I love this look and want to

I love this look and want to achieve it for my bridge.

Salt technique

Salt technique also achieves good results.

Looks great!

Looks great!

I’ve not seen the hairspray

I’ve not seen the hairspray technique, but looking forward to what you come up with on it.

As far as weathering goes, I just bought some oil paints and will be experimenting with weathering with oils, as I’ve not done it before and have seen some really great results with it.

Chipping

This is a technique that has been around in military modeling for years. It is generally referred to as "chipping" in that it simulates paint that has chipped off and exposes surfaces/colors underneath.

There are in fact chipping products from a variety of vendors.

One thing to know is that hair spray is not always hair spray, or perhaps not all hair spray is created equal. You certainly want hair spray that is water-based; apparently not all of them are.

The main idea is to put a water-soluble or water-attacked layer under your top coat of paint, and then use that relatively unstable layer to get rid of the top layer - allowing whatever is beneath it to show through. This means that you have to plan the undercoat, and in my experience you have to be at least somewhat careful to protect it. The top coat also needs to be pretty thin. I personally have never done this with anything other than acrylic on the top layer.

You can do some pretty cool things with chipping techniques:

In this case I definitely had too thick a layer on the top, which caused it to peel off kind of roughly. I also failed to weather the undercoat, although I probably could have weathered the finished job and made it look convincing. This is a test piece - the model is a 45-year-old Tyco shell that I victimized for an experiment. While the paint is too thick for this application, it isn't anywhere near as bad as it might seem. The details under the paint are crude. And I've obviously not made any effort at all to get the top NW decal to flatten into the model. I found it pretty hard to wear away the decal with the water/hair spray/chipping technique. I finally resorted to using an air eraser to lightly sandblast some of the NW.

CandOfan, Thanks for

CandOfan,

Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad you mentioned the importance of weathering the undercoat.

I'm not familiar with what an air eraser is.

air eraser

The undercoat is what is going to show through, at least in some spots. Depending on what you want to be seen, that may or may not include weathering. In my case, the prototype had a well-worn paint job and obviously shop forces didn't fully prepare the surface before painting over it. As you can see in my pic above, when the black top coat "weathered" away, it revealed a nice clean, pristine Pelvar Blue base coat. But the prototype had a much more faded paint underneath...

An air eraser is a sand blaster that looks remarkably like a single-action airbrush. I have this one: Air Eraser. IMHO, it's a dead wringer for a Paasche single-action airbrush, but equipped with a much thicker (blunt) needle.

Hairspray weathering is backwards

It took me awhile to  figure this out (and I may be corrected) but this and other chipping methods work by painting the rust on the bottom, then the chipping medium on top of that, then the rolling stock color on to of that.  Then applying a little moisture on the top layer, it comes off and the rust comes through.  There are many ways to remove the top layer  depending on the effect that you want - bush, toothpick etc.

Plenty of videos on youtube.

Salt Weathering

Since salt weathering was mentioned earlier, you might want to review John Golden's salt weathering efforts on the Resin Car Works blog from September 2020. As with any technique, a few attempts are required to become familiar with the materials and processes.

Eric

CandOfan, Thanks for the

CandOfan,

Thanks for the link. Something I might be able to use for future projects.

Jimcubie. I checked out some

Jimcubie. I checked out some videos. Seems to be a simple method. I'm going to give it a try on a scrap piece of styrene.

Eric, I gave it a go a few

Eric,

I gave it a go a few times.

This was the result of my first attempt.

Vallejo Chipping Medium

I haven’t tried hairspray, but the effect shown is great. I have used the Vallejo Chipping Medium. Similar concept apply base coat, then chipping medium, then top coat, and finally chip the top coat with water. I think it’s best to weather the base layers first to give a really varied effect.

Hairspray Rooftops

Did these cars a few years back. Before and after shots.

Gonna have to try the hairspray

Lots of cool images in this thread. Here's a decades old image of a peeling paint effect on an O scale diorama I put together for a photo contest. Many packing sheds I saw as a youngster had a loading sections that were open to the elements and tended to get a bit shabby. I wanted a distressed look on the ceiling and after some experimentation achieved it with an oil paint base with an acrylic paint top coat. When the acrylic paint was dry but still fragile a toothbrush was used to tear it partially off the ceiling leaving a pealing paint look.

Question?

To all posting. This thread is about hairspray and I hope that's what y'all are posting. But someone mentioned salt, so when posting, please mention exactly what was used. ?

Salt

The entire thread is about painting once, putting some sacrificial "blocker" over it, and then painting a final coat on top. Then the blocker is removed, taking with it some of the top coat, thus revealing the under layer of paint/weathering.

Hair spray is one such blocker, as is chipping solution - and so is salt. The salt removes a different shape than liquids such as chipping solution or hair spray. (Note that hair spray is often sprayed into a small puddle and then brushed on.)

Great examples!

I think the examples presented on this page look great!

Please take note of Jeff's work. He illustrates how the hairspray or salt weathering isn't the final appearance. He has added a wash after the peeling paint effect. This blends the elements together for a layered appearance. It also mutes the harsh dividing lines between the galvanized grey color and the car color that is peeling away.

I often show modelers that weathering isn't one step. Subtle applications of different media pulls our work together to better reflect what we see on the prototypes.

Eric

I wasn't restricting...

the insertion of using salt, nor any other method CandOfan. The title says "Hairspray". And the postings have branched into what you say. So, all I ask is that when someone posts a picture of a model that has been treated, that they mention whether it was hairspray or salt - or any other. OK? No offense intended towards anyone. Just a simple request. Same as the use of a signature. We are friends.

Some great video

For such techniques, it is best to refer to armor modellers. One I follow on YouTub has a list of tutorial and product tests.

I personally use chipping fluids (from AMMO), as salt was hard to control, and I don't want to bother with hairspray.

Hairspray vs chipping fluid

I've used both chipping fluid and hairspray. I didn't notice a difference between the two products. That said some of the chipping fluids are 'diluted', while others are more 'heavy'. You can accomplish the same thing by applying more or less hairspray or diluting the hairspray.

The one thing that I found out that makes more of a difference is the method of application. I tried brush painting both types on before realizing that they should be airbrushed. I buy the cheapest liquid hairspray I can find, add a few drops to my airbrush and apply. 

Example #1 (1/29 boxcar) Hairspray chipping

Example #2

Vs Salt Chipping

Example #1

Example #2

I often use these techniques in combination with each other. For example for the rust base, I might salt chip 3 or 4 different colors, layering the salt. You could do the same thing with hairspray, but would have to seal between each coat). Then after I'm done with the layering, apply hairspray, and chip the top color revealing the rust combination underneath. 

There are a lot of ways to make chips, but hairspray and salt are both subtractive methods vs additive methods like paint on top of the final paint color. Subtractive methods work just as well, but they take a bit of preplanning.

Salt chipping layers

Looks good on painted concrete structures as well. The “Hercules” is painted on. First layer was the base concrete and weather. Second coat was black. Then salt(sea salt in irregular chips) was applied heavily, then the masking for the letters. Finally white over top. Salt was stripped with a toothbrush and mini scraper. The final weathering is pastel, Portland cement, and type II cement. I still want to do “dust layering” to it, but that’s something different altogether.

We retitled the thread

We retitled the thread to more accurately represent the content:

Hairspray (or other chipped paint) techniques?

Salt, Hairspray vs Scale

Let me get something straight here, I’m not telling anyone not to use these techniques!

That said, what I am saying is, that neither of these techniques work reliably well in he smaller scales like 1/87 or smaller. Both of these techniques are used extensively by the Military modelers who usually model 1/35 or larger. I personally model in multiple scales and multiple genres.

The other thing to consider is practice, practice, practice, that is the only way I’ve found to get consistent result. I have been doing weathering for customers now for 11 years and the reliability of results is about 80%. 
When working with preprinted models the weathering process is added on top and usually in reverse of appearance. When working on an unpainted model a lot of the weathering can be built into the paint job, just as the military modelers do, Fades, Washes, Filters, Chipping and Rust Chipping.

There is another method that works consistently for me in the smaller scales, Make-up Sponges paint or Gouache and closed small cell foam and paint and also a toothpick. I have attached a photo of an N 1/160 scale loco as an example.

Ralph Renzetti