Hairspray/salt weathering + zenithal (or preshading)

[skeletoro]

Hi all. I just invested in an airbrush and am just about ready to get started on my space wolves.

 

I haven't yet settled on a good method to use, however. I'll be doing 1 or more test minis, but thought i'd seek some advice too.

 

I am painting a mixture of infantry and vehicles. Here's what I was thinking of doing:

 

Infantry

 

1a. Base coat boltgun metal (airbrush)

1b. Apply browns and orange rust colours, mostly around feet (using foam to dab it on)

1c. seal with gloss varnish (airbrush)

 

2a. Apply a layer of hairspray (airbrush)

2b. Apply rock salt (sparingly) to legs

 

3a. Base coat of a darkish space wolfy colour all over (airbrush)

3b. Zenithal highlighting with a lighter colour (airbrush)

 

4a. Use damp stippling brush to remove salt and some edges on armour, thus exposing the underlying metal colour (and rust on feet)

4b. Seal in with gloss (aitbrush)

4c. Potentially add a soft dark wash to bring out a bit more detail at this stage

 

vehicles

 

(Step 1 and 2 the same)

 

3a. Undercoat white (airbrush)

3b. Pre-shade crevices with black (airbrush)

3c. All over with the same lighter colour used in the infantry (airbrush with a thin coat, thus leaving the pre-shading visible underneath)

 

(Step 4 the same)

 

5a. And then maybe I'd add some weathering pigment on top of this.

 

Does this method look feasible? My main concerns revolve around the number of layers.

a) Too much paint? I know air brushes allow thin coats, but is this too much? We're talking several layers of paint plus 2 layers of gloss varnish and the hairspray.

b ) Step 3 involves 2 layers for the infantry and 3 layers for the tanks. Could this make it difficult to remove the paint in step 4a? I gather that the hairspray/salt method only works if you have thin coats of paint (i.e. you need to use an airbrush). Am I going to run into issues here?

c) It seems to me that you need to choose between zenithal and preshading, and zenithal is probably easier/better on infantry while preshading is probably easier/better on tanks. But is this intuition correct?

d) Any other tips?

 

Thanks for reading!

[Jacinda]

When working with salt, you need to remember that it is a strong desiccant. In other words it will draw moisture into itself. What you will see happen is that with a little time it will leech the color from nearby areas into the salt. I used salt once before for greywolf grass and snow bases and it looked good. At first. In about or 3 months I started noticing spots in the snow that got wose every week. It was leeching the color from the flocking into the salt and made for a yellowish stain all over. That may be good for a few jokes but is embarrassing for an army.

 

I have not used salt since and I wish I could give you some tips on how t prevent that from happening but but like I said, I did not have a positive experience with it.

[skeletoro]

The idea would be for all the salt (or at least the VAST majority of it) to be removed, leaving a "hole" in the paint where you can see the rust colour peeking through. So that shouldn't be a problem, right?

[Taliostro]

Well it is possible, but it is a bulky way of doing things with this many layers. And I would choose one weathering technique, not mixing two different. Mixing them will result in BIG areas of rust/weathered armor, which just doesn't look right.

 

For Vehicles, I would do it different:

 

Basecoat White, Preshade with black or dark grey

Then add a boltgun metal layer (or rusty layer), where you want to weather with salt/hairspray, mostly 1/4 of the vehicle from the bottom up.

Add the hairspray/salt onto the boltgun metal layer, use a random pattern and don't overdo it

Spray the basecolor on the tank

Highlight the basecolor a little bit with white and spray this mixture just in the middle of big armor plates and flat areas, creating a faded look. this should be a thin layer usually just fogged on

Then use a stiff brush and water to remove the salt/hairspray

Do a quick drybrush to highlight raised areas

Complete the painting of the tank

 

For Infantry, I wouldn't advice using the hairspray/salt technique, it will remove too much paint, looking horrible in the result. I would use the "chipping" technique with 2 different colors and fine brushes. Just google it :D

And as an advice: Just look around in Military Model building forums and blogs, some of the guys there do this techniques in nearly perfection with step to step guides.

[Cretheus]

I have done a fair bit with salt with Orks and IG i find salt is quite a clunky material to use not really suited to space marine tanks. you can use the hairspray method on marines and tanks, if you are gentle enough and wait for each layer to dry properly it will turn out well.

salt makes it easier but removes large amounts of control of weathering, would definitley recommend practicing first. i always find for marines just hair spray and a stippling brush works best and always remember you don't need to scrub into it just be patient and gentle.

[winterdyne]

I echo the sentiment; skip the salt, just use the hairspray; it'll give you a LOT more control. You can use a toothbrush to scrub it (and the layers above your gloss) off edges, and this gives a good worn look. A wet toothpick also works well for scratches etc.

 

The salt will have a tendency to leave chunks you can't get off, or occasionally chips in odd places (as salt fell there that isn't in the right place)..