fishnart

Ben thats exactly what I'm thinking now. Why would someone tape the bills for you, never have in the past like you say...same with the broken one.

Yeah, I don't know why I'm reluctant either...silly. But yeah, I've learned to ck them better now. Thanks for your input.

Thanks for the tips guys, might try the sanding and dipping for practice but yeah, for just one bait I'm not sure if its worth it. Rayburnguy, for some reason I feel guilty returning them. I don't want to trash talk the company so I won't mention them, they've been good in the past with issues that have come up. My last order of these baits I received two with broken lips (they did offer to take them back). And I'm pretty sure the one with the taped broken lip was in this order also, along with the painted one. Not sure how that happened, I didn't treat it rough, drop it or anything, heck the lip was protected by the tape??? Thats why I was wondering what these things are made of?? Plus its been a while since I received these, I feel bad returning them now. Just learned to inspect them when I get them from now on.

Ordered some RC 2.5's a while back and they came with the lips already taped. I thought, oh wow...cool. So yesterday I painted one, spent half the day on it painting a lot of details on a very realistic bait, looked good. Took the tape off and the lip was broken in half underneath. What a wasted day. So today, I grabbed another to do that one over, clients waiting on them. Spent half the day again painting same bait. Took the tape off and the dang lip had some kind of yellow coloring on it. Dried paint it looked like cause it had some shimmer to it...couldn't get it off. Finally used laquer thinner and a qtip and was able to get some of it off, but the lip seems to be stained. But also the thinner made the lip get rough or soft and now is a little cloudy. What the heck? Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do with this lip? I really don't want to piant this thing again, I have a ton of others to do. Whats the lip made of to where the laquer thinner had that reaction?

You mean the tubed acrylics in that link? You thinned them with water and sprayed them? hmmmmm?

Get'n me some alcohol tomorrow...thanks and then I"m gonna get some for my epoxy hahahaha

@Bobp-I never realized that but does dragging your brush over dry areas cause bubbles? I do that sometimes by accident. I HATE bubbles and there are times I can't get them out no matter how hard try. Do any of you know if theres a difference in using lauquer thinner to thin the epoxy vs. the alcohol??? I'm very anal and this is what I do to save money, it s a real pain in the arsh but it works for me. I do all of the same abve but I use popsicle stix to mix it. Right after I mix a batch I wipe the stick off and reuse it. I have a little cup of lauquer thinner and once I've epoxied my bait I wipe my two mixing cups out, pour the thinner in them and clean my two cups and brush off really well. I get many many uses out of my cups and brushes this way. This is only for the most anal money saver I know lol

I just spray a thin coat of primer over it and it works fine. Don't have to scrub or sand anything, unless of course the bait is messed up.

Sheewwww, tried to read all this but can't keep up lol. I don't build my own baits but I do buy the knock-offs that people sell and paint them. If someone tried to copy my paint jobs I would take it as a compliment.

Hey Mike, you'll enjoy us....

Thanks for the compliments guys. Very thoughtful. Crankpaint I've worried about that with my repro fish. I worry that I'm gonna drop them and chip them or something while painting them, that would soooo suck. Uh, I think I just jinxed myself. Not painting any fish for a while...

Haha, thanks Mark. I don't build my baits, I just use plastic ones I buy or repaints. I can only imagine if you build one and its not right, thats a lot more work than I do. Cheap Trix, I started to do the same thing, let my kids paint one for me to use. Luckily a little windex and a toothbrush and good as new for me. Doesn't even take the primer off.

I spent five hours yesterday painting about 10 really detailed baits only to have them not turn out perfect. Sooo frustrating, washed the paint off and today and have to start all over again....waisted five hours of precious time.

yup thats it bbf, sometimes I use acrylic paints with a brush to apply washes. Just add water to a spot of paint on your pallet until you get the desired color or wash, painting it on paper until you get what you want. I also use a paint brush to "blot" or "dab" paint on.

haha thanks saltshaker

I mostly do realistic baits so mine are pretty precise and I have a specific plan. Plus I am sooooo anal, it has to be EXACT AND PERFECT or....I do it all over. I drive myself crazy. I keep saying that I want to make some of my own patterns, wing it and see what I come up with but I enjoy what I already do so much that I can't stop. Eventually I'm just gonna put all of my ref material away and just paint.

Carver thats not bad at all...just have to practice practice practice. One thing to practice is to look past all the surface colors and see what underneath. Also, almost all of the time something isn't one color, there a combination of colors. For example the markings on my bait are a combination of several different colors, one over top the other using thin washes. And then you add the shimmers that are always present in a fish. Find some good photos on the internet blow them up to where you can still see the detail and just study them. I've spent hours on end just studying close ups of fish. Its actually alot of fun and you can practice your color mixes on paper until you find the right mix. Hope this helps you some...and thanks to all for you compliments!

Get your airbrush, colored pencils, acrylics and paint brushes, q-tips, ref material and start painting....

I use them all the time, I just put a couple coats of sealer on first which helps protect the paint. I also do the same as above, pre mold my wire. But the sealing it helps alot.

Thanks Rayburn guy for directing me to the page. Hummm not sure. I can't really tell from the pic that its fish skin, seems like it would be a bit more work to me. Skinning the fish, treating the skin and then applying it to the bait, and that itself seems like it would be hard. I to taxidermy too and have worked with fish skins. I think it would be hard to put it on a bait. But hey, what ever works for you. I always throw mine back too, except for a striper or two when I wanna fry some up