Weathering with pigments

Kremer Pigmente: http://www.kremer-pigmente.de

To produce paint, humans used pulverised materials that had some consistency of colour. One can think of the caveman painting of the Stone Age. These guys used red earth for instance.

So from ferrous earth, plants to grinded rock everything is able to be diluted as a starting basis for numerous kinds of paint. Thus the paint industry can be conceived as "nature cuisine" that mixes these ingredients to get colours.

A little product list

To be able to utilise pigments the modeller can chose different ways:

scratching off the dust with a crafts knife from an artists pastel chalk (these chalks should be "dry" which means, they have no supplement of oil).
take already grinded pigments

Detailed description:

Chalks cost in a package of 12 pieces from at about € 6.- to € 12.- and cover all shades that are useful for us modellers. Jumbling the colours is a little bit messy and difficult, as one has to compose complex shades like mossy earth by oneself.

A further drawback of the chalk-method is the fact that one gets unequal sizes of grind. This aggravates a proper application and causes unneeded labour.

Pastel chalks are available in every better stationery shop. As mentioned, it should be pastel- and not oil-chalks, because the latter produce only sticky pieces that do not match our needs.

Conrad distributes an Asoa waethering set

Grinded pigment mixture comes in - depending on the manufacturer - in varying fineness of grain. So one can omit the scratching. Usually also mixtures of the desired weathering shades are already available in matching shades, like light or dark rust, mossy earth, sand and brick colour. This facilitates creating own mixtures. Another great advantage is the even and - compared to scratched pastels - much finer grain.

My suggestion is the Asoa Weathering set available at CONRAD, as the price of € 29,95 for 9 cans to 100ml each is unbeatable and the quality is very good as well. This portion lasts for ages to the discrepancy of Mig Pigments for instance.

How to apply?

The wet method

Many ways lead to Rome: one the one hand one can apply linseed oil and sprinkle the pigments over it when the oil is still wet. On the other hand you can mix the oil directly with the pigments and brush this onto the model. The better way (I use this frequently) is, to mix them with thinner (turpentine, white gas or alcohol) and a clear dull cote. The advantage is, that you can even airbrush this mixture, provided that it is diluted well.

With these "tricks" one can emulate structured surfaces, like handgrips, anti skate plating or rough fabric.

Remainders of paint on weathered metal surfaces or different intensities of rust can be simulated by means of micro painting or more phases of applying mixes of pigment and thinner. The more different colours, the better, like light and dark rust.

Wet mud is obtainable with a mixture of thinner, gloss cote and a high amount of pigments.

Even other materials like cement, gypsum or ceramics that augment the sturdy consistency of our "mud", can be coloured by means of the pigments. But Static Grass is better omitted, as it cannot be dyed like natural products as hamp, hair or tea. Mixing the pigments already into the selfmade mud eases the final paint tasks. As example see the picture of the road wheels of the Panzer MArk III above.

Scratching off the pigments after the application

If someone uses only thinner without any clear dull or gloss cote the pigments can be altered after we slapped on the paint. So we can blend or scratch the colours by means of a soft or hard brush. An example of after action changes can be seen in the picture of the windscreen of the Mercedes L3000 lorry.

The dry method

To achieve finest blending of colours, like it is with dust, weathering and bleaching by climate or sun and soot, the dry method is best. This time we use a brush to stub or smear the pigments directly onto the surface. Just dip the brush into the pigment pot. With chalks it is sufficient to rub the brush at them but a more intensive effect comes by dipping into a heap of previously scratched off dust.

Sealing the model

If the model has to be touched after we finished our job, it should be sealed with dull cote or gloss, if one simulated wet mud. So one can avoid to demolish the previous labour!

UNfortunately some of the fine effects of the pigment weathering get lost when we apply this layer. This is especially the fact, when we used fine pigments in the dry method. The Conrad weathering set forgives more than finer brands. So they are quite good in this respect for the 1:35 scale. For 1:72 scale the finer MIG products should be used. Whenever possible, I omit sealing because of these problems.

Further examples of working with pigments can be found everywhere in this webpages, especially in the "Tips and Tricks" and in the "Diorama" section.

A realistic simulation of the real thing is - in my opinion - not possible without these techniques. Therefore the earnest modeller cannot life without them. As everywhere the training makes the master.