I was painting a few poppers this weekend so I thought I'd take some pics along the way. We all know that the action of a plug is primary and the paint is just an also ran, but I actually enjoy the challenge. First off let me get this out of the way, I use House of Kolor automotive solvent based paints. I have Iwata brushes , and a very well lit outside vented spray booth. Some times I'll use Automotive Urethanes for a top coat and I want to emphasize the importance of a proper booth and respirator. Let's paint. The poppers I was painting are some of my resin plugs I had hanging around for a while. I thought a Largemouth bass pattern would be nice. They were primed with auto primer, painted white base coat then pearl white. I taped off the gill rakers and shot them with pearl red, then just added some thinned grey for shadowing on the rakers and gill plates, that is the first pic. The next one is the mixed paints ready to go. The third picture is the light green on the back and sides as a base for the scales.

Nice,
Do you use cups or bottles as your paint receptacle for your gun?

Very cool!

Can't wait to the rest of the process
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This next pic I used this kind of stencil to give the finish some depth, its a drywall texture stencil. I just shot portions of it on the top and some sides. Next pic is the plug covered with netting, ready for a light coat of pearl gold. Last pic is the result.

Rowhunter,

Wow, love your work man...thanks for the pics and tips, very cool of you to share some of your unbelievable talents with us:chased:

MS

I don't like using bottles, for me it's easier and faster with the cup.
After the scales I used the darker green/grey mix to freehand those side markings ,the back ,and those three typical line markings off the eyes. Then I start with the pectoral fin. For this I cut out a template from cardstock, hold in place, and lightly outline just the top portion with grey. With that template in place I lightly shoot fin rays with the edge of a card. Then lightly shoot some white under the grey followed in this case with some candy yellow. The next pic is the reverse template for the fin drop shadow. Hold this one in place and shoot the bottom starting from the front, tight, and back off as you reach the rear of the fin. All of this paint is heavily thinned, heavily.

Lets bring it home! First pic is what it looks like after both fins are completed. I'll then sign it, and hit it with an intercoat clear, the last pic. Now it's ready for eyes and a top coat, this time I'll use E-tex. Thats how I do it, all at one sitting, most times it works out. The best part is that it took a lot less time to actually paint two of them than it did for me to enter this post.

Douglas

Rowhunter,

Very,very impressive post

Thanks again,

MS

Very nice! Thanks for posting!

Man your work something special!!

I'd love to see some fish on your plugs!
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Very nice. I've used templates in fly tying for yrs and never thought of it with plugs. Sweet work

pro work thanks for the post and some thoughts. Keep up the good work.

Love your work, Which Iwata are you using?

wow, that was pretty slick! Thanks for sharing.

Humbling and inspiring, all at once.

Can you share some dimensions and blower details of your spray booth?

It takes a truly sick man to use House of Kolor paints on plugs. You happen to be sicker than most. Unbelievable talent. Great stuff you got there.

Awesome paint and detail work.:uhuh:

I would be afraid to throw it! hehe

Thanks guys, for Iwatas I use my HP-BCS the most. It is a bottle brush but I have a cup that I use on it all the time ,I think it is a Badger cup. I'll use it for primer, main color coat, pearls and clear coat. The other one is a HP-CH that I use for detail, shading and candys.
The spray booth is a design I found online by a very talented carver named Ed Waliki. The dimensions of mine are 42"x 32"x20". There is a separate box below that contains a squirrel cage blower motor from an old furnace. This box draws air from the booth through two 4" hoses into the cage then out through two 4" ducts, out a window. There is so much air moving it could not become an explosive situation due to the small volume an airbrush can produce. Most of the time I'll just set the plug on the front edge of the booth and shoot from outside the box. The inside dimension of the opening is 30"x20"x6", this lip helps to keep fumes inside the booth.

Douglas

i want to see your Crayfish paint job,,, :uhuh:
the realism of the mouth parts is awesome

Thanks guys, for Iwatas I use my HP-BCS the most. It is a bottle brush but I have a cup that I use on it all the time ,I think it is a Badger cup. I'll use it for primer, main color coat, pearls and clear coat. The other one is a HP-CH that I use for detail, shading and candys.
The spray booth is a design I found online by a very talented carver named Ed Waliki. The dimensions of mine are 42"x 32"x20". There is a separate box below that contains a squirrel cage blower motor from an old furnace. This box draws air from the booth through two 4" hoses into the cage then out through two 4" ducts, out a window. There is so much air moving it could not become an explosive situation due to the small volume an airbrush can produce. Most of the time I'll just set the plug on the front edge of the booth and shoot from outside the box. The inside dimension of the opening is 30"x20"x6", this lip helps to keep fumes inside the booth.

Douglas

Ed passed away last year of cancer, however his designs and work can still be found on fishcarver.com.

He was a truly amazing painter of fish. He's very much missed

Wow Douglas, you're my hero.

Damn, I'm coming to WI with a bunch of primed plugs!.. Your work is simply amazing, I still have dreams of the mack plug from plugfest.

VERY NICE!
incredible lifelike look to your plugs :btu:

thanks for the how to:uhuh:

maybe someday if I practice on how you do that, I can make something half as good.

thanks for posting. absolutely beautiful workmanship. After seeing your technique I now know I will never be able to be that good so I can now stop trying and stick to plain colors and a little blending here and there. Beautiful stuff.

I have seen that spray booth before on his website. He had his motor and blower on top of the spray box but same set up with the hoses and such. The hoses actually is where the over spray dries most of the time before it even gets to the blower I think he said. I have the squirrel cage and just need to make the thing, someday. What is it you like about the more toxic paints over the water based paints, what is the advantage?

Paul, there are several reasons I choose to use this paint. One is adhesion, this bonds so well no acrylic could compare. Dry time is almost instantaneous, I can shoot color on the back, pick out the netting and clip it on right away. Color selection and ease of mixing colors. And the main reason is its ability to carry pigment after being reduced to water like consistency. The pigment mixes so well with the reducer it is never gritty, very fine. I hear a lot of acrylic users complain about build up on the tip, that is something I don't have to deal with. One more fun thing is the pearl and flake dry powders that I mix with an intercoat clear for some nice effects.


Douglas

Rowhunter WOW:drool: FANTSTIC WORK:drool: thank you for the STEP -BY - STEP. going to have to give it a shot.
keep'em commin.
GOOD LUCK GOOD BUILDIN

Paul, there are several reasons I choose to use this paint. One is adhesion, this bonds so well no acrylic could compare. Dry time is almost instantaneous, I can shoot color on the back, pick out the netting and clip it on right away. Color selection and ease of mixing colors. And the main reason is its ability to carry pigment after being reduced to water like consistency. The pigment mixes so well with the reducer it is never gritty, very fine. I hear a lot of acrylic users complain about build up on the tip, that is something I don't have to deal with. One more fun thing is the pearl and flake dry powders that I mix with an intercoat clear for some nice effects.


Douglas

thanks. I kind of figured it was the thinness you can get with the paint as I see it in your work with the blending and light coats over other coats. Mine looks like I use a roller.:)

I had a little delay due to an eye shortage. I made some from resin and painted them up the other day, so I was able to finish them up yesterday. Here are the two LMB patterns, and one crazy pattern inspired by the South American Arapaima. These resin poppers are 6.5" and right around 3oz.

Douglas

sorry for the newb ?s but are those cast plastic or carved wood? 2nd what is E-tex. I'm just starting out and trying to finish my 1st 2.

No problem TaJon, Yes these are a solid cast resin from a mold that was done of a carved wood original. E- tex is short for EnviroTex Lite epoxy.

Douglas

Douglas you always amaze me with your talent. So real like and the depth you get in your paint is unreal. :drool:
Can I ask how you seem to get that depth all the time ?
And also at what psi do you use to spray those ? Would it be the same psi if I'm using water based paints ?
Also you are so generous to share these tips with us. Thanks

Charlie, there are a few things to consider when trying to achieve depth. First is base coat types like solid, metallics and heavily applied pearls, these all will make a good base. Next would be a lightly applied pearl or even a heavily reduced base can give a nice medium density appearance. Lastly would be the candys or transparent paints that I use on all of my work in addition to shading to give interesting color differences. For the most part I shoot most everything in the 40 psi range. Any stencil or detail painting the pressure gets turned down to around 18 psi at the regulator, and I may drop it more at the fine adjustment on the gun. I may shoot some very fine detail at around 9-10 psi. I'm no expert on waterborn finishes, but I'm sure the pressure would have to be dropped to do fine shading. How low can it go and what to reduce it with I don't know, but I'm sure there are guys here that do. I see plenty here getting great results with those type of paints.

Douglas

Charlie, there are a few things to consider when trying to achieve depth. First is base coat types like solid, metallics and heavily applied pearls, these all will make a good base. Next would be a lightly applied pearl or even a heavily reduced base can give a nice medium density appearance. Lastly would be the candys or transparent paints that I use on all of my work in addition to shading to give interesting color differences. For the most part I shoot most everything in the 40 psi range. Any stencil or detail painting the pressure gets turned down to around 18 psi at the regulator, and I may drop it more at the fine adjustment on the gun. I may shoot some very fine detail at around 9-10 psi. I'm no expert on waterborn finishes, but I'm sure the pressure would have to be dropped to do fine shading. How low can it go and what to reduce it with I don't know, but I'm sure there are guys here that do. I see plenty here getting great results with those type of paints.

Douglas

I also paint with automotive paints and find a huge difference in paintability in all phazes.I've been trying waterborn paints and have quickly returned to base paint.Much more flexable to work with in all phazes.Paint pigmentation is very adaptable to different thining applications for much better detailing results.Myself i needed more air preasure to spray waterborn paint.I'll try again with waterborn but i see no comparison between the two.