A Rose By Any Other Name

I’ve recently been trying to locate a primer other than an automotive primer to see if there would be a difference in the way it applies the primer.   Doing a bit of research on the forums I came across a few references to a product called Plasti-kote.

This seems to be a product oriented to crafts and therefore might be more suitable for priming models.  So searching I awent.

As so often seems to be the case here in Canada, I found nothing.   None of the usual suspects carried Plasti-kote when I called them.

Now I found this difficult to believe.  Highly toxic chemicals that don’t have the same availability; plausible.  Duplicolor being the only possible option for spray can primer in Canada; not very plausible.

The objective then became to locate the distributor list for Plasti-kote in Canada.  Starting with the obvious I went to Plasti-kote.ca.  Nothing.  Tried Plasti-kote.com.  Success!  And there was a link to Canada….which takes you to the USA site.  Is American geography really that bad?

After examining the website a bit more I discovered that Plasti-kote is owned by a company called Valspar, and that in Canada the distributor is:

Plasti-Kote INC.
7655 Tranmere Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L5S 1L4 Canada
(905) 671-8333 Phone
(905) 671-0254 Fax
Contact: Gus Amodeo, General Manager
E-mail: sales@plastikote.ca

Excellent!  Surely this was progress!

Another quick search of the forum indicated that Micheal’s sold Plasti-kote and I have a Micheal’s near me.

Once arriving I confidently asked a sales person for Plasti-kote.  Blank stare.  For the love of God….

I was reffered to the aisle that contains models, Testors products and spray cans.  From a company called Valspar.   Faint bells start ringing…

Picking up one of the cans of primer I notice that the face of the can has a Valspar sticker that covers the whole front of the can but not the back.

Valspar Front - Lame Attempt at Hiding True Identity

This sticker is essentially rebranding the can.  Suspicious I read the back I find a reference to Plasti-kote.

Valspar - Plasti-kote in Disguise

Hellujah! Not that I needed more confirmation but you’ll note that the company address is the same as above.
So in Canada, and perhaps else where Valspar products are Plasti-kote.