WVEric Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 Hello Everyone, I'm a newbie here and to the crankbait painting world as well. I just bought me a Badger 175 Cresendo airbrush today and some Createx (spelling) paints today. I have a couple of questions about the whole painting thing and they may be dumb questions at that, but if I don't ask I won't know LOL. After you get done with a color, what do you clean your airbrush and jar out with?? What size needle do I use to spray like a base coat on a crankbait (the whole bait)?? What size needle to put say lateral lines and different lines like that on a bait?? One more for now....Can I paint right over the factory paint on a crankbait....like can I get a DT10 out of the package and spray my pattern right over the factory??? Thanks for all your help and I look forward to talking with you guys and painting some custom baits. Thanks Again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68KingFisher Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 (edited) The Cresendo from Badger is very simular to the Paasche VL series....both come with fine,med,large tips and needles....only Paasche labels them #1,#3,#5. For most of what your gonna be using this brush for i'd suggest using the medium size needle and tip.....I think that'll do about anything you want for starters.....once you get a feel for it you might find you'll want to experiment with the other tip sizes so you'll know how they perform. As for what to use for clean up, that depends on what your spraying....if your just shooting Createx then a little soapy water makes for a great cleaning solution.....Just a few drops of liquid soap is usually more then enough. As for painting a new crankbait right out of the package.....from what I understand you'll want to scuff the surface of the new crankbait so your new paint will have some (tooth) to grab ahold of and will help the paint stick.....i'd probably use something like a scotchbrite pad for starters, but i've read where guys just use 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.....I can't say for sure since I haven't done this yet.....I suppose its like anything else, you'll just have to experiment with that a bit to find what works the best for you. Enjoy your new airbrush and be sure to post your progress. Edited July 19, 2009 by 68KingFisher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 To add to 68KingFisher's comments, it takes experience to get airbrush paint to do what you want. Be patient. Start with simple patterns and work your way up. For painting details, I suggest using stencils. Do a search on the subject for good ideas. Hundreds of threads on TU concern finishing crankbaits. The search feature is your key to unlocking that info. For repainting a plastic or wood crankbait, lightly sand it with 400 grit to improve adhesion and to remove any bad finish. Wipe it down with denatured alcohol. Shoot a color basecoat of white paint, then the colors. Start from the bottom and work up. Note: If repainting a wood bait, you never want to sand past the existing finish and into raw wood. That causes 2 problems - you will be left with soft wood and hard finish side by side, and it is impossible to sand that even. Second, you will have removed the waterproofing from the wood and now must waterproof that area (or the whole bait) to keep your water based airbrush paint from raising the wood grain. If you have gouges or deep scratches in a bait, fix them with wood filler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boone Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 WV Eric Ok another WV on here .. For information , you have come to the right spot... PM me - we can talk or even at some point have a Hoopie to Hoppie disucssion - Ha Hee ... Once again .. You have come to the right spot for your questions.. The vast amount of experience and professionals here will help you out ... Boone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
