Hiya Gents,
We had a little thread going a couple of weeks ago about using eye make-up as a weathering paint....well, since then I made a wonderful discovery of a pastel that combines the best of using artists' pastels and the make-up idea.
These pastels are called Pan Pastels and are made by a family company somewhere in rural Pennsylvania. I talked to the lady that started the company just to get some technical questions answered about the pigments they use and the quality of the binders, etc. (Some of you know that I am a full-time artist.) Now, these Pan Pastels are true artists' pastels, which means they are totally permanent and lightfast, but they have a permanent binder in the pigment and they come in cakes, or pans.
What's great about these pastels, I think anyway, is that they come in a full array of colors, they're mixable for tints and shades, they go on TOTALLY flat, and when you apply them they stick to your plastic model very, very well....no more DULLCOTE and all those sprays to keep the pastel chalk in place! I especially couldn't stand that because the fixative changes the color or the pastel and has other bad things about it, I think. These Pans are like the best of both worlds, they stick on very well but you can still rub them off if you put too much on or make a "mistake" that needs to be redone.
I haven't tried them on buildings yet, but I don't see any reason why we couldn't use them on structures and the like also. Anyway gents, I'm mostly just sharing a discovery, but if any of you have any experience with these Pan Pastels, let me know.
I bought a whole array of colors and tints off the internet, actually off of one of the art supply internet stores I use to buy my other art supplies...they cost about five bucks per pan and looks to me like they will cover a lot of area, like few square feet actually.
The St. Francis Consolidated Railroad of the Colorado Rockies
Denver, Colorado