I purchased an airbrush a few years ago with the intention of painting some baits and jigheads. The heads I would just use vinyl on, but what do I use on the cranks. Also what kind of prep do you guys do to the baits? Thanks.

I use Createx paints and Folk Art (the cheap Wal-Mart paint) on my lures.  Of those, I prefer the Createx.  I used to like the Folk Art paint better, but I've learned how to better use the Createx and they work much better for me now.  I haven't done many repaints yet so I can't help you with the prep work.  I would imagine you'd need to sand the bait smooth, and possibly coat it with epoxy to get a smooth surface to paint on (especially if it's a wood bait). 

Hope this helps.

Ben

P.S.  Make sure you post pics of the finished baits!

Ben,

Thanks for the info. I'll try the Createx. Hopefully after  while they'll be worthy of posting.  :-[

I use createx and auto air, both good paints .

Thanks.

You want a durable waterproof surface to paint water based paint onto.  On plastic, the surface is already waterproof so just shoot a white color basecoat, color, then a durable topcoat.  On raw wood baits, you need to start with a coating like epoxy, Super Glue or wood hardener/preservative before applying paint.  Player's choice.  BTW, only a few epoxies can be used in crankbait finishes - e.g., bar top epoxies like Envirotex Lite or 30 min glue epoxies like Devcon 2 Ton.  They will level well and stay liquid long enough to brush them on the bait.  Quick cure "5 minute" epoxies will not work, so don't try them.

Thanks. that helps a lot.

You want a durable waterproof surface to paint water based paint onto. On plastic, the surface is already waterproof so just shoot a white color basecoat, color, then a durable topcoat. On raw wood baits, you need to start with a coating like epoxy, Super Glue or wood hardener/preservative before applying paint. Player's choice. BTW, only a few epoxies can be used in crankbait finishes - e.g., bar top epoxies like Envirotex Lite or 30 min glue epoxies like Devcon 2 Ton. They will level well and stay liquid long enough to brush them on the bait. Quick cure "5 minute" epoxies will not work, so don't try them.

im looking to airbrush some larger plastics. What paints work well and hold onto the plastic best? Do you need a topcoat for painting plastics, and if so how does this effect the durability of the plastic?

Thanks

bb

by plastics are you saying soft plastics? or just large hard plastic baits?

soft plastic sorry for not specifying

This may not help you at all but I know some guys that paint soft plastics usually paint them, then dip them in clear plastic. If you don't the paint usually only lasts for a few casts.

Now thats a wild concept.

Nate, you touched on something that I have been trying to do for a while.  We need some chrome or bright silver zoom super flukes.  We have tried just about everything to accomplish this with no luck.  Coating the lures with clear plastic is a great solution.  Do you think your friends would be willing to produce the lures we need.  We would pay them for the service, of course.  Thanks.

i think its lurecraft.com that has soft plastic paints, google them and you should find it, even if thats not the place.

We have tried the soft plastic paints from Lurecraft.  They do work.  They will adhere to soft plastic lures.  However, you can not paint over that stuff either.  We thought if we could get any coating over the soft plastic, then we could come back and paint the lures chrome / silver.  That did not work.  We could not find a paint that would setup over the lurecraft soft plastic paints.  Maybe we could mix silver with their clear and then spray it.  That might work but I think coating over the lure with clear soft plastic is the answer.

This may not help you at all but I know some guys that paint soft plastics usually paint them, then dip them in clear plastic. If you don't the paint usually only lasts for a few casts.

jw, have you noticed this from personal experience?

or have you just heard thats wat happens

I've had a few painted soft plastics with just paint on them. The paint cracks and flakes off due to the plastics movement. I had a bunch of grubs painted like craws and went through 10 in about 2 hours.

Buzz my buddy quit painting. Just go to lure craft, bears baits or del mart and get some SOFT plastic (medium or heavy will kill the action), paint your paints with the soft plastic paint, microwave the liquid plastic in a pyrex cup, dip the fluke and hang it to dry. I would just get a tiny trout hook and tie it to a piece of line to dry it.