Painting Over Factory Finish

[Krash7172]

I'm considering the heat shrink finish from another thread a failure and restarting my project from scratch. http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/index.php?/topic/26311-clear-heat-shrink-tube-as-top-coat/

 

Brief recap: I am able to get a finished lure online for just a few bucks. It already has a holographic foil belly and white spine. I plan to replace the eyes with larger ones and paint the spine. This is what I did. Looks nice but I am concerned with adhesion and durability. http://s171.photobucket.com/user/Krash7172/media/misc/p-linegreen.jpg.html

 

I am making more and now that I plan to finish with a DN top coat, I obviously need to consider adhesion. The factory lure has some molded features like gills and the belly has fine ripples that you may be able to make out in the photo. It will be difficult to sand much without harming the foil.

 

To paint the spine with acrylic, I have to pop out the eyes that it came with. I'm an eye guy (I enjoyed the eye thread) so I want to put in the nice hologram eyes in my photo. Fly tying has taught me to use super glue to make the eyes more secure and fill possible voids behind the eyes. The lure in the photo had a couple coats of enamel to seal around the eyes and smooth the finish. I'll dip and hang DN with no enamel but I am worried about it collecting in the features around the eyes and possibly reacting with super glue. If all else fails, I'll try painting the eyes. Maybe just a drop of black acrylic in the eye socket.

 

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BobP]

I use a lot of these spoons and paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint with a DN topcoat.  I don't think you'll have any  trouble with the DN reacting with super glue but can't comment about reactions with enamel.  As long as the eyes fit the sockets, I don't think you'll need to glue them in because the DN topcoat will cement them into their sockets very well.  Personally, I'll never paint spoons again without topcoating them with DN - it's just the perfect product for that job.

[Krash7172]

Im not going to use enamel so thats not an issue. When i dig out the old eyes, it leaves a rough finish. The factory used an adhesive. Ill just have to try DN with the superglue or paint them on. My main concern is how to prep the factory finish for the DN topcoat . I dont know what the material is and i wont be able to sand properly.

[BobP]

I think if you just lightly sand the existing topcoat with 320 or 400 grit you'll be OK and the chrome will be intact.  Wipe it down with denatured alcohol to remove the dust and the DN should adhere just fine.

[nedyarb]

I think the super glue will brown around the eyes! Just guessing though.

[JayBee]

Im not going to use enamel so thats not an issue. When i dig out the old eyes, it leaves a rough finish. The factory used an adhesive. Ill just have to try DN with the superglue or paint them on. My main concern is how to prep the factory finish for the DN topcoat . I dont know what the material is and i wont be able to sand properly.

A Scotch Brite pad would be the thing you want to use to scuff the existing finish without harming the foil under the factory finish.   A light scuffing then as Bob suggested wipe the lure down with denatured alcohol and you're ready to dip.   

[Krash7172]

I'll give the scotch brite a go. Seems like it would conform to the ripple features better than paper.

 

I've been using super glue for years to put eyes on flies with a top coat over it. I've never seen it discolor other than if it reacts. Then it usually turns milky white. The trick is to use a minimal amount and not get it all over. It is fine with a water based poly but I need something more durable for these lures.

[jcori3]

I had some hard plastic baits that i wanted to put a coat of dn on. So as said above i just scuffed up the bait with the red scotch brite pad to knock the gloss finish off without getting into the factory paint and cleaned and dipped. Lure turned out very well.