Tired of the hairspray technique

I'm sure that the true masters of the technique will be along shortly to offer some help, Tacocat, but I'm with you. The technique is sort of hit and miss with me. So, I've fallen back to using the salt method for modeling paint chips because I'm a little more consistent with my results. It's easier for me to do, inexpensive, and neither my wife or teenaged daughter complain that their hairspray has somehow managed to wind up on my bench...

I have used AK Chipping Medium with good sucess.

But yes,I also like to use drybrushing to show small chips wear and tear.

I find duplicating chips with flat aluminum paint and a tiny brush or other implement works fine, but does take some practice, like most techniques. To get a tiny chip I use the end of a sharp toothpick dipped in a shallow layer of paint.  I get the shallow layer by shaking the bottle of paint well, then taking off the cap and laying upside down on bench.  The layer that sticks to the cap is just right for this technique.

tacocat, some things that will help you:

Use a semi-gloss finish on your base coat. The spray will not adhere as strongly, and slough off easier. Gloss makes it come off super-fast, but it's much harder to control, and harder to get "chips".

The more layers of hairspray you put on, the easier it will come off. Use a hair dryer to dry between layers to speed things up. You really shouldn't have a big issue with detail obfuscation unless you're brushing the paint on.

The SOONER you start chipping and sloughing it off, you'll have a much easier time.

By the way, you can also brush hairspray on by spraying it into a cup and then applying it.

I've tried some of the hairspray alternatives, and they don't seem to me at least to be any markedly better or worse.

I ALWAYS count on having to possibly touching up a section here or there; it's part of the wonderfully-random nature of HS weathering. I suspect that all the Masters of the hobby do as well, but they just don' tell us. Myth-making, ya know... ;)

If you are trying to show chipping you can try rubber cement or liquid mask applied as small random specks over a silver color. Paint the topcoat and when dry use some masking tape to remove the masking liquid or rubber cement.

Another method I have used and like very much is using salt to get chips. Again paint the silver undercoat then wet the area with tap water and sprinkle the salt on. You can arrange the patterns a bit and when dry you can remove any excess. Then paint and when dry, carefully remove with a damp brush and a toothpick exposing the metal color.

Here's a 1/48 Hasegawa George I made a while back using the salt method.

Notice the sharp edges on the chips showing the NM underneath.

PJ, I really like the effect of that salt wash. It makes the chips not have a uniform appearance - some have a sharp, defined edge but some have a softer, abraded edge, which the combination of the two looks more natural to me than if all the chips looked the same. That George looks killer!

I am no expert on chipping. But I use Prismacolor pencils to show chipping and find the method fool-proof.

Thanks jetmaker. You can't go wrong with this salt method which also works for simulating rust spots by using red/brown as the undercoat,

Great example of the technique, PJ! Your George looks great! Another useful tip here is that different types of salt leave different effects - table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, and pretzel salt all have different sizes and textures which leave unique chips after being scrubbed off. The grains that are either too large or too regular is shape can be ground down with a mortar and pestle (end of a hobby knife and an empty soda cap) to break them up into a finer powder for even more variation. Nothing quite like a well seasoned paint job...

I love it when my Android phone "corrects" my posts. It makes them sound like I have an accent.

thanks KT