New Custom Crank Bait Created

[spbubba]

I am officially hooked on crank bait painting. Got an airbrush setup and then bought some baits from git bit customs to get me started. First two baits came out pretty average. Who knew there was a learning curve to this deal? Third bait is a 2.5 with a spring craw pattern which is turning out really nice, I put the last touches on the paint and hit it with a heat gun to set the paint. It turns out that a heat gun may be too hot as proven by the new bulging 2.5 splitter shad than I created.

[jwfflipper]

did you create a new plastic crankbait or just bought a knockoff and paint it? yes a heat gun can be to hot on plastic. I use a hair dryer to dry my paint.

[spbubba]

The bait split and bulged because of the heat gun. It was a 2.5 knockoff blank. I learned the hard way that a heat gun was too much.

[RayburnGuy]

I'd have to disagree that a heat gun is too much. It's how you use it. I use a heat gun and did have some baits blow up like a toad frog until I learned to hold it a little farther away from the bait.

 

I've tried a couple different hair dryers and they were much too slow for me. They also didn't warm the paint enough to develop the "heat set" properties of paints like Createx. There has been a good bit of discussion on heat setting paint. Some say it can't be done on lures. I'm one who says it can. I've painted and heat set baits that I wasn't satisfied with the outcome and found it was really hard to wash the paint off with hot water and dish soap. I've had to literally scrub heat set baits with a SOS pad to get the paint off. And this was while using Createx paint.

 

Not trying to tell you what you should be doing or how to do it. Ultimately you have to decide what to do based on your own preferences and skill set.

 

Ben

[spbubba]

I am grateful for your help. I would like to use the heat gun if possible. How far from the bait do you hold the gun and for how long?

[FrogAddict]

Just to butt in here, I have bubbled paint with a hair dryer more often than I care to admit. Just last weekend I had sealed a lure with epoxy and then painted. Next I went to set the paint with the hair dryer and the epoxy bubbled up. It's my fault, in my haste I didn't let the epoxy set up long enough.

 

I'm with you Ben, paint can be heat set. I've had the same experience trying to remove paint from a lure.

[SW Lures]

I have been using a heat gun from the beginning of my painting, about 6 years now. I had the gun for powder coating, for a much longer time than that.

I heat set by using the gun. I have bubbled one once, got to close for to long I believe. I try to take my time, after stripping the lure. Yep, the learning of what to do makes a difference.

I have found that Wicked paints get pretty hard. I'm starting to move away from Createx. I'm really getting to like Wicked.

Take Care,

Dale

[RayburnGuy]

I am grateful for your help. I would like to use the heat gun if possible. How far from the bait do you hold the gun and for how long?

 

I run my heat gun on the low setting (only has low and high) and try to keep it 8 to 12 inches from the bait and keep it moving back and forth the whole time. Depending on how hot your heat gun is you may have to hold it further away. If you'll watch your paint closely you can tell when the water leaves it. When the paint is wet it will be really shiny. As the water evaporates it will become less light reflective and you should be able to easily see the difference. After I notice this change in the paint I continue to heat it until the bait is warm to the touch. You'll need to have clean hands to touch the bait while painting as any oils on your hands will be transferred to the paint and cause fish eyes.

 

hope this helps,

 

Ben

[Bois d'Arc]

Heat guns work great if used properly...use it wrong and your blanks will blow up like a dead toad in the hot sun.     Be sure to keep the gun moving across the lure and don't hold it on any one spot...also keep it a safe distance from the blank (Ben's post is right on).  I use a heat gun with Createx paints because it seems to set and dry the paint better.  With Wicked paints a hair dryer works nicely or just let the paint air dry ... works great either way.

Edited April 29, 2016 by BoisArc

[barrybait]

Heat guns are much better than hair dryers for heat curing paint on plastic or other baits for these reasons.  The desired outcome in a perfect world would be to heat the paint to the "heat cure" temperature without heating up the bait itself.  A hotter gun will heat the paint up very quickly before the bait can heat up significantly.  A lower temp gun takes longer to heat the paint up and by the time the paint reaches the desired temperature, the bait has significantly warmed.  With a very hot gun I can practically blister paint before the plastic bait would suffer any damage/bulging from the heat. 

 

Sweep the gun over the bait and sweep it over your hand a little too so you get some idea of how warm things are getting.  Keep it moving and don't hold it steady on the bait. 

 

Think about it.  I put a turkey in the oven at 375F and it takes 3 hrs for the temperature probe in the meat reaches 170F but the temperature of the skin on the turkey is 375 in a very short period of time.

[mark poulson]

I kinda have to agree about the heat gun.  It depends on how you use it.  I've got a decent heat gun I use mostly for shrink tube on wire connections.  It has settings from +(roasting marshmallows) to -(spring breeze).  When I can't find a setting that fits my needs I will get close to the temp and flow rate, and then I'll vary the distance. 

 

Think about this.  If you throw a steak on a raging fire you will charcoal the outside almost instantly, but the inside will still be raw.  If you grill it over a dying bed of goals it takes a long time to even get good grill marks on the outside, but by the time you do its nearly well done in the middle. 

 

Thanks Bob.  Now I'm hungry!