Anyone see the new issue of the magazine? The salt technique is cool and appears relativly easy. What does everyone think? How easy does it come off after the primary color is applied?
One other question, in terms of WWII planes and modern planes, is it assumed that all of them are metal or whatever the plane is made of? I could see in general using a silver primer and then being told something is cloth. Is there a general rule?
For weathering, you can also use black, brown, and any other color in an airbrush. just spray a light coat ondesired area. it comes off if you ever wanted to change it
LOL nsclcctl…I made a new topic in Armor forums asking this same questions. Unfortunately no one answered as of yet. I would love to try it, and seems easy enough to do.
Dear Modelers: I’ve read some of the comments on the technique. By way of short intro, I’m Mike Chorney, co-author of the article.
First, salting works in conjunction with about any paint, either as undercoat or overcoat. Of course, with enamels, some added drying time will be necessary. Experiment.
The basecoat, showing up under the ‘chipping,’ is dependent upon the composition of the structure (e.g., natural metal, resistant basecoating covering steel on German armor, etc.). For aircraft (i.e., the body and fixed planar surfaces), most of the undercoating was metal…however, keep in mind that control surfaces were doped linen, and would present a different color than the metallic body. With IJAAF or IJNAF, the linen was a sort of light grey-green color, so metal may not be the best choice here as undercoating. Consider, also, that the fabric would probably not succumb to the level of weathering and chipping comparable to bare metal oversprayed directly with paint. The linen would be absorbtive and aid in bonding the paint to the surface; at least, this is what pictures seem to convey.
The salt wipes off easily, and you can apply water to aid in cutting back on abrasion, if that is a worry. Other salts can also be used; for instance, popcorn salt, which is fine-grained, can be successfully applied to 1/72nd scale planes and armor. Bicarbonate works as well. Again, experiment.
The technique can be tame and manipulable, in general, but I’ve created a few clinkers with it which are now back resting in the box; this has happened when generally trying to be too ambitious on a subject which didn’t look too good with the chipping effect extended across its surface (the Tamiya Wildcat comes to mind, here). The result can be overwhelming. I would suggest working in a small area, like the wingroot, which is masked off from the remainder of the subject after laying down the basecoat.
Practice the salt application: pouring versus more controlled manipulation with a brush. Also, watch the level of water, as the more water, the greater will be the level of solubilization. This will cause the salt to create an extended surface, as opposed to serving as a limited mask suggestive of a chip. Finally, keep in mind that the chipping was around panel lines, and areas of high abrasion, so plan accordingly.
A number of my friends have used the approach on armor, with great success, as conveyed in the article. Brian Barton’s pieces are judged in the advanced category at the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society meeting each April, and he usually is given a gold for his salting technique which is highly impressive and well-received.
Best of luck, guys.
Hey i did see it in fsm but didnt pay much attention to it it sounds cool i might try it. It just looks like table salt to me any other maybe to big or you could get different affects from different sizes. If anyone does it post a fourm telling how it worked.
Thanks Mike … your input on this subject is greatly appreciated.
And seeing as this was your first post here … Welcome to FSM, we hope to hear from you more often.
Is this only applicable for Arcilys?
Because I would like to try it
Will it work with brush painting? Some of us can’t afford airbrushes…
I don’t see why it wouldn’t. You may have to do a little sanding depending if there is a noticeable paint ridge or not but other than that it should work the same as airbrushing. You might have to play around with thinning the paint a little more than you would for regular painting. If you do some experimenting let us know how it goes. It does sound like an interesting technique.
Ray
Well I tried it… and it works!
I started the project before the FSM came out and on the first parts I did I used a liquid mask. This was a fist time for that because I’d always relied on dry-brushing before. The result looked nice but it tended to take off huge sections of paint around the mask as well, and was difficult to get started removing.
Then I picked up the July FSM and said “hmmmm?” So on the next section I tried it with ordinary table salt. Looked great and worked very well but as I was working in a smaller scale the grains were just a little too big to position well. By the way I added a tiny! tiny! tiny! dab of soap to the water I was using to place the salt. It was easier to control that way.
I wanted to use a smaller grain for the next section and since I had no popcorn salt on hand, and no stores open in the wee hours of the morning, I looked for alternatives. Sugar looked to be about the right size and went on well. It wasn’t until after the paint had dried and I went to remove the sugar that I discovered my mistake. When you wet sugar it turns to concrete! After slapping myself in the forehead and saying “Duh!” I went about removing the sugar. Hard work but the part actually turned out okay.
For the next section I finally got some popcorn salt and had the best results of all… It looks great!
Along the way I stumbled over another technique. I was using Model Master Metalizer with Metalizer Sealer for the base coat. Then covering it with water base acrylic craft paint “Apple Barrel” for the final coat. Guess what, the water base doesn’t like to stick to the Meatlizer Sealer. I “paint chipped” the rest of the model with my thumbnail and a cuticle tool (cosmetics stores have the best tools) and it looked great. A final coat of Clear Satin and everything was locked into place.
The whole thing looks great if I do say so myself. I’m almost finished with the model and I’ll see if I can find a way to get a good pic of it to post.
I finally read the article! Looks like it has some possibilities, I’ll have to try it out sometime and see if this techniques is worth it’s… er… uh…salt.
Fade to Black…
Here t’is
My DML 1/35 BRDM is almost done. I will post the pics very soon.
The subject is an iraqi BRDM about to get nailed with a little shock and awe.
I painted/primed it with green enamel
Kosher Salt was used and allowed to dry
Today I am painting the sandy yellow top coat.
(fingers crossed)
-Muzzleflash
The salt came off easy. All i had to do was pick it off with tip of exacto or rub with cloth. When done it just looked too clean so i got the salt granules in the cloth and started to RUB that baby down like it was knocking things out of its way and the salt streaked lines through to the undercoat of russian green.
My first time using the salt technique… I LIKE IT [8D]
This picture is my BRDM hull. It is upside down on my workbench but you can see the salt effects. Finished model pics coming soon in diorama 
-Muzzleflash
Wow muzzleflash that looks great!!! I definately think you went the right route by rubbing it in!! Those scratches look very convincing!! I’m definitely going to have to try that method out soon. I can’t get over how good that looks!! Thanks for posting the pics!!
Eric