Crackle paint
 

I am trying to replicate the crackeled paint of an Avo 34 ranges.

There are few products to replicate that aspect, but the crackeling I got have very big lines and seems quite different.

You can see the original paint firstly and a test I did over a tin can.

Does anybody know how get a similar crackle paint as the original on the first photo?

Thanks

Re: Crackle paint
 

MGB dash repair paint is a crackle finish but I don't know how fine the crackle is.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Moderators, Excuse me, please move it to “cabinet refinish...” I open the thread at the wrong place

Thanks

Re: Crackle paint
 

Moderators: Thanks very much.

Ex seismic: Thanks! I will look for more information about that dash repair...

Re: Crackle paint
 

Those pictures do indeed look to show a crackle finish, often confused with wrinkle finish, which was used on a lot of electronic equipment, particularly American military equipment, and on vintage motor-car dashboards. Crackle and wrinkle are not the same thing.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I own an MGB which has a dashboard painted in wrinkly black. I could take a photo of my dashboard, if you can't find one to examine. If that is like what you are looking for, try Moss:

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/catalo...=crackle+paint

You might just notice that the Moss website calls it "crackle paint", despite the label on the can describing it as "wrinkle plus". Who is right?
Colin.

Re: Crackle paint
 

My understanding is in wrinkle finish, the surface is continuous, but forms into miniature humps and, yes, wrinkles.
With crackle paint the surface separates into 'floating' islands with gaps in between, clearly shown in the second of the OP's photographs.
I'm confident the name 'wrinkle' on your can will be correct if it is intended for a dashboard.
I believe temperature is critical to getting a good even wrinkle finish.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I've used this on Avo cases and it looks like I would have expected the original to have looked when it was new and clean.

https://www.frost.co.uk/vht-black-wr...waAkfUEALw_wcB

I cleaned off the old paint and started from bare aluminium.

The only difficulty is that the ambient temperature needs to be 22 deg. C to get the right effect and that's a rare temperature here, some summers it never gets that hot. Possibly not a problem for Aitor.

PMM

Re: Crackle paint
 

Another test...

What is your opinion?

Little bit better I think

Re: Crackle paint
 

Thanks to everybody!!

I will try to order that paint. Not sure if they can sell it to Canary Islands

Re: Crackle paint
 

Frost's refer to their paint as 'wrinkle, crinkle or crackle'! We can't win!

Re: Crackle paint
 

yes, i saw that... :wall:

Re: Crackle paint
 

Hi,
We use Crackle or wrinkle to repaint the heaters in classic Mini's. I think it comes from Frost and from memory says 'wrinkle' on the aerosol.

It's extremely difficult to get it to wrinkle nicely but it is possible. The application technique is critical and you will need to do lots of experimentation to get it to work correctly.

The heaviness of the coats, the time between coats and the temperature are all critical. Sometimes we need to heat it gently with a hot air gun if it won't wrinkle! The wrinkle seems to be generated by a reaction between the first and second coats.

Your first picture shows exactly one of the many problems we have had. So you probably already have the correct paint but need to experiment with the application and temperature.

Hope that might help,

Good luck
Nick

Re: Crackle paint
 

Apparently Powder Coating companies can do a very good wrinkle finish. Much more expensive than aerosols I suspect.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Hi

When I were a lad... my dad sprayed our Practical Electronics Oscilloscope in crackle paint. It wasn't anything like the pics. Imagine an enourmous flat tray of cornflakes viewed from a long way off. There were no discernable patterns, the paint surface looked almost sharp. Like a tray of sharp sand perhaps.

I quite liked the 'hammer' paint too - not mentioned so far - this looked like a really hard enamelled surface that had randomly been hit with a hammer making what could have looked like pools in wet paint.

I have an old RAF R1082 radio which looks like the crackle paint as I remember!

James

Re: Crackle paint
 

The MG Owners Club spares business sells two variations on dash wrinkle paint. Prices quoted in pounds, euros and US dollars so they obviously ship world wide.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Camera Crackle Black was what the paint used to be called.Somewhere I still have a can.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I am a member of the MGOC and have just visited their website. I could only find one paint which was described as "dashboard wrinkle effect paint", but it was listed under about three headings. It is listed as A029.

The MGOC Accessories Catalogue also lists A029 as "VHT Wrinkle Plus" and shows a picture. It describes it as "suitable for rocker-box covers and dashboards" and states that it is heat-resistant to 350 degrees F.

I used to have a can of paint for touching-up scratches on my MGB dashboard, but I can't find it now.

I have taken a photo of my MGB's dashboard with a steel rule for comparison.

Regards, Colin.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I have used red VHT Wrinkle to refinish a Lotus cam cover. As previous posts have said it is temperature dependent. I pre-warmed the cover and after spraying suspended an infra red reflector bulb over it until the paint had cured and wrinkled. The result was a perfect uniform wrinkle finish.

Re: Crackle paint
 

VHT "Wrinkle Plus"
I buy mine from any "hotrod" car shop. Its available in about 10 colours.
I havent found it temperature dependant, but I do live in a warm climate.
I wonder if any of you have read the directions on the can?.

Reading the label on the can.

1. Clean the surface to be painted.
2. Spray a heavy base coat.
3. Apply two or three lighter coats about 2 minutes apart. Size of wrinkles is determined by the number of coats. The more coats the bigger the wrinkle pattern.

I have never had trouble making the paint wrinkle!!

Just my two bob's worth.

Joe

PS. I should have added, just to add to the confusion of the name, In days long past it was called "Brocade", and most of Australia's older transformers were painted with it.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Why was this finish used? I wonder if it has some property that makes it worthwhile compared to normal finishes. It may be aesthetic for car dashboards but this is irrelevant in say, US WW2 military kit which uses it quite a lot. Better to grip maybe but again not relevant to a radio fixed in place. And every time I come across it the finish is different so each manufacturer has had his own formula. Again, why bother?

Confused of Tonbridge

Re: Crackle paint
 

I can see being hard-wearing and non-reflective as two advantages.

Andy

Re: Crackle paint
 

i used wrinkle paint on my grampian amplifier there is a picture of it on here in another thread it is very critical for temperature i sprayed it in my electronics shed i have thermometer and fan heater to get things right just clean item to bare surface and follow instructions on can oh, and i switch fan heater off when spraying just in case there is a flash over from fumes

Re: Crackle paint
 

And it covers a multitude of scratches. I used a brush on variety back in the 50’s to paint chassis’s. Brushed on and cooked in the gas oven for a time at low temperature.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Exactly what my dad did with a R1155 cabinet, came out perfect.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I don't think my photo of the MGB dashboard was very informative, so here is a better one. No ruler for comparison, since the bit near to it wasn't so clear.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I have purchased "Black & Grey Crackle paints here in the U.S.and it said on the spray can for best results to bake item in the oven at 150-200 F for 1- 2 hrs. It produced the same finish as the U.S. military had on many items. I'd pull the chassis out of the cabinet & bake it.
Note: It DOES smell a lot. The XYL may strongly object to "HER" oven being used.
Likely a heat gun would work, and the XYL won't get into a tizzy.

When you get into the U.S. Military "CARC" paints, that's a whole 'nother ball game.
2 part, epoxy base, very fast setting. (IIRC "CARC" stands for Chemical and Radiation Coating). Most often used on aircraft and vehicles, but I have seen it on radio gear too.
Easy to I.D. as the surface feels like sandpaper, and if you happen to bark your knuckles on it, have a plaster ready. It removes skin like 80 grit sandpaper. (I still have the scars from that from working on my T925 A.M. General 6X6 5 tonner.)

Re: Crackle paint
 

Can all these paints be sprayed direct onto bare aluminium, or does it need an etching primer?

Mike

Re: Crackle paint
 

Hi

These lovely panels for the Link Trainer at NELSAM. Just look close up at the 'wrinkle' - just like a brain! I did two coats of Halfords etch primer but had to do each panel twice at it turns out that three coats of the wrinkle paint 5 mins apart isn't really enough and I got 'flat' regions.

These were from 4 heavy coats and then the panel laid flat to stop it drooping to one end!

Cheers
James

Re: Crackle paint
 

Good result there James.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Nice work! I've done various homebrew power-supplies/test-gear/accessories in wrinkle-finish (I have a bit of a thing for the WWII/1940s-industrial aesthetic - my latest is a mains-filter in an Eddystone diecast box intended as an analog to the Eddystone "Cat 732") and with a good 'key coat' the wrinkle sticks well enough.

Time spent on surface-preparation before applying the top-coat is always time well-spent.

I'd suggest making sure it's really fully-dried [ideally a week or so] before you handle it too much or in your enthusiasm start fitting controls, meters etc - the paint remains slightly soft under the skin for some time and it's easy to inadvertently snag/tear the surface. Always use washers under all fastener-heads too - this stops the surface tearing-up when tightening.

Re: Crackle paint
 

Hi thanks

Yes, on the first bad coat the paint could be 'slid' irreperably, even after two days! Not an issue as part of the surface was flat anyway.

I learned a lot from that experience! The paint can dry for weeks now as I don't need to bolt it up yet.


Cheers
James

Re: Crackle paint
 

I remember using crackie paint on projects in the early sixties and recollect that the paint had to dry in an atmosphere where a gas or paraffin flame was burning to get it to crackle !
No I haven't imagined it !
John

Re: Crackle paint
 

Hi

Here are before and after for one of the crackle panels.


James

Re: Crackle paint
 

In the 1960's there used to be a company (I think in Tottenham Court Road London), called 'Ucan'
They sold a really good one-part crackle paint, that smelt strongly of Naphthalene. It required no special techniques, & was simply brushed or sprayed on.
It produced an excellent hard-wearing finish, that looked very much like that used on RAF equipment.

Does anyone know if there's anything like it still available?

David.

Re: Crackle paint
 

These days it's rattle-cans rather than brush, and I suspect Napthalene has been banned by the Health&Safety/Environmental-people but the current generation crackle/wrinkle paint is still quite strong-smelling of solvents.

Car-restoration places [Frost etc] sell it - it's used on the dashboards of MGBs and Midgets.

Re: Crackle paint
 

I've been following this thread, but, never having used this stuff, I'm still confused over when you need a primer and when you don't. Do all types require an etching primer for use on aluminium? Is unprimed steel OK for "one-coat" types?

Mike

Re: Crackle paint
 

For aluminium I'd always use an etch-primer; you can get a reasonable one - by UPol - from Halfords.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/pa...-8-etch-primer

I prefer to etch-prime bare steel too. When painting, remember that 90% of the final result comes from time spent in the preparation!

Re: Crackle paint
 

I remember a company that I thought was in Edgeware Road, it just had one small window with some cans of paint in. My dad bought some cans of crackle for our Practical Electronics 3" Oscilloscope. That crackle really was a crackle - like very tiny cornflakes on a tray. He also bought some Hammer Finish. Happy Days!

Cheers
James

Re: Crackle paint
 

Does it really matter what it's called? People will argue for ever and day over such matters. The real issue is, 'is it what I want?'.

It's exactly the same with shoe sizes. You see people in shoe shops agonising (literally) trying to shoehorn themselves into that size 42 that they "know is their size", when the size 43 fits them a treat?! What does it matter, the 'number' on the sole of the shoe? It doesn't.

Just my quirky take on these matters!