Paint type for custom colored lures

[All-Eyes]

What type of paint is best for custom colored crankbaits? Would like to airbrush highlights to standard lure colors. Do I need to clearcoat lure for durable finish? Thanks in advance!

[Kevin/CO]

I ran a post about re-painting lures a couple months back. The concensus seemed to be that car touch up paint would work very nicely and would provide a tough and fade resistant finish. I think an air brush would work very nicely, maybe one of the airbrushes that are made to work with nail polish. A hard-coat, chip-resistant nail polish should make a great finish and it would be easier to get your hands on then small amounts of car paint and just might have more of a color selection. As far as for a clear coat there wasn't all too many opinions out there that I remember seeing, I think that if you can get a good hard clear coat that won't weaken your finish you should use one. If you want a glittery look then I think a clear coat would be perfect, since they make that glittery nail polish coat and there is a fishing product thats a glittery hard coat.

I haven'y tried to re-repaint too many lures yet but I can say one thing, I am not going to use model paint any more. It might have been my clear coat or the primer but both were made for model paints and the coats melted and blurried, let me tell you thats no fun.

[TONY ON ICE]

Acrylic laquers are the best bet as they dry fast and can be cleaned up much easier than enamels. Plus, most enamels will "re-activate" the original pain on many lures and cause a mess.
You can buy the laquers in most Wal-Mart stores or any hobby - craft stores and it usually comes in small spray cans that are much easier to use when sraying small baits.
An air brush is defintely the way to go if you want to fine tune your paint jobs and the acrylic laquer is what you should use . Also, the clear coat .

You can use an acrylic enamel clear coat over the laquer if you use very light coats and build it up slowly without any sagging or melting of the other colors. Either way, light coats of paint are the key. Laquer dries in seconds if applied that way and can be recoated almost immediately for multi color paint schemes and clear coated right after that.

[Ungawa]

I've tried customizing my own crankbaits and spoons for years using tape, finger nail polish, sharpe markers, and a variety of other paints and dyes. I definitely know that a red dyed or painted bill improves the productivity on most crank or stick baits. Recently I discovered R & R Tackle Co owned by Dave Wilczak and he does custom painted baits for reasonable prices. I had him customize about 30 baits for me and they are very, very professional looking and top-notch! They almost look to good to fish with. I decided to spend a little extra money to have a professional do it for me instead. All I had to do was remove the split rings and hooks and mail him the bodies. He has numerous standard patterns you can choose from along with asking him to do anything color scheme that you want. He offers holographic finish that is extremely hard and durable. I'll still modify tinker with a few baits of my own (who doesn't), but after seeing his custom work, I will send him many more of my old "looser color" baits so that I can put them back into the starting line up! Check out his website at www.myowntacklebox.com
You won't be disappointed. He also makes real nice looking trolling spoons and he has new walleye blades too.

[mudpuppy]

Try going to http//www.creativelure.com . They have a forum & a lot of suggestions for air brushing & customizing .

[xcmb]

I haven't repainted any lures, but use automotive type laquers on my blades for harnesses...air brush works great...expecialy a dual action type (you controll air and paint seperatly)..I have also used laquers sold at hobby stores for rc cars and model building. you can get a great selection of collors and metalics, also clears and clear with metal flakes.

if you want to get fancy, layer collors, reflective or metalic tape scales, then a clr=earcoat with flakes in it and WOW!! can't buy that look!

[Ungawa]

Sorry - my previous posting has wrong website for R&R Tackle. It should be www.mytacklebox.com I must have been tired when I referenced it last night. Now you can see for yourself. This is a good time of the year to contact Dave and get your baits customized within a few weeks.

[hammertime]

dave a pretty good guy and takes his work to the top. fished for him last year and he does nothing that he wouldnt stake his rep on. great guy. he has another web sight at: http://www.rrtackleco.com and yes , the guy can paint!

[Capt. Doug Schreiber]

I caught a ton of fish with kures that Dave painted for me this past fall. We are still working on color patterns. I will have at all the sport shows this winter the lures that Dave painted for me and will take oreders there. I will also have some thundersticks at the shows for sale. As far as doing it yourself. You can't without investing a lot of time and a lot more money. Some paints don't mix with others paints or finishes or even plastics. These are the shows I will be at:
Milwaukee Walleye Expo 1/11/02 - 1/13/02
Chicagoland Sportfishing, Outdoor & Travel Show 1/16/02 - 1/20/02
Minneapolis Walleye & Pike Expo 2/1/02 - 2/3/02
Southwest Chicago Fishing a & Boat Show 2/16/02 - 2/17/02
Madison Fishing Expo 2/22/02 - 2/24/24
N.E.W. fishing Show ( Green Bay ) 3/1/02 - 3/3/02
See you there, Doug