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Fly Tying
Mike West

Poppers..Time to start tying some tails I think!

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Recently bought an airbrush setup at the encouragement of Kimo and I got a little carried away...and this ain't all of them. Love this thing, I'm still getting the hang of it and a feel for the airbrush. Some of these are hand painted. Right when I started getting a good feel for the brush and good paints(Golden high flow acrylic and Acrylic Inks) I ran out of bodies. I'm going to do a few more now that I'm getting the results I'm happy with even though I have enough to last me years now.

 

Time to finish them now.

Thx for looking.

My%20Poppers_zpscrqfeo1t.jpg

My%20Poppers%202_zpsujnfqscq.jpg

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Yes C02

Started using the Wallyworld,Hobby Lobby cheap acrylics($1.50 a bottle) and they suck in this brush. They either clog up the brush or if you thin them enough to flow through the brush they splatter or run cause it's so thin. I lot them were painted with those. The Golden Paints and Inks are like night and day. Next run will be a lot better. I'll probably donate a lot of these as extras in Fly Swaps here.

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Nice looking paint work, Mike. You've hit the nail on the head for why i haven't "sprung" for an airbrush system. It definitely makes excellent popper bodies.

But, I'd have all I needed in a week or so and then ... the airbrush is just another dist collector.

I don't believe the painted popper bodies work any better than flip flop foam poppers ... so I just can't justify the purchase.

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"I don't believe the painted popper bodies work any better than flip flop foam poppers ... so I just can't justify the purchase. "

 

Mike, it's not about justification but desire. It's kind of a hobby all it's own ( air brushing in general, not just for popper bodies). To some people at least and it may not be for you, that's true. Still it's nice learning a new skill, an art form or what ever one wants to call it.

 

I have an air brush I've owned for years but haven't used in years, decades of model train building and model airplane building with my boys when they were young. I went from Co2 though, to air, much more consistent, no freeze ups etc. And now with Harbor Freight around it's a pretty affordable entry all in all ( or even Amazon prime). To buy their little airbrush compressor, to me anyway, would make much more sense than buying cans of Co2 over and over again. But then again spray cans work pretty well too and no mixing involved ! I recently acquired a desire to lathe turn and build the larger salt water top water plugs for spin casting our canal, so who knows, the air brush might get put back to use. When I quit doing auto body work I gave away my big compressor though and big spray equipment, not so sure that was a great idea now. I kind of miss professional finishing too, I got to be quite decent at it between home and in my work doing fleet servicing. Having that skill opened up extra hours to me on weekends doing something different from mechanical repair of heavy trucks back then. And it all started with a simple air brush.

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Recently bought an airbrush setup at the encouragement of Kimo and I got a little carried away...and this ain't all of them. Love this thing, I'm still getting the hang of it and a feel for the airbrush. Some of these are hand painted. Right when I started getting a good feel for the brush and good paints(Golden high flow acrylic and Acrylic Inks) I ran out of bodies. I'm going to do a few more now that I'm getting the results I'm happy with even though I have enough to last me years now.

 

Time to finish them now.

Thx for looking.

My%20Poppers_zpscrqfeo1t.jpg

My%20Poppers%202_zpsujnfqscq.jpg

Nice Paint work ! Looks like you need to get going with some tailing ties though.

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I bought I think it's a 5lb tank with an adjustable low pressure valve. I've been told this tank will last me years just painting poppers. Cost me $13 to fill it up at the local brewery.

 

Thx everyone.

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Man they look great! I find painting my poppers and shad spoons equally as enjoyable as carving them and tying them. I still use a brush and do very basic painting but now you got me thinking.

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I bought I think it's a 5lb tank with an adjustable low pressure valve. I've been told this tank will last me years just painting poppers. Cost me $13 to fill it up at the local brewery.

 

Thx everyone.

Nice, Mike !

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Great looking poppers.Good job with the airbrush.I have an old snap on airbrush kit that i use.I think its a badger.I bought it over 20 yrs ago and it still works like new.I used the createx paints yrs ago but they are so expensive now i just use the walmart paints.I spray the poppers and also use it to paint my bass fishing crankbait bodies.Try thinning the paints with rubbing alcohol if you are not doing so already.I don't have a lot of clogs.The rubbing alcohol will make the paint dry faster.

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Those look great you must have had some airbrush experience in the past!!! I like the createx paints too, but may have to try the "Golden" when I restock.

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