Achieving crackle paint effect à la Bryans

[gameswat]

Hi, I can't find a serial on the mech but I haven't pulled that down yet so could be one hiding somewhere? The number is stamped onto the inside of the top piece of Mahogony on the door, and also stamped into the bottom of the cashbox tin. Someone had also pencilled the number onto the back panel inside the cabinet, this was over the top of the dark laquer- like stain. My cabinet has the crackle finish paint by the way.

[longbobongo]

Thanks for the photo Gameswat. I never noticed the serial number in the tray, only the one on the lock panel.

My Retreeva is crackle finish and the bottom part is also crackle, except on the inside area, which is just the standard oak case colour.

[gameswat]

Hey bob, thanks for your help. Guess my cabinet interior stain was original then since the plywood they used is naturally light blonde. Interesting the way they painted the mechs on these - the whole door was assembled first onto the mahogany frame and then they just sprayed the whole thing, with overspray on all the wood. Also interesting the way they did the crackle. On stripping the cabinet of many layers of old paint, I found that the first layer is actually metallic pale blue laquer as used on the mechs! Photo showing this is a splinter of the back panel that had to be replaced. Then the white undercoat (yellowed with age), crackle medium and then the dark blue. Bryan must've gotten a pallet load of that lacquer cheap to be able to use it as wood sealer!! The cabinet is almost ready for paint so will start experimenting on the paint in the next few days.

[gameswat]

Almost finished my Retreeva cabinet, just a tad more aging to get it right. Though what a hell of a job! This was a rough cabinet to start with and had to be pulled right down and needed much gluing of veneer, a new back and base. This is probably the most costly cabinet I've ever painted if you take into account the days of rebuilding, then paint experimenting, product and actual painting time. Good grief, and I've painted well over 250 machines in my day!! The only way I could get the crackle to work properly was laying horizontal, otherwise the weight of the paint drags it down and ruins the effect. So that meant painting it in stages with masked off areas. I spayed the crackle agent and top coat to get as even an effect as Bryans did but even so the cracks have a mind of their own. I think i was getting a little better by the end but i did rub several layers off and start again. And my backyard is littered with scraps of wood I played with. I'm quite happy with the finished look which is very close to what my machine had under all those layers of gunk. .

[john t peterson]

Gamesboy,

Looking at that last photo of your workshop suggests you work BAREFOOTED! True??

J Peterson
Fashion Police, USA

[gameswat]

JP - GOOD LORD - don't even think of trying to walk in there barefoot, I cut glass on the floor all the time and it's a minefield of tiny shards all over the place. I buy vintage mirrors at my local dump for a few dollars and use them for my restos. If you hold the glass side on you can find the early ones with a lovely pale yellow colour, and they have tiny scratches from age which look right. A little bit of work to strip the backing off but well worth it.

Those are just my skating shoes that I brought in as it looked like a chance of rain. Found them at an abandoned backyard pool we skate about 3 months ago, and after a little restoration to the heels with Shoe Goo they're still going strong In case you hadn't guessed - I don't do retail.

Pic of most of my crackle tests.

[badpenny]

That's dedication. Looking at your yard I can't help wondering if their is a Mrs Gameswat or if they're just more forgiving than our version.

[gameswat]

My girlfriend loves machines and all the mayhem that comes with them. She bought her first machine recently in fact. My yard is especially messy since we had a perfect hail storm earlier this year - causing much trouble. Otherwise my backyard is pretty standard Aussie fare. I do have a little skate ramp out there.

[john t peterson]

Note to the uninitiated: Games-Boy built the full-pipe himself, too.
The only thing the boy's missing is a medical degree so he can treat himself for the various injuries suffered by virtue of his seemingly boundless talents.

J Peterson
Your American Observer

[gameswat]

JP, it got the name of "Behemoth", which would infer not so little, maybe Widowmaker would be more apt?! My body doesn't seem to mend like it once did.

[longbobongo]

Nice restore job on the retreeva Gameswat.

Here are a few pics of my restored retreeva, The guy who did it made a excellent job of it. shame it wasn't me!!
All rechormed.
Professional crackle paint.
replaced the back flash.

Oh.... and the serial number is 101 first one out Mr Bryans factory. Always makes me happy to play this game.

bad news is it wasn't cheap......

[polaris]

Topic moved and merged - Site Admin.

I've been trying unsuccessfully to replicate crackle paint on Bryans cabinet. Can anyone offer any tips or advice? Would be much appreciated.

[treefrog]

Try search feature on the site....see previous links on same topic with advice and paint types.

Suggested threads now merged above - Site Admin.

[wembleylion]

I have been researching crackle finish coatings as my next ‘Build it’ project, after I have completed the Worlborl, I hope will be a Bryan’s Retreeva with a crackle finish case.

I found this video on YouTube which could, I think, give a very good Bryan’s style finish using a PVA type adhesive (Elmer's Glue, Titebond or similar) as the activator. Polyacrylic matt paint is used for the base coat, Polyacrylic gloss paint for the top coat and clear acrylic to finish off. I trawled through a lot of YouTube videos and I thought this technique would give the best chance of getting the big crackles that Bryan's achieved. I also liked the smooth sprayed finish, which I didn't see on the other videos; unfortunately, you need a spray gun to achieve this standard of finish.



Also available from PlastiKote (and others) is a two part crackle finish in aerosol cans with various colour combinations available.

I understand that the thicker the PVA and the top coat are applied the bigger the crackle effect, also the way in which the PVA is brushed out has some effect on the shape of the crackles. You will notice on the video that the majority of crackle lines seem to follow the brush strokes of the PVA; perhaps if there were random crisscross and circular brush strokes the crackle pattern could be changed but I guess that a lot of experimentation would be required to get an exact match to the Bryan’s finish.

Hope this helps. John

[polaris]

Excellent video John - helps immensely. I will do bit of experimenting. I definitely think I will invest in a spray-gun. Also I'm wondering if glue was maybe applied with a small roller?

[wembleylion]

Hi Polaris,

I certainly think that the Bryan’s crackle finish would have been applied with a spray gun as I can’t imagine that there would have been very much time on spent hand finishing any of the components. I don't know if you can spray PVC type adhesives; perhaps they did use a roller.
I also suspect that the clear lacquer finishing coat was the same lacquer that was spray applied to the light oak cases.

If you do decide to try the spray application please would you post some photos of your progress / experiments.

John

[gameswat]

You can buy the Crackle Medium at any hobby store and sprays easily enough. 2 Ounces Folk Art Crackle Medium 694

139521.jpg (18.09 KiB) Viewed 4655 times

Bryans definitely sprayed the finish on all the machines I've owned or seen. Though the trouble I had was not having access to the original paint they used back then which was obviously thicker or dried quicker. I had to spray each panel separately laying horizontal otherwise the top crackle layer ran and ruined the effect.

[moonriver]

Great subject , picked up some good tips

Sorry to go slightly off subject for a moment but does anyone know where I can get a Bryans Clock repro face and award card (for 12 win)? tried Melvyn Wright site and cant get the message link there to work with the only one listed or the message may be long obsolete . thanks

[pennymachines]

There are high res. scans of these in Resources.

[moonriver]

wonderful! thank you