First of all, many apologies if things have been a bit slack in these parts the past month or so but this has been in no small part due to the launch and subsequent fulfillment of the Tennant sonic orders which have taken up most of my waking hours. Most of the backlog has now shipped and I'm slowly getting my life back much to the relief of my long suffering wife, thank fuck. However, I have developed a severe addiction to crack. More about this in a minute.
So what has happened in the past few weeks? Well, ComicCon came and went and along with it was the announcement of QMx's licenced sonic,
something I've known about (and dropping hints on) for some months now. More about this project later but I will say this: it's an outstanding piece of work, on a par with my own obviously but with some subtle dimensional differences that I can ascertain. The biggest difference is the paintjob, where QMx have done an outstanding job in accurately duplicating the cracked porcelain look of the original prop:
I must admit, this paintjob was the best thing about the QMx and spurred me to try and recreate it and hopefully, surpass it. I believe that I have succeeded in both.
However, before I reveal exactly how I did it, a bit of background.
Until this point it was widely and erroneously assumed by many people that the prop used PlastiKote CrackleTouch (or Valspar in the USA) two stage spray paint. Sadly, this was a falsehood that was perpetrated by MFX and others, including myself to some degree.
The simple fact is that the original prop did not use Plastikote (except for perhaps a single stunt prop). The easiest way to see this is the crackle patterns differed fundamentally. Quite simply, the prop had paint that cracked in irregular polygonal blocks and the PlastiKote exhibits tiny capillary-like tears.
Compare the following:
with this:
The second picture resembles the screen used sonic finish as can be seen in this shot from the DK Visual Dictionary:
It is fairly obvious once this has been pointed out that PlastiKote cannot achieve this kind of cracking despite Daniel Pawlik claiming otheriwse. So what was used on the prop?
To find the answer to this, you need to put yourself into the mind of the propmaker and actually look at what was available to them. Aside from PlastiKote, there really is only one other commercially available crackle finish (excluding obscure specialist finishes) that was readily obtainable from 2004+. This stuff is Tim Holtz brand Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger Inks:
This is what I strongly believe was used on the original props and I did drop some serious hints back in 2007 as to this but when the MFX said it was PlastiKote I decided I must have been mistaken as this stuff is notoriously fragile and I doubted that the propmakers would use something so shoddy. However, ever since the Heritage Gold Vs Colony Cream debate started I found myself in a state of doubt once more. What sealed it was reading that David Tennant had a habit of picking the paint off the sonic with his thumb: something that it is impossible to do with the Plastikote!!!!
So what does the Tim Holtz stuff go on like? Well, let me show you the paint and its shortcomings:
This is the Tim Holtz 'picket fence' painted onto a properly primed piece of copper pipe:
and after some minor scraping with my thumbnail:
As you can see, this stuff is terribly fragile. Zero adhesion, brittle and will remove even the primer from the bare metal. Granted, I did lay it on pretty thick and I did not seal it with lacquer which would help durability somewhat but it is obvious that the finish is pretty piss poor.
As for the color of paint used, there are three candidates: Picket Fence (white), Antique Linen (a creamy 'greige') or Rock Candy. As 'Rock Candy', which is a clear crackle similar to Giclee varnish, was not available until last year I suspect it was one or both of the former. QMx, I am almost certain, used the clear variety 'Rock Candy' over a white basecoat using a similar technique that I am about to reveal. (Indeed, you can try it yourself using the Tim Holtz Rock Candy as it is not bad: more durable than the pigmented versions and certainly more forgiving to apply but nowhere near as good as the stuff I am about to show you).
So what did I do? I did some research into why paints crackle and I did a quick experiment using giclee printing varnish and PVA glue. By painting a wash of diluted PVA glue over a white primer then going over it with a thinned giclee varnish, I did this:
Ok, the result looked good. It was glossy, the cracks were delicate and fine and it had a toughness that the Tim Holtz lacked.
I did further experiments using various combinations of compounds including
table tennis rubber cement and thinned cellulose yacht varnish over a white primer basecoat and the results were astonishing:
As you can see, the results are virtually indistinguishable from aged cracked porcelain and the toughness even without sealant is astonishing.
I spent the past few days searching for commercially available analogues that mimic the result above that I achieved using Chinese products and I believe I have cracked it.
The product you need is this:
These two pots are your key to an accurate and durable sonic finish.
8 Oz is the smallest size and will probably last an entire lifetime.
Anyway here's the breakdown:
Materials:
White automotive primer spray
Perfetto Crackle Size
Perfetto Clear Crackle
Heavy Duty Polyurethane Lacquer (either automotive or heavy duty floor varnish)
Black shoe polish
Foam pads/blocks
Method:
1. Rub the bare metal with a medium/fine grit automotive abrasive paper 200 grit or finer is perfect.
2. Spray several fine coats of white primer onto the bare metal until an even opacity is reached. Allow to dry (depending on your paint it could be 1 hour to 12 hours)
3. Take a foam block and dip it into the crackle size and stipple over the body evenly until a nice even coating is achieved. Don't worry if it's not perfectly even, as it will self level. Allow to dry for at least two hours, preferably overnight. When ready, the crackle size will result in a thin, even, glossy surface that is slightly tacky. Do not thin this stuff out as thinning it out results in very small cracks:
4. Take some of the clear crackle and place it into a smaller screw lid pot and add 10% water to it to thin it. The clear crackle is a very thick gelatinous white substance so you really need to shake it hard to get the water to mix properly. By adding 10% water it gives the desired smaller cracks and the thinning helps it to self level during application. Too thick a consistency or too thick a coating results in large cracks:
Once it has been thinned, take a foam pad and stipple the clear crackle over the surface in a layer about 0.5mm thick. Don't worry too much about evenness as the surface should look like orange peel:
Under no circumstance must you brush this stuff on! The reason why is that the crackle will follow the direction of the brush stroke and you end up with linear rectangular blocks of crackle like this:
5. After an hour or so the clear crackle would have levelled and the crackle would have started to develop and the surface will become hard and glossy:
Wait a further 2 or 3 hours for the surface to fully cure and then you can begin the process of highlighting the cracks.
To do this you take your finger or even an old toothbrush and work a light coating of polish onto the surface making sure that the polish is inside all the cracks. This what you should have once this is done:
7. Now take a soft clean duster or cloth and give the surface a good rub, removing all excess polish from the surface but still keeping the polish inside the cracks:
If you prefer a greyer, less high contrast look, you can substitute ash for the shoe polish: this will work just as well. Just make sure you work the ash into the crack using a fine soft brush.
8. The surface as it stands is very hard and extremely durable. I bashed it around and it barely made a mark. However, I recommend a few coats of polyurethane lacquer on top for added protection. Personally I prefer automotive spray lacquer used to protect alloy wheels but a good PU floor varnish will also be suitable. I recommend Polyurethane as it is extremely abrasion resistant and once cured, is very hard.
So, there you have it. This should be pretty self explanatory and so easy I doubt even Risu could fuck it up. For those existing customers who wish to strip their sonic bodies down, they should soak it in a methanol based paint stripper to remove the existing paint. If there are any further questions, please email me.
I have been asked if I will be implementing this on my production sonics and the answer is no. The reason being is that it is not economically viable for me to do so. I have invested an immense amount of money in replicating the PlastiKote finish in a durable industrial powdercoat and they are now done. The personal and financial investment precludes stripping these sonics and essentially burning many thousands of dollars in order to set production back months whilst I repaint them all. I am often in two minds about revealing information such as this. There comes a point when a replica is about as accurate as one can make it and to keep changing something in light of new research when another piece of research can easily come to light which refutes that is both soul destroying and economically crippling. By revealing this information and the exact method of achieving it at minimal cost, I hope I have reached a compromise and will leave it up to you, the customer, to choose whether you wish to take advantage of it.
