pastel chalk? regular chalk

Boarder,

Pastel chalk is just like regular chalk but it comes in shades you can actually use for weathering. Any good hobby or arts / crafts store can supply you with a 'starter kit' that has a good selection of shades. Welcome and good luck!

First things first boarder ..... welcome to FSM.

As Hoser has already said, what you are looing for is an artist's chalk. Michaels or any other of the large arts & crafts stores will carry these. You can buy them in singles or in packages. The first one I bought was the package of earth tones which will have 8 or more different colours ranging from black through brown and into greens and reds, all of which come in handy as your collection grows.

As far as usage goes, first I grind the pastels down to a dust using a piece of course sandpaper. I then apply it straight to the model using a small stencil brush. I scrub it into nooks and crannies and then dust the entire model. This is the last stage of weathering for me.

Whoever told you not to use the wax pastels was right on the money. Really just a glorified crayon.

Be sure you buy pastel chalks

Thanks a lot for the tips Hoser and Shermanfreak. I'll go get some pastel chalk then.
One more question. Do you guys seal your models after weathering? if you brush the powder on dry, wouldn't it get blown away by the airbrush?
Thanks again all.

When I seal chalk weathering, I mix the clear a bit thinner than normal and use low air pressure through the airbrush (about 10 - 12 psi) and lightly dust on a couple of coats. But if your model will end up in a display case, you could skip this.

I just leave mine as is. Once the final dusting of pastels is done it becomes "hands off". If I need to handle the model after that for some reason I always use vinyl gloves so as not to leave fingerprints.

Hi Boarder!

I've used sealers on a couple of my models (glosscoat, flats, etc) and it worked out just fine. You don't need to worry too much about the chalk blowing off. Yeah some of it might but it won't blow it off entirely. If you blend the chalk into the model well enough you'll pretty much grind some of the chalk into the finish. In other words, it's not going to be as if you're blowing powdered sugar off a counter top. Does this make sense? One final word, when you apply a clear topcoat it will darken the pastel chalk a little bit but I don't think that's a bad thing at all. Usually the overcoat changes the hue of the entire model so everything pretty much stays in proportion color-wise. Try it on a scrap piece of plastic. Have fun!!!!

Eric