[Leica] Painting cameras, the ALPA black crackle finish

[clzeni at mindspring.com (Craig Zeni)]

On Jan 24, 2006, at 5:05 PM, Jack C. Herron wrote:

> Even more off-topic!

Oh yeah :)

>    In the hammered finishes powdered aluminum (one of the pigments) is 
> set up to aggregate in a somewhat similiar but less pronounced effect 
> and creates a finish which resembles hammered metal.

In my "Pimp My M3" project I learned that the Hammerite hammertone 
aerosols actually use a minute amount of silicone in the paint to 
create the hammered effect - the silicone makes the paint 'fisheye' 
(ooh ooh, photo on topic!).  If one tries to bake the paint on, the 
silicone will flash off and create small pits in the paint...looks 
really bad.  Trust me on this...I found the reason why the paint was 
pitted on my M3 cover after I called their support line and spoke with 
an engineer...