1/2" Scale project still in progress (somehow)

[darrylhuffman]

At my local Michaels, the crackle materials are located in with the 2 ounce bottles of acrylic paints like Cacker Barrel, Ceramcoat and Americana.  They are located at the top of each rack.

I used to make my flat Testor's paints "crackle" by flowing on a coat of acetone after the enamels had dried.

This worked good on plastic.

Lowes and Home Depot carry large bottles of crackling materials.

[Mobilgas]

Went to Michaels tonight....they carried the Ranger brand was only able to get 1 bottle White-picket fence, the other 2 colors ...old paper...frayed burlap...didn't carry....asked if they could order the 2 colors i wanted?? said NO?? [how's that for customer service] ill call another michaels and see if they have the colors.         Craig

[darrylhuffman]

Craig,

Your Michaels sounds every bit as friendly and helpful as mine.  Sorry.

I joined this discussion late and misunderstood what you were looking for at Michaels.

The items I was suggeting were either Crackle by Delta Ceramcot or Weather Wood Crackling Medium by DecoArt.

Both come in 2 oz bottles.

For crackled paint on metal or plastic, paint on your base color of, let's say Rust.  Let dry.

Brush on a coat of the crackling medium and let dry.

Follow up with a coat of your top color, let's say White, and let dry.

As your top coat dries it cracks and breaks up.

[Mobilgas]

Darryl,   I know there's other brands of crackle paint out there... but this is the best i seen as far as looking very believable so the Ranger brand is what i was after    Craig

[darrylhuffman]

If you ever need to order any painting supplies online I recommend www.dickblick.com.

I order quite a bit of stuff through them.

I don't know if they carry the Ranger item.

[NORCALLOGGER]

Hi Guys,
Been following along here and it sounded interesting so I went by the local Michaels and found the Ranger product Distress Crackle Paint.  They had it in about eight different colors. I picked up; Picket Fence (white), Black Soot, Peeled Paint (green), and Tarnished Brass a metallic color. 

I tried the four colors on small pieces of Styrene scribed siding.  The "paint" is very thick and difficult to spread evenly on the Styrene.  After it dried there was a small amount of "crackle" and I could wipe the paint right off the Styrene with very little pressure of my bare thumb.  The only one that gave a satisfactory finish on the Styrene was the Tarnished Brass It did not "crackle" but it adheared to the plastic and didn't wipe off.

I'm sure these may give more satisfactory results on other material like paper or wood but bare styrene and probably bare metal seem to be out.  I'm going to run some further test pieces of primed Styrene, metal,  etc. as well as wood and paper. 

I will try to do a little research on this product but does anyone know; what do you thin this with, or can you?  Can you use some other brush, besides the tree stump that comes in the bottle, and what would you clean it with.

This product may have great potential but so far it hasn't shown me jack.
Later
Rick

[Mobilgas]

Rick,   On the mig forum he use's water to thin the paint...        Craig

[Damn Cranky]

Hello, and I hope I am not joining the conversation too late.

For all those of you who are guessing other crackle paint products will work, I have to say negatory.

Nope, it's not the same.  Trust me I've been at this for almost three years.

By chance I stumbled upon the TIM HOLTZ (RANGER INC) DISTRESS CRACKLE PAINT, which comes in 3 metallic colors, and 24 basic colors, five of them very friendly in terms of our uses concerning slats and planks . . .

No other crackle paint is going to give you such minute cracking.  As a matter of fact, my interest in this involved my search for a product that would reproduce the surface of the Salt Flats at Bonneville.

I don't know how many Michaels carry this stuff, but you might want to save yourself the trip and the heartache and simply order everything through AMAZON.COM.  I put in order in for all the colors.  Why fools around, right?

Anyway, if you have any other questions, I hope we can answer them.

Also, I would like to do some experiments airbrushing the stuff.

[Damn Cranky]

Oh, one more thing.  Those of you who already have a samply you might be surprised when you open the bottle and find that the paint is really goopy, not syruppy like normal paint.

You can thin this paint down with water.  When you apply it, make sure you apply it with a sponge so that it gives you volume and texture at the same time.

Give it a try.  I hope you get mind-blowing results the first time around.

Here's a picture of my second try . . .






Chuck, sorry about this, I didn't mean to commandeer your thread . . . .

[Damn Cranky]

Another thing, my friends, this crackle paint gives such fine small cracks, but if you put a little thickness in spots, the paint actually rises and looks like it's going to fleck off . . .

Again, I hope you all experiment with this exciting new find, and please please PLEASE post your results--that means you too Chuck D. and Marc R.

And the ever-silent Ken Hamilton!

And no, I don't own stock in Ranger Inc.  Not yet anyway!

[Chuck Doan]

I got some coming Virgil! That looks promising, I have a project in mind already.

In other news, I installed the gallon indicators on the gas pump:



Each one was printed with a groove in the back of the vertical post. I glued in a .015 brass wire to keep them straight. Not a 100 percent protototype, but they wouldn't have worked otherwise. Ready for the cylinder and cap.

[Damn Cranky]

Beautiful, Chuck . . . you are getting closer to finishing it.

[TRAINS1941]

Chuck,

Looking so good.  Can't wait to see the rest of it finished.

Jerry

[finescalerr]

You seem gradually to be getting the hang of this modeling stuff. -- ssuR

[Mobilgas]

Chuck,   Im looking forward to see how your going to weather? or color? the glass cylinder as you know most had a light blue tint or are you just going to leave it clear.         Craig