Fixing chalk pastels

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Techniques
1

I was wondering if there was any way of fixing chalk pastels to a surface, other than applying some type of clear coat. I’m trying to weather some tires, but most of the pastel dust gets blown off when I’m spraying the dull coat on top. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

2

Unfortunately, you can’t clear coat pastels. They either get blown off or disappear under the coat. They have to be applied and left on as is. They will stay on pretty well if not overhandled.

Andy

3

You can overcoat pastels with clear coats. Since clear coating tones down the pastels, you need to “overweather” the pastel application. Apply your pastels until you think it looks good and then keep applying the pastels until you think “Whoa, that’s way too much” and then apply your clear coat. With practice, you can learn just exactly how much “overweathering” you need to apply to get a perfect coating under the clear coat. Works for me (and the pastels don’t disappear the first time you have to dust the model)

4

The trick with locking down the pastels with a clear is to mist it on. Sure if you apply it as you do paint, you’d blow the pastels off. But if you lightly mist it, you can lock down the weathering and seal it tight.

I use my Spray Metal Clear aka Decal Sealer for this purpose among others.

5

I mix up some Future and clear flat in a 4:1 ratio and mist it on, very gently, from 8-10 inches away. Set your air pressure down low (12-15 psi) and work in soft pulses, moving from spot to spot so that your last app has a chance to dry slightly before you hit it again. If you’re careful and patient, you can get a good seal coat on with very little loss of effect. If you’re real careful and very patient, you can do it with virtually no loss of effect.

6

Best way to make chalk dust stick is spraying the part or parts with a coat of flat that helps the chalknstick to the part haere is a picture of a model i did with chalk.

7

That’s true, also- the more “tooth” you have on a surface, the better it will take and hold pastels or powders, and the better it will survive limited handling.

8

Well for a dusty finish my method is to use an overall super thin flat wash from the airbrush and put it on very heavy, and then I blow or sprinkle on the powder. Sticks quite well.

9

Thanks for the advice fellas. I gave everything a try and had the most success by applying a coat of clear flat then dusting on the pastels.

10

instead of pastels, invest in tamiyas weathering kits. very realistic they use real elements ground down into fine soot. comes with a brush , you can get um in rust, dirt , black soot, gun metal, silver , snow, sand the powders stick to base coated plastic and dont come off makeing it look real and ultra textured. i use it will all my models i make.

11

I agree… The Tamiya Weathering Master set are fantastic. The effects that can be done with these are really great and if you screw up they wash right off. I’ve only used them on armor kits but here’s an article I found on using them for aircraft:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/101-200/tnt165-weathering-Flanker/00.shtm

12

I use the Tamiya Weathering Sets also. They work great.

-Jesse