Today I decided to weather two GP35's one was a factory paint CNW and the other a MoPac I painted recently I used chalks by dry brushing on black, red and greys onto both models as pictured however when i used hairspray to seal the models something strange happened
the newly painted mopac unit went all blotchy I used dullcote to seal the loco so maybe there was a reaction with the hairspray. at this stage im not sure whther to repaint the top of the unit of keep it as an old unit with painting coming off . comments anybody????
I think that logo must attract all the seagulls for miles around More (or maybe less) helpfully, I'm afraid it really does look horrible. Strip and redo job I'd think. Maybe you can just strip the hairspray/chalks, or those and the dullcote. Is there something that will strip dullcote and not touch the paint? May depend on the paint I suppose.
I would think the hair spray is water soluble. If so, then the hairspray and the chalks would wash off in warm water. Mild soap might help in this. (I have not experienced this firsthand.)
Paul: Hairspray has alcohol or a similar substance in it. That's why it turned blotchy. When I use chalks like the Bragdon weathering system, I don't seal the model afterwards. Stay cool and run steam.....
If and when you decide to restrip the paint, try one more coat of dullcoat. I've had similar experiences with alcohol after dullcoat, and sometimes you can back out of it. Actually, I like it!
Paul: If you applied dullcote to the loco before trying the hairspray, give it another coat of dullcote and that usually returns the loco to it's original state before the hairspray application. This procedure works with an alcohol mix. But the dullcote must have been applied before the the hairspray or acohol. Stay cool and run steam....
If you want to recover it, you can, of course. I would just lightly airbrush the top with some grimy black and press on. The weathering can be extreme. Here is my weathering as the result of an alcohol accident.
Paul, why did you use hairspray to seal instead of dullcote? I have never used hairspray, but I know there are many different types. The only time I have used it was to stick foliage to trees/shrubs, for this I used the cheapest I could find as it tends to be thicker and stickier.
Paul: Read this topic by Mike Rose. It has lots of good info. If you dullcote a model and then apply an alcohol based substance, you can REVERSE the procedure by just applying another coat of dullcote http://www.mrhobby.com/fading.html Stay cool and run steam.....
Practice on a olde car? Just a thought. Try to reproduce what you did and see what "fixes" it. Overall you know my posiiton:
Chalk will 'blotch up' with hairspray. If you use a dilute methanol - it 'etches' the plastic and the chalk becomes part of the etch area and stays as applied. different plastics from various manufacturers (as well as base paint types) always give different looks - its a "roll the dice" effect, you just don't know what you get unitl it's done! I hope this helps, Mark in Cleveland.
I use chalks extensively. Unless I REALLY put my fingers all over the car and rub it vigorously, the chalk stays where it was first put.
Alan, I find using hairspray to fix the chalk tends to reduce the amount of chalk that gets absorbed by using dullcote, it works great with rollingstock but looks like it has reacted with freshly painted items. Bob, You are an absolute legend I reapplied Dullcote and the loco looks great, still weathered but all the white has disappeared. Here is a photo I just took of the loco after the dullcote dried. Thanks everyone for your suggestions
Paul: That works all the time as long as you dullcote the loco or car first. Glad I could save you some time and relieve the anxiety of your work being ruined. Another Lesson learned as Mark would say. Stay cool and run steam.....
I used hairspray once and that was it. I went back to dullcote and nothing else now. glad to see you loco came back!
I tried dullcoat once after using chalk to weather a test loco.....did no damage but the weathering disappeared as well. I have since just left the chalk be without sealing....so far so good
Matt, I always dullcote first but used hairspray after weathering as it seals without the chalk disappearing. Usually I don't seal but the chalk tends to come off over time unsealed.
