Getting started - need advice

[CajunBlade]

I plan to start painting crank baits and have 3 questions:

• What type of air brush should I get (brand/model) and recommended accessories?
  
• What brand and type of paint, colors and quantity should I get?
  
• What is a reasonable process to follow in painting crank baits?

Any information will be very helpful because I know nothing on this very interesting hobby that I hope to really enjoy.

Thanks

[fatfingers]

Water-based paints like Createx are popular because they require no harmful solvents and are widely available for purchase.

The airbrush is a function of budget, but the Iwata brand is arguably the most popular brand.

The painting process (my version):

1. Seal the wooden bait body with sanding sealer.

2. Prime the bait (I use Krylon Fusion white spray paint as my primer)

3. Spray base colors (such as silver on the sides, white on the belly, and green on the back for example)

4. Apply a coat of sealer to protect the base colors (I seal with Devcon 2 ton epoxy or Krylon clear spray paint). If you seal between layers like this, you can often wipe off any mistakes you make when applying scales, gills, stripes, etc., instead of completely re-priming the bait and starting over.

5. Apply details such as scale effects (spray the paint over the base coat through netting), or details like stripe (spray black through a stencil onto the body), or gill details (again..use a stencil).

6. Clear the bait with envirotex lite or Devcon 2 ton epoxy.

The "search" function will provide tons of additional pointers and tips. This board has dozens and dozens of guys who will stop and take the time to help the newer guys.

[Predator Bass Baits]

Fat fingers,

What if it is a plastic crank ? and one un painted or one that is painted.

or a rapala DT that is pre painted.

Thanks.

[BobP]

Give the surface some "tooth" by light sanding with 400 grit, then shoot a white basecoat and colors, etc. I don't recommend heavy sanding on a wood bait to remove finish. If you hit bare wood on a balsa bait, you're in deep kimshi. If you're concerned about the weight of the new finish, you can also dip clearcoat the bait with moisture-cured polyurethane like Dick Nite Fishermun's Lurecoat, a very hard, thin, glossy coating. There's often an ad for DN at the top of this page. Click on it and you will be led to a discounted trial sample offer.

[altimas]

Water-based paints like Createx are popular because they require no harmful solvents and are widely available for purchase.

The airbrush is a function of budget, but the Iwata brand is arguably the most popular brand.

The painting process (my version):

1. Seal the wooden bait body with sanding sealer.

2. Prime the bait (I use Krylon Fusion white spray paint as my primer)

3. Spray base colors (such as silver on the sides, white on the belly, and green on the back for example)

4. Apply a coat of sealer to protect the base colors (I seal with Devcon 2 ton epoxy or Krylon clear spray paint). If you seal between layers like this, you can often wipe off any mistakes you make when applying scales, gills, stripes, etc., instead of completely re-priming the bait and starting over.

5. Apply details such as scale effects (spray the paint over the base coat through netting), or details like stripe (spray black through a stencil onto the body), or gill details (again..use a stencil).

6. Clear the bait with envirotex lite or Devcon 2 ton epoxy.

The "search" function will provide tons of additional pointers and tips. This board has dozens and dozens of guys who will stop and take the time to help the newer guys.

this post really has helped me a lot, but I have a lot of baits I want to "Repaint" like a few Rapala Jerkbaits I don't like th colors on and some Plastic cranks that could just use a new paint job. Do you mind offering a step by step process I could follow to do a "repaint"?