The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Experiment: Hairspray Technique

Here's something a little different.

I was recently introduced to some of the painting methods of Mig Jiminez, specifically the 'hairspray technique'. My understanding of the method, after reading that link, is that you basically lay down a base color that serves as the weathering, then apply hairspray over the model, and use an airbrush to lay down another color. Then, with a wet (and presumably firm-bristled) brush, you can stipple and remove the top coat, because it hasn't adhered very strongly to the hairspray layer. Once you're one weathering, I guess you varnish.

So, I thought I'd give this method a go, and see what happened. It looks like it'd be ideal for weathering Khador warjacks if I can get it working.

First, because I don't want to ruin a nice model, we turn to a set of jars that I have collectively termed 'THE WARP'. These jars separately contain acetone, simple green, or other stripping solutions, depending on the model that needs to be stripped. Below, you'll see me with the acetone jar, which is what I throw all my metals into.

From the depths of this jar, I fished out a metal Furioso Dreadnought's front plate. I spent a little while getting it cleaned off, and then I hit it with my GW Boltgun Metal spray to get a basic coat down to start with.

My idea here was to get a sort've rusty colored undercoat in place. Then, I'd try the hairspray, and apply a cream-colored paint overtop of that. I grabbed my Devlan Mud and a rusty wash and set about weathering it a bit...

Once that dried, I thought I might try out my airbrush a bit. It's been almost five years since I last used this thing, and I've never been very good at it; mixing the paint consistencies is always hit or miss for me. Using a vermin brown, I thinned it with water and sprayed a bit of the torso down to get a nice, rusted sort of color down on the torso.

Now that I have this in place, it's time for the hairspray. I used the cheapest spray I could find - cost about $2 from the local drug store. If the method works, I'd then be able to brush any paint colors I apply overtop off and reveal this rusty coat.

I left the model to dry for a bit, and once it had, I came back and hit it with a mixture of white and bleached bone with the airbrush.

It's not a complete cover, as you can see it's not a solid white, but I thought it'd be enough to test the method out, so after I let that dry, I grabbed a brush and started stippling away.

Now, here's where the results I was expecting did not match the results I obtained. I was under the impression the coat of paint I sprayed on after the hairspray would come off relatively easily, but that was definitely not the case; the white coat wasn't coming off at all. I grabbed a stiffer bristled brush that I use for drybrushing, and tried that a bit more forcefully. In one place on the left side of the torso, it worked, and the brown/orange undercoat came through. The rest of the torso, however, didn't go quite as well - instead of reaching the orange coat, I ended up removing paint all the way down to the base metal coat.

You can see where I ended up removing down past the orange here. I wasn't digging at the model with the brush or anything particularly hard - too gently, and nothing was happening to the white coat, so I did press a bit harder with the brush. It seemed very hard to get to the orange layer without going straight through it.

After this test, I chucked the torso back into the acetone vat for later experiments, since it didn't seem to be going too well.

Some thoughts, comments, and things I might have done wrong:

• From what I can tell of Mig's method, he uses his airbrush to apply the hairspray. I figured since the stuff was already in an aerosol can, I would spare myself the trouble and spray the hairspray directly on. I honestly can't imagine that's the source of any problems.
• The white I sprayed over the hairspray certainly did not come off as easily as I was expecting from looking at Mig's article - I thought a wet brush'd just take it off, but you had to kind've work at it, which might be part of why I ended up removing too much.
• I'm curious if applying a coat of varnish over the orange layer before hitting it with the hairspray would keep me from going all the way down to bare metal while trying to stipple the top coat away.
• Also, the GW Boltgun Metal spray isn't really a primer. I wonder if that might be why the coats under the hairspray came off too easy.

In any event, the torso'll be stripped bare by tomorrow, and I'll be able to give it another try if I can refine the method a bit. I'd be interested if any of you have comments that might help!