Cracle painting on geofex

[stratking]

Hey all, I am finishing up a box and am trying to get the enclosure painted.  I want to try the crackle paint job that is on geofex but not having any luck.  I gave the box two coats of grey sandable primer, baked, sprayed with regular white spray paint, baked, then sprayed with black automotive paint.  After this I got one small portion of the bottom of the box to crackle, thats it.  I haven't been able to find this hard hat white that is talked about on geofex, anyone know what it is and where to get it.  After reading the directions on the auto spray, I found out that it is a reaction of the primer and paint that causes the crackling, so obviously the white paint that I used hindered that reaction from occuring.  Anyone know what I might have done wrong or where to get the right white paint??

stratking

[GuitarLord5000]

I think you've hit the nail on the head.  The crackled effect comes from extremely poorly matched primer and paint.  I dont know where to find the specified paint, but you can always do this:

Prime up a small piece of scrap material you have on hand.  Go to Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart...whatever...and try out all the different brands of paint on your scrap material.  Whichever crackles the best is the one for you.  I actually do this sometimes when I want to make sure my paint and primer match.  You're just trying to make sure that they DONT match.  

[troubledtom]

coldness.......................................................

[R.G.]

I believe that it is important that the undercoat be enamel and the topcoat be lacquer. I think that the crackling comes from the lacquer thinner attacking the enamel.

There are commercial crackle finish cans in hobby stores.

[u1061810]

Hello,
 The combination that I stumbled upon was;a few coats of  RUST-OLEUM  HAMMERED from Wal-Mart,and then some Dupli-Color clear coat.Major crackle!Don't put to many coats of clear on it though, it diminishes the effect.