crzyjunyer

after playing with them some more i found out i love the results i got when i painted a scaled patern over a white base using multiple coats to get better color depth and then i came back over it with some auto air candy pigments in the same color as the flip flop and after clear coat the effect on the scales really popped out in a ghost effect. i dont know that i will use them as an every day paint but in combo with a candy type paint over it i really like the effect it has on the scale pattern and how it comes and goes and changes with the angle and light.

i have looked at capt hooks and dont see some of the ones i am looking at (like the gamu ewg's) listed for sale so i am looking more at shortys still if i go that route, but i appreciate the info nathan.

i am looking into business options about selling my lures locally and/or online and being "legit" and if i do so i will probably get an account with shorty's but until then i dont know aout ordering from them. If i do i may resell hooks in smaller batches locally and/or online as well too. bob, what did you not like about the vmc's and prefer in the mustads? I dont mind paying more for a better product, i just wonder if others like the vmc are comparable in quality for a lower price since they dont have to pay to have kvd's name and endorsements on top of actual costs.

I have currently been using either the kvd triple grip mustads or gamu ewg hooks on my cranks. I am wondering how the vmc barbarian and oshaunnessy bend hooks compare in performance. I am looking for a better priece on hooks than what im paying now (7$/11) since i cant find the kvd or gamu's i want in bulk and have even had a member check on shortys in the past (but not again recently). i am a big fan of the kvd hooks but not the price. I hooked my thumb last fall past the barb with one and barely felt it go in (out is a diffrent story). The vmc hooks i am looking at are about half the price i have found. I like the sharper bend and wider gap short hooks on my cranks and feel i lose less fish to throwing with this design. I am just looking for a better value for my money with out sacrificing quality.

i reuse old containers of paint as well as some i ordered from coast airbrush for the few custom colors i have done. i usually do my mixing/thinning before it goes in my gravity feed. i use communion cups to mix in. They are pefect for me - clear, small, and cheap. I dont have but a few custom colors, just a bone, platinum pearl (great for scales under a candy/transparent), and a few more.

i would definitly highly reccoend the eclipse hp-cs as well. Its my main brush i use. I have found its a great all purpose brush, with parts (needles/nozzles will be needed no matter what eventualy) readily available adn one you shouldnt outgrow no matter your skill level becomes. Wit the 40% off coupon at hobby lobby it would be in your budget as well. Hobby lobby also has a good selection of createx and wicked paints available in most stores too, and online retailers like coastairbrush.com have basicly anything you can imagine too good luck and welcome to the addiction - er i mean hobby

thanks guys. I painted up some with it last nite and tried it over AA sealer white and dark and i can see uses for both. It seems to be more of a heavy pearl to me than a true "flip flop" like i was looking for but i think it will make for a great under scale color over sealer dark as well as being a nice shader/tinter. I am waiting on some more new AA paints to arrive today from coast airbrush and can play with them some tonite and tomorow and then hopefully clear coat some this weekend to see how they all look under clear coat. This was my first experience with smith wildlife paints but so far i like them overall and will look for more colors probably to use. I tried the purple/white and blue/white and really like the way it sprayed and went on. The green/white i ordered was bad it seemed out of the bottle. It was super thick and when i looked into the bottle it was only half full so im thinking it was either mixed wrong and had no thinner or the thinner evaproated out. I called mckenzie today about it and got the issue resolved in well under 5 min. I am very happy with them and will definitly be using them again.

yea - im hoping to play with them some tonite when they arrive on some of my "practice" blanks and repaints. In your experience have you had any trouble with mixing those paints and auto air? Not direct mixing before paint but in using a layer of smith paint over an auto air base and/or auto air over smith paints, after a cure/dry time? This is my first smith paints i have purchased and i use 90% auto air now for painting.

i agree with brent and mark. I thought thats what made this site such an amazing tool and resource for lure making. Instead of spending my time and money (both in very limited amounts available to me and most others im sure) working to find out what others before me have already found out by trial and error i can learn from them and what they experienced and then hopefully build upon that with my own trial and error. Then i can return the favor and help them and others with my findings. Learing and searching on here has put me leaps and bounds ahead of where i would be in my techiniques and ablilites over where i would be if i had to learn it all on my own by failures and successes alone. Even in this day of "instant gratification" i am stll very appreciative of others who are willing to take a precieous few minutes of their time and help others like me in furthering our craft and i try to do the same for others as well.

i just recently puchased some of these paints and was wondering how many of yall out there use them some and if there was any tips/tricks to getting the most out of them. They should be in for me to play and experiment with tomorow. I searched on them some but wasnt able to find much info but that some use them. The most recent post i could find on it was from 2010. The colors i got was white/purple, white/blue, and white/green. The look im hoping for is a white look straight on and the color shift when turned and veiwed at angles. I have seen this look on store bought lures and want to try and replicate it myself.

i usually try to eliminate them from the area before i paint first, which is a challenge with my yellow lab. I normally try to limit her access to my paint room to begin with but then i also do a quick sweep off of the desk i paint on. I also paint in disposable gloves. To me the best way to get them out of the paint is prevent it to begin with. Once they are in even if the paint is wet I normally have to tweezer them out and then nearly start over on painting to smooth it back out.

to me an air compressor would be more usefull overall since a lathe is limited on what you can do with it. with a good general purpose air compressor you can paint with airbrush as well as run small air tools as well.

for an airbrush i would reccomend an iwata eclipse cs - its my main workhorse brush and i havent found anything i wanted to do it would not do (my abilites are another story lol) - its not the fanciest or most expensive one but its also not the cheapest one and its a brush you can keep using no matter your skill level i belive - i reccomend coast airbrush to order one - great prices and i have found their customer svc to be stunningly good one any question i had - always pleasant and easy to work with and able to answer any question i had about the products

im with bob in that i most always use transparents for my painting choices over opaques simpl for the versatility - i still use some createx/wicked paints but im mostly using auto air line from createx now. i just like the way it looks better - it seems to have a more vibrant look to me - i am also beginning to use some house of kolor paints too but its a diffrent animal being a solvent base and reqiures a good organic vapor respirator - coast airbrush is my go to place for paint and they carry all of these paints and also do the HOK paints in small quanities pre-reduced

i was searching for these again online and still have not found any place to buy them (did find this thread in my search lol) and i noticed that even war eagle lures has discontinued their line of these blades on their lures too - i emailed war eagle yesterday about some info on these blades and im hoping to hear from them soon - so i figured i would check here agian too

ive been using a low end "shopline" clear system from ppg - its a 2:1 and about $80 for a quart of clear and 2 pints of hardener and will cover a ton of lures - i normally prep my lures with a wax/grease remover, base coat with auto air sealer white, paint with mostly autoair paints. i normally heat set after each color and do a final heat set when im done. i usually set the lures over nite or so before applying eyes and then clear coat then. I usually spray 5-6 thin coats of clear and they seem to be holding up well. I still get some hook rash a lil and when i bang them up on rocks and bridge columns and suck they do chip a lil but so do "store bought" lures as well

im with bob on the frisket material - its become one of my most useful supplies now - i pick mine up locally from hobby lobby (40% off coupon n i are really close freinds) - other things ive found are diffrent netting or bridal veil materialfor scaling, drill bits and flat top toothpicks for eyes/spots, and i also have used diffrent stincils for other things on baits as well like i use a curve on a "true fire" stencil for gills - i like it because i can get a hard edge on the front end and a soft edge going to the body - basicly just let your imagination run wild and you can find all sorts of things usefull

welcome from just down the road !!

ive also used the small communion cups sicne early on for mixing paint as well as when i used epoxy as a clear coat - they are transparent so i get a good look at the paint as well as just right for the small cup on my eclipse cs - and at under $20 for 1000 cups cheaply disposable

one thing i have noticed though about the newer high end rods that are using foam again is that it doesnt feel the same to me as my older cheaper rods do - it seems to be a diffrent type of foam on the carrot stix and other rods than my old quantums and cheaper rods used and still use

hey guys - this morning i was watching "trucks" on spike - they were using a moisture cure urethane sealant/paint and used butane from a microtorch (unlit of course) as an inert barrier to protect the coating from curing in the can I personally have no experience with DN myself ( i use 2 part auto urethane) so i dont know for sure about it but from what i have learned on here it is a great top coat other than the storage this may be a good idea though to try since butane is a more readily available and (probably) cheaper solution to bloxegen so i figured i was worth a share

i just recently purchased some of these from predator lures and was wondering if anyone else ahd had any expeience with these. I am looking for info on how to do the joint area (never tried a jointed lure before), as well as info on how to attach the rear tail and when to do so (ie. before or after clear) i will be using auto air paint and or createx/wicked to paint and a 2 part auto clear to topcoat also anyone had good/bad results with it? how does it actually swim/retreive etc.. and tips from use? i already plan to take it to my "test tank" - the concrete indoor pool at the shool i work at - which has been very helpful since its ultra clear to the bottom to actually see how the lures actually look underwater with diffrent retrieves and being concrete/tile no worries aobut hook damage

also you may want to plan for future growth/enjoyment too - i did some research and what i deciede was going to work best for me was starting with an eclips cs w/ the .35 tip and later on i came back and added and eclipse hps w/ the .5 tip. I like this setup since i can use the CS as my workhorse and main brush, but for doing lots of one color or basecoating or top coating i use the HPS. Another advantage to this setup is i can swap the .5 tips into the CS with no problem and use it to spray heavier/thicker paints or flakes and metallics. Im not saying this is the perfect setup for you or anyone else, its just what i found works for me. I prefer to really think into the future on things especially tools and such and i usually spend more for a better, higher quality tool to begin with rather than buy it twice. It all depends on your budget and other factors as well

have you tried doing it in 2 steps? like painting it green and then going over it with light coats of a tranparent or candy yellow? ive done some similar to that and it can take on a more golden green color

wel i am also single and live with just my dog for a room mate so i dont have a "honey do" list or other obligations either and im def not a morning person. The biggest thing is it relaxes me and lets me be creatinve and unwind. I get as much or more benifit and satisfaction from that part of it as i do catching fish on my lures or selling them.