bassin2277 Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 I am new to tu and to painting lures. Thanks to everyone that contributes for all the info on this site. It made getting started painting less overwhelming. The issue I am having is with the final top coat. I am painting lure blanks that have raised gill plates and have tried d2t and etex and had issues with the clear coat filling in the raised areas leaving them featureless. If I put on a thinner coat I end up with small unpainted spots. Any ideas? Also wondering if you are clear coating the bill on these baits. I have ruined a couple of baits trying to remove tape from the bill after top coating and pulling the top coat off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Applying the top coat before removing the tape from the bill. I remember those days. That was one of my first screw ups as well. Pretty sure you've already figured that one out so let's move on. Pretty much any epoxy, at least the ones I've tried, are going to fill in a lot, if not all, of the 3D features on a lure. Etex is about as thin of an epoxy as there is and if your having trouble with it filling in the 3D features on your baits your probably going to have to go to a thinner top coat. DN (Dick Nite S81) and auto clear are two you might look into. A word of warning about auto clears. Auto clears are a known carcinogenic and are extremely bad for your lungs. These should not be sprayed in an enclosed environment or where where others can come in contact with them without proper respiratory gear. At the very least you will need a respirator that is rated for organic vapors. One question I have is why exactly are you worried about the raised gill plates not showing up? Are you selling your baits and consider this a selling point or are you painting them for yourself? If your painting them for yourself then I wouldn't worry about it too much as I doubt that a fish is going to make a decision to strike your bait based on the fact that the gills are raised or not. hope this helps, Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassin2277 Posted July 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Thanks for your response. Sounds like i am better off pulling the tape and just trying to keep the bill clean. My issue with filling in the 3d features is purely one of ego. I see a bait sitting on a rack in a store and I want to be able to do it the same way or better. I am just painting for myself and occasionally my dad. I have only been doing this about a month now so I still have a lot to learn. I followed fatfingers tutorial on etex but I may have let it sit too long before applying. I will try to cut down the wait time and see if that helps. Planning on trying dn in the future just trying to keep it simple for now. I will get some before I start painting the suspending jerkbaits. D2t didn't work well for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Whichever epoxy you choose, it will not affect the buoyancy of a bait very much because epoxy has a density that is only slightly greater than water. I've topcoated suspending jerkbaits with D2T and noticed little if any difference in the flotation. IMO, you never want to epoxy the lip on a bait. Subsequent yellowing will show up there faster than on the painted body, and it will usually have a wavy appearance. Pretty ugly, and you can't get it off later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 If you want to preserve the 3D details, Ben's right, some kind of urethane is the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrybait Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 I am new to this also but I have been having good luck coating the bait with D2t top coat and leaving the tape on the bill. When I finish applying the topcoat, I then take the tape off before I hang it up to dry and that solved the peeling problem and left the bill nice and clean. Have to be a little careful getting the tape off without bumping the bait with another finger or knuckle but you can still touch it up. I can only get 1 larger bait or 2 smaller baits coated with each mixing of the D2t so it doesn't hold me up. If I try to do 3 smaller baits the D2t starts to get grainy. I also use brushes from a 30pack of paintbrushes from wal-mart for 2 bucks but I cut off about 1/8" from the bristles to make the brush firmer helping to spread the epoxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougarftd Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 If the detail is important try DN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 An easy way to brush epoxy on after taking the tape off the lip is to fill your brush with epoxy and then lay it flat against the bait with the end of the bristles close to, but not touching, the lip. Put enough pressure on the brush to make the bristles fan out and then use a pushing motion on the brush to ease the epoxy toward the lip until the paint is covered. This is a lot easier, for me at least, than trying to cover the bait with epoxy and then trying to take the tape off. Try it both ways and then make your own decision. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassin2277 Posted July 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Thanks everyone for the help. I will be painting more lures soon and I will try some other techniques. I have done 3 identical suspending jerkbaits with d2t and had different results each time. Tested in a 5 gallon bucket and had one sink, one suspend, and one float. That was my issue with d2t. Maybe I did something else wrong. All baits had the same hardware and nothing was changed except the thickness of the d2t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetickhound Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 The weight difference between a sinker, suspender and a floater is verrrrrry tiny.... I applaud you for your aggressive approach!! I thought I was getting into the deep end by starting out with hand carving balsa baits but you went straight to suspending baits!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetickhound Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Try changing the hook sizes on the floater (try heavier, obviously...) and the sinker (duh.... lighter hook) to see if that will make 'em do what you want 'em to... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 During the building of a lure that I wanted to be a slow sinker multiple tests were done to get the ballast like I wanted it. The difference in weight between a slow sinker and a slow riser was so small it would not register on my digital scale set to weigh in increments of ten thousandths of an ounce. When you were working on your suspending jerkbaits if you did not separately weigh each lure before, during and after to make sure they all weighed the same then you can't be 100% sure it was the fault of the epoxy that some of them sank. Even a small difference in the weight of paint, hooks, split rings, etc. can all add up to make a huge difference whether a lure sinks, suspends or floats. When dealing with suspending lures even the temperature of the water can be the determining factor since colder water is more dense than warmer water. I'm not saying the epoxy wasn't at fault in your case. Just trying to make you aware that there are multiple contributing factors in what makes a lure perform the way it does. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emptystringer81 Posted July 31, 2013 Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 Im new to painting lures too and have had the same problems lol. What ive been doing is take the tape off right before you put the clear on, if a little clear gets on the bill just wipe it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
