Airbrushing Jigs?

[KingfisherWI]

I am still very new to airbrushing custom fishing lures, I was wondering if I can use my airbrush to paint lead-head jigs?

[mark poulson]

I have painted spinnerbaits with air brush paint, but I put it on by hand with an artists brush.  Cadman suggested using an etching primer first, which I did.  I don't remember the brand, but I bought it at Ace Hdwe, so I'm guessing it's not hard to find.

I finish coated the spinnerbaits with clear nail polish, and they have held up just fine.

[BobP]

Yeah, airbrushing works fine.  But the crux of the problem is that you must put a really tough topcoat on the paint for it to last since jigs take a lot of abuse.  I use moisture cured urethane but as Mark says, clear nail polish is cheaper and faster and is also a good choice.

[DaBehr]

Put down a base of white Createx Autoair base coat,  then use Createx Wicked. Both are

acrylic and designed for non-porous surfaces. Regular Createx paints are designed for t-shirt painting and don't work nearly as well but they bind fairly well to the base coat.

I use Seal Coat on all my lead baits and custom painted cranks. Just dip and drip!

http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Liquid-Topcoats/Seal-Coat.html

None of the above require big time venting.

[aulrich]

I did not have a lot of success with air brushed jigging spoons, I used the self etching primer and the paint just flaked off, I can’t remember exactly what I top coated them in It could have been rattle can clear or e-tex.  But the spoons did have some flex to them and I suspect that the flex was what caused the paint to fail rapidly. Mind you a plain jig head should not have the flex so that may not be an issue.

My next try is to first powder coat, air brush, then top with e-tex. My only concern is how glossy powder coat is, in theory making adhesion problematic. 

I did find an automotive power that was a flat white but I am no longer convinced automotive powder paints work in small scale fluid beds. 

Something I saw the other day got me interested, there is an air brush base that you can mix  with powder paint so it shoots like regular airbrush paint (1 to 1 by weight and mix with a blender ) and after you give it a day to dry out you bake like normal. I see if I can find the youtube on this as well
 

https://www.powderbuythepound.com/liquid_2_powder_-1_pint.html

[KingfisherWI]

7 hours ago, DaBehr said:

Put down a base of white Createx Autoair base coat,  then use Createx Wicked. Both are

acrylic and designed for non-porous surfaces. Regular Createx paints are designed for t-shirt painting and don't work nearly as well but they bind fairly well to the base coat.

I use Seal Coat on all my lead baits and custom painted cranks. Just dip and drip!

http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Liquid-Topcoats/Seal-Coat.html

None of the above require big time venting.

Thanks, I do use Createx so thanks for the advice.

[Chuck Young]

I use createx on jigs all the time. You can get nice detail - say on a spinnerbait head. Epoxy protects it well and adds a little weight. It also adds volume. So if you are dealing with current, they will drag. 

[mark poulson]

On 3/5/2018 at 8:01 PM, mark poulson said:

I have painted spinnerbaits with air brush paint, but I put it on by hand with an artists brush.  Cadman suggested using an etching primer first, which I did.  I don't remember the brand, but I bought it at Ace Hdwe, so I'm guessing it's not hard to find.

I finish coated the spinnerbaits with clear nail polish, and they have held up just fine.

 

Update:  I fished one of my bluegill spinnerbaits with an etching primer/Createx/clear nail polish paint job.

I caught 8 keepers on that blade, with my best five going 15+lbs.

When I got home, I noticed that there were two small spots where the paint had chipped off, so I touched them up with a green pumpkin nail polish, and tied it back on for tomorrow.

I painted up another ten heads today, and gave them a coat of clear nail polish.  Tomorrow, before I leave to fish, I'll add a second coat, to see if I can avoid chipping.

But the chipping was the size of a pin head, so I'm not too concerned.

And a buddy who I gave one of those blades to, stuck a bunch of fish on it yesterday (including a 4+), and reported no problems.