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Hey Dakka I need some of your insight and wisdom.

I have been doing my research on the hairspray chipping method and I want to give it a try. Im going to experiment on some loose plastic, but before, I do I wanted to ask a question. How long can you leave the hairspray under the paint? All the videos I have watched use an airbrush to quickly put the paint on after the hairspray is set/dry. I don't have an airbrush, so I would be painting it by brush. I'm painting a Leman Russ and I use cammo pattern,s so it may take awhile to get the paint on.

Will the hairspray activate with water after a few hours, 24 hours, days? I wasn't sure if it becomes more difficult to reactivate it with water if it is older.

Any tips, insight, or wisdom you can share is much appreciated!!!

-Evillain

I saw a video with a year old chipping effect project. Sat on the shelf for a year, accumulated dust, still came right off.

Hairspray can always be removed in water - I have a feeling that a lot of women would be in a mess if it stuck!

I've had hairspray in my hair for 3/4 days at a time when I've been travelling, and the only thing I could say I've noticed is that it will start to wear off if touched, but that's a case of wind, running fingers through hair etc, so regarding a model I'd just say that as long as you're not handling it in a really rough way, the hairspray shouldn't change

Depending on how strong you want the technique to be, if you're after a super strong spray, try 'got 2b glued' (in a yellow can, sold in most places), or if you want a very mist-like, weaker spray, the generic store brand hairsprays are the way to go.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for your input!

So have people had success using a brush?

I am experimemting with the following process:

-primer
-rust color
-dull coat
-2 layers of hairspray
- thin layer of primer
-then brush paint on base colors
-then chip

I'm hoping I can still get some decent results.

Why the second coat of primer?

To make it easier to put on the light colored base coats. I use a dark reddish brown for the rust colors

You won't have much success using a brush with the hairspray method. Brushes put the paint on way too thick, and you need several gloss coats in the interim.

It (like many other armour modelling techniques) is very reliant on having super thin layers of evenly applied varnish and paint.

You don't need a super expensive airbrush or spraygun, but you do really need an airbrush or spraygun to do the job.

The method is:

Paint rust / underlying colour.
Allow to dry fully.
Spray thin gloss varnish coats. (Gloss because it's harder and more scratch resistant).
Allow to dry fully.
Hairspray (couple of thin coats).
Allow to dry (few minutes normally).
Spray colour coat(s).
Allow to dry.
Use gentle abrasion (toothpicks / brushes etc) to scratch and wear where desired.
Spray thin gloss coats.
Allow to dry fully.
Decal passes (up to post-decal gloss, paint 'chips' in decals if needed before that)
Oil washes / shading / filters.
Allow to dry fully.
Spray thin satin/matt coats.
Drybrush edges / do edge highlights.
Pigment work / final filter airbrush work.
Spray thin satin matt coats.

As you can see, a great many layers. None of which are particularly difficult to do, but the main chunks of work have to be separated by varnish. You really, really, cannot do this with a hairy stick. It just doesn't work.

If you are stuck with a normal brush, look into using sponge or stipple weathering instead. Broadly similar look, visually, but not so reliant on the huge number of layers.