What happened here?

[BarryW]

I have been experimenting...

I thought I would try the hairspray method with a view to using it on a forthcoming kit.

I followed some instructions I found on-line and did the following:

I primed some scrap plastic with Vallejo primer.

A couple of days later I sprayed it with Vallejo Aluminium

A few days after that I bought some Sainsbury's hairspray and sprayed on two coats - it was their cheapo own brand stuff, the cheapest I could find.

Today, a week later, I sprayed the top coat, Vallejo Intermediate Blue as I thought I might use this method on a US Navy aircraft.

I expected it to dry and to then practise using a toothpick to wear away the paint in strategic places.

But this is how it dried.... crazy paving style!!! Nope, I have done nothing to it other than let the top coat dry.

What went wrong? anyone any ideas please?

[ATTACH]43531.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Ian M]

My best guess. To much hair spray, and the topcoat was to wet. If dried to quickly might just do it as well.

One thing as a heads up. When you what to start the chipping/scratching, dont forget to soak the area with water, this soaks in to the top coat and softens it. It also gets into the hairspray and makes it lose its grip on the base coat.

Thats a good crackle finish you got there thought!

Ian M

[BarryW]

LOL it sure is Ian.... you may be right thinking back.

I will try again with a single coat of airspray and a 'drier' top coat.

Thanks Ian...

[Guest]

Barry, i wouldn't leave the hairspray on for as long as a week before adding the topcoat. Whenever I've used this method, I've left it a couple of hours max for the hairspray to dry, then about the same for the topcoat & gone to work removing what I didn't need.

Also, I personally wouldn't recommend this technique for small chipping / wear effects. It's more suited to larger-area affects like winter whitewash or local theatre camo.

However, experimentation is the name of the game! That's how all our techniques came to be.

Patrick

[Guest]

I`m no expert and have only tried the hairspray method a few times , but one lesson I learnt is one coat of hairspray is ample - 1st time using it I gave it 2 coats and it took forever to get through to the basecoat colour , I could be well wrong with the one coat method but it worked a lot easier for me Barry .

Richy

[Guest]

I've got to say, i tried this technigue weathering a DUKW and I thought it sucked, it took way too much effort and too much time to work through to create the chipping.

I much prefer the salt chipping / weathering technique, it's easy to modify the salt placement whilst wet or dry before painting, if you've made a mess, rinse and redo and I think the end result gives a far more convincing chipped appearance.

I believe also that hairsprays are formulated differently, the one I tried was Aldi's own brand as recommended by a few people on another forum, apparently some are unsuitable and it may be that the one you tried contains something that caused a reaction, if it had been left on a week ordinarily there should be no reason for the top paint layer to do this.

i'll mention also, decanting into a pot then airbrushing it on makes for a finer coat and allows the hairspray to gas out, clean through with warm watter immediately afterwards or with a 6% ammonia solution.