Adam Brown

Wharf House Narrowboats (Bottom Lock Braunston) are Stockists If the Raddle Red is too dull then there is the possibility of mixing a semi gloss which is halfway between the two. We (Craftmaster) can do that we just don't get much call for it, hence we don't mention it much

Its designed for use straight from the tin but depending on conditions it may need a little thinning. I'd personally put two coats on even if it covers in one. That way there is plenty of paint on so it should have good colour retention and longevity, though painting it onto an identical colour should aid this anyway

Thinning with White Spirit can lead to premature fading of the paint and other problems PPA is a flowing agent, a bit like Owatrol but completely different in most respects. It most certainly isn't White Spirit A synthetic Thinner will do the job if it must be thinned

The formula is totally unchanged, we have no reason to change it! If you've got a complaint please get in touch

Hi All I've done rather a silly thing and need some help. I was in the shop earlier and the phone rang. As I was with a customer I put the answer machine on. A message was duly left and I listended to it wrote it down and deleted it. All good so far - However when I went to phone the number I'd taken it down wrong....... The gentleman who called was either Richard Anderton/Anderson who works with Kelly painting boats on the Leigh & Soar (? :S) Can anyone forward me the correct contact number for him? Thanks Adam

If its a darker blue and it was Brightside its probably Flag Blue

There is also a low tack tape made by an American company called Finesse. Its well known in pinstriping circles (as thats where its most popular and relevant) We've just got it into stock at Craftmaster for miniature traction engine types as its probably more useful for them. However it may fit what you want there are other sizes apart from what we're offering (we can get them too) Basically you lay the tape down remove the backing and it will leave between 2 and 5 thinner pieces of tape (spaced according to what you've purchased) you paint over the tape removing it when the paint is dry and with a bit of luck you'll have perfect lines. Downside is most are 1/4" thick at most although there is a 1/2" line but thats a single Have a look at finesse's website if its of interest Finesse US Website

Monarch Elite are the most popular I believe. Pro Extra are favoured by some proffesionals as they are a bit stiffer and so make it a tad easier to manouvre the paint.

I'll be there and Phil McSpeight is flying in from Scotland in his Alfa Romeo (if it makes it) We'll have an extra special Crick promotion on the Craftmaster stand and look forward to seeing a few forum members over the weekend

Yes the one with the numpty on the boat. I still like it though! Perhaps I have poor taste? But as a relative canal novice and being someone who thinks there aren't enough programmes dealing with our rich industrial heritage I'll take what I can get. If there was something else to watch dealing with the same subject and it was a choice between the two the other show would probably win This is made for mass audiences don't forget so it got to be interesting to those who wouldn't normally give this sort of thing a look in. As long as they don't make any historical howlers I can accept a fair bit of liscence on geography

If its the correct series (and I doubt there is another one in the works) then there will be some form of boat painting / decoration at some point so it may be worth keeping an eye on I rather liked it. It was engaging though not properly explained and all a bit quick but overall I think it will be a winner for the beeb

To a point. The article deals with the main problems at the application end. However if the paintwork is not subsequently looked after that can be a major factor and I believe in terms of last winters problems was the main problem. The weather itself isn't the issue its the lack of maintainence of the paintwork thats the main fault There will of course be other factors - the main one being if a surface is primed and left for long periods. Primer being porous absorbs moisture and so once overcoated the moisture will at some point want to come out causing blistering.

Its not soley one thing or another. If the majority of boats that blistered had of had the standing snow and ice cleaned off them last winter the problem would not have been anywhere near as bad. There were of course also some cases of painters using insufficent coats to develop a sufficient thickness of coating. To my knowledge there are no plans to develop anything to sovle the problem as its not an issue with the coating its the maintenance thats generally at fault. There is an additive for the primer that can be used to help ease the problems but its not 100% effective. If John Sanderson is painting you boat (I think its him your reffereing to at Dadfords) he will know about the additive as he trialed it with Phil last year. If you are concerned about the blistering I would recommend using this but talk it through with John For those interested and to prove its not solely a Synthetic problem or solely a canal problem HMG have put this article up on their website discussing Blistering. It should answer a few questions Moisture Blistering Article

Craftmaster I think we may be the only one on here

I have heard nothing from HMG on this issue and so I assume it will not have any effect on us. I will double check with technical but they usually inform us of any developments. As for the slow drying paint thing I can't comment on that really as I don't have any technical information on other manufacturers paint - all I do know is that ours is the same as ever and isn't likely to change any time soon.

British Standard Red Oxide is BS446. I've never seen it so not sure how close it is to traditional red oxide

I've seen one or two posts about Raddle Red but not heard anything directly and we do sell a lot of it - its one of our most popular colours. Considering its mainly used of roofs it doesn't surprise me that it can fade faster than the rest of the paintwork. Raddle Red has the same tints in it as Graphite Grey just at different ratio. All paint fades especially if its taking a battering from the sun every day. The RAL7024 is very close to our own Graphite Grey just a minor difference in the formulation. Grey's aren't generally known for fading (maybe lighter ones)and this one hasn't its just lost its gloss for reasons mentioned above @ Doorman - do you mean One Shot? I have no experience with two pack so I can't really comment but I'll ask at HMG for you and see what they recommend.

After me and more importantly Phil talking to Ads about the paint problems we have come to the following conclusions Graphite Grey until now had not thrown up any problems that we had been aware of (I had spoke to Ads about this earlier in the year). Its a very old formulation from another manufacturer and keeps to the basic principles of grey colourmatching - use only a certain four tints if you can. We are confident that there are not any major issues with the colour. However Ads has had a problem as I believe has Leo although I'm not sure if thats with our product. We believe Ads problem to be isolated. As Adina has a South facing mooring without any possibility of rotation it gets the worst of sun 'properly blasted' as Phil put it whilst the other side gets nothing. This can cause very uneven affects in the paintwork and we take this as a contributing factor. Its worth pointing out that there is UV light even on days that aren't sunny so this will add to the problem The paint was also applied in a very hot climate. Phil will probably expain it better if he pops up on here soon (not sure if Scotlands solitary laptop is due in his area any time soon...) basically he reckons solvent emtrampment (probably the wrong spelling) is also quite possible. Ads has said that after painting the panels got very hot and that he could feel the heet radiating off of them this also would not help. Usually Coach Enamel doesnt have too much problem with heat (hence its widespread use on traction engines) however the heat is usually coming from the other direction and being buffered by the metal not the paint acting as the buffer We believe the problem in this instance would be best solved with the application of our own Clear Varnish which is 98% UV Reflective - this will deffinatley be a major help in countering the effects of the sun. (Please see the link earlier in the thread about varnish) So we do not believe there is any problem with Graphite Grey but in this instance a number of unusualy combined factors have probably caused the loss of gloss in Adina @ NB Alnwick Phil says don't worry about your 6 tins they will be fine

Ads Give me a call at Craftmaster tomorrow with your info and I'll have a chat with Phil to see what he thinks is wrong. I'm sure we can find out whats going on Adam

I'm not sure Oh well I'm sure it'll come to mind everntually

Ga Ga This is the last I will say on the subject as its getting daft and everybody is no doubt getting board. I'm not put out that your knocking HMG. Its part of life - everyone has their own prefferances. I do happen to disagree with your view on the undercoats so we will have to agree to differ on that one. I haven't argued black is white (tried that earlier in the year to amusing affect but thats another story). And I am not aware that we had crossed swords before. I will however offer an apology if you felt that my original post was questioning your competency. The undertone was there and it was perhaps a litte childish of me. So sorry. If you want to continue this discussion I will be happy to do so via a PM. For now lets just get back to doing whatever it is we do on here.

I suspect they may side against re-formulation. I've been thinking about developing a Scumble at Craftmaster but I'm not sure sales would be sufficient. If Tor-Coatings don't continue with Scumble we will probably have to have another look. I think Uxbridge Boat Centre might have some Light Oak as maybe Wharf House Narrowboats. I've got a few Medium Oak left. Other places to try would be Habberley Meadows (Gold Leaf Suppliers) and I was going to suggest Wrights buy I see a previous post saying they have none

Me? I'm sure your aware that I'm not. However I do have a bit of experience in these matters with having been a Craftmaster Stockist for 3 years and closely involved in all aspects of the company since January. I have picked up a fair bit of knowledge in that time. I still have gaps though and for these I rely on Phil to point me the right way. I dont profess to know everything about everything. But where something touches on my knowledge and it doesn't quite track right I'll ask or share my views / information. I'll usually run it by Phil though and in this case I did. I wasn't aware the RGG was a experienced painter/refinisher - hence I asked what his background was

Had the rep in a few weeks back He said that new legislation meant that they needed to reformulate the scumble He hoped to have it back on sale for the end of this month. But he wasn't sure

I have no axe to grind with you. I have a different data sheet for that product So calm down Yes they do have a limited colour range but KX is an any colour product To date shown to be incorrect? I'm not aware that I have. You are on here giving advice but maybe it would be nice if people new who you are and what your experience is. Me and Phil are both known to be from Craftmaster so we have the technical back up of HMG and Phils extensive experience I am not trying to antagonise you I am curious to you background and the basis of you advice to others. Oh and Next time could you just post a link to the data sheet? Cos they are very long after all.