...hand-painting crankbaits, what would be the necessary purchases? I've never done in airbrushing, so I no nothing about it.

Go to YouTube and search for custom painting lures.

There are dozens of good "how to" or demonstration videos.

You can get the equivalent of a college degree in lure design, painting and other tips in short order if you are motivated.

If you make some, show us how they turn out!

Brad

pretty simple really. airbrush. i would recommend an iwata neo to start. a compressor. small and quiet is the way to go. a couple bottles of airbrush black ink. paper. watch a bunch of youtube videos on bassic airbrushing.
the ink is thin and easy to spray. use it to get the feel for the brush before you waste a bunch of money on paints. spray on anything you have laying around to play. try different pressure settings to see how it affects the paint flow. around 20psi should be the very highest you ever go. probably 10-12 with ink...maybe less.
have fun with it.

How many "guns" do most of yall have to paint with? or do you use only enough to paint the area you want and clean it out and add another color....

you can do everything you need with one gun. get a gravity feed. easy to clean out between colors and frugal with paint.

Swalker where are you located?

Thanks for the info and encouragement. Bradshuflin, I live in Burleson.

If you are interested, you welcome to come over and try some stuff and paint some baits and we can put you a list together of what you will need.

Thanks for the offer. I may have to do that. Getting a paint list would probably save me some money. But, I guess saving money really isn't the point.

i guarantee you that saving money will not be something that's in the equation if you get into this. brad and i can testify to that. there's always something else or some other color that you can't live without. there are sources for stuff that can save you some money that we'll be glad to give you. coast airbrush for one for your createx paints.
i'd take brad up on his offer. he's a good painter. you'll learn a lot.

Man....I wish I had a Brad when I started throwing paint it would have saved me some $$.

You'll probably need only a few colors to begin with but here's my favorites list:
I use Createx paints. Basic colors for tint: Transparent White & Black. Opaque colors for base: White, Black, Yellow. Pearls: White, Silver, Black, Gold, Tangerine, Pineapple. Iridescents: Yellow, Green, Blue, Turquoise. Transparent: Grey, Yellow, Greens, Blues, Purple, Orange, Browns. Wicked colors: Silver, Aluminum, Burnt Orange, Moss Green, Golden Yellow. Illustration base to thin everything. Get a few eyedroppers for measuring paint (helps to be precise) and a cleaning station for your airbrushes. It helps to have a paint booth of some kind so as not to get over spray on the wife's stuff ...a happy wife makes a happy life .

I use two airbrushes both Paasche with a different needle size in each one (I don't like changing needles while painting). There are several good makes and models of brushes.

I bought a horizontal tank style air compressor from Home Depot ($99)...that I also use it for soda blasting (on a small scale). Be sure to get something with a water/oil filter between the pressure regulator and airbrush hose. I use a longer hose to the brush so I can move around...getting the right light on a lure pattern is VERY important.

As for clear coats...best to start with Devcon 2 Ton Epoxy...its easy to use and pretty forgiving. Basscat dad on this forum has some good posts on where to find it..and some very nice finished lures (examples). Get the 30 minute epoxy not the 5 minute. Get some modeling brushes so you can mop the mix on a lure and spread it fairly quickly. Go light on the epoxy its easy to overdo it, just try to cover the lure lightly. Again light is your friend here...it helps you find voids (holidays) in the epoxy. Buy a can of Denatured Alcohol to clean stuff up with. Later you may want to try some of the other clear coat options...... and there are plenty of them.

As BradR posted....check out Youtube videos on lure painting.
Go here TackleUnderground and read up in the forum on hard baits. It'll help. Most importantly take your time....it will take some patience....but its worth it. There are lots of folks here who are willing to share experiences and ideas. Don't hesitate to ask and good luck to you, Swalker9513.

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