I'm having some problems with pastels on medium-dark to dark paint jobs. After painting, I coat the model with Futures, apply a wash, add decals, coat with Dullcote, apply pastels for weathering (dirt, dust), apply another coat of Dullcote. I find that after the final Dullcote application most of the pastel colors disappear. I'm assuming this has to do with a color shift and not the pastels being blown off the model. I know many people suggest applying pastels last without another coat, but I'm concerned with cleaning the models and fingerprints. Most of my subjects are not attached to bases or dioramas for handling. Anyone have a trick for getting around this problem?

TIA
...Kevin

You're right - the final dullcoat isn't blowing off the pastels. It does blow some off. Also, the liquid dullcoat is mixing with and diluting the pastels into more of a paint rather than a dust.
There is no magic technique to solve this (that I know about). You have found one of the biggest drawbacks of pastels. You can't handle the model or apply anything else to it once you're done. Plus over time when dust settles on it and you go to clean it - the pastels leave with the dust removal.

Try to pick up the kit from the bottom or from areas not coated with pastels.

You are absoloutely right, the final Dullcote is changing the nature of the pastel (and there's not much that can be done to help this) and if you leave raw pastel as the last step, you will almost certainly be getting fingerprints in it and wiping it off through incidental contact. Picking up the model by the tracks and handling the bottom only is not a real solution (I know, I have a number of pastelled models & they are showing serious signs of wear, no matter how careful I am). Cleaning pastelled models is completely out. Believe me, you just clean off the good dust with the bad.

There really are only two practical solutions to this:

a) put your models on bases. Even if they are plain blocks of wood, fastening the model to a base allows so much more handling with so much less chance of breakage or damage to the finish, that it is the #1 suggestion I would make regarding this.
b) stop using pastels. If you forsee cleaning your models with anything other than a micro vacuum cleaner, pastells will always start to slowly disappear from your model. Dusting with the new pigment powders is more durable, but does have the potential to suffer the same fate. A painted finish with painted weathering is really the only way to make a durable model finish.

Certainly, a pastelled model on a base will last more than a couple of years without showing many signs of losing the weathering, but if you are not storing your models in a relatively dust free display case and if you clean them occasionally, you _will_ remove a bit of the weathering each time. I love the real dust look of a pastelled model, but I had to go away from it because of durability issues. My models just would not stay the way they were when I finished them if they were dusted in pastels; they always ended up with the weathering being removed slowly over the years (occasionally over much less than years if I touched the surface or allowed something to wipe over the surface). It meant learning new techniques, but that was half the fun. Now my models have entirely painted finishes and weathering and are relatively durable. I could dunk them in water to clean them if I liked with no ill effects. You might want to consider this.

HTH

Paul

The best method would be applying pastels/pigments last and not covering it up with any coat at all. Anything you do to pigments/pastels will ruin the effect.

Most people tend to use pastels and pigments in their dry form. Scraping pastels or pigments into a brush and applying them dry on the model is thus the common way for quick results.
Unfortunately with this method the medium does not attach itself firmly to the model like say paint and most of it is lost. Personally I think it's a clumsy, dirty and an expensive method. Especcialy if you're like me and only use quality stuff like MIG pigments.

Why not apply pigments or pastels with a solvent like white spirit? Adding a solvent like white spirit helps the pigment/pastels to stick to you models surface a lot better. It's not the same like paint but it holds better then applying pastels or pigments dry.

Take a tiny bit of pastel/pigment, add a few drops whitespirit to it so you get white spirit with a colloration and then brush it on your model. Take a hairdryer to speed up drying time of the white spirit and see how the pigment/pastel comes alive. Not dusty enough? Add a bit more pigment/pastels.
Don't like te effect? Take a clean brush with white spirit and rearrange the pigment/pastels on you model until satisfaction sets in.

With this method you'll notice that you will use a lot less pigment/pastels because when applied dry a lot of the pigment/pastels is just lost in the wind so to speak. When applied wet all of it is used and doesn't fall of or get's blown away.
The addition of white spirit also enables you to control the pastels/pigments much better than just slapping it on dry. Additionaly (esp. with pigments) it behaves like paint as it sets on the surface of your model. You can also try to use it as a wash so dust accumulates in corners and wholes just as it would do in real life.
Apply a mix of white spirit and a bit of pastels/pigments on large surfaces and use a downwards stroke movement to recreate dirt or rain stripes. I bet you won't achieve that effect if you apply the medium dry.

Needless to say you still cannot touch much of your models surface with greasy fingers but you should notice an improvement applying, controlling and adhearence of pastels or pigments.

The picture below shows a Leopard C2 I recently completed. The running gear of the model is weathered with MIG pigments diluted in whitespirit.


Cheers,
Marcel Jussen

Great tip guys.I'm just starting to use MIG pigments and there some good ideas here.
Marcel nice job on the C2.
Jim

Hi,

Try using oil paints. They are transluscent, subtle and delicate, much like pastels. Oils will be permanently "painted" in your model.

To weather with oils, just do the drybrushing technique with very little oil on the bristles. You can also do washes, too.

Angela

For what it's worth I , I had trhe same dilemma and I tried this, I did all the steps you did to the model and then after the pastels I mixed some dull coat with thinner and shot it at high pressure and held the airbrush about 9- 12 inches away and just let a fine mist coat settle on the model. I tried it on the U-Boat in my gallery photo's and you can see it worked faily well.

mac, I had the same problem when I first started using pastels. Easy solution, apply the pastels heavier than normal before shooting your dullcoat. It will then tone down to a more acceptable level once the dullcoat hits them. I know it sounds awkquard, but believe me it works. Try it on an older kit to find the right amount that you like. If its not where you like it, add some more pastels over your dullcoat, and then shoot your dullcoat again. They will build up the color. Hope this helps. "Q"

I've just started to use oils more and pastels a little less. Some pastels seem to work/stick a little better than others. You might try different pastels and see if there is an improvement.

My tehnique is a little bit risky, but if you practice and handle this, it is satisfactory;
After applying the oils by drybrushing and/or washing when they are still wet I apply the pastels very gently, paying attention not to wipe out the oils with the brush. The pastels stick on the oils.