ok guys/gals, i’ve heard them mentioned many times b4. weathering powders and pastels…i’ve heard it said to mix them with water, mineral spirits, and alcohol (not all together)…is there a right and wrong way…or are they all acceptable? what’s the best mix ratio’s? i’m trying to achieve a descent looking rust look. any thoughts? thanks.
I usually just apply both of them dry with a stubby brush. If I were to mix a wash or paste, I would use water since pastels are water soluble.
Andy
Ditto. Personally I just use them dry with various types of brushes. I’ll use everything from those tiny microbrushes to a wide 1/2" brush.
Eric
camo junkie, I have used MIG weathering powders as well as regular oil pastels to great effect for modeling rust. Here’s a link to my dio “The Lair of the Rust Bunnies” which was published in the November 2008 FSM–you can still order the issue through back orders Dept at the Finescale offices.
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/default.aspx?c=a&id=3207
This car was well-rusted wiith pastels. MIG Powders are specificallymade for this type of technique, but at the time, I still did not have a collection of them.
To rust it, I applied the pastels in a pool of low-odor mineral spirits.
Once it dries, it may look a bit heavy; you can use a stiff-bristled brush to scrape some of them away. This gives you a nice variance of color. Also, then you can layer additional lghter toes of rust. Once you apply them dry, take a thiner-soaked brush, and literally drop big drops of thinner ontothe dry pastels or powders–this will “fix” them in place
MIG also sells “Pigment Fixer” which is an enamel’based fixative which works great for heavier application of powders like when you want to add mud efffects to an undercarriage. They also sell an Acylic Resin to mix together with the pigments to make mud. Here’s a link to the King Tiger I did where I used MIG stuff to coat the suspension with MIG-mud. Of course, you could adapt the methods there for rust as well.
/forums/5/1053435/ShowPost.aspx#1053435
Also, check out this thread where I really “mudded-up” the wheels on ths model. There is alot of good reference for powder work here as well.
/forums/811668/ShowPost.aspx
As far as “ratio’s” and all that–don’t overthink this; experiment! That’s the best way to learn what works, and how you get the results you’ll want. Hope this help you out!