Hi Ian,
I use Adorama VC RC paper negatives to make salt prints quite often.
I doubt they will take wax, but you should be able to make nice salt prints without waxing them.
IMHO, even if you could wax them it would be better not to, because you end up with better contrast control and the paper has no objectionable texture at all.
The main exposure in full sun is usually right around an hour.
Depending on the negative, I sometimes start it with an hour or two in "open shade" aimed up at the sky away from the sun. This open shade exposure will increase contrast and let you get darker darks before the sky or highlights start to get tone. The extra "open sky" exposure is also useful if you've preflashed the paper negative or used a yellow filter to reduce contrast. The adorama paper is quite good for salt printing if you use it "as is" without filters or pre-flashing.
But don't worry about "open sky" until you're getting decent prints with an hour of full sun.
It's awful hard to offer advice about alt printing on the internet, because there are so many details that matter, but possibly your paper negative is overexposed. For salt printing, It should run the full range from almost paper white to deep dark black....
Also, you can test your salt print by making a photogram to make sure it prints in vigorously.
Good luck and have fun!