Airbrushing and Createx Colors

[The_Natural]

After purchasing my airbrush, I went to hobby lobby to buy some paint. I saw the Createx paint that a lot of very good painters recommended, but it was nearly $4 for a little 2oz bottle, and the acrylic hobby paints were only $1. I had read that you can thin the hobby paints with windex and spray them through your airbrush. This is what I did, and after practicing a bit; I painted a couple of baits. They turned out good, but I found out I really got lucky on those. Since using these thinned acrylic hobby paints was the only experience I had at this point, I thought paint sputtering and sometimes clogging of my airbrush were just part of it. Well, last week I bought some Createx on a whim, and ran it through its paces with my airbrush. The difference was pretty dramatic. I instantly got 3x better at painting due to my airbrushes flawless digestion of the paint. The smaller pigments allowed a very fine atomization, and my lines were more accurate. A lot of the Createx paints are 'transparent' as well (to a degree), which allows layering. I just wanted to let some of you know that are wanting to buy an airbrush to spend the money on good paint. FYI... I purchased my airbrush off of ebay (Iwata HPC for $80...NIB), and a 1/5hp compressor with moisture trap, auto regulator, etc. for $120. If you are hand making baits...get an airbrush! Don't labor over making those hand made baits and then put a paint job on them with a rattle can or paint brush. It was super easy to learn, and the results are amazing!. I'm going to post up my baits tomorrow night; I have to let the clearcoat dry on them first.  

[fourbizz]

Thats the same brush, paint, and compressor I use.

I am on my 3rd one in a year. Thats ok because that company has amazing customer service. All I have done is called, explained the problem, and they sent another compressor and moisture trap for free!

I tried using Apple Barrel for my off white basecoat for awhile. Screw that noise.

Plus a 2oz bottle really does last a LOOOOOOOONG time with an airbrush. Also the Createx, except for the pearls imo, shoot much better if you cut them down a little bit with windex or water. You will get a much finer atomization and better layering.

Dont know if youve picked up on it yet, but back flushing your gun really really helps to keep it clean.

[Stringjam]

How's that crankbait coming?    

[whittler]

Createx paints are decent but Wildlife paints (Smith Paints) are better, especially their pearls. I have an HP-C and an HP-CS and their pearls are about the only airbrush paints that can be sprayed without thinning. These paints are available through the taxidermy suppliers, Wasco and VanDyke's.

The more you use the brush the less paint you will find yourself using. If you are painting a gill detail on a dozen baits, in the Iwita about 4-5 drops of paint is all you will need. On a siphon feed gun it would require 10 times that amount of paint just to fill the tube between the cup and the gun.

[Thad]

...I saw the Createx paint that a lot of very good painters recommended, but it was nearly $4 for a little 2oz bottle...

I just bought some paint in 2 oz. bottles for over $30 a bottle. Worth it though.

[The_Natural]

How's that crankbait coming?

You didn't know the degree of my procrastination, did you?  I glued on a bunch of bills last night, and white base coats.  I finished a couple, bthut I'm debating whether I wanted to keep the paintjob or redo them.  I had a few several beers and I messed up a little.  

So you think I should thin my Createx a little?  I've read about the wildlife paints and heard great things, but the Createx was available at my local Hobby Lobby, so that is what I went with for now.  I'll be buying more paint, and will give the wildlife colors a shot.  Thanks for the imput....

[whittler]

Airbrush paints from color to color can vary a lot. Some will spray without thinning and the next color of the same brand will not work without a little windex. The more you spray the easier it will become to tell as soon as the paint hits the cup wether it needs to be thinned or not. After you shoot a couple thousand baits it will all begin to fall into place.

[The_Natural]

Airbrush paints from color to color can vary a lot. Some will spray without thinning and the next color of the same brand will not work without a little windex. The more you spray the easier it will become to tell as soon as the paint hits the cup wether it needs to be thinned or not. After you shoot a couple thousand baits it will all begin to fall into place.

I'm a little frustrated at the moment.  I spent a loooong time on this bluegill bait.   It consisted of like 6 or 7 different colors fading into each other, and I spent quite a bit of time mixing colors to get the hue I wanted.  I've only painted a few baits, but this bait was reaaally coming together.  Then I f*cked it all up trying to paint fading stripes   .  There goes my masterpiece.  It's ridiculous how disappointed I am, even though it's just one bait.  I've got a couple of others that I first started with that must have 20 coats of paint on them; I kept messing up and then repainting them  

[Thad]

One thing you can do when you get to a hard part like that is go ahead and give it a clear coat. Once it dries go back to painting and if you mess up just wipe the paint off gently with water if you're using water based, acetone if not.

[The_Natural]

One thing you can do when you get to a hard part like that is go ahead and give it a clear coat. Once it dries go back to painting and if you mess up just wipe the paint off gently with water if you're using water based, acetone if not.

Now you tell me  .  Good idea though....I'll work that into the rotation.

[BIG M]

Natural, shoot the bait with a coat of minwax polyurathane and let it dry for 24hrs.    Then if you screw up just wipe it down with windex and try again.  

If you are trying to be perfect then you will be frustrated over and over.   I know because that's how I use to be.   I wanted every pattern to be that most perfect pattern.   Now I just shoot the paint and don't worry about the imperfections, because I always have some imperfections in my painting.  

[whittler]

Mistakes are the thing that will eventually lead you to your own style, its learning how to correct your mistakes that teaches the most. Ask questions, experiment and practice.

[fourbizz]

One thing I have discovered is instead of mixing that "perfect" color, which can be a gigantic PITA, just layer the colors that you would mix to create that perfect color.

[76-gator]

A couple of posts back in this thread mentioned Createx spraying good except the pearls... or something along that line.  When airbrushing pay attention to the recommended nozzle size especially with Pearls.  What ever airbursh you are using may just have too fine of a nozzle and you'll have problems.  So go up a nozzle size if you need to in order to get good results!  I spray Createx and AutoAir pearls without any problems on my Iwata Eclipse.

Next, fading stripes are a PITA, but use of a template or tape will greatly assist in that effort, as one side becomes very defined and the other is simply the result of spraying half the paint on to the tape and you get a naturally occuring thinner line, curve... as the center of the spray pattern is more concentrated than the edge.