crzyjunyer

a further update - i now have some actual lures painted and they look ok but i still need practice (pics coming after clear dries) - i have since learned that using the wicked line reducer really helps and works tons better than water for thinnning paint im also experimenting with diffrent colors on diffrent base colors to see diffrent effects/colors and its been intresting - such as if i paint tranparent orange over opaque black it makes a really nice olive green/brown color and wicked gold over tranparent blue makes for a realy need purple pearl type effect it seems ive also noticed how much of a diffrence the clear (im using d2t) adds to the lure's final appearance - i had a few jig heads i had painted solid colors and was iffy about how a few looked til i cleared tehm and was super pleased with the final appearance

thanks for the help guys - i was able to find some of the devcon at a local shop i hadnt thought of off a reccomendation from a coworker - i just got 5 old lures coated with it afte basecoating them white for practice purposes (seal, paint, wash off, repeat) i have 2 rattletraps, 2 of my fave lipped crankbaits, and a pop-r curing now - i figure taht will give me some practice on diffrent lures to paint btw - i talked to the folks at my local ACE and they could order me the devcon in a day or so but id have to order and get a whole box of 6 packs of it

I am unable to find any of the ddevcon 30min epoxy around here and was wondering if anyone had used the ace brand epoxy. Im only wanting to top coat a few lures over a white base coat for practicing painting so i dont wan to wait on anyy o be shipped right now.

gunnie how does the retarder affect things like drying time on the project? or does heat curing take care of that as well? also is that mix rate for a 2oz bottle? another question on heat curing - is it better to heat cure each color on each time or just once as a final step?

yea ive had trouble cleaning the inside of the nozzle i know - ive been afraid to use the needle to clean it for fear of damaging the needle - i saw a suggestion on of the airbrush specific forums about using an unltrasonic jewelry cleaner to clean the delicate/diffucult places like that - ive been wanting one for cleaning my watches as it is - im gong to order some more paint and things in the vey near future and per your suggestions ben im going to add some restorer and some reducer as well to thin paint with sbaits - i usually do a test spray on a scrap peice of cardboard first - when i notice the effect most is when i sparay for a second, stop and move to a diffrent section, and start again and on the restart is when i notice it most - even if i do use a papertowel with my fingernails to wipe off the needle tip it still happens some - im guessing its due to underthinned paint perhaps?

yea ive been trying to adjust the air pressure down some as i thin the paint down but im still having mixed results with it - it seems like it does a liil better to me with just barely turning it down some - when ive tried it at 10lbs or less it seems it wants to just not spray til i pull the trigger back further and then it shotgun blasts out and is several spots instead of even a line - i increase it a lil bit at a time on a scrap peace and then when it starts to spray it spiders again i still notice this the most with white - it is defintly seems to be my nemisis right now - i cant seem to get the mix right when thinning and it also seems to tip dry and spider/stipple the worst - next is the candy green but after thinning a lil its not as bad btw i forgot to mention the paints im using earlier - i got the createx "opaque set" w/ white, black, red, yellow, blue, and green, some createx transparent orange and blue (war eagle), and createx candy green - all in the standard createx line - i havent ventured into the wicked or auto-air or with any other brand paits yet

ok so i finally got my airbrush in this week and have been practicing/playing with it and here are a few things ive learned so far 1. this is a lot harder than it looks 2 this is a lot harder than it looks 3 thinning definitly helps but is a definite art form in itself i think - under thin and you get tip dry problems and inconsistant spraying - over thin and it wont stick and/or splatters and spiders like crazy 4 white is the most difficult one to thin so far to me as well as spray consistantly - maybe this is because its a stark contrast and shows flaws more - idk for sure 5 plastic communion cups are excellent paint cups for small sizes - they hold about the same amount of paint as my airbrush cup and are clear and CHEAP ($5/100 or $20/1000) - i just felt a lil guilty buying them sicne i know eventually ill end up mixing paint for skulls and/or flames in them 6 this is harder than it looks (but addictingly enjoyable) 7 an old towel on my lap over old shorts is a much wiser choice than any pants i may actually care about - especially when i already have a habit of wiping everything on them as it is 8 i want/need more paint 9 i need to stock up on paper towels 10 an old honey mustard bottle works better for pouring water for cleaning the airbrush and is also ok for mixing larger quanities of paint (basecoats etc...) - i found it works a lot better than the measuring cup i was using since the bottle has a "squeeze" lid and i spill less water 11 i currently cannot draw a straight line or steady curve to save my life - but i feel eventually i will when i build up the muscle strength/stamina for it - currently my forearms/index finger are sore 12 air pressure is a finicky thing as well 13 its definitly going to take lots of practice and patience 14 im going through cleaner like mad but i am getting better at cleaning my airbrush between colors and after painting - thinning has helped this as well 15 did i mention its harder than it looks? thats just a few things ive learned so far - as for my equipment im using i have a small oil-less pancake style air compressor a small water filter/dryer then a 50' hose going to my airbrush set up on it i have a quick connect going to a pressure regulater then a good water seperator/dryer a pressure guage (0-60psi 1psi increments) a 10' braided hose and finally i decided on an iwata eclipse HP-CH airbrush adn really like it so far - it seems to be much more capable than me (big suprise lol) like i said i encourage any more advice, suggestions, comments, etc.. to further my abilities in this new hobby of mine - ive already learned a lot from the search button and the wealth of experience on here

the guy who showed it to me was former air force - he was old school and always "assess, adapt, and overcome" on the fly with waaay out of the box ideas sometimes - but they usually worked very well

actually there is - we have done this at work on "have to have it running now" situations - tampons make excellent filters/dryers for compressed air - use some 1/2 steel pipe and a cut to fit screen off a sink and there you go - super absorbant filter on the cheap - but embarrassing side also i have used the paint app that is defaulted on most windows computers before with good results to shrink pics - resizing is under the image tap on it and you can set the amount you want to reduce/enlarge there

i just ordered my equipment to start up painting this morning from coast airbrush and so far i am super impressed with their prices and customer svc. i looked around and filled a shopping cart with the airbrush, paint, hoses, etc... at several places including chicago airbrush and coast was the cheapest overall when you include shipping. i just got off the phone with thier customer svc - the airbrush i ordered (iwata revolution br) was on backorder from iwata and it wouldnt be in til the 14th so they called me about the order and i was able to swap it for the revolution cr (same price already) with no problems to get my order out today

i cant say for sure on that motor with out actually tearing into it and inspecting it but from my expeiences at work with gearboxes and such that sounds like you do have some missing/broke teeth on the gears - at best it may be misaligned

It seems most of yall are painting on wood lures. The ones im looking at doing are mostly plastic ones since thats what kind of store bought llures i use the most of (ratttle traps ans norman middle n's). Is the prepwork or overall paint process any diffrent on plastics as opposed to wood ?

Thanx. Thats a really good idea i hadnt even considered. I may do that to some of the old lures ive found and picked up over the years we have just sitting around in the garage and on the boat. I had already planned to practice oon some of them but with your idea i can get more than one shot wih each one. Given the inevitablity of screwing up a pant job on a "keeper" lure, what are options for fixing it? Or is it kind of play b ear on each mess up?

another qeustion - instead of buying a air bed for powder paints can they be sprayed out of an airbrush instead after heating?

yea i figure its gonna take a lot of time, practice, and patience to get my hand/brush to get what my brain/eye wants - i was curious as to if there is a learning curve again when switching between materials being painted since i plan to start off practicing on paper and cardboard before i start on lures for cost reasons

I have decided to order an airbrush to start doing custom colors on my jigs and start doing some crankbaits as well. I have decided to go with an iwata revolution br airbrush after reading posts on here and researching the topic. I have never used an aibrush before in my life so my plan is to lean the ropes on it and learn control of the gun and techniques for it on paper (its infinitly cheaper) and then switch to lures when i feel i have a good control of the airbrush. I was wondering if anyone else has done this as well and if there is a learnign curve when switching from a flat paper suface to a plastic or wood surface with curves and diffrent absorpion characteristics and such - would it be to my advantage to save old TP rolls to practice on curve shapes first? or practice on plastic spoons? what are some good paints to learn on? i will be doing this in a makeshift workshop in my spare bedroom so i plan to be using waterbased paints mainly and possibly some powders as well. when i thin the paints or clean/backflush my gun is it better to use filtered or bottled water or is tap water fine? what kind of tools/materials are good tricks for getting diffrent paterns? ive seen diffrent screens and combs with missing teeth for getting scale and stripes - what others things work well?

my go to lure has always been a norman lures middle n inthe spring crawdad color - it has worked for me in muddy waters like my local lakes on the coosa (weiss, neely henry, logan martin) as well as on clearer lakes such as guntersville and especially in eufaula - my last trip to eufaula i was either throwing it or a shakey tail jig - for 4 days of fishing

reeves thatnks for the link - those are not quite what im looking for but i may order some to try and see how they do since it is diffrent from the normal willow blade and see what they can do - the ones im looking for are almost identical to a normal willow blade except at the base around the eyelet they indent in similar to the base of an arrowhead - most ive ever seen also are stamped "ultra vibe" into the blade as well near the eyelet fatman i got your PM and will be letting you know something shortly

thanks for the help - i tried searching and found a few articles (not that one though) that kinda dashed my hopes but it was worth a shot to see if something had changed i guess - i found them at one called "bubbajackstackle" but they are now closed - i also tried calling them this afternoon and left a voicemail and maybe i will get a call back - i guess next i will email zoom about them - i dont care about the "ultra vibe" name i just want the arrowhead shape blades - i may just resort to finding some similar willow blades and doctoring them up with a grinder and file or something

i i am trying anything i can find to locate some ultra vibe spinnerbait blades in nickel, stainless, or brass colors. i have googled for a while with no luck except for one place in NC and when i went to order some they were out of business already - i have always loved thearrowhead design of the blad and prefer it on a thinner guage wire than most companies use for better action and have a coworker make my spinnerbaits for me - anyhelp will be much appreciated in my quest for these blades