donk18 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hey everyone, My name's Mike and I have been reading the site for the last few weeks. I am trying to save money on tackle this year so I decided to try my hand at painting my own lures and pouring my own soft plastics. I just have a few questions about painting cranks. I just order a 15 baits from Predator Bass Baits because a lot of people seemed to like his stuff. I bought 5 of each of his dt16, dt10, and white top water walker type baits. My first question is what should i glue the bills on the crankbaits with? Should I use dt2 or something else? Should I paint them before or after i put the bill on? I am going to be using Envirotex Lite for the clear final coat, I am in the process of finding a spinner for the curing process. I also just picked up a cheapo air brush from Harbor Freight and am borrowing an air compressor for the time being. My next question is, is it okay to use craft paints if thinned with water. I have access to every color under the sun. I have watched a few video's of people using it and their results seemed good. I want to get my feet wet in all this before I spend 4+ per bottle of paint. Just to make sure i can get the hang of it. Thanks for reading and I know it is probably the same questions that every newbie has and I have read through the forums a bunch. I guess I am the type of person that needs the answers for myself. Thanks again and any feed back would be greatly welcomed. Thanks, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhopkins Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hey everyone, My name's Mike and I have been reading the site for the last few weeks. I am trying to save money on tackle this year so I decided to try my hand at painting my own lures and pouring my own soft plastics. I just have a few questions about painting cranks. I just order a 15 baits from Predator Bass Baits because a lot of people seemed to like his stuff. I bought 5 of each of his dt16, dt10, and white top water walker type baits. My first question is what should i glue the bills on the crankbaits with? Should I use dt2 or something else? Should I paint them before or after i put the bill on? I am going to be using Envirotex Lite for the clear final coat, I am in the process of finding a spinner for the curing process. I also just picked up a cheapo air brush from Harbor Freight and am borrowing an air compressor for the time being. My next question is, is it okay to use craft paints if thinned with water. I have access to every color under the sun. I have watched a few video's of people using it and their results seemed good. I want to get my feet wet in all this before I spend 4+ per bottle of paint. Just to make sure i can get the hang of it. Thanks for reading and I know it is probably the same questions that every newbie has and I have read through the forums a bunch. I guess I am the type of person that needs the answers for myself. Thanks again and any feed back would be greatly welcomed. Thanks, Mike not an air brush guy so i can't advise on that. i'm sure others who do use air will give you some tips. i always put the lip in last so i don't get anything on it when i do the clearcoat. i use5 min Devcon which has done well for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekoutdoors.co Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hey everyone, My name's Mike and I have been reading the site for the last few weeks. I am trying to save money on tackle this year so I decided to try my hand at painting my own lures and pouring my own soft plastics. I just have a few questions about painting cranks. I just order a 15 baits from Predator Bass Baits because a lot of people seemed to like his stuff. I bought 5 of each of his dt16, dt10, and white top water walker type baits. My first question is what should i glue the bills on the crankbaits with? Should I use dt2 or something else? Should I paint them before or after i put the bill on? I am going to be using Envirotex Lite for the clear final coat, I am in the process of finding a spinner for the curing process. I also just picked up a cheapo air brush from Harbor Freight and am borrowing an air compressor for the time being. My next question is, is it okay to use craft paints if thinned with water. I have access to every color under the sun. I have watched a few video's of people using it and their results seemed good. I want to get my feet wet in all this before I spend 4+ per bottle of paint. Just to make sure i can get the hang of it. Thanks for reading and I know it is probably the same questions that every newbie has and I have read through the forums a bunch. I guess I am the type of person that needs the answers for myself. Thanks again and any feed back would be greatly welcomed. Thanks, Mike Hi mike this is a great site for getting info on the custom painting tackle business. I glue the bills on first because if you don't and you get some D2T on your bait after you have painted it it will be ruined. I use D2T to glue the bills on and DN to clear coat the baits. The cheapo air brush might work for awhile but you may want to invest in a better made one. I use an Iwata Revolution BR and it is only about $70.00. Did you get an oil-less air compressor to use? I use createx paint it is the best that I have used to shoot through an airbrush I don't know how the craft paints will work. Hope this helps you out to get started, Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nedyarb Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Mike, I kinda laughed when I read your post because we are in the exact same boat. I just started painting baits also, and bought 20 from predator bass baits. I also bought the hrbor freight 15$ airbrush, which after returning the first one because the trigger broke, has worked very good on my first few baits. I also bought the Plaid craft paint at Hobby Lobby and some colrs work great, and some look horrible. I bought 2 bottles of Chartreuse Creatix, and it definetly shoots and looks better than the craft stuff, but both work. I have found I like to glue the bill in first, I just tape the bill while painting and remove it prior to final coat of etex. Also, I have been using my dads bbq rotisseri which works great, but yesterday I found a broken microwave and removed the motor, attatched it to a metal bracket and ran a broom handle to another bracket, and that actually runs better. Like I said I am completely new to this so hopefully the pros will help you out. BTW thanks to everyone on TU for helping me and others get started. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotorhead Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Welcome Donk18 to the site. Everyone here has started from scratch just as you are doing so take it one step at a time. I guess some of the best advise I can give is to take some time before you start painting and read all of the forums on hard baits, doing so will answer worlds of questions. Also if you do have questions and you will have a lot don't hesitate to ask on the site. Many of the guys here are real pros when it comes to lure making and will help you out whenever they can. Good luck and welcome Rotorhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
