Painting "ghost" Baits

[RayburnGuy]

I bought some unpainted crankbait bodies and wanted to paint some "ghost" baits with these. Figuring that lightly sanding to give the paint something to grab onto would take away from the finish I was trying to achieve. I looked into Bulldog adhesion promoter and they recommended using several other products, such as their cleaner, before using the adhesion promoter. Not wanting to spend a bunch of money unnecessarily I was hoping someone here at TU could steer me in the right direction as to the proper process or tell me the steps they use in painting ghost baits.

thanks guys,

Ben

[clamboni]

I bought some unpainted crankbait bodies and wanted to paint some "ghost" baits with these. Figuring that lightly sanding to give the paint something to grab onto would take away from the finish I was trying to achieve. I looked into Bulldog adhesion promoter and they recommended using several other products, such as their cleaner, before using the adhesion promoter. Not wanting to spend a bunch of money unnecessarily I was hoping someone here at TU could steer me in the right direction as to the proper process or tell me the steps they use in painting ghost baits.

thanks guys,

Ben

IMO, no need for adhesion promoter. I've used it in the past, it doesn't really seem to me to make much of a difference and adds an extra step.

Just thoroughly sand them with a fine grit wet paper before you paint. I use 240 to get the backs and bellies smooth where they glued them together. Then go over with 400 wet. Stick to transparent colors. When you clearcoat them it'll fill in the sanding marks and you won't even know they're there. I actually even sand the cloudy lips on Jann's baits that i paint. I just remove the masking tape and clear right over them.

Edited January 6, 2010 by clamboni

[Yardape]

Well Hello Ben, Clamboni is sending you down the right road. Stick with the transparents and you won't go wrong, very light coats and don't try any of the transparents from transpar you won't like them...8^)

[JLester]

Hay Rayburnguy, I've sanded down clear DD 22's and Bomber 9A's. Mix a little createx paint in D2T and brushed it on. Mix the paint to how much light you want to come through. It works goood!

[clamboni]

Hay Rayburnguy, I've sanded down clear DD 22's and Bomber 9A's. Mix a little createx paint in D2T and brushed it on. Mix the paint to how much light you want to come through. It works goood!

Lester, I think you're making too much work for yourself. If you airbrush, you're losing that by brushing your paint on, especially mixed with the epoxy. Even if you don't airbrush, you can still brush your paint on, then put on your epoxy. Thin it down if you want it lighter. I just think if you're putting paint in the epoxy, it's on there.........if you put paint on, then epoxy, you can still change your mind a little easier before you put the epoxy on.

But, bottom line is............if it's sanded with a fine enough paper that your topcoat will fill it in without showing the marks, the bait will be clear.

[RayburnGuy]

Thanks everyone. That the paint will fill in the scuff marks left by the sanding was my main concern. Didn't want to paint a "ghost" bait that looked like it had been in a razor fight.

thanks again,

Ben

[CL Rods]

Well I'd say you need to look beyond just the Transparent/Translucent paints and consider a few others. But first, I agree with clamboni, in that all you need to do is lightly sand them, and then clean them off.

I would also recommend you try using colors like white or silver pearl in very light coats or you can mix them with the Createx translucent base / illustrator base products. I also use Jacquard Irridescent powders mixed in Createx Translucent base and these give outstanding effects.

In one point of disagreement, I find the Transpar paints to be good products when used in an appropriate manner (yes they are a bit finicky). You can not be heavy handed with these, they must be sprayed in very light coats, and it helps to use their products geared at avoiding tip drying, mixed with the paints in order to keep them spraying and flowing evenly. I really like the PolyTranspar Brown, Gold Toner, and Bass Green series especially.

The nice part is with all of these water base products, if you don't like it scrub it off and try a new approach. You have all winter...

[Frank]

Ive been watching this post and no one even mentioned a skuff pad which give the best tooth for any type of paint. If they have seams then yes you will need to sand then scuff the rest and you will be fine. A piece of sand paper will only sand the tops but the scuff pad will roll into the small inperfections of any surface. So if you have some detail like scales or gills it will not remove that. The bulldog stuff was made for painting plastics that have an adhesion problems. The baits that we paint are not in that type of category. There cleaners are more like soap , really mild solvents and sometimes grit that will gently clean. Frank

Edited January 7, 2010 by Frank

[mark poulson]

When I repaint a lure to a ghost pattern, I scrape/wet sand until the old paint is off, and all I have left it the transparent plastic, which is typically cloudy from scraping and sanding.

I typically remove the eyes, since they're too hard to mask, and I have more to add after paint.

Then I dip the lure in some clean acetone, holding it by the bill, which I've masked off with blue tape, and hang it by the line tie to dry.

The acetone dissolves the outer layer (micro thin layer) of the original plastic, and gets rid of all the scraping and sanding marks.

And it leaves a clean surface that the paint will bond to.

Then I spray the back and shoulders with irridescent violet paint from Wildlife. Really light coats, heat set between coats, building until I can just barely see the violet when I roll the lure back and forth.

I add some 3d eyes. The site sponsor on the right of this page sells really good ones, cheap.

Then I coat it with SC9000 urethane, and it's ready to fish.

I've fished lots of my baits finished like this and never had a paint failure.

Bear in mind, when a plastic lure is in the water, the water fills the scratches and makes it appear smooth, anyway, the same way those "miracle" eyeglass restorers work.

You can test this by wetting a sanded lure, and seeing how clear it becomes.

[Fishwhittler]

Translucent paint is the best paint for painting "ghost" colored baits, but you can also spray thin layers of non-translucent paint to get similar effects. The chartreuse paint on the bait below is Rust-Oleum fluorescent yellow paint; I just sprayed on a very thin layer to get the semi-translucent effect.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Fishwhittler