I have just bought a set of six shades of pastel chalks going from black to white. I have never used them before and don't want to use them the wrong way (if there is one) and screw up my models. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on using them for my tanks or some buildings I was going to use for my next diorama.

Thanks,
Mark

Way to go Spike!!

Firstly you'll need to make the shade you want to use into a powder. Not the whole stick mind you. You could use some fine sand-paper - about 240 or finer - just gently rub the stick to the sand-paper till you get a little pile of it's dust.. Or you could use a sharp knife blade. Hold the stick firmly in one hand and with the other the knife held perpendicular to the pastel. Scrape gently towards the tip of the stick, soon you'll have a little pile of dust here too. Make the dust piles small as you can always make more in a snap. Those sticks should last a long, long time.
With a soft, small paint brush (ones for water colors work good ) dip it into the dust and apply to the desired location n the vehicle, then slowly pull the dust away from the location to create a sort of fading look. Black could be used for the tip of the gun's barrel. Place the dust at the tip and gently brush down a very little length of the barrel. This would simulate charing from all those fired shells. Or near the exhaust, to simulate soot. The grey shades could be used for stains or small streaks on the vehicle.
After you create some effects on your models, it's a good idea to seal it all on with a very light spray of a dull coat. If not sealed, too much handling will wear the chalk off.
You may want to find yourself a set of "earth tones" for more variations in colors. Browns and tans are great to be used to simulate dust and dirt on the vehicle.

Don't be afraid to practice. Try it out on the underside of a vehicle first. Any inconspicuous spot. If it a disaster you can easily wash it off.
Hope this helps you a bit to get started.

I've found that pastels can be sealed with a flat coat. You have to be careful doing this or the chalks can pool up like mud if the flat coat is too heavy. Also the tone becomes a bit more subdued.

Thank you very much for the tips. I'll try the techniques out. Thanks again! :-)

Mark

There is a how to about weathering with pastels in the Nov. 02 Finescale Modeler that said to use acidtome to set the pastels because spray will blow it away.Has anybody tried it there way.

Be careful Spike. I tried my hand at pastels last night. Following instructions from the masters I was able to get a fairly convincing coat of light dust on my AFV. Perfect, just what i wanted, but after my dullcoat was applied it was like I never put any chalk on it at all. GONE

Don't you hate it when that happens? You may have had too light a color or too light an application (not scrubbed in enough). I tend to use pastels more sparingly, as Kencelot said, for stains. Don't be afraid to scrub it in, either. With well cured paint, you won't wear the paint off.

To Spike: Be sure they are the chalk pastels and not the oil based ones.

Here's one to try for setting your pastels, hairspray! Yes that's right, I said hairspray .Check it out on something first though and see if you like the results. This is not a joke by the way, trust me, it works.
Just one more way for your wife/girlfriend to get annoyed with you nicking stuff from around the house for your hobby LOL!

deffintly remember that if your going to flat coat after pastels you need to put them on heavy.. a good way to get an idea of what happens is to use some simple flat styreen or scrap platic and paint it the base color of what your working on.. then aply pastels from light to fairly heavy from left to right. remember to document your work. then spray on a flat coat.. and you can see for yourself how much the pastels get subdubed.

Maybe it's just my error, but whenever I use the Testor's Dullcote from the can it makes light colored pastels spotty, but is convienient if you want a 'rained on dust' look. I also use a short-bristled stiff brush because it is easier to work into the surface that way, only it isn't as good for general streaks and stains unless you use special care.

The grays are good for modern aircraft, like blending the F-15's Mod-scheme and such, many different a/c weathering uses. I've also used it to fade paint, give it the bleached look, it's amazing what the chalks can accomplish!

#:-)

I too have just got a small selection of Pastels to try my hand at some weathering effect on armor and figures (boots and lower legs), so all this advice is great.

I presume however that you are stuck with the colours of the individual pastel chalks, or can you make shades or mix colours? I can't imagine how, but would be happy to be told otherwise!

Roger

I mix colours all the time! When you grind them down to make fine powder, the powders can be mixed to form different shades. You really don't need a whole lot of pastels. I use 2 or 3 types of brown pastels to create many different shades and varieties of dirt/dust. Adding white will lighten things up, too.

Nic

That's probably because the can has too much pressure and the droplets of dullcote are too big and hitting the surface too hard.

As Mic (Folgore) just said, you can mix the colors before application. You can also apply different shades/colors to your models in layers as an artist would on paper. Even if you couldn't do this, the range of pastel colors is almost as wide as oils. You can by individual colors at a good art store if you have one nearby.

I used the testors can dullcoat and got the rained on look as well. Maybe its not possible to get a light coat with the can. The only good thing was the spray didn't get at the road wheels and the undersides, so they still appear a little dusty. If you really scrub the chalk inwithout a dullcoat, and later the model is covered with dust, will cleaning the model remove your pastels?

I rarely seal my pastels in with dullcote. If you scrub them in, it's pretty hard to get them off (or out?). Certainly brushing them lightly to get rid of real dust would not result in you losing the pastel dust. One thing I have noticed since I started building armour, though, is that accumulating dust is not nearly as noticeable on it as it is on aircraft.

Nic