How to paint a decoy by airbrush

 Want to get into the craft? You're in the right place! If you've already followed our previous articles, now it's time to move on to the painting phase! Here's the video corresponding to the article, you have everything to succeed your first airbrush painting!

List of materials:

• An airbrush, there are heaps of airbrush, which range from the Chinese model at 15 euros to the pro model to several hundred euros. In both cases I advise you to take a double action aero with a small bucket.
• A compressor, in my case I use a small model with a tank with a barometer and a filter. The tank allows to have a constant flow and also that the compressor is not always running. The barometer will allow you to adjust the pressure: in fact, depending on the paints you use the pressure is not the same. As for the filter, it prevents water upwelling in the airbrush. You'll find some on ebay with an airbrush for 100 euros.
• There are a multitude of paints, in water or solvent versions. I prefer to use the water-based one because I can paint indoors. Many brands are available, dedicated to a special use for airbrush. I usually use createx and liquitex.
• A primer mouth pores.
• A vice to maintain the lure, I use a vice for the assembly of fly.
• A piece of tulle, and hand-crafted stencils in a plastic sheet.
• A roll of adhesive alumium paper can be found in a DIY store.
• Cyano-type glue, a pair of scissors, a bistouri or cutter.

WARNING: Even if you use, like me, water paints you still have to protect yourself, because the airbrush disperses micro particles of paint in the air. So a mask suitable for micropartiules is required, as well as a pair of gloves.

Step 1: Prepare the lure to receive the painting

I advise you to wait 2 to 3 days before painting a resin lure so that all the gases come out of the lure. I also pass them in a bath of water with soap, and I rinse them well in order to remove any solvents contained in the resin and my demodulant.

Before painting our lure, which was sanded with fine sandpaper to remove all traces of molding, we will dip it into paint and more accurately a mouth pores primer. This step will make the lure perfectly smooth and have a base for our paint to hang well.

Once soaked, I hang it until the paint is dry.

Step 2: Hang and put the first layer

First of all hang his lure on the noose, in my case a rotating fly fly vice which allows to be able to paint the lure entirely without picking it up.

This is my version of the FireTiger.

I start with a layer of black, auto air createx on all the lure except on the underside.

Step 3: Create scales

I wrap my lure in a piece of tulle and hold it with pliers.

Now let's pass a layer of white, auto air white createx on all the lure except on top.

Between each coat of paint I pass a blow of dryer so that the lure is dry because, unlike solvent paint, the water paint does not dry instantly.

We remove the tulle and finish passing a layer of white on the underside of the lure.

Step 4: Orange Fluo, Yellow Fluo and Fluo Green, Fire !!!!

We start with a layer of neon orange auto air createx all over the underside of the lure, going up 1cm on the flanks.

Then a layer of neon yellow self-air createx, on the flanks above the neon orange.

To finish a layer of neon green auto air createx, on the sides above the neon yellow to the black back.

Step 5: The handmade stencil tiger.

Now we place our stencil on the first side of the lure to pass a layer of createx auto air semi opaque. We pass this layer by making a gradient of black from the bottom up.

Then we end up making the joint between the black back and the stencil fitting.

Now that our lure is painted we will give it hearing, fins and a pair of eyes.

Step 6: Alu foiling.

We're going to make the hearings and fins with adhesive aluminum foil.

I cut the shape of the hearings and fins into a plastic sheet so I could reproduce them in the same way.

One piece of aluminum foil roll is cut out and folded over itself to obtain two identical parts after cutting.

We place the shape on the sheet and draw the outline.

Then it is cut with a scissor to obtain a pair of hearing and fins.

Using a piece of plastic (cut in a curve) and a bistouri I trace the fins.

Always with the help of the knife, the adhesive is separated from the foil.

Finally, the hearings and fins are placed on the lure.

To make the hearing a little nicer we will draw shapes on them always using shapes cut out of a plastic sheet.

Finally I punch the inside of the areas with the tip of the bistouri.

Step 7: Eyes and signature

Now all that's missing is to lay eyes, in my case of handmade eyes, with a drop of cyano glue.

Our lure is almost finished, it just lacks the signature affixed with a pen paint type posca.

I'll let you finish with a few coats of varnish and you're done.