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Getting ready to paint my grey knights, and I was trying to think of a way to make my force weapons pop.

I was wondering if using a crackle medium to give that look like power is trying to get out of the weapon would work. Or do you more experienced painters out there suggest against this? Would it give the model a weird texture?

it could be worth a shot just don't expect allot from it. would test it out first.

idea: first paint i bright color (say white or really bright blue). then mixing the crackle medium with another color (darker ) and apply that on. try a metallic n see what that does.

and with the crackle paint just remember that the more you have on the bigger the cracks will be, but if you don't put enough then ;you wont see anything

Would this crackle medium work for making a porcelain effect?

I have used crackle medium extensively on my bases for my Dark Angels force and I would try it on 1 models or extra sword bit first. You have to put it on thick if you want it to actually crack and if you put it on thin the cracks will all be super fine. It's difficult to get the outcome just right. If you paint/glob/spray/scratch off the medium that could give an interesting organic lightning effect perhaps.

I guess that's the end of my advice/rant.

I don't see it working, honestly. You are, of course, more than welcome to try (and post results!). Main issue, as mentioned, is the thickness of application required to get a noticeable effect. The more common "shrinking undercoat" style of crackle medium allows for thinner applications, as opposed to the color-mixable "one step" style like GW's newer offerings, but even those will lead to noticeable texture. Really best left to larger scales or coarser effects, like cracked earth/salt flat basing, IMO.

MWHistorian - you could probably get a half decent cracked porcelain effect... if you're talking about a full scale item and are willing to put in some work. "Shrinking undercoat" crackle mediums are, to a degree, controllable by adjusting the application method. Cracks are random, but they generally follow the "grain" of brush strokes and scale in width to the thickness of the paint. To emulate the deep, mostly linear cracks found on painted wood, you apply the topcoat heavily with long, linear strokes. For more random, tighter cracking (like porcelain), you stipple (no grain to follow) on a lighter coat. If you get a passable crack pattern, heavy gloss coating to match the necessary shine and mask the texture would finish the job. The effect will probably be a bit stark compared to actual cracked porcelain, which tends to have softer, shadowy lines, thanks to the translucent glaze, but it could work.

Like the power weapon effect, you may be able to scale it down with some experimentation and the right medium, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info!