Lure Painting Tutorial Step-By-Step

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RedSkullz

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Jun 19, 2010
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There was some requests for a lure painting tutorial so here we go!! I have to apologize for the variance of light sources in the pics as this lure was painted over the course of a few different days and most of the pics were taken outside.(i might do another lure using pics indoor in my office at some point where light is controlled and overall pic quality will be better)

Anyways...what you will need to complete lures from start to finish is:
Spraypaint- Various colours depending on the colour scheme you want. For this tutorial in painting "Frogger" i am using Colour Place White and Green, Krylon Grey Primer, Krylon Yellow, and Flourescent Green.
Small Paint brush (for painting the spots)
Popper Lure Blank
Arylic tan and darker brown (decoart, applebarrell ect)
5/32" 3d Eyes
Wire (to hang lure while wet)
Envirotex Lite Pour on Laquer
1 oz Mixing cups with measurements (or ideally no measurements on cup needed if you can get 5ml syringes)
Disposable brushes
Mixing sticks(popsicle sticks)
Drill (for rotating a single lure in the chuck on slow while curing with envirotex)


Prepping Chipped Crankbaits:
First i take off the split rings and treble hooks. To remove chipping paint from a damaged crankbait i will first soak the crank in a cleaner called Simple Green for 2 days to help soften the paint and varnish. I then take the crank out of the simple green and use the edge of an X-acto knife to chip the remaining paint off.(this step is a bit of a chore) Once all paint is off i'll wash the lure in water and let it fully dry. Lure is almost ready for paint. First we would need to tape the diving lip, but since there is no lip on a popper we get to skip that step. (yay! :) )

Painting Part 1 Krylon Grey Primer 2 coats
Undercoat.
Learn to use spray paints. Try to do smooth even coats on a scrap piece of wood overlaying your spray fan to get a feel for how much comes out of the can. Keep the can nozzle approximately 6 inches from the piece of scrap and do smooth fairly quick passes. Once you feel comfortable with the spray can hang your lure outside on a relatively calm day.(i like a piece of wire on the clothsline with nothing around to get paint on)

Here is a pic of all 8 baits reefrunner traded me ready for paint.(baits will be spread out before painting 3 feet or more if breezy outside)
Picture051.jpg


Here is Frogger in his black finish that i received him in hanging on a wire:
Picture050.jpg


Okay so now with your lure hanging on a wire i paint using smooth strokes until the lure is grey. It is better to put several lighter coats than fewer heavy coats. Holding the wire i will rotate the lure and do a couple of passes on the belly, sides and back. I'll then come up with the spray can underneath and spray the nose. Generally i like to put the paint on so it looks wet, no more, no less. Then i let the lure dry for 30 minutes. I'll repeat this process until the lure is a nice consistantly solid grey.(i had it nice and grey after 2 coats)

Undercoat: Colour Place White:
Do the same step as above with 3 even light coats of white. Let dry in between coats 30 minutes.
Frogger with his white undercoat 3 coats:
Picture054.jpg


Basecoat: Krylon Yellow
Using the same technique as above i give one nice yellow coat to the whole lure. Again leave dry for at least 30 minutes before the next step.

Frogger with his yellow basecoat:
Picture055.jpg


Overcoat Side and top:
This is where it gets a little tricky. What i wanted to do here is coat the sides and back with flourescent green while avoiding the belly entirely leaving the belly yellow. So i held the lure on an angle where the spray paint can fan would not hit the belly at all as i did my strokes. Once i was happy with the way the colour faded into the yellow i let dry again.

Flour Green Added on over yellow:
Picture056.jpg


White Belly Overcoat:
Carefully holding the lure so only the belly will be hit by the Colour Place white Spraycan i make multiple passes over the yellow belly to make it mostly white. Let dry again for 30 or more minutes.(sorry i forgot to take a pic of this step apparently)

Back Overcoat:
I wanted to go with a darker green for the back and i liked the natural appearance of the colour place green so i went with that.(exact same as the white belly overcoat step but on the back only)
Picture070.jpg


Spots Undercoat:
Being fully content with the rest of the paintjob so far the only thing frogger needs now is some spots. I used a small 00 art brush for hand painting the spots and went with a lighter tan brown as an undercoat. I eyeball the spots to make sure they are fairly uniform and paint small circles in a pattern. I do my best to paint the same pattern on the other side of the lure using the same lighter tan colour.

Spots overcoat: Over the tan spots i add another smaller spot using a darker brown and finish Frogger....Frogger ATTACK!!

Picture076.jpg

Picture077.jpg


Now that the lure is fully painted i will finish it off using envirotex lite a 2 part resin that is a great finish but is kind of difficult to use. The difficulty comes with its self-leveling properties. If the lure is not constantly rotating the resin will sag screwing your new beautiful paintjob. Rather than getting into the whole process of applying envirotex i will link you to an excellent tutorial i found very, very helpful.

http://striped-bass.com/striper-fishing/index.php/articles/lure-building/54-mr-pogies-epoxy-plug-finishing-applying-envirotex
One thing i will add is a fully charged drill works great for rotating a single lure while the envirotex cures. Clamp the lure in the chuck by the eyelet, coat with envirotex and tape the drill button on so its barely rotating.

Well that concludes this tutorial and i hope i have explained it well enough for all of you to get painting yourself!! I am going to add some other stuff to this tutorial or maybe make a new one with grid techniques, stenciled tiger stripes and other patterns, multicolour heads ect.
 
Thanks for the comments!
It would be not be feasible to show the process in a day due to drying times....well i guess it would be possible for sure if i had like 10 lures painted in different stages.
 
Thats a good question and a tough one to reply to...i found the krylon to be very fast drying. I was bringing lures into the house after 20 minutes and my wife was not complaining...lol (super scent sensitive she is) I found the colour place colours when put on wet would need an hour or so before they were fairly cured. On semi windy sunny days the paint dries very, very fast, but krylon is extremely fast drying in heat and wind.
 
Krylon sounds like nice paint to work with, but I think the Envirotex is the secret finish here. It would seal up any scent of paint without messing up the paint job. Tricky stuff to work with, but once you get the hang of it, the finishes you can create are amazing. Thanks for the lesson!
 
Krylon sounds like nice paint to work with, but I think the Envirotex is the secret finish here. It would seal up any scent of paint without messing up the paint job. Tricky stuff to work with, but once you get the hang of it, the finishes you can create are amazing. Thanks for the lesson!


Yes etex is the sectret for a good finish. I'd love to find a sweet spray polyurathane that is tough, but i dont think there is one that will hold up to the toothy pikeys. But you are right, etex is not easy to work with, but does a stunning tough finish when finished.
 
Reviving a th'd...

Is there any other reasons for going with a two pack top coat other than durability?
I spray almost all of my baits (DIY or factory) with a Motomaster automotive clear coat urethane, no probs at all with chipping on pike or salmon. That Envirotex is a PITA to work with (did a table top with it).
 
Reviving a th'd...

Is there any other reasons for going with a two pack top coat other than durability?
I spray almost all of my baits (DIY or factory) with a Motomaster automotive clear coat urethane, no probs at all with chipping on pike or salmon. That Envirotex is a PITA to work with (did a table top with it).

Durability is the main reason i use E-tex, also i have a surplus of Etex to use up as i also make custom scenery for wargames and use the resin to make ponds and swamp in scenery. I would like to use a thinner coat of topcoat and will think about using auto clear coats, but until i get cash for a compressor and a proper respirator mask i'll stick to what i have.
Thanks for the comments!!
 

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