AK Interactive Light and Dry Crackle Effects 100ml AKI 8033

Application was very easy and not as messy as other products I've used in the past, applied this to my 40K bases with good results working.

I bought this to use for basing tabletop miniatures. While the center of the finished product looks good and organic, the way that it dries causes an unnatural pattern to form around the outer edge of the surface. The outermost flakes are long and stringy, with a uniform width like someone took the teeth of a gear and pointed them inwards. For a stylized approach where you want to make the model a focal point, it would probably fit the bill, but if you're trying to achieve a natural look it doesn't quite work.

It should also be noted that the product does not adhere to plastic or other non-porous surfaces. As per AK Interactive's tutorial video on YouTube, I used a layer of paper (in my case, watercolor paper) glued to the plastic base to help with adhesion. In an effort to avoid the aforementioned uniformity issue, I made the paper cutout larger than the base so that I could trim the outer-most excess off after it had finished drying, but it's difficult to do without damaging the part of the crackle pattern that I want to keep.

I've also had some limited success in applying it to texture paints (specifically, Vallejo Diorama FX Russian Mud 26.808) to create a vaguely salt flats inspired look, with a cracked, sun-baked surface over primordial muck. It doesn't crackle quite as much, but it looks about right at a quick glance. It also seems to turn out better if the crackle medium is applied while the mud texture is still wet, but I'm still experimenting.

Overall, I'll keep using it, but I'll probably switch to a different product when I've run out.

Tried out and was so impressed