How to use pastels to do cammo on small AFVs

Hello guys, I have been asked a few times about how I use pastels to do cammo on small scale armour, so here is a short tutorial
6mm Scifi


1/72 armour

1) First paint the base (this really only works with a light base, so is good for late war German, it works well on dark yellow, sand, light grey etc, if the base is to dark the pastels don't show well) 2) Once the base is dry, crush pastel chalks into powder (or use pastel powders) apply the pastel in your desired camo effect using an old paint brush, a thin one for thin lines, you need to rub the pastel into the base paint a little, you will be able to make small to large lines, or smallish dots to large dots, you can also use a pastel pencil, by drawing on the cammo, this can give very thin lines of smaller dots, once applied blow any excess off, (be careful when handling the model at this stage as yo can leave pastel finger prints)
3) once the cammo has been applied seal with a spray varnish (I use a gloss so I can do my decal and washes)

4) apply decals etc, and washes.

5) then spray with a Matt varnish, paint any detail, paint any chipping/damage, then finish with your favourite weathering tech.

The model will now be able to be handled just like any other.

advantages

* once you get the technique down it is pretty easy to achieve very tight cammo patterns on very small models, I have do this on 6mm armour effectively.

* its cheap, no need to buy a spray gun or compressor.

* gives that sprayed cammo look.

Disadvantages

* only works well with dark colours over light base coat.

* can be time consuming.

* need to avoid making a mess on the model at the pastel application stage, watch those fingerprints.

How too: weld lines

This is Hasegawa's Pz IVF1 in 1/72, have added details with wire and lead foil, added the gear rack on the back and replaced the rubbish rubber tracks with a set of slightly better hard plastic link and length Italeri tracks, you can only make a good display kit if you replace the tracks, because of this I give it a 7/10, using this method I have added weld lines, take a piece of spru, heat it over a candle, slowly stretch it (not to fast or it will break) until it is the desired thickness (this technique can be used for many other modelling applications) cut to length, glue along the weld line, if the glue softens the spru enough you can use a modelling blade to notch the spru into a weld bead shape, if the spru doesn't soften enough heat the blade with the candle and repeat the process.

How too: Small scale camo without an air brush

This is Revells JagdPanther early, with a Kubal from Italeri, figures on the TD are from AB and the figs in the Kubal are from Matchbox's Sdkfz 11, added the Zimmerit from miliput putty detail added using wire, and coke cans, Grenade mesh is nylon. To get the camo effect, first paint the base (really only works with a light base, so is good for late war German) once dry, crush pastel chalks into powder (or use pastel powders) apply the pastel in desired camo effect using an old paint brush, a thin one for thin lines, you need to rub the pastel into the paint base, blow any excess off, (be careful to not leave pastel finger prints) then seal with a spray varnish (I use a gloss so I can do my decal and washes) then spray with a Matt varnish, paint any detail, paint any chipping/damage, then finish with your favourite weathering tech.

How to: white wash

This is Dragons 1/72 hornnisse, its a great kit, no detailing needed 9/10, now for the paint job, complete a summer paint job using enamel paints (do not use acrylics) leave to dry for a couple of days then quickly apply the white wash with an acrylic paint, I used Tamiya, after about 30min (the longer you leave it the less paint will wear off), run under running water, dip a paint brush in washing detergent(home brand works well) then rub the model in the places where you want the paint to rub off (be careful of breaking small parts) the decals have to be applied after this otherwise the will come of during the process, the figures are from Ceasers winter Germans.

How to: Snow bases

making snow bases looks like it would be hard but is very easy, paint 50/50 water-white glue solution on the area you want to cover, sprinkle bi carb soda over area, shake any excess off, leave to dry and spray hair spray over the bi carb (this last step will stop the bi carb falling off)

This is revels Porsche King Tiger, whilst it is a nicely engineered kit is accuracy is poor, all Porsche King Tigers had zimmerit, I have replicated this with miliput 2 part putty, it was also missing the turret ring, I used the turret ring from the Dragon kit (the Dragon Porsche King Tiger is one of their earlier efforts with a dicast hull, a crap kit but some useful parts included) hatch handles and lifting eyelets made from wire, I added the grenade mesh added from some nylon mesh. I give the Revell kit 7/10 because of the inaccuracies. The figures are from AB a little chunky but nice detail 7/10