Paint or the powder pigment mixture?

Paint. I guess I am not thinning it correctly. What do you use to thin it?

Honestly I use water at 50/50 on createx and a little extra on apple barrel, folkart, Americana at 40/60 createx makes reducer that a lot of people use but the water works for me.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong then. I'll just watch a few more days of YouTube and maybe I'll figure it out. What consistency is your paint when you are spraying?

I would say about like milk if that makes sense. Question do you have the bait base coated?

Using the .35mm tip I would turn the air pressure up to about 50-60 psi then start by thinning the paint about 50/50, water to paint. If it still clogs up thin again to about 60/40, and continue this process until it sprays like you want it too.

Use the .50mm tip at the same 50-60 psi and thin the paint to about 50/50 to start. Spray base colors with this tip.....might be tough to do detail and shade with it. Example: base white..then pearl white belly followed up with a pearl black back. Mist a little green along the midline (lateral line) on the sides. Start simple, be patient and practice. See the "tips and tricks" post for a way to practice using PVC pipe or a test blank.

I was painting an old bait that I had sanded down. I tried to base coat it with a transparent white. I just got 100 blanks in the mail today. Hopefully I'll have the hang of it by the time I finish painting these.

Base with opaque colors, transparent colors are not made to cover. I usually spray around 20-25 psi with my base gun with .5 tip and detail around 15 psi with my .2. Just keep practicing you will get it.

Thank you boisarc! I was not using anywhere near that much air pressure. I'll try again today and see if that fixes the issue.

Let's address the elephant in the room and ask how do you ghost w/o a base coat? I'm not gonna stop asking questions until y'all tell me everything you know.

Basic Ghost patterns.....dip the blank quickly in acetone and let it dry...that clears the plastic. Paint using transparent colors .. they allow the colors below them to show thru. Mist Iridescent and Pearls for shade and color shift. Think of ghost patterns in see-thru layers. Then dip in concrete sealer or brush on D2T for a smooth shining finish.

On another note:
Forgot to mention....my detail airbrush has a MAC valve to control air pressure at the tip. Don't get too hung up on air pressure at first...just get the paint flowing so that you can practice. Thinning paints for use with low air pressure and detail work comes later. Have fun with it now... as you get practiced you'll want to try your hand at more difficult things.

Most ghost baits are also not painted on the lower half of the bait, bois is dead on with his advise. Most of the time when I paint ghost bait I do 3 real light coats of the colors I'm using. Also if you will thin your paint with wiked high performance reducer at like 20/80 instead of 50/50 if will let you use other colors like transparents.


I would recommend staying with the opaque colors to start with until you get a feel for the brush and develop more control, but if that is what your wanting to do just remember you can always wipe the paint off and start over if it doesn't have a topcoat.

I just finished my first first batch. I have only done one pattern and I already realize how many more paint colors I need. Most of colors are metallic, neon, fluorescent, and transparent. I had to mix opaque purple with metallic black because that's the only black that I had. I'll be picking up a big batch of opaque colors in the morning. They still need clear coat and eyes, but I'll start accepting criticism and advice now. I attempted to copy the shad in the first picture.

Those look very nice considering that was your fist batch. After you paint several patter s you will really start picking up speed. I bet they will catch some fish. Sadly I have around 70 colors and still at times it's not enough.


If you really want to reproduce the pictured bait you will need holographic blanks or to silver leaf them. I have some holographic fat papa's I need to sit down and spray when. I get caught up and can paint some for myself.

I have some holographic square bills. I just figured I would get some practice before I attempt them.