Base coating in quantity

[Jfishin]

I want to basecoat a bunch or baits at once any suggestions on how to do this. My 35mm tip airbrush isn't very efficient for that. Can I use spray paint? Do I need to buy a bigger gun? Any suggestions would be great. 

[Anglinarcher]

I have primed with rattle can sprays and it works great.  If you get the right "basecoat" color that you want it will work just fine.

In Europe they do a lot of their painting with rattle cans and they get excellent results.

I will provide a link to a site with some options you can did out that might help.

http://www.lurebuilding.nl/indexeng.html

 

[RayburnGuy]

Have you considered an HVLP spray gun?

Ben

[Jfishin]

Thanks for the feedback guys I'm going to look into all of your suggestions. 

[BobP]

I'm sure it's just me but I never found a rattle can paint or primer that didn't give off an objectionable odor even after it had dried for several days.  And in my crankbait box, the smell would concentrate and affect all the other baits in there too.  Just sayin.

I color basecoat with Polytranspar Superhide White and a .30 mm Iwata brush.  It has lots of pigment, is water based, and dries quickly to a hard smooth surface.  I'm sure a Hvlp gun would be faster and do it just as well.  Most airbrush brands include a heavily pigmented white in their lineup for color base-coating.  whatever option you choose, remember that it will have to be compatible with a solvent based topcoat, if that is also what you choose.  There are also coatings that you can dip baits into to basecoat but I haven't tried them, such as heavily pigmented lacquer.

[sonoman]

 I  have seen several builders just dip the baits in a can of white lacquer, drys relatively fast and gives a great base to paint on...good luck

[Anglinarcher]

16 hours ago, BobP said:

I'm sure it's just me but I never found a rattle can paint or primer that didn't give off an objectionable odor even after it had dried for several days.  And in my crankbait box, the smell would concentrate and affect all the other baits in there too.  Just sayin.

I have not had that problem myself with the clear coats I use.  And using the rattle cans is a common practice in some parts of the world, but........

Your point is well made and causes me to give some thought to this.

[uncustered]

i purchased a cheap airbrush from harbor freight for basecoating.

[Richard Prager]

I remember reading a while back that dipping does not make for an evenly spread coat. I use a .050 tip when base coating my baits. 

[SW Lures]

I agree with RP on the tip size. Now a days I will do 20-50 baits at a time with a basecoat/primer. Another thing that helps, is to get all baits set up in a way that all you have to do is spray and move. There are some very good ideas on UTube that can give you some ideas for this whether you use a airbrush or can.

I have bought a lot of exacto knife handles and some boards to hold the handles. I just spin the bait as I prime them and go. If I have to I lift one out and do my thing and put it back. I have 10 per board. I do the same with the scheme painting but of course it's one on one time (individually), unless I'm doing a line of the same scheme (multiples).

Dale