Bigrocks " Holy Mackerel "

Ill start this by thanking Skippy and Smitty for putting together this great idea, and Smitty for this awesome site for anglers to come and gather.My plug tonight is called " Holy Mackerel ", my version of the mackerel. Ill break this down step by step, photos are ok but Im not so great with the camera.
Ill say that the main focal point of this tutorial is paint control. Proper reducing and mixing of paint solves 50% of finish problems, allowing adequate dry and flash time solves another 25% of the problems, and proper care, maintenance and cleaning of spray equipment solves 20% more, leaving 5% for bizarre situations. You should take the time to find the info sheets for the paint you are using and check the recommended thinning percentages and the proper reducing mediums. Only use proper reducers and only reduce the paint you are going to use. Don't mix reduced paint back into the container it came from, use it or dump it.
Understanding dry and flashed are the next step. Paint is dry to the touch isn't flashed, flashed is when the paint layer is fully dried from the bottom layer to the top and all the way through. Allow the proper flash time between coats and you wont have problems. Paint dries by the escape of its carrier through the layer of paint, if its not fully flashed and you put another coat on top, the carrier still has to find a way to escape, so it gasses out through the topcoat and you have bubbles and blisters. Waiting too long to apply the next coat reduces adhesion and if penetrated the paint layers will peel apart easily. Painting over a cured layer limits the paint to mechanical adhesion. The ideal adhesion is a chemical bond adhesion, which occurs when the layers are flashed but not yet cured, the coats bond chemically instead of just sticking to each other.
A final step and a very important one is to keep your spray equipment clean. Use the proper cleaning solvent for the type of paint you are using, and invest in a quality airbrush or spray gun cleaning kit. No matter how careful you are pipe cleaners and q-tips leave fibers behind and believe me it only takes a few to disrupt your spray pattern.

I use a 2 part epoxy primer designed for automotive use because it gives me the best bond to the epoxy I seal the plug with. It is thick and only has an open pot life of 4hrs, so I mix only what I will use. It is a thick primer and covers well. It looks the consistency of thinned house paint and could never be sprayed from an airbrush. I use an Iwata LPH-80 mini hvlp gun with a 1.2mm needle. I spray with a full size compressor, 22psi at the compressor and 18psi at the gun.

My proceeding coats of paint are airbrushed using DeVilbis Dagger airbrushes with 0.35mm needles. I use primarily automotive lacquers because I get the best results with them and they are what I learned with. They are reduced with the reducer from the paint manufactorer and i clean up the brushes with virgin lacquer thinner. I spray them from an Iwata Studio Jet Pro dual compressor that will run 2 brushes at once. The consistency of these paints is the same as milk, quite thin.

Let me start the photos and any questions will be handled in the chat.

Oh, just so you know, the winner of the drawing gets the plug in the tutorial as well as the Skippy give away.

here is the equipment:[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

here is the plug in primer[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

applying the base coat and the brushed marble base[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

the green back applied and airbrushing the vermiculations on the back[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

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Add to this a hand tied tail and its ready for top coat

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tied tail and final product

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Mine are painted and assembled. Im doing my macks like this for now on. Great job russ!
Nick

wow awesome awesome awesome......... :you da man:

Rock you make it look so damn easy!! I can not wait to give this a go

I have not tried to freehand macks in a long time, I am up for challenge, :..............

Heres mine, Starting from top to bottom. top is my first try going to my most recent. I like the bottom darter a lot
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Still need clear coats
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Feedback welcome,
Nick

Very nice Monty, are those all your plugs?

nice job nick I did macks freehand when I first started, doing them again reminds me why I love the frisket :study:
one shety line caused me to sand down to bare, here we go , round two, I think different colors this time

Thanks benny and skippy,
Benny, yes those are mine, the nike style is a 1 of 5, because its the only one that worked the way i wanted
I made a larger darter in a new style that cam awesome. Flawless. SOmething went wrong with the sealing and when i touch the e tex it slides on the plug. i ripped the whole thing off like a casing, what a bummer it looked awesome too.
Nick

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One of my boys mak swimmers.

if i did not know any better i would say thats a freak??????fire tiger????? awesome!!!!!!!!!

gimmpy wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
One of my boys mak swimmers.

that came out pretty sweet

my mack is in the spinner along with a sweet baby striper,
and an awesome weakie, lets see your macks :shock:
:study: Remember using extender allows you to spray a much lower pressure
even for siphons, essential for fine lines, also doubles your paint volume at a 1/1 ratio,
this is win win, "buy the biggest bottle you can find! I like "Golden extender", I buy the
medium, to mix with my pearls, and the transparent, to mix with everything else,
clogs will all but dissapear, very important to lube gun before any use, I spray my
cleaner lube through gun before each use, makes cleanup effortless :study: no
stuck needles everytime I pull the gun out, "EXTENDER" got it? get it!

My mack plug is a combo of Black Talon's assignment and Big Rock's , it is my second time firing up the airbrush, the marbling was nerve racking to say the least. The Mackerel lines are hand painted and I added some interference in the top coat. Just waiting on a favor before I post a picture

I'll have to try this extender, not that my compressor has any adjustment other than On/Off but I do deal with alot of clogging and spitting. I've only been lubing the brush once in a while, I guess I'll have to up that too.

You also mentioned spraying primer with the airbrush in the last chat, what type of primer are you spraying? I've just been using Bin in the rattle can.

bennyraw wrote:I'll have to try this extender, not that my compressor has any adjustment other than On/Off but I do deal with alot of clogging and spitting. I've only been lubing the brush once in a while, I guess I'll have to up that too.

You also mentioned spraying primer with the airbrush in the last chat, what type of primer are you spraying? I've just been using Bin in the rattle can.

Behr stain and primer, also troll air lube, and hotwater, I fill a one gallon milk jug halfway up with the behr, then add four tablespoons of airtroll" homeys", slowly shake add warm water till jug is full, should just weep through the homey paint screens, or in airbrush terms "an eight drop stick" I spray two coats at forty five pounds.... :study: since most of my spraying is inside a booth, and my compressor is outside the booth, I put regulators right on the guns, they are very cheap, and very useful :..............
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:study: :study: :study: