Painting foam poppers

[lastchance]

Is there a tutorial anywhere on how to paint foam poppers? I'm talking what paint to use, sealer, etc. etc. I've heard you can use anything from finger nail polish to model paint.

[pillcaster]

I dont have a tutorial, but I use an oil based primer I got at Ace (called Rust Stop), let that dry at least 24 hours, then coat with fingernail polish, with a final coat or 2 of 'hard as nails". I have found this to be very resilient on both hard foam and soft closed cell foam. A lot of the sally hansen colors have some sparkle to them. Frankly, a lot of folks dont use any paint and they prob catch fish as well as the painted ones. I made one from alternating black and yellow foam sheets zap a gaped together and it looks fine w/o paint. Of course, those chartpak markers from j stockard do fine, as well as sharpies......
just my $0.02....

[Kaboom1]

Here is a good article on foam poppers in general and the author goes into some detail on painting them. Should work for your poppers.

http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/corner.asp?page=4

Brad

[aged_sage]

Interesting article, with some very good points. However, I totally disagree with the use of any of the CA (super) glues for foam, simply because they become brittle with time, and can result in very stiff bodies. I have bee nmaking bodies from various thicknesses of the so-caledl "Fun Foam" for over 10 years now, and use nothing but one of the various brands (Barge, Pliobond, Weldwood) 'contact' cements. It stays flexible, and never gets brittle. For those of us old enough to remember the days of rubber innertubes in automobile tires, Barge Contact cement was THE glue of choice for doing a 'coldpatch' when one had to fix a flat themselves. You definitely wanted a flexible, non-becoming-brittle glue for such purposes.

[Rick Z]

I don't paint my foam poppers. I put legs and some sort of tail on them.
I fished poppers with spots and stripes and all sorts of other things side by side with plain poppers.
Got as many stikes on the plain poppers.

Rick

[lastchance]

I don't paint my foam poppers. I put legs and some sort of tail on them.
I fished poppers with spots and stripes and all sorts of other things side by side with plain poppers.
Got as many stikes on the plain poppers.

Rick

Hi Rick, What do you mean by plain, all white or all one color? If I don't need to paint them for gills and smallmouth that will save a lot of time and work.

[Uncle Jesse]

If you are going to sell your flies or enter them into a contest, pretty them up. The fish are looking for something to eat not admiring the gloss finish on the underside of the fly. Remember they are unlikely to see much of the top side. Use a permanent felt tip or some of the kind to add spot, etc. and spray it with a clear lacquer.

I have put an epoxy finish on balsa because it is so delicate to abuse and I have been known to mask and spray a scale pattern with a can of spray paint. The truth is I would love to have an air brush so I could make some pretty popper etc., but I really believe the fish don't much care as long as it looks tasty.

[billyspey]

Paint with magic markers you can blend the color with your finger or with cleaning patch if you don't like color on your finger , you can achieve great patterns this way.

[Rick Z]

I glue 5 sheets of foam together to make poppers.
I have black ,yellow, white, red, green, orange and a black-yellow alternate to make bodies.
Cut them out with Harbor Freight punches, Tie on a tail and skirt. Wrap thread up the hook.
Start the body on the hook shank,after drilling a 1/64" hole with a dremel tool.
Put a drop of superglue on the thread and push the body on.
Put rubber legs material on a darning needle and run it thru the body for legs.
I don't put on stripes or dots and most of the time skip eyes.

Still catch fish.

Rick al

[Buddy Sanders]

Lastchance,

It really depends on what you want your bodies to look like.

Plain foam works just fine, but, even if it's so called 'closed cell' sometimes they can absorb water. For that reason I like to either 'waterproof' the foam if I'm leaving it plain, or 'seal' it if I'm coloring it.

For a 'waterproofer' look in the camping section of WalMart or such for product like 'Silicone Water Guard' or in the shoe section for a similar product meant to waterproof shoes.

As a 'sealer' over a painted body, you can't beat clear acrylic paint from the craft store. It's inexpensive, flexible, and dries quickly.

As far as coloring the bodies goes, you can use several different materials. Permanent markers are the easiest and fastest option. The pen body makes it easy to control for those who find a brush a bit of a challenge. Let the markers cure for at least an hour and then these with a sealer to make them stay bright.

Acrylic paint is by far the cheapest option and it comes in every color imaginable (and you can mix it to get blends as well). A few cheap plastic handled 'craft' brushes are all you need to paint a body. Add a set of cheap dollar store drill bits to make dots and/or eyes, and you can have a blast coming up with easy and pretty bodies. You can buy a clear coat that has some glitter already mixed in for a bit of sparkle. Use the clear acrylic as a final top coat to make your body look finished and protect the paint from the elements.

Nail polish works, but I've had these chip off of soft foam bodies. Still works okay and is cheap and fast. Durability of the finish isn't always an issue anyway. The fish are going to eventually chew them up pretty good....

Enamel paints work, They don't work or last any better tha nthe acrylics, though, and take longer to apply and cure. I'd not use them unless I already had a bunch of it and didn't mind waiting hours/overnight for each coat to dry. Most model type enamels aren't very flexible, so on a soft popper they can come off quicker than the nail polish.

Plain or fancy, these things catch fish. What I usually do is make white or yellow bodies, and then use markers to add marking of some kind. Things like dark backs, red faces, gill slits, etc. I'll usualy add stick on domed eyes (I like how these type of eyes look on the bait). A final coat of clear acrylic seals them and I can get a couple dozen bodies punched, turned, mounted, colored and sealed in an evening.

I've nothing agianst 'plain foam', but I really like them pretty.