PENCIL LEAD...QUESTION

I used a number 2 pencil to give a worn, metallic look to the breech and recoil
slides on a Tamiya 88mm gun. I tried drybrushing metallic color and of course
it worked but, the pencil lead was more convincing.
Ray

The easiest way to work with pencil IMO is to grind it down to a dust. For large srfaces I use my trusty pointy finger to apply the lead (just plain rub it on). For the smaller areas I use a stencil brush and dip the bristles in the lead and really scrub the area that I want weathered.

For pastels I use earth tone chalk pastels (not wise to use the oil based pastels, it would be like using a crayon on your model). These I also grind down to a dust from and apply them using a fan brush for large surfaces and once again a stencil brush for scrubbing into the nooks and crannies.

One thing about using pastels though is that you do not want to handle the model just before or after applying the dust, just like fingerprinting, everything shows up.

Shermanfreak, your post just made me think of something. Since I have big fat fingertips that can get nowhere near a small part without covering the rest of the model too... If you use a regular ol' no.2 pencil you can rub the eraser into the powdered lead and burnish it in that way if it's in a tighter area. You can also trim the eraser down for really small parts if you want.

Eric

Eric .... that might just work ... give it a try and let us all know how it goes.
As in my previous post, I found a stencil brush at Michael's that works great. They have very short, course bristles and will still conform to the curves of the model. If the eraser doesn't work I'd suggest picking up a couple of these little fellas.

I'll try it shermanfreak. I've got to paint my Marder III so I'll give it a shot on the gun breech and see. I just had flashbacks to grade school when you handle the eraser and load it up with oil then erase a bunch of stuff. Then you go back to erase something else and you get a big graphite smear!!! I think it'll work ok, if not I do have some stencil brushes but I might have to get a smaller one for that.

Eric

Eric,
The brush that ShermanFreak might be thinking of is called a "dear foot" or "chisel" brush. They come in different sizes so you'll find a variation that you can apply to whatever application.

Pencils come in different scales. Usually what we call a #2 is an H2. The scale is based upon hardness values. H being Hard...B being soft. HB is the mid range and then it goes from there, HB, H, H2, H3 to H9 (going mid to hard) HB B2, B3, to B6 (mid to soft) The softer the penicl, the higher the yield of graphite or "lead" that is deposited when you draw making it darker. Thus you can get more graphite from a softer pencil than a harder one. Graphite will give you that metalic sheen.

Not to be confused with Charcoal or carbon pencils. They yield a deep black (which would be good for exhaust, muzzle carbon etc...)They are rated HB, 2B, 4B, 6B and white. Some carbon pencils actualy go to a BBB which is really soft, and really dark.

Pastels work wonderfully and for about $8 you can pick up a set of 12-16. Just be sure to get the chalk pastels. (They do make a waxy pastel....not good)

Good luck.
Mike

Hey guys,

I've had a bit of success using another type of brush I got from the art store. It's got a soft 'rubber' end on it. I kinda looks like an eraser, but it's not. I find that it works really well for 'skimming' over the raised areas and leaving pastel 'shadows' behind. It also works pretty good for applying and smoothing thin putty to joints.

Murray