Mina Ro Author
Here is a 1/72 scale A6m Zero and a KI-84 Frank that I did a few months ago.
The chipped paint on the KI-84 is easy. You apply dabs of wet table salt over an aluminum paint and let it dry. You then paint over it with your main paint scheme. when that's dry you rub the salt out with a cloth and you get a weathered chipped paint effect of the fuselage that many Japanese planes had during the mid to late war when the state of their aircraft fell into dis-repair as they were losing the war. This old Hasegawa KI84 kit was nice in that is was an old kit but it included an already pre-painted cockpit frame in the glass masks were uncommon in the hobby.

Ben M
The salt chipping looks good. When I tried it the chips were clearly formed out of squares (table salt is a cubic crystal). Did you do anything to avoid this effect?

Mina Ro Author
I made sure i moved the salt clumps around then went and separated the wet salt so it was not all clumps and also in granules. I rubbed in circular motions. This is how I got the effect above. You can also try hairspray.

Dave
That is a interesting tip, thank you

Mina Ro Author
just made sure its wet but not totally diluted and form it into wet globs of varying sizes so its not uniform an let it dry. Test it on a couple of scrap plastic wings or some low budget kit to practice.

Ben M
Thanks, Mina, I may give it another try with your technique

Mina Ro Author
Let me know how it works for you. Years ago I read about the salt method in finescale modeler and this kit was my test bed to try it a few years back. I was happy with the result. Just to add here, the areas on the decals, I carefully used the same aluminum undercoat with a brush over the decals so it looked naturally chipped off those areas on the fuselage as well after everything else was done.

Jennifer Franklin
Thanks Mina, that is good to know.

Ben M
That's a good tip on making the decals match