Building the 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen (Dragon kit: hairspray chipping)

 

Hairspray chipping

I have always found the best results can be obtained using acrylic paints but with a slightly different approach it can also be effective using lacquers. Keeping the paint layers thin with just the right amount of hairspray coverage is the key. To achieve a realistic effect over multiple colours means adding hairspray in-between each layer. Although it is possible to ‘chip’ after all three layers have been added, it is much harder to achieve and I have found chipping each layer as you go makes life a little easier. It is then far easier to adjust the level of chipping and fine-tune the effects along the way. To illustrate the process, we can use the bonnet as an example.

Base coat paint mixes added.

 

 

Base coat chipped. 

 

To improve the effect further, a third layer of paint (Dark grey) was added where the pioneer tools were located and again chipped back. 

 

The tailgate received the same treatment and a few highlights have started to be added with brush painted acrylics.  

 

 

A slightly different approach was taken with the wooden panels of the cargo bed. To replicate the damage by loading and unloading items the floor and side panels would also have attracted scuffs as well as scrapes. The three horizontal top tilt frame beams were wooden too, but the bed frame and tilt poles were all made of steel. As these areas were primed with their corresponding undercoat colours; red primer on the steel and a grey/buff shade for bare wood, selected areas were now picked out and distressed.

The base coat layer chipped and scuffed exposing both the bare wood colour and the metalworks red oxide primer coat.

 

To tone down the exposed red primer on the frame and tilt poles, a light layer of Tamiya German Grey acrylic was airbrushed over another hairspray layer. Carefully chipping back, the grey exposed both the second mix of dark yellow and the underlying primer.

To give the framework area a much more convincing appearance a final chipped layer of the highlighted base coat was created, this time exposing far less of the underlying coats.

The wooden areas were given more scuff effects in the overlying paint than scratches. These effects will further be enhanced in later weathering steps.

 

The chassis and cab received the same treatment. In the second coat chipping stage certain areas were both toned down, revealing less of the red primer coloured layer, and added to new areas just exposing the first base coat. These multiple base paint layers gave a much more varied patina to both the metal and wooden areas of the model, as well as almost doing away completely, the need to hand paint the majority of paint chips.