Yup, the lure on my avatar is a home made crank! If you can look through my profile page photo album I have a few pics of other wooden cranks & gliders. I dont have a garage anymore (moved to garage-less house few years ago
) so I haven't built any for several years but had a lot of fun, as well as many frustrations, building.
Painting can be done with some decent results with spray bombs but most lure makers evolve into airbrushing with water based paints which can yield incredible results but is tedious, semi-expensive to get started with, & very difficult to get good at! There are many types of materials you can use such as plastic or cardboard stencils, fabric tulle which makes great scale patterns, metallic tape can be used as a base then painted over to create very shiny, reflective finishes, etc.
Hooks are generally sized based on how they look in proportion to the body size. Too small of a hook will lead to difficult hook setting, hooks too big will cause severe hook rash to the lure finish or throw the wieghting & balance out of kilter. Size #1 - #2/0 trebles are typically plenty big enough for 3.5"- 7" cranks & gliders but it will take some trial & error.
Internal weighting is the most difficult- and important- aspect of lure building. A great lure design can end up resembling a rock or 2x4 if the lure is overwieghted or balanced wrong.
This is kind of like handing a person a pamphlet to teach them how to land a jet but it's the best I can do for now lol. Good luck & I will do my best to help if you have any other questions.
Link to an awesome lure builing forum with some incredibly talented lure builders;
http://www.tackleunderground.com/com...13-hard-baits/