Okay so I followed the hairspray technique o do my whitewash and it doesn't work at all. I sprayed on a basecoat of Dark Yellow (tamiya acrylic) then a thick coat of hairspray (Tresseme brand) and then my Tamiya white and when I go with warm water and a brush to start chipping, nothing happens. All the brush does is move the water around. I would like some help as I am very frustrated at this especially since my airbrush just broke

Thank you so so much for help

-Joe

http://www.migproductionsforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3293
there is a huge thread here.

I think it is important to wait at least 30 minutes before you apply paint on top of your hairspray. and then you also wait until the coat is dry and apply water.

Try attacking it with a hogs hair brush such as they let kids loose with when the first go to school, hogs hair brushes being very stiff and as a rule large brushes it should let the bristles attack the paint allowing you to get the result you are after.

Stiff toothbrush will work also, or a wooden cocktail stick or similar.

One thing I did find, I did this method on a Zero. Painted the bottom with Vallejo Air, no problem. Painted the top with Vallejo Model Color thinned with Vallejo thinner, and I got this spidery crackling effect. Wasn't sure what happened. Went back when it was dry with the same paint, but thinned with distilled water, and no crackling effect. The only thing I can deduce is that the hairspray reacted with the thinner in my first color coat.

Anyone experienced this before?

....a few things I notice.
#1 Don't try this when you are already frustrated as it takes patients.
#2 You should put a non-acrylic protective layer between you base color & the hairspray. This will protect the base color from being stripped along with the top layer & the hairspray.
#3 Use a stiff brush and you must work it a section small section at a time. Also, some use isopropal alcohol instead of water or a 50/50 mix of water & iso-alcohol. Please be carefull with the alcohol as it is more agresive than straight water.
I would suggest to buy a sheet of evergreen or an old test model to use for practice......this will enable you to get a feel for the timing of the process as well as enable you to get a feel for how it works with out sacrificing your current project.
Also, I have found that Tamiya acrylics work beter for the color that will be chipped-the top color above the hairspray. I hate to say this as I love to work with the Vallejo Model Air paints for everything else............however, it seems that the Tamiya paints work a little bit better for this technique.

I have no problem using Vallejo to do this, I don't find one works any better than the other. I have done it a couple of times and have used Vallejo every time with success, it just threw me for a loop when it crackled on me. In the end, it added to the overall paint finish of the kit, so I was happy with it....was just freaky when it happened.