Okay now that you have decided you want to test your bait it’s important that you seal the wood before getting it wet. You can use a variety of clear coats among the most popular would be thinned back epoxy or proponiate. Personally I like to use a product by Smith & Co called the Clear Penetrating Epoxy System (CPES). This product has a slower cure time and is meant to saturate and penetrate your wood which will slow down moisture absorption down the road. Once you have cleared your bait let it sit for 24 hours to fully dry. After the clear has dried you can either start testing the bait or you can start the finish process. In the event that you are going to finish the bait you will notice the grain will be raised from the CPES. Take a few different grades of sandpaper and sand the bait smooth going with the grain. Once you have smoothed out the bait either wipe it down with denatured alcohol or paint thinner and make sure the bait is dust free. Although it is not necessary to prime the CPES I like to so I can see any imperfections and start leveling them out. For this I like to use a good automotive primer and apply a few light coats. Once the primer has dried go over the bait with fine sandpaper and again wipe it clean. Depending on how many imperfections you have you may want to spray a few more light primer coats to help level the bait out or you may need to use a little filler (two part sandable epoxy) in which case you would patch the bait,sand,and prime again. One thing worth noting the more patch you use the more you risk your bait coming apart.

After getting your bait ready for finish paint it’s time to decide on a few things. Do you want to use a paint brush and rattle cans,or do you want to invest in an airbrush? If your on a budget there are quite a few things you can do with brushes and rattle cans. Although you can’t control the air pressure or volume of paint with rattle cans you can easily shoot your base coats and then dress up the finishing touches by shielding areas or by using a variety of brushes. You would be surprised at what you can do if you step back and think about how you can layer different colors.   Also spend a little extra money for good spray cans and artist brushes that won’t shed or blow out easy.

Getting into airbrushing is somewhat costly but worth it if you have the drive to see your projects through. There are many good airbrushes on the market but it is important to get one that has been proven and has replacement parts available. You can spend anywhere from $20-$400 on a brush ranging from single to dual action,siphon to gravity fed,changeable tips to one single all purpose tip etc…. Most airbrush artists will tell you they have a variety of brushes to do certain things whether it’s laying base coats or spraying fine detail. All brushes have their place however to get started you don’t need multiple brushes. My first brush was a single action Paasche H that I got very familiar with and still use quite often. I’ve since acquired a few more brushes and would say that double action is the way to go but by no means is a must. Getting your mix ratios right is probably the most important aspect of spraying consistently with any gun.  For around $75 you can pick up a Paasche VL set which is a great brush that many custom painters still use today.

Now that you have your brush you need to think about getting air to it. Compressors tend to be the most expensive part of airbrushing if you have a compressor in the garage you can save some money and use it with just a few extra parts. If you don’t you can either look at standard compressors or specific airbrush compressors. Standard compressors tend to be loud but run less because of the bigger tanks which results in less moisture build up. Airbrush compressors typically are quieter and sometimes have built in moisture traps and pressure regulators. Either way you go you need to look into getting both a pressure regulator,atleast one moisture trap,and 10′ of hose. The longer the hose the more the air can cool down and the less moisture you will get in your gun.

So now you have everything ready to go and need paint. There are lots of options to consider here. Starting out I would suggest water based paints. They are easier to manage and are less toxic. If you get comfortable with what your doing I would then experiment with solvent based paints. Water based paints such as Createx and Golden are two popular brands. Make sure you use paint made for airbrushes the pigments are ground down fine specifically for airbrushing other paints will clog your gun. Ideally you want to stick with one brand that way you can rule out any inconsistencies or adhesion problems. Once you’ve picked out a line don’t go and buy every color under the sun when you first start out. Pick up a color wheel and see what primary colors mix with what so you can limit the amount of money you spend.

Once your setup experiment with different ideas. To create scale patterns you can use everything from mesh bags from the produce aisle to dip nets used for fish tanks. To create various templates to paint fins and gills pencil in your shapes on regular or stencil paper and use an exacto knife to cut them out. Remember airbrushing is about controlling the paint I’ve found a variety of things work low tack tape,printer paper,and even a finger. Again the real trick in understanding airbrushing is getting your paint to flow right and understanding how to layer colors. Because of the different changes in air temperature,humidity,condensation from the compressor,and different styles of paint airbrushing is not an exact science and it takes time behind the gun to figure out.

Once you’ve painted your bait you need to think about a clear coat. Like paint there are many options here. For a high build clear coat you cannot get any thicker than a two part epoxy. You can either use a two part glue such as Devcon or a thinner bar top epoxy like Environtex Lite. One thing to note is you will want a motorized drying rack when using heavier epoxy coats because of their slow cure self leveling properties. Clear coats you can spray include polyurethane’s,moisture cured lacquers, and high end automotive clears. Polyurethane’s can be purchased in an aerosol can and will do a decent job,but over time will degrade or amber. Moisture cured lacquer’s are great when you don’t want weight to play a factor,but they can be a bit temperamental and can spoil if not handled correctly. For a good lasting thin high gloss coat automotive urethane’s are great. For this you will need a gun that can handle the right amount of pressure and volume to atomize the urethane. Because automotive urethane’s are mixed with a catalyst urethane has a short shelf life and should normally be used in a months time. This can become expensive if your not going through the paces with the clear coat gun.Other clear coats such as shellac,lacquer,varnish either degrade too fast or amber too much to recommend.

One thing to note is automotive urethane’s are also the most flammable and toxic so make sure you really know what your doing before you make your purchase. I suggest you meet with either a trained automotive painter or automotive paint supplier and tell them what your environment consists of. Precautions such as turning off your gas pilot light,ventilation,and working around lights that can get hot are all things you really need to think about.

here’s a list of common items you might consider to finish your bait

wood sealer

automotive primer

sand paper

denatured alcohol (clean your bait and airbrush)

tack cloth

airbrush and hose

compressor with air regulator and moisture trap

paint

clear coat

rotating dry wheel/rack

fan to draw paint fumes/vapors

respirator with Organic Vapor Cartridges

glasses when spraying clear

exacto knife

tracing paper

various brushes