Realistic Damage Expression on Military Models and Gunpla! Tamiya "Chipping Liquid" Review & Technique Lecture [Tools! No.24]

Now, I would like to introduce chipping liquid, which is now on sale from Tamiya. If you want to try your hand at expressing damage, this is a must-see!

The Tool Way! No. 24 Tamiya "Chipping Fluid

Safe water-based type in 40ml square bottles. Read the label instructions carefully before use! The Tamiya official website also has detailed instructions on how to use the product, so we recommend checking there as well.

What is chipping?

Chipping is a technique to reproduce peeling paint. It is often used on military models such as tanks and fighter planes, but it also works well with land-based mecha and Gunpla.

There are several methods of chipping,

1. Using a sponge, brush, pencil, etc., add color to the exposed areas (draw in the peeling).

2. Using a silicon barrier as a mold release agent, actually peel off the paint.

3. After using a special chipping solution or a commercially available hair dressing spray, wet the area with water and actually peel off the paint (this is what we will do this time).

The three main types of chipping are as follows. Below are some examples of work using chipping.

Shield part of the old Zaku in the original setting (combination of 1 + 2).

The bullet holes (gouged areas) and the edges of the shield were painted with dark iron, and the silicon barrier was used to make the base easy to peel off before painting in light blue and scraping the surface to expose the black base. The aircraft is designed for a veteran pilot who fights on the front lines.

The winter camouflage is peeling off due to deterioration over time (pattern 3).

After painting the base in green, a commercially available "cape" (hair dressing spray) with the same effect as chipping liquid was sprayed on, and white was painted over the top. After drying, the paint was wetted with water and scratched with a toothpick or an unwanted toothbrush to express random peeling of the paint.

By making full use of chipping, such as ......, it is possible to reproduce realistic aircraft and weapons that have been used on the battlefield!

In addition to the chipping liquid introduced here, there are many other items that can be used for chipping. We will introduce them again when we have a chance, so please look forward to it!

I experimented with it!

Now that we have learned about chipping, let's get right to it. The method is quite simple,

1. apply lacquer-based paint to the substrate and let it dry

↓

Apply chipping liquid and let it dry.

↓ 3.

3. Apply water-based paint (acrylic paint) on top and let it dry.

↓ 4.

4. Wet the area to be removed with water and wait for a while.

↓ 5.

5. Scrub with a toothpick, toothbrush, brush, etc.

↓ ↓ 6.

6. The base will come out!

This is the procedure. In this case, we will use a plastic plate.

Tamiya Lacquer Dull Red (matte)

Tamiya Lacquer Metallic Orange (matte)

Tamiya Lacquer Metallic Orange (matte), Tamiya Lacquer Metallic Orange (matte), Water-based Hobby Color Frosted Red

I applied three kinds of primers and experimented to see if there would be any difference between them.

First, apply each paint to an unnecessary plastic board with a brush. Since this time was an experiment in chipping, I painted roughly without worrying about unevenness of the paint.

After the paint has dried, apply the chipping liquid with a brush. If the paint is too thick, it can be diluted with water.

After the chipping liquid has dried, water-based paint (or acrylic paint) is applied on top. Be careful not to use lacquer or enamel-based paints for the top coat, as they will make chipping impossible!

This time, we used water-based Hobby Color Dark Yellow (matte) for the top coat. To check the difference, I used both brush and airbrush.

After drying, wet the entire surface evenly with water. In this way, the chipping liquid reacts with the water and dissolves, and the topcoat is peeled off together with the chipping liquid.

After a little while, the surface will blister, so scratch it to expose the substrate. When you are done, don't forget to remove the water with a tissue!

Check the result!

Let's take a look at the results right away. The upper half of the plastic plate is airbrushed and the lower half is brush-painted.

Dull red. I think it was the easiest to chipping, probably due to the fact that I used a matte lacquer base, which is officially recommended. In particular, the top half of the airbrushed paint had a thin film, so it was easy to scrub with a toothbrush for chipping!

Metallic Orange. The note says that "metallic or glossy paints will repel chipping liquid," but I was able to chipping without any problem! However, I still felt that it was a little more difficult to remove than when I used dull red.

Water-based matte red. I thought that if the substrate is water-based, it might not be possible to chipping in the first place. I thought it might not be possible to chipping with a water-based base, but I was able to do so without any problem! However, as with the metallic orange, I felt that it was a little difficult to peel off. However, like the metallic orange, it was a little difficult to peel off.

Conclusion

Matte lacquer is the most recommended primer. Chipping is possible with metallic or glossy lacquer, or water-based acrylics, but it is not officially recommended, so please do so at your own risk!

Airbrushing is more suitable for chipping than brush painting because the paint film is thinner.

Click here to see the video!

The above was an experiment. Next, we would like to try applying chipping to an actual plastic model to express realistic weathering!

Let's make the drums realistic!

Once you learn the chipping procedure, I recommend practicing on miniature plastic models. So this time, I tried chipping Tamiya's 1/35 scale drum cans to make them realistic!

The number of parts is small and assembly takes only a moment. If you want to make a realistic model, you will need to erase the matching lines, but I will skip that for this time.

For the base coat, apply Mr. Color Matte Black with a brush and let it dry. Since this is a base coat, do not worry if it is uneven.

After applying chipping liquid, I applied water-based Hobby Color Dark Yellow (matte) on top. Of course, you can also use an airbrush.

After drying, soak the surface in water and let it soak. After leaving it for a certain period of time, I chipped it using a metal tool or a hard brush. Chipping is done randomly to add damage expression.

The chipping is finished, but more weathering is needed to make it more realistic. While smearing the entire body with Tamiya's smearing paint (dark brown), filter the entire body with enamel solvent (washing).

The rust is expressed by floating rust from the chipping area. Enamel paints and pigments (powder for weathering) are often used to express rust, but this time I used Mr. Weathering Liner Matte Brown, which is an easy way to express rust, to draw brown rust!

Finally, I rubbed a commercially available 4B pencil on the edges to make some exposed metal shiny. This technique is the chipping of the one described at the beginning of this article.

Completion! I think I was able to create the atmosphere of an oil drum that has been used on site for a long time. Incidentally, it would be more realistic if I added more dirt and oil stains, but I'll leave it at this for now. I hope to introduce other techniques another time!

Click here to see the video!