I was looking at Mig Ammo's North African Dust or Sand. Do I need one or both? Does the fixer matter? I've seen people use water or enamel thinner.

Thanks!

Mig has had so many pigments hard to keep track really.
First there was Mig Pigments, then there were Ak interactive pigments, now Ammo from Mig.
I still have quite a few original ones.
But back to the question, yes and you can look on the web Vallejo makes some also,as I think they were the ones that made the original ones anyway, plus a tad cheaper then the others.
Never go wrong on pigments, as can also be mixed and make your own colors, if not try pastel chalks as we did back before all the pigments came about, still an option,you I bet can mix them with the bought ones and move your color anyway you see fit.

Does this help?
Cheers

Jeff

Thanks for the suggestion!

I prefer to make my own mix of pigments, I choose 2 or 3 shades that I find right (light, medium, dark), I mix it,not too homogeneous mix so that you can still see the different shade/colors, I find it more real and it is also more interesting for those who look, then fixed the first layer with the fixer I add here and there again a bit of pigments of the same colors but individually to create more' spots of color and texture, when fixed with the fixer I move on to do some stain and shade with some pin washes

But left out the fixer is permanent, but if you use mineral spirits, you can get most off , if you don't like it.
Missed that.

I think the difficulty of a desert environment is that the dust should be light in color, but I wonder whether speckles of a darker color - or a darker color loosely mixed with Mig Ammo's desert dust might work.

Iraq is not a mere sandbox. You can find a lot of different shades of soil and even a dark mud in some marshy areas. So you don't need dust or sand pigments only.

Olivier

Look through

http://www.migjimenez.com/en/content/10-ammo-step-by-step

also his free copy of his magazine, it covers the region

http://www.migjimenez.com/en/content/9-the-weathering-magazine-specials

I use Ammo of Mig US MODERN VEHICLES WASH & NORTH AFRICA DUST pigment. I prefer working with Oil based washes vs acrylic. I find I have better control.

I purchased the following:

AK Sand Yellow Deposits
https://ak-interactive.com/product/sand-yellow-deposit/

Mig Ammo
Middle East Dust
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/pigments/251-middle-east-dust-.html

North African Dust
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/pigments/169-ammo-pigment-north-africa-dust.html

European Earth
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/pigments/170-ammo-pigment-europe-earth.html

I started weathering the tracks of an OIF Abrams and encounters a couple of issues.

1. I don't know if the color of Europe Earth is off, but it is very similar to North Africa Dust. They both have a pinkish sand appearance. I purchased the Europe Earth so I could give some contrast between pigments.

2. I used the sand yellow deposits as a fixer and ended up with a combination of the three pigments mentioned above and ended with an orange finish to the tracks. I also thought the sand yellow deposit was a bit too yellow and a bit too dark.

I'd like the pigments and deposits to be a little lighter - more buff - light brown appearance.I'd also like to have a darker color as a highlight. I was thinking about the following. I'd also like not to duplicate what I already have.

1. Deposits - Mig Ammo light dust effects. It seems lighter than the sand yellow and bit more brown.

2. Pigments - I can't decide between Mig Ammo's air field dust and sand. They both look the same on their site.

http://www.migjimenez.com/en/pigments/245-sand-.html
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/pigments/244-airfield-dust-.html

I was thinking about sprinkling some dark earth for depth and contrast.
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/pigments/173-ammo-pigment-dark-earth.html

Another option I was thinking about is desert dust by Vallejo. It seems to have a grayish appearance but the color swatch indicate that its a very light yellow.

http://cdn.acrylicosvallejo.com/6f3327efcca79aeff824aaa3c0b812ee/CC-pigmentos-DINA4-web-2016.pdf

I'd like to cut down the order to what I need for the effect I want. I likely am looking at the following:

1. Mig Ammo light dust effects
2. Mig Ammo sand or air field dust - lighter of the two would be better
3. Dark Earth or another pigment color that is darker than desert sand
4. Vallejo desert dust - do I really need it?

Any advice would be appreciated.