Chromatic Lettering Enamel is History

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OLD FORUM POSTS

Posted by Mike Jackson on May 02, 2002

I guess I heard about the One Shot people buying out Chromatic, but never paid that much attention to it. We started using it when Steve Burman started up and used it pretty much all along. I tried ordering some quarts of lettering enamel today and found out they don't make it anymore....or at least several places don't have it that I called. One Shot will work fine and it is good paint, so the transition is no big deal. We did get a few gallons of Chromatic Block Out White, which is the one we really like, so not all is lost!

Mike Jackson

Kent Smith

I am not sure what has actually been done so far at 1Shot as they did not take me in the deal. However, here is the plan as it was presented to me right after the sale by the corp. man in charge. The Chromatic lettering enamels would be incorporated into the 1 shot line under their label. They expected to used a number of our formulas but would not commit to which ones so you may see some of our better colors with the 1 Shot label. The Bulletin enamel formulas were to remain and they would phase out theirs since ours was superior. As a matter of interest, only 7 of the colors were different formulas in lettering enamel than bulletin. Most of the other enamels and primers were to be kept as well as our formulas for high temp reducer, hardener, waterbournes and chromaflo. It is difficult to tell what has been done so far, especially since there was a considerable existing inventory. If you don't think a product choice is what it should have been, let them know. Often the decisions are made by chemists or production people and not those sensitive to the end user needs. We found this to be true with AKZO and I am certain that Spraylat is no different. Bear in mind that the purchase of Chromatic was done to improve the 1 Shot product line so there is quite an incentive to utilize much of the Chromatic formulations.

Rick Sacks

Mike, I think you're discovering old news. Chromatic label still has the bulliten colors and 1-Shot has the lettering enamels. I think it's just the lettering colors you can't find. Why should the same company make two of the same products?

Mike Jackson

Hi Rick,
A few of the colors were slightly different, such as fire red and imitation gold. We always liked to keep using the same brands so we could match old jobs, but that hasn't been a problem for us now.

Mike Jackson

Cam Bortz

The Chromatic palette is MUCH different from One-shot, especially the dark greens, dark blues, and ivory. I always liked to richness and color purity of Chromatic, especially for backgrounds. Their dark blue is a lovely shade, as is the dark green. Fortunately we can still get them in bulletin colors. One-shot can learn a lot from the Chromatic palette if they choose to.

Carol

I thought the main difference was that 1Shot has black added to most colors and Chromatic didn't. I'll bet most oil based enamel - lettering or not - is close to being history.
BTW, if I haven't mentioned it before that Dunn Edwards acrylic paint we used on the mural we did in March is great to letter with. Could hardly believe it.