Snax

I use heavy gage stainless steel wire with a little bent tip at the part that comes out of the back. I make a tiny slot with a Dremel cutting wheel bit to counter sink it into then seal it with epoxy.

I agree too. That's a great all around airbrush that won't hold you back.

Beautiful fish!!! I miss fishing in Ottawa big time! (Lived there for 10 years)

One interesting observation regarding this matter is that there are parameters of lure thickness that you have to work within or the lures won't swim. It's the same thing with jerkbaits. The wood must be a certain thickness for a given lure length or it won't "glide". Interestingly though I use thinner wood (3/4") for my swimbaits and they swim perfectly than I can get away with when building gliders of the same overall length of about 10". I've also noticed that the taller side profile shapes such as the shad or panfish have a more exaggerated wiggle to them as a lipless swimbait and a tighter side to side glide when built up as a solid bodied glider jerkbait. Food for thought!

That's a great point about the adjustment for needle travel! I notice that every so often it's a good idea to pull the trigger all the way back and then turn that adjuster until you feel it push the trigger forward. Then back it off until you feel the trigger able to achieve full return.

Just wanted to comment on the thinning of paints. I have to disagree with Jed on what he said about Createx not needing to be thinned. The transparent colors are probably ok but the opaques or semi opaques will atomize much better when reduced. I use Auto Air 4011 series reducer which also reduces the Createx paints very nicely. It will allow you to lower your pressure down and let you get better details and finer lines without spidering or blow under your stencils.

Try removing the nozzle and very carefully use the needle tip to scrape the insides of it after you've soaked it in thinner for a bit. What I mean is instead of inserting the needle directly down the center of the nozzle angle it slightly so it catches the inside edges thus removing any build up. It's vital not to push too hard while doing this, just very gently. A good way to tell if you have paint build up in your brush is to loosen the needle chucking nut and then gently pull the needle back and forth by hand and feel how it seats in the nozzle. If it feels "mushy" it's contacting paint inside. It should come to a solid feeling stop when fully inserted. Don't insert the needle hard or you risk flaring out the nozzle. It's one of those techniques that requires a delicate touch but over time you'll know when there's build up just by how the needle feels when it reaches full seating in the nozzle. I'll often do this into a container of clean hot water with hot water also in the airbrush cup. You'll see little bits of paint coming out of the nozzle into the water if there's any build up.

Another possible cause for the loss of air flow is if the air hose to is too tight or too loose at the brush. Also you may want to ensure that the pin under the airbrush trigger is clean and lubed. You will need to remove the trigger assembly and use tweezers to pull out the pin. Once in a while I'll actually strip down the airbrushes as completely as I can and then clean and lube them meticulously. If you aren't getting anything to spray while the needle is out then either your nozzle is blocked or there is an airflow problem. I'm much better and solving the problems than I am at explaining how to do it.

Yes it's water based Mark. I use it exclusively now and love it. I recommend reducing it with the Auto Air 4011 series reducer. Build it up with light coats. I suggest spraying it over a white base coat for faster coverage.

I was just about to post the link to my Iwata articles but I see that someone beat me to it. Hope you find them helpful.

I have a better option for you Mark. Try using Auto Air series 4100 Aluminum Base (Fine). It is extremely reflective, even more so than the Createx pearl silver. It is made from finely ground aluminum in a binder. Use a blow drier to heat set it before painting over it with your other colors. I think you'll find the resulting finish more than shiny enough when the sun hits it.

Another masterpiece! Awesome John!!!

SWEEEEEEEET!!!

Hmmm....Now that I think about it could you mold a bait from the propionate? I'm guessing that the answer is no due the the evaporation factor.

Not sure what the results would be but it popped into my head the other day and I wondered if anyone had tried to mold a lure entirely from epoxy? I figure that we use it to protect the wood underneath so what if we just made the whole darn thing from it? lol Any thoughts guys?

Great post Vodkaman! Lure making has been very good to me and I've been fortunate enough to become fairly well known for my style. Now I'm getting to the point where I really would like to step production of some of my designs up a notch and make some lower priced solid plastic versions. The dilemma is that while I could then make and sell a ton more lures per year, the perceived "value" of the lures will be lessened as they are no longer hand crafted. Also, airbrushing that many more lures every day is going to become robotic and less and less creative. I'm thinking that having photo finished type solid plastics would be the best way to go if they are to be mass produced so I can leave my airbrushing passion intact. What do you guys think?

I should have the new no drip Nu-Lustre 55 by the end of next week. They are just finalizing the instruction pamphlets now. I'm really looking forward to trying this stuff out. It will be perfect for folks like us who have always had to rotate our baits to avoid runs and drips on the finishes. It cures in 24 hours and can be brushed on from what I have been told. The added time and expense of making the lures rotate for hours as epoxy cures is something we'd all like to do away with.

I'll give my own experiences with using the MAC valve. I don't know how I lived without it now that I've used it for the past couple of years. It makes it so much easier to dial in just the right pressure to not only get fine details but also just to atomize the paint perfectly. I run my regulator pressure higher than I would normally and then dial the pressure down for painting. When it comes time to clean out the airbrush, I simply crank the MAC valve wide open and blast all the paint and crud out of the brush with the high pressure. Another great use of the MAC valve that I do is it is awesome for dialing down the pressure so that the paint just spits out when you rock the trigger back and forth. This creates all the tiny dots you see on some of my baits. The dots are commonly known as "stipple" and just by tweaking the MAC valve slightly you can get larger or smaller dots. That alone makes it worth the money for me. Having to change the regulator all the time is a pain and having access to the air pressure right at my finger tips makes my airbrushes far more user friendly.

Fatfingers took the very words out of my mouth...OUTSTANDING!!!