PASTELS weathering sticks (pack of 12 colours)

A pack of 12 artists' sketching sticks for weathering all types of items - locomotives, rolling stock, signals, buildings, retaining walls etc. For technical reasons, the colours opposite are only approximate. Each box normally contains: white; yellow ochre; gold ochre; three shades of red brown; dark brown; green; olive green; blue; grey; and black. However, please note that my supplier reserves the right to alter the specification without notice.

The pastels may be applied wet or dry. For dry application, either pick up the stick and use it like a chalk (useful when a large area has to be covered); or rub your finger on the stick to pick up some colour, then rub this on to the model; or use MSE's BRUSH to simply brush material from the stick onto the model. With dry application, it will take a long time to build up a good depth of colour on locomotives and rolling stock, or any item not having smooth surfaces.

For wet application, purchase a bottle of car screenwash (the type containing iso-propyl alcohol, or propan-2-ol, which says on the label to dilute to 10% for summer use). This does contain a blue dye, but is unnoticeable when the weathering process is finished. Pour neat into a small tub, dip in your BRUSH, then apply colour from the stick on to the model, just like using a water colour paint box. You will find that the colour will flow into and around detail on the model very easily. Dry the model quickly using a small hairdryer. The model will look a mess at this stage due to the evaporation of small air bubbles in the applied colour. Finally, work and blend the colour into the model using a dry BRUSH. For both wet and dry application, this last step seems to ensure that the colour remains stuck to the model, and will not come away with repeated handling.

A few more hints for using the sticks:
1. If you have varnished only parts of a model, e.g. the transfers, ensure that the varnish has dried and hardened thoroughly, otherwise the colour tends to stick more readily to the varnish, giving the opposite effect to that wanted - numbers on the prototype were often cleaned, leaving the rest of the vehicle dirty.
2. With wet application, make sure that the screenwash does not adversely affect the model - try it first on an unobtrusive area. Having said that, the solvent does remove the colour from MSE's LENS signal spectacle glazing, giving a superb faded effect.
3. Try and avoid hot days for carrying out weathering - you will leave sweaty fingerprint impressions all over the model, unless you are wearing a pair of cotton GLOVES.
4. All the colours mix readily with each other, so use repeated applications of different colours to give different effects.
5. The blue and greens might seem a bit redundant for model railway applications, but they can be used to subtly alter the more obviously useful colours such as the red browns. They can also be used to represent growths on damp cutting walls, asbestos roofs etc.
6. Do not varnish the model when finished - it gives rise to unpredictable colour changes.
7. If you make a mistake, just wash the colour off with warm soapy water, and start again. Use cotton wool soaked in water if the model cannot be "dunked".