Painted crankbaits

[bassguy2004]

I finally got to paint some crankbaits. It has been chaotic around here lately. Two weeks ago my wife and I took the dog out to our favorite park to play ball. I warm up Katie (our dog) by throwing short and letting her fetch. Once she is good a warmed up, I toss the ball farther and farther. Well, you might have guessed by now, the last throw and she comes back limping. Two days of limping around the house, then to the vet. X-rays show a torn ccl, similar to acl in humans. So she has surgery and $4,000 later she is now a couch potato until she heals. We've had to tote her around, carry her outside to do her business and so on. We can't leave her alone for fear of her tearing up what the vet had repaired so I haven't had much time to do anything but here are a couple of pics. The last one is 6 inches long and without ballast weight it weighs 4 oz.

[ILfishinman]

those are awesome, i like the paintjob of the top one, good job!

[ROBZILLA]

I like the first one looks old school.

[bassguy2004]

Well I wanted to go fishing this weekend, but that fell through, so I was able to sneek down to the garage and paint one crankbait.

[dampeoples]

Nice looking bait, you airbrush it?

[Vabass22]

I got to painting today, but mine look nothing like yalls do!

[bassguy2004]

Originally Posted by dampeoples

Nice looking bait, you airbrush it?

Yes, all air brush but the gill plate, and eyes. The bars were fogged in with a stencil I made. I painted it with a base white, then all red, then yellow, then scale pattern with the green, blue on the back, and then the black bars last. Then covered with clear epoxy. I wish I could have posted a better picture.

[dampeoples]

What do youuse for a stencil? I'm trying to do everything freehand, but that's pretty hard

[bassguy2004]

Originally Posted by dampeoples

What do youuse for a stencil? I'm trying to do everything freehand, but that's pretty hard

I cut it out of stiff cardboard. Just a little wider than the bait. I held it off of the bait about a 1/2 inch. then fogged them in. Not alot of paint mind you, just enough to look like bars on a bluegill.

[whittler]

Exceptional work, most folks do not realize the steps involved to acheive that kind of quality finish.
John

[crankybait]

how do those stencils work out? carolina chip told me to use a cutout of a milk carton but with my propellant cans i always overspray. I was thinking of cutting the patterns into masking tape then putting the ape onto the bait.

[bassguy2004]

Originally Posted by crankybait

how do those stencils work out? carolina chip told me to use a cutout of a milk carton but with my propellant cans i always overspray. I was thinking of cutting the patterns into masking tape then putting the ape onto the bait.

Cranky, I would not use tape as a stencil, because it would leave a "hard" line if you know what I mean, instead of a "soft or fogged" line. Check any crankbait and you'll see what I mean. On my bait everywhere the paint overlaps it is a "blended soft" line such as a real fish. I hope this helps.

Thank you Whittler for the kind words, coming from you, I take them as a compliment.

[bassguy2004]

Here is another one I finished on Sat., only have to add split rings and hooks. I mixed neon green with lemon yellow and added a tad of pearl white to get the chartruse color. A little blue mixed with the green to get the teal top color over a yellow base. In the second picture the top one is going to be a trout pattern but it isn't finished yet but it's a little bigger than the painted one. I had to add 1 1/2 ounces of ballast to get it to float upright. The painted one measures 4 1/2 inches.

[dampeoples]

Killer! Not sure what kind of paint you use, but check out the Createx Fluorescent colors for out of the bottle Chart/green chart colors. The paint is super hard to spray, unfortunately. Wildlife Colors sells some fluorecent colors, but they mention that it's not UV stable. I assume you use D2T for a topcoat? I'm trying to find out if that's UV stable or not.

Hope you catch a big one, and I wish I could carve...a freak accident with a razorblade to my wrist has me leary of knives

[bassguy2004]

Dp, Thanks for the heads up on the paint. I like to mix my own because it gives me a great feeling of accomplishment. Yeah, I do use the Devcon 2 Ton for the top coat. Oh, I've hung up my knife, I picked up a Dremel which makes the carving much easier. Although the Dremel will remove skin in a hurry!! Been there, done that.

[dampeoples]

I was using the wire brush on my dremel once....got it too close to my long hair and brr.berr.berrrrr... it stopped after it got clogged in my hair! I had to cut it out

[JB]

Heres the only 3 homemade crankbaits I have for the river, they are small and called wee baits, cost 3 bucks apiece when I bought these in 1994

[dampeoples]

wow, $3 each! Bait makers pretty much work for free, unfortunately.

[crankybait]

Originally Posted by bassguy2004

Cranky, I would not use tape as a stencil, because it would leave a "hard" line if you know what I mean, instead of a "soft or fogged" line. Check any crankbait and you'll see what I mean. On my bait everywhere the paint overlaps it is a "blended soft" line such as a real fish. I hope this helps.

Thank you Whittler for the kind words, coming from you, I take them as a compliment.

I know what you mean, with the hard edge... i like the little fade away. but when i freehand it, it usually messes up. ive been thinking of using tape, but in a wide area so that it will leave a wide area uncovered, allowing a little room for the fade but no drastic messups.

[bassguy2004]

Originally Posted by dampeoples

I was using the wire brush on my dremel once....got it too close to my long hair and brr.berr.berrrrr... it stopped after it got clogged in my hair! I had to cut it out

Well, I wear my hair in a pony tail and keep the Dremel clear of my work.