Salt technique questions

sci-fi-bldr · Post by **sci-fi-bldr** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:10 pm

Going to give the salt technique a try on some up coming projects....

Any good tips.........

Namely......how to stick it........I've heard of water...if so....how long does it need to dry...............also heard of hairspray.....any kind work??....

Does different types of salt work different.......what type of paints work better with this technique....

Is there a clear coat step anywhere in the operation?

Any negatives??................

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:37 pm

Water works fine. Brush a little on the area you want to apply the salt and sprinkle some salt on. It'll dry within a few minutes unless you get really heavy. I've found that waiting a half an hour or so before painting works fine. I've even a/b as soon as I was done applying the salt, some was dry other not so much.

Salt & hairspray combines two techniques into a single exciting method. The hairspray is applied then warm water is used to moisten it a bit and the salt applied. The advantage is once you have your color on you can scrub areas away with more warm water to roughen the paint even more.

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:20 am

One thing I do is to add just a drop of laundry soap to an airbrush jar of water. This allows the water to have just a bit less surface tension. Again, just one drop is all you need. Too much, and the water will be running into the nooks and crannies. The reason I do this is to allow me to "paint" just a little line of water along a panel line if I want to.

Also, something I learned from others here and FSM is restaurant salt packets and bulk salt packages from the grocery store are two different grain sizes. This comes in really handy when you want to layer your weathering between, for example with a World War II aircraft, to show exposed primer (larger grain, perhaps) and then little patches of exposed metal peeking through (smaller grains laid first over the metallic color). One guy over on aircraftresourcecenter.com bought a mortar and pestle with which to grind salt to even finer grades for small scale stuff. I could see where that would work wonders for 1/72 and below aircraft and armor.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

sci-fi-bldr · Post by **sci-fi-bldr** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:43 am

Yes..........this helps a lots guys....thanks

If you put it on with just water......(when it is ready)...do you just rub it off dry.....or use water

Is there any trouble getting all the salt off??....

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:19 pm

The salt can be terrifically stuck sometimes, 'specially in tight spaces. An old toothbrush takes care of more of it, dental pick usually knocks the rest out.

sci-fi-bldr · Post by **sci-fi-bldr** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:47 pm

Alllrighty then.........going to give it a try....(maybe on something old first..........

)

Thanks again.........

Romulan Spy · Post by **Romulan Spy** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:51 pm

Don't forget sea salt for when you need big chunky grains.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 3:32 pm

Or popcorn salt for that finer chipped look.

Post by **TER-OR** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:12 pm

Kosher salt, pretzel salt, popcorn salt - but be careful of the fine stuff, it can get everywhere - which may look like rust bubbling beneath paint.

I do what Kenny indicated, and I use a paint brush to move it around on the model. Allow to dry overnight, then paint. The coat of paint will fix the salt, but you will need to be careful, it's easy to knock off.

When it's time to remove, I like a soft toothbrush. Then make sure you wipe the area down with a wet chamois or paper towel to remove excess paint flakes and salt.

I'll point you to my Japanese "Nell" model, probably my best pictures of the salt technique.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-or/set ... 704701438/

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:20 pm

Instead of water, I had read somewhere that Future works well also for applying the salt to.

Sometimes with water, the salt may disolve a bit and then you may end up with residue that you don't want on the kit.

Post by **TER-OR** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:05 am

Salt residue is a problem. Future would be a problem, too, and you may need to buff the area down. The best I've seen is with water, but getting the mix right isn't easy. And you willl need to clean up residue before airbrushing. I like those foam makeup application brushes for that.

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:21 pm

One of the problems I had applying the water was that it'd bead into nice unnatural round drops.

Should I add a surfactant? I also had a water softener installed since I tried, maybe that will help...

Dan

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:07 pm

A little dawn wouldn't hurt.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:11 pm

Jonas Calhoun wrote:One of the problems I had applying the water was that it'd bead into nice unnatural round drops.

Should I add a surfactant? I also had a water softener installed since I tried, maybe that will help...

Dan

The surfactant will help stop the water from beading up. Handy stuff to have around.