Cement Saul is a fairly new YouTube channel that has been doing a bunch of interesting Gaslands-related videos. I especially like the video on Weathering with Coloured Pencils and Pigments. Pigments (pastel chalk dust, or similar) are familiar to me and I’ve used them in the past, but weathering with actual coloured pencils hadn’t occured to me and I’m going to have to try that out! It’s part of a series on painting, stencilling, detailing, and weathering cars that’s well done, approachable, and worth your time.
Light Industries is a Canadian outfit that do various decals including custom work; I always like to find Canadian sources for things when I can!
Misc Minis do various decals as well, including tiny decals suitable for 1/1200 vessels or aircraft. I contacted him back in January 2021 about getting a little sheet of his smallest decals, got it in just a few weeks for much less money than I was expecting, and will do a proper review of them sometime soon!
The first armoured car for my Russian Civil War forces now has wheels attached, and I did the first round of weathering with pastel chalk dust. Before I talk about my model, though, check this photograph out:
A 1917 photograph showing soldiers of the interim Russian government (after the February revolution but before the Bolshevik Revolution of October/November) posing with an awfully familiar looking armoured car. The word chalked on the side of the hood is “Freedom”.
That photo also nicely answers the question about the scale of the Copplestone vehicles — they’re pretty much right on scale!
Weathering with Pastel Chalk
You can buy pre-made “weathering powders”, but I’m not sure why you would when a couple sticks of cheap pastel chalk will set you up for life. I bought a black stick and two shades of brown (burnt umber, technically) for a few dollars from one of our local art supply stores. Run an Xacto knife edge along the pastel stick to create powder, then use a beat-up dry paintbrush (trust me, don’t use good brushes for this) to dust it onto your model. You could also use a bit of pastel dust on your fingertip for more definite smudges.
Apply the pastel powder much more heavily than you think is reasonable, because to fix it in place you spray it lightly with Dullcote or other matte sealer spray, and that always dissolves some of the powder. I might do a second round of powder weathering on this vehicle, depending on how much the Dullcote takes off.
Here’s the current state of the car, with figures for scale. On the left, two of Brigade Games’ Storm in the East line of Russians, painted up as White Russians. To the rigt of the car, two of Copplestone’s Back of Beyond Bolsheviks, one rifleman and one sailor. The car has not yet been sprayed with Dullcote, so this is unfixed pastel chalk dust on display.
My 1:56 Armstrong-Whitworth armoured car, alongside figures for scale. Click for full size, as usual.
Speaking of things on display, this is the first photo I’ve managed to get of the Bolshie sailors I painted last month. Must get proper photos of them soon!
Still to do on the Armstrong-Whitworth: the minimal base, just big enough to go under the wheels, then Dullcote and possibly more weathering. Oh, and a name for the thing, which is going to mean doing freehand painting of Cyrillic, which should be fun. The thread I started over on the Lead Adventure forum for this vehicle build has become a great source for possible vehicle names — having a Russian local active there helps with local sources (he supplied the great historical photo at the start of this post) and translations.
I’m away for the weekend, but should have the armoured car done early next week.
