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GruntHead

Water based paint vs laquer/airbrush ?

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Looking to do some cedar plugs for our inshore fishing and have several painting questions.I have learned alot on this site and search alot but can't seem to find it all,so here goes.

I want a durable paint that will last for a long time and look great.I see some use water based and some use laquer.Which has a more vibrant color such as pearl white and yellows and geens?What type of airbrush do you like best to shoot laquer with?What type for water based paints?Can you use epoxy to seal both the water based and laquer for the final coat?Do you shoot the laquer or just brush it?Whats your favorite sealer for sealing the cedar plug before the first coat of paint?Who has the best prices on paints both water and laquer paints?What solvent do you guys use to clean up the laquer?Any help would be great and might even throw in some freebie plugs if I can get this set up.Got to make up some tarpon plugs for those we keep seeing in the river.Thanks.

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It is not a question of which is better to use.

It is more like do you want to deal with solvent fumes while spraying or not.

Both types can be sprayed throught any air brush, viscosity of the paint

is what controls the flow.

The air brush you choose will determine the detail of the work you can do, the pattern of the sprays size.

I use both,plus enamals , some times on the same baits.

This mainly because I have the Laquers in certain colors by the gallon.

I also use clear as my final coat all the time, but many thin layers to build the coat , but it reacts with many of the plastic used for the lipps.

When they are all gone, I do not know is they will even be out there to get.

The ones I like are outlawed, for years now.

Water based has come so far and the colorings so good it is unreal.

Durablity is a loaded question.

The paint sticking or biting to the layer below is what you are looking for.

I would say that learning to deal with lacquer is hard to learn, last week it was in the high 80's here and I had to thin to 800% to get it to spray.

Otherwise strings is what sprays out of the gun.

Waste a lot of paint getting it right most times.

Clean up thinner is lacquer thinner or acitone.

Now thinning it to spray I use a mieriad of thinners.

Some paints will not cut past a certain point and then the pigment separates form the base and them the experimenting begins.

I would recomend that you learn with the water based.

Clean up is just to easy to clean up.

Make a mistake , spit on a paper towel quick and wipe the mistake right off.

Some times I have a disaster like last week had a blue clog blow in my face and it got the ten baits I just fished, through them all is the sink, little hot water and a tooth brush, and started over from base.

The easy of clean up is the best.

Now for the best water basied, that you have to see what you like.

I am not to happy with createx.

Takes to long to dry for me.

There is a large color selection, so I do use it.

Off the shelf I really like the paints at www.parmapse.com.

I get them for a local slot racing place.

They are more money than createx but most colors dry in seconds, with out have to expose to extra air/heat.

It is made by GE for airbrushing Lexan.

And it works just great.

I am spoiled because I have some paints made for me by a company here that set almost insantly and are very durable, but high cost and color suspention problems have me using other types for needed colors.

They main durablity facter once the paint job is finished is your final clear coat.

A good finish is what it is all about.

You can find about them all over this site.

I use ETex and if you wish to learn about that PM me.

Other choices are out there.

All have there different merits and learning to work with them is the trick.

And you free to make your own chioce to which you would like to use.

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I am new to airbrushing and started out with lacquers since that is what a friend of mine was using. I got great results but ran into several problems. The first was the high temp and humidity, I really struggled with proper thinning. It seemed to be a moving target based on the weather and I am just not experienced enough to deal with so many variables yet. Second was cleanup, I under estimated how much cleanup an airbrush needed and using lacquer thinner is messy. I found I was not getting it clean enough and its performance began to fall off.

I changed to the cheap water-based craft paints at Wal-Mart and have been very happy. The benefits were:

Cheap paint so I could afford to learn by trial and error

Easy supply, I can just run up to Wal-Mart 24x7 to get more

More color choices means less time spend mixing colors, more time learning to paint

I can now paint during the day (95 - 100 degrees with 90%+ humidity)

I can clean up with soap and water - my airbrush is working much better

The results are ALMOST as good, but I am struggling less and I am able to complete more baits and I have less waste. I suggest any newbie start out with cheap water based paints until they get comfortable with the process. Any paint looks good under a clear coat so you will end up with something you are proud of. You can then move on to better performing paints if you desire.

BTW, my avatar is my first airbrushed bait. The base colors are lacquer, the scales and eyes are water based.

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