Made my first crankbait body out of balsa, and was wondreing what to paint it with to make it look like a store bought.  I'm going to put on a sanding sealer first, then I thought I would airbrush with an enamal like Testors from the hobby shop. then I thought I would put on a tough clearcoat.  Anyone have any experience doing this?  Brand names would be helpful.  Thanks Jim

Jim, Testor's paint will work fine, just spray your color coats over a good white base or prime coat. Once its painted use Devcon 2 Ton epoxy for the top-coat. You can find Devcon at Walmart in the paint dept. For 1 bait about 1\8 of the tubes will be enough, mix well and brush on with a cheap throw away brush. After brushing it on rotate the bait slowly by hand for about 10 minutes then let it cure for about 24 hours and go catch bass.

Thanks Whittler,  This being my first it's kind of like my baby.  I did design an internal wireform for it and sandwiched it between 2 peices of balsa.  I have really high hopes, I'll post som picks when its done.

Jim. how long is your bait, without the lip and how much weight did you add to the belly? You might want to check the action after the seal coat and before you paint. If the bait runs to suit you then paint, top- coat and go get em.

Whittler, I used no weight, no rattles, and no lip. My thought pattern is that's been done to death.  I wanted to do something a little different than what you can buy off the shelf.  the best way to describe it is its a fat belly, lipless, floating lure. with 2 trebbles.  I loved the look of the old Punkinseed lures from Heddon, their a work of art.  Wish I could afford to buy a few. Don't know if you have seen the prices their getting for them on e-bay, but it's unbelievable.