Amount of Airbrush Paint to Buy?

[NateFollmer]

Silly question i know, but I'm trying to see if buying a kit would be better or just getting the bottles individually.

How long can I expect a 2oz. bottle of airbrush paint to last? I know it depends on how much is actually painted, so just a rough estimate will do. Let's say for example I get a 2oz white bottle and I want to paint all my cranks with a white base, how many cranks do you think that would paint?

[Fishwhittler]

I don't know exactly how long a 2 ounce bottle will last, but if you're using it on all of your lures it won't last very long.  I got the 2 ounce bottle of white paint the first time, and I went through it very quickly.  You'll be better off getting the 4 ounce bottle; it doesn't cost much more and it lasts twice as long.  Black is another color you'll want plenty of (I use it on just about every pattern I paint), but other than that it really depends on the patterns you paint.

Hope this helps.

Ben

[NateFollmer]

Well I'm not going to do everything white, I was just trying to think of an example

2 oz to me sounds like I blow through it in a few cranks, but maybe I'm wrong I was thinking of just getting like an 8 oz white, an 8 oz black and then a few 2 oz colors. I guess I should figure out patterns before I go and buy a kit and have a bunch of odd ball colors I'll never use

[Steven Ladner]

For sure don't get anything less than 4oz of black and white. You'll go through those 2 faster than you realize. Plus the larger amount you buy, you save a ton of $.

For example, one site's Createx Opaque Black:

4oz bottle for $4.28

128oz bottle for $63.80

If my math was right, if you ended up buying 32 of the 4oz bottles the total would be $136.96.

I'm not suggesting you get a 128oz bottle, especially since you're just starting. I'm just giving you an example of how much the price drops by buying a larger quantity bottle.

Hope this helps somewhat.

[.dsaavedra.]

i wouldn't buy a kit. i'd get 4 (or 8) ounce bottles of colors you know you'll use a lot like white, black, silver (base coat colors) and get 2 (or 4) ounce bottles of colors you'll use for details.

i only put 2-3 drops of paint in the cup unless i'm painting the entire bait  that color. so 2oz lasts much longer than you'd expect

[NateFollmer]

Thanks guys! I figured for the cost, the paint should last longer than I thought, but I've never been good at quantity judgement I just have a feeling once I start, I'll never stop so may as well stock up now

[BIG M]

The colors I use the most are flo yellow, pearl white, yellow, and black, mostly for base coats.   I buy those in 32oz bottles.   Detail colors I buy in 1oz bottles and I have some colors that have lasted for several yrs.   With a gravity feed brush you can shoot 1 drop of paint.

[NateFollmer]

The colors I use the most are flo yellow, pearl white, yellow, and black, mostly for base coats. I buy those in 32oz bottles. Detail colors I buy in 1oz bottles and I have some colors that have lasted for several yrs. With a gravity feed brush you can shoot 1 drop of paint.

That's good to know because I know you do a lot more than I ever will What Flo. Yellow do you buy? The Createx flo. colors say they shouldn't be used as a permanent soultion because they are constantly decaying??? What the heck kind of paint are they selling ha!

[Fishwhittler]

That's good to know because I know you do a lot more than I ever will What Flo. Yellow do you buy? The Createx flo. colors say they shouldn't be used as a permanent soultion because they are constantly decaying??? What the heck kind of paint are they selling ha!

That doesn't make any sense to me. I certainly haven't noticed that happening on any of my lures painted with fluorescent colors, but then I only started airbrushing this summer. At any rate, if you use a UV-protected topcoat the paint should be fine.

BTW I use Createx fluorescent yellow on my baits.

[NateFollmer]

That's good to know because I know you do a lot more than I ever will What Flo. Yellow do you buy? The Createx flo. colors say they shouldn't be used as a permanent soultion because they are constantly decaying??? What the heck kind of paint are they selling ha!

That doesn't make any sense to me. I certainly haven't noticed that happening on any of my lures painted with fluorescent colors, but then I only started airbrushing this summer. At any rate, if you use a UV-protected topcoat the paint should be fine.

BTW I use Createx fluorescent yellow on my baits.

Here's where I saw it:

http://www.galaxyairbrush.com/paints/createx.buttons/c.5403.cart.htm

radioactive cranks will produce monster bass... Literally!

[DBatey]

Just think about the patterns you are likely to do, things you will use a lot you need at least 4 oz of. If you are planning on doing this for a while get at least 8 oz bottles of black and white. I would guess that Gold, Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver, pearl white, and Chartreuse might be some that would require 4 oz. Some of the pearls and specialty colors could be bought in 2 oz. Also as you go you will learn what you use a lot and know to up the ante next time on those.

Plan out the colors you have in mind and see how many colors you are going to need, and pay attention to how many are on several of the patterns and it will give you an idea of which colors to buy more of than others.

You'll be addicted soon

[NateFollmer]

Heck I'm addicted to just designing the body styles at the moment. I'm going to have to test a lot of these to see if they will actually run well before I go painting junk body styles I thought I could save money by doing this, but I'll probably have more money wrapped up in testing  

[CCP]

Yeah, get the 8 oz. bottles of black and white. As said, the other colors can be bought in 2 oz. bottles.

[BobP]

I have 5 yr old baits with Createx Fluorescent Yellow on them that look the same as when painted, so don't worry on that score.  I paint 100-150 baits per year and buy mostly 4 oz bottles, but buy a 16 or 32 oz bottle of cover white for basecoating.  I shoot Smith Wildlife, Createx, Polytranspar, etc just depending on what colors are useful.  I like to shoot paint straight out of the bottle without thinning or color mixing, so for me, buying a set of standard colors would not be very useful.  I think Createx is the most consistent in quality and 'shoot-ability" but its color palette is limited compared to others, which are formulated specifically for wildlife painting.  One specific recommendation - I really like the Polytranspar Superhide White for color basecoating.  It's by far the best cover white I've ever tried - has lots of pigment, dries fast to a very hard smooth surface.

[NateFollmer]

Sounds good! Thanks BobP. I was reading some of you're other advice here and over on TU - good stuff! I'll agree with you on the Createx palette. I love some of the Auto Air colors, but I think I'll keep it simple to start I don't want to buy a ton of colors and then completely suck at this.. I'm sure you'd all buy my stash up though 

[NateFollmer]

Another question I just thought of

Can you mix colors? Like say I wanted a green, could I mix yellow and blue or doesn't that normally turn out very good?

[DBatey]

I hardly ever shoot colors other than the basics right out of the bottle, I mix right in my gravity feed cup.

[NateFollmer]

Nice. I think I got this pretty well under control now. I just need to decide on what wood I want to try. I was thinking basswood, but I think I want something a little harder since I don't have to worry about carving... I think I need to take a trip to my pap's shop and steal some wood

[Fishwhittler]

You might try using PVC board for your baits. It's waterproof, and it has no grain so you can cut baits at just about any angle you want in the board.

Another nice thing about PVC baits is you can just stick the hardware in the lure and go test it without epoxying anything in place. The lure won't absorb water, and if it doesn't swim you can just pull the hardware out and modify it, or if that doesn't work you can scrap it without wasting any hardware or epoxy.

[NateFollmer]

I thought about that. Any suggestions on where to get PVC board cheap?

The CNC guy was holding out on me. He told me today he has a replicator that he hasn't used since he got the cnc and is letting me borrow it

[Fishwhittler]

I get my PVC from Menards.  An eight-foot 1x4 costs about $20, and you can get a lot of baits out of one board.  It has a shell of some sort on the outside of the board, but I just carve that off of each lure blank.

While in theory PVC doesn't need any sealer prior to paint, in practice I find that it works much better if you coat it with epoxy before painting.  It is possible to sand PVC smooth enough to paint without epoxying, but it takes a lot of effort and then you still have to worry about the PVC expanding when you heat set your paint.  PVC expands when heated, and that can ruin your paint job (been there done that :-X).  Epoxy is the best way I've found to protect the PVC from heat and get a smooth surface to paint on. 

I know that may seem like it defeats the purpose of using PVC, but it doesn't at all.  The sealing epoxy is only used to provide a smooth surface to paint on; it's not actually protecting the PVC from water seepage.  With PVC baits, a fish can chew right through the finish and the bait will still retain it's structural integrity.  Not only that but the bait won't swell and crack the finish due to water absorption, so the finish will last longer.

I hope that made sense...

Ben

[NateFollmer]

good stuff ben. Thanks for the info. I found a lumber store that carries Azek. I'm going to see if they have any scrap first, if not, I'll just buy a board. I got some mahogany from my paps shop. I figured I can make the testing crankbaits out of pvc, then replicate them and use the mahogany for some too. I've never been a good drawer/painter (unless is on the computer ha) so I'm thinking I'll have nice looking bodies with terrible paint jobs