how to paint lures with an airbrush Archives

How to Airbrush the Tiger Perch Pattern

This latest blog post will teach you how to airbrush the Tiger Perch pattern on your homemade lures.

The creator of this video tutorial, Splish Splash, walks us through each and every step, from a blank lure all the way to a finished paint job 🙂

He starts off by showing us exactly what items are needed to paint the Tiger Perch pattern and then gets right into the actual painting process. The items mentioned in the video are listed below, at the end of this post.

The first step is to spray on a good base coat of white. This is pretty typical with most lure painting projects. After the white, a pearl white is sprayed on to give the bait some glimmer.

Green is then sprayed on to give the lure a good base to spray the golden scales onto. The back of the lure is then sprayed black, to give it a natural appearance.

A scale stencil is then used, as gold is sprayed onto the sides of the lure. And next, a homemade stencil is used to spray black “tiger stripes” onto the sides of the lure. And then another homemade stencil is used to spray on the gill plate and the mouth of the “fish”.

How to Airbrush the Tiger Perch Pattern - Lures on Drying Wheel

And the final step in spraying is to darken the back a bit more with black paint. Once the final layer of paint is applied and has dried thoroughly, a final topcoat of epoxy is applied and the lure is placed on a drying wheel while the epoxy hardens.

The creator of the video makes it look pretty easy, but don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it quite right the first try. Like everything else, you’ll get better at it with practice.

After your epoxy topcoat has had time to harden completely, install your hooks, split rings and any other necessary hardware and go catch some fish!

Here’s the video:

Items used for this project:

To see a great video of these lures in action, catching Northern Pike in brackish water, click here

If you enjoyed this post, please be sure to like it and share it with your friends.

And, as always, if you need any kind of lure-making supplies, be sure to visit our website, at http://lurepartsonline.com

How To Airbrush Scale Patterns on Homemade Lures

This is a great example of skilled airbrushing from Joe Haddock of Contentnea Creek Customs. Check out the scales on this one!

So you want to learn hot to airbrush scale patterns on homemade lures? Look no further!

We have an awesome tutorial by Paul Adams that will teach you how to airbrush scale patterns on homemade lures like a pro.

Paul covers the process from start to finish, including priming the bait in preparation for the actual painting process, starting out with a base coat of white paint and then following it up with additional colors and speeding up the drying process with a small heat gun.

Paul also shows what types of paint he uses and the colors used to create the scale effects on the lure.

After applying the base coat of white, Paul demonstrates his shading technique, creating a realistic look, with color depth varying from top to bottom. As with a real fish, the heavier coat gets applied to the top of the lure, fading it gradually to the belly area.

And, next, comes the scale netting, or mesh, which will be used to create that natural scale appearance on the sides of the bait. Paul shows how to wrap the mesh around the bait and secure it in place for spraying, using some common items, such as clothespins and alligator clips. As complicated or intimidating as this may seem at first, he shows us how easy it really is!

These are lures that Paul made and used for demonstration purposes in his video, as he teaches us Airbrush Scale Patterns on Homemade Lures

These are lures that Paul made and used for demonstration purposes in his video, as he teaches us how to airbrush scales on homemade lures

After spraying on the scales, watch as Paul then uses translucent paint to bring the lure to life with stunning colors!

After spraying with the translucent paint, Paul then discusses adding an eye and then using an epoxy clear coat to finish the bait, making the colors really “pop” and give it a protective layer of resin to make the paint last longer.

And as a side note, Paul also shows us his box of “bait rejects”, where he tosses baits that don’t meet his standards or maybe some that he tested or tried new methods on. Sometimes the molds don’t cast perfectly, or maybe he experiments with some new kind of finish, such as foil, etc., and those baits don’t meet his standards, so he tosses them into this box until such time he can take them out and fish with them, where he says he doesn’t worry about bouncing them off of rocks 🙂

Here’s the tutorial Video. Enjoy

Here’s a list of materials used, as well as links to them on the Lure Parts Online website.

Unpainted Lure Blanks
Airbrush & Airbrush Accessories
Lure Paint & Accessories
Scale Netting

You can check out Paul’s blog by Clicking Here.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, please be sure to share it with others.