013: HAIRSPRAY TECHNIQUE - Piscean Works

THE HAIRSPRAY TECHNIQUE PT.1

In this chapter, I am going to show you how I attempt to recover from my earlier painting mistake which was caused by fatigue and my ignorance to the fact that my eyes have adjusted themselves to the bright lighting. This confused my judgment, thinking everything was still very light when in reality, it was not so. So, it helps that you need to leave your table every few minutes.

The Falke’s new dark green background means progressive shading is now out of the question and so, I would need something ‘brighter’ instead. This is a great opportunity for trying out chipping and also, the hairspray technique which I have read so much about but never tried until now.

THE SILVER BASE COAT

This technique involves removing the upper paint layer to reveal the base/rust paint layer underneath. If used correctly, the results are very ‘natural’ and convincing. I will be using this technique on the front ends of the twin booms, to show that this craft has been through the sea a lot, hence the rusts.

LEFT
As the Mr. Color #159 Super Silver did not give me the shine I was looking for, I used Modo MK-08 Super Real Silver straight from the bottle on this test spoon. The orange peel look is from the primer and for this test, I am not using any black background neither. The result is very good but you have to accept the strong vinyl-like fumes of the paint.

RIGHT
Sprayed the spoon with some very thick water-based hairspray and left it for a few hours until it felt less tacky. The hairspray did not dull the Silver.

Usually this technique requires acrylic paints as they do not react violently to the water-based hairspray. I do not have any acrylic yellow and so, I am risking it with a lacquer-based paint instead. This is risky in the sense that Lacquer is ‘hot chemical’ and so, it will react to water-based paints and coatings.

Once the hairspray is almost dry to the touch, I gave it a very thin layer of Mr. Color #113 RLM04 Yellow. This thin coat gives the impression that there is metal underneath the quick colour job at the Falke’s factory…

THE RESULT Pt.1

1. The lacquer paint reacted badly to the hairspray (holes) and also, I accidentally scratched off this area with a light brush of my finger.
2. Wet brush with hard bristles: I got the same result.
3. Wooden skewer: The scratched blobs of paint deposited at the sides the defeats the scale’s realism
4. Wet brush: Failed

THE RESULT Pt.2

With the other side of the spoon, I sprayed with a thicker yellow and this time, and left it to dry longer. The RLM04 Yellow now looks solid and is bringing out the vandal in me…..

1. Wooden skewers: The scratched area is good with no paint gunk deposited at the sides.
2. Wooden skewers: Light scratches but no paint flakes
3. Blunt end of the brush handle: But the brush’s black paint easily transferred itself to the scratches

THE RESULT Pt.3

One great thing about these spoons are that they are great as test canvasses for paints. Usually I would be using the white opaque versions but since these are about to go to the bin after finishing the Falke’s hatch….

This time I sprayed the hairspray first followed with the lacquer-based Mr. Color #113 RLM04 Yellow. This time, I intentionally left the hairspray to dry for more than a day. The yellow circle is a drop of thinner which I wanted to test its reaction to the salt. It did nothing but destroyed the paint job.

Before I spray the yellow coat, I wet the area with water and then added some salt to it. I used very fine salt crystals so that the paint chips/breaks looks to scale on the model. Let the salt crystals dry before spraying and leave the paint

1. Lacquer thinner. Not effective, dissolves the hairspray
2. Salt crystals, clumped together. If you sprayed the yellow thick, you’ll have nice little rust craters when the salt is forcefully removed later on
3. Wooden Skewers. Nicer but requires stable hands, even with quick flick of the wrist
4. Wet Brush. This is not the effect I was expecting
5. Sandpaper. Great effect but need to watch the direction of the wipe

In summary, by combining salt crystals with the hairspray and thick paints, I can get a very nice and almost realistic effect of rust craters. I am going to combine the following two methods due to some unforeseen complications which I will explain in the next article…

Dried hairspray with thick paint

This is the rust effect I am aiming for. I took this from a rusting Jeep. By using thicker hairspray, salt and thicker paint, I hope to achieve some semi-peeling paint while exposing the rust.

This to me, is a much quicker solution as the dried salt can be easily removed after the thick yellow paint has been sprayed on.

ADDING SALT TO DRYING HAIRSPRAY

Normally, I suppose, the salt would be added once the surface is dry. But for this experiment, I need the hairspray to be still drying. When I pushed the salt crystals into the semi-wet hairspray, it would kind create some sort of deep crater/texture.

Although this would give a deeper texture, there is a risk that the salt might be difficult to remove once both the hairspray and thick paint has dried. But when it is removed, you will have wonderful rust textures because the salt mix reacted with the thick hairspray.

So, in the next article, I am going to use these on the Falke

THE HAIRSPRAY TECHNIQUE PT.2

With the hairspray testing test confirmed, I am ready for this stage. But I also went with an extra step, which is to add salt crystals to the drying hairspray before spraying a thick paint on top. However, there is a small problem where in this country where I live: humidity. So, this technique must be done within a few hours and cannot be left overnight.

Preparing the front twin booms of the Falke with the RLM04 Yellow and I am halfway masking it. I do not want the yellow to be ‘too long’.

This is where the Yellow paint stops (after the masking tape).

Each boom was given a coat of Modo MK-08 Super Real Silver.

Once the silver coat is dry, I sprayed a coat of hairspray and left it to dry for two days. I always use these clothes pins as they’re very handy in a pinch.

Using a wet brush, I dipped into the salt and deposited them onto the model. I do this for every panel line, corners and edges. Where possible, I will soak the excess water off with tissue paper. I needed the wetness of the salt to slightly dissolve the hairspray and ‘bite’ into it. And so, I left it overnight.

THE PROBLEM WITH HUMIDITY

As you know, in a Tropical country where we take 88% humidity for granted, there is one little fact which I tend to forget; humidity means dampness. Because of the excess moisture, things can get damp and fungus thrives on this. But for the case of the Falke, the salt combined with the water and absorbed more moisture in the air overnight to become droplets.

LEFT
The first thing I noticed the next morning was that the salt seemed to have… turn to mush, for lack of a better word. Looking closer, there was a lot of water.

RIGHT
And this is how it looked at the bottom of the model. Dripping blobs of salty wet water…

LEFT
After cleaning the model off, I started again. This time, I am not even bothered about the remaining salt becoming wet after it was left in the open. Do not worry about the marred surface of the silver as these were the hairspray affected by the salt.

RIGHT
Slowly, I built up thick layers of RLM04 Yellow half an hour after I did the salt. Using low pressure setting for the airbrush helped to keep most of the salt crystals from flying off. But do be aware that built-up thick paints will show when you pull the masking tape away. You can really see the thick edges! I guess I need to stop spraying so much when it is near to the masking tape.

As I laid the salt crystals and applied the paints almost immediately, the crystals did not have much time to mix with the water nor suck moisture and so, they’re still very small and retains the uneven geometric and jagged shapes.

REMOVING THE SALT

This is how the salt/hairspray technique looked like when all the salt has been removed. I used skewers to pry them off instead of a wet brush in case it affected the surrounding yellow paints and also the hairspray underneath. The method also, I guess, is much faster than melting the salt. You can see the rust craters created from the thick yellow paints and reaction of salt water to the hairspray. You can also see the thick yellow paints where the masking tape was.

Wonderful rust craters (yellow arrows) which I will weather with the Abteilung Oils.

I would have liked to do more, especially to the cone’s front edges but it is too easy to get carried away. Of course, there are some overspray which to me, is kinda nice. But the reality is that my lazy technique of blocking/masking off the area is ineffective. Luckily, the yellow overspray was on top of the hairspray which, was oversprayed as well. So, while the paint is still ‘wet’ I used some Zippo lighter fluid to clean up as much as I can.

WEATHERING THE FALKE

With the salt and hairspray techniques shown it the previous article, I now know that the wet salt reacted with the hairspray and ‘bit’ into it. And the thicker the hairspray, the more beautiful ‘bitemark’ textures it will leave. Also, by flicking off the salt crystals physically off the thick paints, it creates nice rust edges or pock marks at the craters.

Now, it’s time I make the bold step to weather the model. Something which I have not done before apart from the usual basic panel line wash on previous models. This section deals mostly in how I attempt to recover the Falke’s botched paintjob. I will explain later why the Falke rusts as this is no ordinary craft.

I used Tamiya Pane Line Dark Brown to make some streaks by putting them in the actual panel lines. Instead of waiting for it to dry and wipe it off, I did that immediately. The direction of wiping from font to rear left a very streak effect. And slowly as it builds up, the RLM04 Yellow starts to have a worn out look. You can see the subtle difference between the left untreated boom and the one on the right. The Tamiya Panel line Dark Brown somehow made the bright RLM04 Yellow looked warmer and strikingly more realistic.

Then I gave the model a clear/matte mix (about 40:60) to remove the shiny sheen. This created a nice almost dusty look on the surface. You can see the hazy sheen from certain angles.

Sadly, this also made the yellow and exposed Silver looked dull.

LEFT
Using a small brush and a skewer, I created some artificial panel line chips with Tamiya Acrylic X-11 Chrome Silver all over the upper side of the Falke, in areas where I think it gets knocked or even serviced.

RIGHT
Again, you can compare the result of the untreated (left) boom and the weathered (right) boom.

The skewer was also very helpful in chipping the paint off the aluminum cage since I did not have Mr. Metal Primer when I was painting it.

LEFT
I used more of the Tamiya Panel Line Dark Brown for the oil streak effects. This time, I stirred the bottle to get at the actual pigments. After diluting it, I applied to the model and immediately wiped it from front to back. If I left this too long, I can see the ‘watermarks’ left by the carrier oil drying.

RIGHT
Where the panel edges meet, I applied the Abteilung ABT070 Dark rust directly and with very little Zippo. Where there are rust craters, I smeared them with diluted Abteilung ABT060 Light rust. Do not worry about the criss-cross pattern on the yellow as this is the shadow from the mosquito netting thrown by the Sun.

There is also another weathering medium which a friend told me: Colour pencils! This is a silver water soluble colour pencil from Derwent’s Water Soluble Metallic Pencils set. The lead is very soft and easily transfers to the matte surface. The panels now looked as if it has been opened and closed many times for servicing/repairs. I also dry-brushed some Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver on more random areas to show scrapes and wear.

REAL LIFE RUST EXAMPLES

So, how does rust form? There is no definite answer as when I looked around me, I have observed a few ways for now.

Water pooling

Looking at some rusting, I seems that they formed where water pooled or dripped off and not as random as I thought. This is the panel which I used as inspiration for the rust craters. Light rust for the edges and insides while dark rust is for the middle and points in the craters.

Edge lingering and ‘Waterfall streaking’

I would like to achieve this effect but this would mean extensive work on the edges (bottom of this vehicle). However try as I might, I cannot do the downward rust streaks as this would mean the Falke did not have much flying time.

Surface growth

To me, this is almost like the pooling rust except that the rust grew from spots/holes in the paints. The bulging parts (or scabs) are rusts that have grown and expanded. This is more or less what I wanted to achieve with the thick hairspray and wet salt.

As for the hand-rail above, just look at the different shades of rusts. The darker and most textured were in the middle while the lighter ones are on the revealed surface of the peeled/broken paintwork. Then the really light rusts are on the paint layer and is smeared downwards thanks to the rain.

FINALLY…

And so, after more weathering with the Abteilung 502s Light and Dark Rusts, it’s time to call it done as it is very easy to get carried away. I never did realize weathering is so enjoyable! I just like how the rust craters turned out and also, on the aluminum cage. But in reality, I think the rusts should be smaller to show how big the 1/20^th scale Falke is.

I know you will have questions on how planes can rust since they’re made form Aluminum. But for the Falkes’ case, I can say that the aluminum metal is scarce and is only reserved for other vehicles. So, this Falke is made from steel and other light alloys which after many flights across the sea, it eventually starts to corrode. But the Falke is not too worried about its weight since it has the anti-gravity systems.

In the next article, I am going to burn the model. Yeah, burn.