Chipping lacquer with predictable, consistent results.

[Woody V]

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had NO luck getting consistent results using the hair spray method to chip lacquers. I’ve either had no success regardless of how hard I scrubbed, or large areas of paint coming off for no apparent reason.

 

In order to get consistent, controllable results I knew there had to be an optimal amount of hairspray as well as a technique that could get water to penetrate the hard film of lacquer and then be able to work the chipping process easily and get controllable results.

 

NOTE: The base color is AK Xtreme Metal Aluminum, The top color coat is AK Real Color semi gloss lacquer thinned 50/50 + 2ml of  Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. The clears used here are Mr. Color Gloss and Flat thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner.

 

Here’s the results of my experiment.

 

 

The hairspray I used is by Dove - no particular reason other than you can pour it directly from the bottle.

 

My first goal was to find a technique to apply an adequate amount of hairspray, but not too much or too little. I ruled out the idea of wet coats because they are too hard to control. You need adequate light to be able to see the exact coverage as you’re applying it. This can be tricky because if you apply too much it will pool, and pooling will result in large chunks of paint coming off. Mist coats, on the other hand, are subject to interpretation and unpredictable depending on your definition of a mist coat. Using my Iwata HB-SB Plus with a .2mm tip and 15psi I held the trigger fully down and back for 100% air and fluid about six inches from the test piece and made what I considered full coverage passes, somewhere between a mist and wet coat, definitely avoiding wet.

 

My second goal was to find the ideal number of layers of hairspray so I took my two test pieces, divided each into two sections (left and right of the center line) and progressively went from one coat of hairspray to four coats. The dots indicate the number of coats of hairspray.

 

My next bright idea was to roughen the smooth hard surface of the paint in hopes it would reduce the size of the chips and give the water/detergent mix a better chance of penetrating the color layer. I used a fine grade sanding sponge for this on the bottom half of my working area. The top half was left un-sanded.

 

 

Then I covered the test area with a piece of paper towel soaked in a mixture of water and dish detergent and let it sit for 15 minutes in hopes that a long exposure to water would begin the moisture penetrating the color coat.

 

 

Next I started scrubbing with a short bristle brush wet with the water/detergent mix. I had no luck with the single hairspray coat but as the number of layers of hairspray increased so did the amount of chipping, but the most interesting outcome was the way the sanded portion differed from the un-sanded portion. The paint on the sanded portion came off in tiny pieces whereas the un-sanded portion came off in larger pieces.

 

 

Then I started scratching with a cocktail stick and the water/detergent mix, and the results were very encouraging. I was even able to get a small piece from the one coat of hairspray to break loose. The most interesting result was on the sanded section with four hairspray passes. It was easy to get the results I was looking for on the sanded area but the un-sanded area was still coming off in larger pieces.

 

 

Then I went back to the short bristle brush and the water/detergent mix and brushed away the fragments of paint in the center of the chipped area resulting in this. I also did some chipping along the edge as you can see here. Keep in mind that these pictures are about 3-4x actual size and we know how un-flattering close-ups can be.

 

 

Just to see what would happen, I laid down a coat of gloss clear and applied some silver ink over the recessed rivets as seen in the lower right corner. When that dried I used a slightly moistened paper towel to wipe off the excess, applied a coat of flat clear to seal everything which resulted in this. Although the other rivets may look similar, it’s just the reflection from the overhead light.

 

 

I hope you got something out of this. Just to be clear, I’m not here to tell you that the way you’re doing it is wrong because I’m not. I’m just sharing my experiment in hopes that it may be helpful to someone who struggles with chipping lacquer as I did.

 

Thank you for listening.

 

Now go chip something.

[Stokey Pete]

Brilliant stuff, I’ve been looking for these kind of experiments, having not attempted my own. It gives me some confidence

to have a go at trying it out using my go to MRP paints. 

[Woody V]

1 hour ago, Stokey Pete said:

Brilliant stuff, I’ve been looking for these kind of experiments, having not attempted my own. It gives me some confidence

to have a go at trying it out using my go to MRP paints. 

 

The whole time I was doing this I was wondering about how it would go with MRP paints. I've used them and they are indeed different, so your results would be greatly appreciated.

[Furie]

Thank you for these tests with lacquer and this tutorial, Woody.
Also, I'm going to try with MRP paint this weekend or next week.
My wife left this morning to go shopping at the supermarket, you should have seen her face when I asked her to bring me some hairspray....

 

 

[DrDave]

The fiats I’ve been posting used ammo chipping fluid with MRP. You might have to rub hard but it does chip.

[Furie]

I've come to test you the effects with hairspray.
I painted the parts with MRP White alu + 1 light coat with hairspray + 15 min drying time + 1 light coat with hairspray + 15 min drying time + 1 light coat with hairspray + 15 min drying time + MRP RLM66 paint.
I coated the parts with water + dishwashing liquid and then scraped with a toothpick, a soft brush and with a silicone brush (see pictures).
It works but it's a bit confusing because at the beginning, we have to rub with the brush nothing happens then suddenly, a "big" piece of RLM66 goes away! 
The best I think, is to use sparingly the toothpick to obtain a discrete effect.
I'm going to redo the pieces you see in the same way but being lighter on the effects:

 

 

 

 

 

Below is a tutorial in French that explains and shows the method I used, subtitles and translation are available:

 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Furie

[Woody V]

18 hours ago, Furie said:

Below is a tutorial in French that explains and shows the method I used,

 

Is he using lacquer or water based paints?