Model Behavior: Hairspray Paint Chipping

13 thoughts on “Model Behavior: Hairspray Paint Chipping”

1. Amazing!

   Reply

2. Love the chipping/weathering work. Kate has been a great addition to the Tested team. I think Model Behavior should be a category we can select to see the collection of videos (under Premium or Videos).

   Reply

3. Great deep dive into the Hairspray Technique! Something I discovered (the hard way) is that sometimes if you wait too long after spraying the acrylic top color coat it will harden to the point where the water can’t soak through and loosen the hairspray underneath. I usually try to do the paint shipping within a few hours after spraying the top color.

   Also Vallejo sells small bottles of Paint Chipping solution to spray through an airbrush. At first it seemed silly to pay several dollar an ounce for the Vallejo product as opposed to a few bucks a pint for hairspray but in my R&D it actually worked the better than several hairsprays I tried.

   Reply

4. Arts that was something i wondered while watching the video – fully dried acrylic should be waterproof. thanks for confirming that can end up an issue.

   Reply

5.   +1 to the idea of making Model Behavior a section unto itself

   Great work, Kate & Norm!

   Reply

6. Definitely want to give this a try! Awesome to see some skilled makers trying new things.

   Reply

7. Any reason not to spritz water instead of brushing water?

   Reply

8.   I’d imagine that was to better control their working area and dampen the piece as they went. Kate did say that some people she’d seen submerged their pieces entirely but seemed uncomfortable with that idea. However, the water dunk might allow for a more uniform scratchability as others have mentioned that drying time of the top coat is an issue…

   Reply

9. Love the video and thank you for bringing the technique to our attention.

   EDITORS NOTE: The video showed Norm and Kate working through their experimental pieces but blew through the work on the hero model with little more than a montage. It would have been nice to be able to see/admire the featured piece that they’re working on in greater detail, but also hear their thought process of what they’d learned from the test pieces and how it influenced their tool choices/techniques on the hero piece. I’m sure you had your reasons, but I hope we don’t loose the longer format videos that seemed more personable and informative to a newer wave of jump cuts and commercially dictated content. (Love the Mortal Engines/WETA content, just please keep the distinctions between Tested/sponsored clear!)

   Reply

10. I do a bunch of hairspray chipping on scale model kits. Michael Rinaldi’s Tank Art and SM book series are a great resource for hair chipping. Here’s some tips I’ve picked up from him and from experimentation.

    Different kinds of paints chip differently. Tamiya chip very nicely. Very fine. Thin with water so the bond isn’t quite as strong and lets your water go down to dissolve the hairspray. Vallejo is more like a vinyl shell and doesn’t chip as nicely – larger rounder flakes.

    You can spray two coats of hairspray, use a hairdryer to dry it quick. It should have a slight sheen to it, then airbrush your paint. Heavy on the hairspray, bigger flakes. Takes some practice to find the balance. You don’t need a ton of water. Just a little damp brush and slowly creep into it. As soon as it starts to chip, move on to another area. If you want to increase the chipping in a previous spot, you can always come back and do it a bit more.

    The nice thing is too, once the top coat is on over the hairspray, you can come back many days later and continue to chip.

    The hobby companies, like AMMO by Mig and AK Interactive, make some chipping fluids that work the same way, just applied with an airbrush. You can always decant hairspray too and shoot through an airbrush. I like using the aerosol can because it’s a consistent spray volume at a consistent pressure. Can be applied very repeatable. I find from the wider spray from the aerosol gets consistent coat. With an airbrush, I’m just spraying clear fluid and it’s hard to see how I’m covering.

    I don’t apply lacquer over the base layer of paint. Don’t drench the model in water and you won’t get color bleeding away or anything. Thin coats will chip easier. If you’re really scrubbing at it to try and get chipping, you don’t have enough hairspray or your top coat color is too thick.

    Here’s a recent hairchipping I did before any additional surface weathering.

    

    Reply

11. I too got into experimenting with Hairspray technique and also tried some latex masking as well; I added printing my own water slide decals for the experience the result was that I quite enjoyed adding the Hairspray technique on multiple levels and also applied it to some of the decals. This was also my first attempt with a airbrush. Many firsts were had but the effect from my perspective was satisfactory for me

    I also played with Oil Paint rendering to add more lines and mess to the ship

    

    Reply

12. I love the differences between the two. Kayte’s weathering looks like a mottled patina and fading that’s accrued over many years, whereas Norm’s looks like the weathering associated with something that’s suffered some abuse or rough use like a construction vehicle.

    Very cool!

    Reply

13. Working without an UNDO !

    It’s donne, go with it

    Great,

    Kayte, Norm,

    Merci beaucoup

    Jen-Luc Gariépy

    Montréal,

    Québec

    Reply