nim_evets

I've been painting some crankbaits and have got the kill dot and a gill stencil down. But, I'm having trouble with crayfish patterns. What is the secret to doing a good crayfish pattern? I tried to make a stencil, but the stencil doesn't lay well on crankbaits and is flimsy with all the cutout sections Are most people freehanding these with an airbrush? Or using some kind of paint marker? I appreciate any advice anyone has. Thanks, Steve

What I've got has been reliable so far and doesn't show any signs of not working - it's not like I go to the garage and pray that I can rely on it to work. In a local tournament here in Columbus last weekend , I had the high total with 13 lb on 5 fish on a custom painted crank made with $20 equipment. Next highest total was 7 lb. Everyone else was fishing spinnerbaits. Hope someone else can chime in for you. Good luck in the tournaments...

Hi there - I too am just getting started. I had some old lures that needed repainting, so I said what the heck. I didn't want to invest much money. I picked up an el cheapo airbrush at Harbor Freight for $10. Single action, but actually paints pretty well. Cant do fine lines without stencils, but it puts on nice base coats, fades and speckles (when desired) well. I use a CO2 tank (I'm a homebrewer too) as my air source. Walmart for paints (44 cents/tube of acrylic) and Devcon 2Ton epoxy ($2). I dilute my paints with water, airbrush them on the lure, stick on some eyes and apply Devcon with a plastic fork. My first few have come out ok by my standards. I'll post some pictures soon... I didn't want to invest much money at first, but I am off and runnning for less than $20. My airbrush may not last a long time or be remotely close to the best, but it works... Having an air source may be the biggest investment. Also, I just paint outside or in my garage, I put some newspaper behind the area I'm painting in. Now, I just need to improve a little.

Thanks for the info and the welcome. Does the electrical tape "kill spot" blend in with the background paint after it is coated with epoxy? Just curious - I'll test it out tonight but would appreciate any further comments before I get started. All the best, Steve

Hi all, New to the board and lure making, but I'm already addicted. Just airbrushed two crankbaits and am having some problems. I searched the forums but am looking to extract some more info or some step by steps. I am having a hard time painting on very clean looking gill lines and the dark circle that is often to the rear of the gill line (not sure what this circle is called). Does anyone have suggestions for a newbie? I tried to freehand both but they were not clean. I also tried a playing card stencil but could not get real clean cuts with the exacto and couldn't get the card to lay flat against the curvature of the crankbait. Are there stickers available? Or any stencil suggestions? I just want these lines to be really clean. What does everyone else do? Aside from those two problems, my first baits came out really well. I was intimidated to use Devcon the first time and as soon as I started working with it, found out just how easy to use it is! Thanks, Steve