough to actually melt the latex in the paint. This is done so it will adhere to cloth in T-shirts and the required temp is much higher than you want to heat a crankbait, lest you melt/blow it up (plastic) or cause air in a wood bait to expand and bubble the undercoating and paint layers. When we "heat set" paint on a crankbait, we are really just making sure that the paint is completely dry. I dry each color shot with a hair dryer because it's the best way to insure paint is dry before adding more. It will air dry eventually if you want, but I think a hair dryer or heat gun is a quick guarantee in the finish process. I just heat the paint until all the water gloss is gone and then add a few seconds to make sure. On your lacquer thinner question, I don't know if there is an answer because the stuff is usually a mix of solvents a manufacturer decides to put in a can and label "lacquer thinner". I use it to clean my epoxy brushes and tools but stopped putting it in epoxy when I discovered several problems with the end result.

Why not just sand them smooth?

Solarez contains wax flakes that rise to the surface of the finish after application in order to promote hardening of the polyester resin. IMO, the wax kills the resin's natural gloss and it also makes underlying paint detail look blurry to me. That's why I only use it for undercoating. Otherwise it would be a near perfect clearcoat! Most auto clearcoats have very high gloss - just like a new car. I think there are de-glossing additives that you can use in some clearcoats to get a matte finish but I'm not familiar with them. If you consider using an auto clearcoat, please pay attention to the safety provisions. They contain isocyanates which are very toxic.

Nah, personally, I prefer a high gloss finish for a topcoat and I haven't been able to get that with the Solarez.

I use Solarez as an undercoating on wood. Brush it on, put it on a rotator for a few minutes to level out, then run the rotator out in the sunshine for 15-20 mins. Done. I have a UV manicure light that I can use but it's so simple to use sunlight that it mostly sits on the shelf.

Fatfingers makes some of the most beautiful baits, including the topcoat, of any TU builder so I for one wouldn't dream of arguing his choices. I think in the end it boils down to how much trouble a builder is willing to go to in order to attain a specific result. Multiple coats of very slow curing epoxy are just not for me as a hobby builder. If I built large musky baits I'd probably have a different opinion. Guys who weren't around a few years ago for TU's Devcon vs ETEX Epoxy War missed some really "spirited exchanges" on this topic. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and I think it was a draw.

Flexcoat has not had a lot of play here on TU though it has been used by at least one experienced custom builder (benton b )in its UV version. I use it on rod guides but have always used D2T on crankbaits. Other guys like to use different epoxies - there are lots of choices and most slow cure epoxies will work one way or another. Another popular epoxy is Envirotex Lite (aka ETEX) which is a bar top epoxy that comes thinned with solvent and cures much more slowly and usually needs to be applied in several coats. If your big concern is yellowing, I think there are really only a few alternatives. 1) measure and mix properly to delay the problem arising. 2) try an epoxy that has UV filters but expect to pay more for it 3) try a different type clearcoat like a moisture cured urethane (e.g. Dick Nite), an automotive clearcoat, a high solids solvent based concrete sealer, or a UV cured polyester finish like Solarez. Besides epoxy, I've heard it said that any finish product that ends in "thane" will eventually yellow from UV exposure given enough time. Every clearcoat has advantages and disadvantages. You have to decide the issue based on your own likes/dislikes/budget/experience. For me, durability, a reliable esthetic appearance, and ease of use are important. I've tried many of the options and D2T is still my favorite for wood crankbaits. I have different favorites for plastic crankbaits, etc, and I try most of the "latest-greatest" ideas that come out on TU for clearcoats. But D2T still holds up. JMHO

UV light makes epoxy yellow over time. It happens more quickly if the epoxy was not measured and mixed as well as it could have been. There are several brands of epoxy that contain "UV filters", whatever that means, including Flexcoat UV and Nu Lustre. They cost more. Virtually all clearcoats yellow over time from UV exposure. I think it shows up more on epoxy because it's a thicker topcoat than most others. Maybe I'm just used to seeing a little yellowing, but I have epoxied baits in my garage that are 10 years old on which I can't detect it.

I use soft temper 302/304 ss wire for line ties and hook hangers because it's easy to shape and plenty strong enough for bass baits. The hard temper version of 302/304 ss wire has more than twice the tensile strength and I think it would be about as tough as you could get in stainless wire, though it would be much harder to shape. I recommend you look at the web pages for ss wire at mcmaster.com which lists various wire types and their physical properties. It's also a great place to order wire.

Can't see a legal reason not to do it but if it were me, i think a stick-on eye with an iris would be worth the extra two cents if I were selling baits. To each his own but I think the penny looks wierd. Jmho

You can spray water based airbrush paint at any temp as long as it doesn't freeze. I use a hair dryer to dry mine between colors, regardless of the temperature. I dry it on LOW initially until the water sheen is gone, then turn it on HIGH and blast it.

I install mine just before clearcoating too. Seems to me it's the best time if you want to avoid messing up the lip. I insert some scrap lip material in the lip slots during the finish process by which I hold them with forceps while undercoating and painting the baits. the scrap lips have holes drilled in the end so I can hang up the baits above my workbench during the process.

The thing you run into on topcoating a large piece of wood is that most thick topcoats will not really level out to look good over a large surface. That includes epoxy, which looks fine on small surfaces but only levels out if done with a pour-on product on a big flat surface. If you want a really tough high gloss finish, you might try wiping on tung oil in multiple coats over several weeks with fine sanding between coats as required. I did a cabinet with it years ago and the stuff is hard as nails.

There are a thousand things I don't know about Solarez but I read about adding MEKP to cure it and if memory serves, that's in very small amounts of a few drops. I think you're suggesting using MEKP as a thinner. I'm doubting you want to add enough to make a difference in the viscosity and leveling. But I don't know for sure. I feel your pain! It's too bad a finish that cures so quick and easy has so many limitations. My fall-back is to use Solarez only as an undercoating on raw wood. I can get it to smooth out OK as a topcoat on a bass bait (a very small surface) but I just can't get beyond its dull low gloss look that seems to muddy up underlying details on the paint job.

There are various options. If you plan to topcoat the bait with a slow cure epoxy like Devcon Two Ton after painting, one option is to seal the bait with the same stuff, then lightly sand it to provide a little "tooth" for the paint layers. Other options I use are Solarez UV cured polyester resin or multiple dips in propionate dissolved in acetone. It depends too on what you plan to use as a topcoat. Some topcoats work well with some sealers and paints, some don't. Epoxy as a sealer works with everything. If you choose a sealer that is solvent based, you have to be more careful about using particular solvent based topcoats with it, to avoid bad reactions.

Skeeter, you sound sorta bummed out but I've always thought of deep cranking as a specialized technique rather than something that will ever be generally popular. Guys who do it best have learned how productive it can be when practiced with modern sonars, good scouting techniques, and a few pieces of the right gear. Average Joes just out for a day of fun fishing? Not so much. Takes too much time and effort to be successful on water where they have not taken (or just don't have) the time to learn where deep bass are active. Average Joe is just lazy. Bass tournaments on Tennessee River impoundments and the big lakes in Texas and California drove the popularity of deep cranking. And on those waters it may have peaked somewhat due to over-use, with competitors sometimes having to switch to other deep moving baits like swimbaits or bucktail jigs to generate the best results. It is what it is. I'm sure the pendulum will swing back toward deep crankbaits again. Nothing ever goes away - it gets recycled. In the commercial arena, I also think the sale of custom wood deep runners has been cannibalized to some extent by the wave of silent commercial plastic crankbaits in the recent marketplace. Rely on Strike King and the other big companies to eat as much of the market as they can! I enjoy building deep running crankbaits for the added challenges of making them. And I prefer catching fish on something I made instead of something I bought. But that doesn't mean I won't throw commercial deep plastic crankbaits. Getting bit is job number one. "Sometimes they feel like a mint, sometimes they don't."