Help! How do I "Salt Weather"?

[rallymodeller]

Seen the end results (wow...), and heard a lot of talk about it lately. But the $64,000 question?

How the heck do you do it? Are there any decent online tutorials that I can get to?

[Pat Amaral]

Larry "Scifi58" Johnson has a couple paragraphs about how to weather with salt in his On-line Build article here. He also did a nice little half hour seminar on how to do it at this year's WF. But of course you missed that one I'm kidding. I'm a kidder. I kid. That's what I do.

Anyways, I hope that helps some. I've never tried it but it looks like it's pretty easy

[Kylwell]

Salting is easy.

And waaay adictive.

Just rush on some water and spinkle salt onto it til you get the coverage you want. Continue til everything is done that you want. Then paint.

Then the fun part.

Scrub the stuff off. You'll be amazing how grippy the stuff is. Salt bonds to flat paint like a titianium to aluminum. You'll have to use a needle to pop the salt crystals out of tight corners.

I'm still not sure if it's more or less addictive than pre-shading.

Oh, and there was an article in FSM a few years back about it. I'll see if I can find out what issue for you.

[Kylwell]

It was in the 2003 July issue.

[Digger1]

Now, is that regular old table salt or the kosher stuff?

[Kylwell]

Either. Depends on how big of a chunk look you want.

[Digger1]

there's fine and coarse kosher salt. There's also pickling salt, sea salt and canning salt.

[Mr. Badwrench]

Use all of the above. Plus popcorn salt. If it isn't fine enough for you, grind it into a powder with a mortar and pestle. It is every bit as simple as it sounds. Don't be too gentle when scrubbing the salt off, that is part of the salt weathering process. It is supposed to scratch the surrounding paint a little as you scrub it off. The best tutorial is to try it. Brush on a little water, sprinkle on a little salt, let it dry, and paint. Use as much or as little as you want. When you're finished, send in pics.

[karim]

Another trick is to moisten the salt in a small bowl or glass, and use a brush to "paint" it on. Gives you a little more control than "sprinkling"

[Kylwell]

I made a little "salt dribbler" out of a business card to give me more control over where the salt goes. Just take a business card, curl up one of the short side til the corners touch and tape it down until you've got a little opening. Then fill with salt and dribble it out.

[TER-OR]

You can also make a paste of salt, water, and a drop of dish soap. Then brush on the areas you want to peel later. That can be easier to control.