Hi everyone,

Has anyone else suffer from the same problem I have using salt as a chip mask??

I tried it for the first time last week on a test model for my WH army and all was well, looked quite effective for a first attempt, until I sprayed on my gloss coat to do my filters an washes.

I used all Tamiya paints and varnishes through an airbrush apart from the silver colours, which were GW.

As the Tamiya Gloss coat dried the area on and surrounding the chip areas took on a white milky appearance, it looks very similar to how aluminium corrodes.

I have tried, without success, to rub it off/out and it seems to be in the gloss coat.

One thing I have since read is that I should of washed it off with water while I scrubbed off the salt, which I didn't do as the tutorial I first read mentioned nothing about doing so.

I suspect that some of the salt has remained behind in the paint colour coat layer, and this has then been reactivated when I applied the Gloss coat.

Now, while it looks OK...ish on a futuristic model, my worry is when I try it on a more real subject it does it again and sends an expensive model into the bin

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to counter this or if indeed I am doing the salt chipping correctly?


ATB


Sean

Sean,
I've only tried the salt method for chipping once, and found it was just too much hassle trying to get all the salt off after the topcoat was done--I kept finding crystals still stuck to the tank as I continued with weathering. That said, I did not experience the same problem you did, but I suspect you are correct that there is salt residue remaining that is reacting with your clear coat. Thoroughly washing your vehicle after removing the salt (and waiting a good long time to make sure the paint is completely cured) sounds like a good idea, but you might also want to try the technique on some scraps and then use different clearcoats to see which ones cause a problem and which ones don't. I use Future (or Pledge with Futureshine) for gloss coats and Vallejo varnish for matt and satin finishes. Lots of other folks out there with a great deal more expeerience with the salt technique, but I figured I'd throw out my thoughts while you wait for the real experts to chime in.

Hi Sean, I had the same problem I think its the salt melting and combining with the paint, Mine was a cheap academy Humvee which went into the bin.I dont use the salt method anymore I use a piece of sponge or I paint them on.

I have had varied success using salt. Try using sand, next time. You can get it in varying granules for different applications.