Pastel Pigments?

[noname]

Baron, I've heard of people using real rust. If you have a good source what could be better. Lots of ways to make your own I've read.

Scott Girvan, it depends on how much money you have and how big your lawn is. If you have a big lawn and have the money to buy a lawn tractor, that makes sense. They are convenient. Much easier than pushing a lawn mower. If you don't have the money then you work with what you have. It would be silly to buy a lawn tractor if you only had a small lawn right? Of course there are other options such as planting gardens, rock gardens oriental grass. You don't have to have a big lawn because everybody else does, if you know what I mean.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I don't recall anyone saying that Vallejo, Mig and AK pigments were all the same.

Mike Vallejo told me that all 3 companies buy the same raw pigment from the same company....but that is where the similarity ends, as the binders in each product is obviously different.

I gotta say though, while your video was "proof in the pudding" I guess, the Vallejo pigments I used on my Zero didn't rub off nearly that easily, and they were just put on bare with no fixers. In my personal use of both Mig and Vallejo pigments, I don't find enough differences to warrant spending the extra cash on the Mig product, especially when you get 30% less product, than what comes in the Vallejo. Then again, I am a Vallejo dealer, so maybe that makes be biased.

Each to their own, whether you use AK, Mig, Vallejo, pastels or some other product, if you are happy with the results, then more power to you, least you are building something!!

 

[fumblethumbs]

@ redraider, yes definitley, my preference is pastels. I have a small mortar and pestle I use to grind them very, very fine. Haven't experienced any adhesion issues over a flat coating. My logic: I've got a lifetime supply for 6 bucks!! Works for me.

 

[nickt666]

I don't know anything about pigments & only buy chalk pastels cos they are cheap. They do rub off quite easily though. I will have to give them a mix with soap as I haven't tried that out before & would like to see the effect. I have heard a lot about "binder" but don't know what it is. Can you buy this "binder" & combine it with pastels? Aslso, when I have sprayed a matt varnish over the pastels the pastel color is greatly reduced, I guess I will simply have to apply more pastel to get the desired color & effect. Also, another way of grinding pastels is to use a small sieve & rub the pastels around that. This makes for a very nice fine powder for dust effects. I pinched that idea from a Tamiya video on YouTube & the Japanese seem to use this technique quite a lot. I have to admit that this whole pastel/ pigment scenario is very new to me but i am really enjoying the effect it brings to my kits.

 

[the Baron]

The binders we're refering to are compounds added to the colored chalk, to enable them to stick better than the raw chalk would otherwise. Using the dishwashing liquid is an example of adding a binding agent, albeit a homemade one, though, I've used that to recreate mud and sludge, not smoke staining/smudging.

You're right about the impact of spraying a sealing coat over top of a finish done with pastels. I have experimented with tweaking the colors prior to coating, eg, making the colors stronger, knowing that the clear coat will knock the effect back down, but not enough to make it my regular practice.

I grind mine with the back edge of an X-Acto knife, by scraping into a jar or a well on my palette.

 

[nickt666]

Thanks for the explanation. So do you mix the pastels with the detergent & then apply that mix directly to the kit? Is that enough to make it stick permanently? What about mixing white glue with pastels? Has anyone ever tried this method & is it any good? Maybe these are some things I will just have to try myself! Haha!

 

[the Baron]

Thanks for the explanation. So do you mix the pastels with the detergent & then apply that mix directly to the kit? Is that enough to make it stick permanently? What about mixing white glue with pastels? Has anyone ever tried this method & is it any good? Maybe these are some things I will just have to try myself! Haha!

Hi, Nick, sure thing, I'm glad if this helps you out.

I've done that, too, with the white glue.

I use a ceramic palette (Japanese, so it's in the shape of a chrysanthemum--I love their concepts of design and art), but you could use anything that is non-porous and has a well shape to it (eg, old bottle cap, shot glass, a piece of foil, even).

I put a drop or two of the liquid (whether dish soap or white glue) in a well on the palette, then added the powdered chalk that I wanted to use. I stirred it with a toothpick, and in some applications, like a 1/72 US halftrack, I used the same toothpick to apply the "sludge" to the model (in that case, it was to build it up on the road wheels and tracks, to replicate mud.) I did a couple of passes, with different colors as necessary (eg, to reproduce the look of mud from wet to dry states). I eyeballed the mix until the consistency looked right to me.

I didn't notice any particular advantage or disadvantage to using one or the other (soap vs white glue), though, on reflection, it's probably easier to undo the soap method than the white glue method, if you decide you need to do it over.

I've also used an old paintbrush (synthetic bristles) to apply this mixture, and cleaned it up with warm water and then isopropyl as a final cleaning course (I will often do that for a brush that I use with acrylics, anyway).