'Good' Weathering Powder Sets?

[JohnH]

Dear All

 

I'm looking to invest in a weathering powder set, mainly rust, brake dust, oil and soot based colours. What would the esteemed forum recommend?

 

Thanks as always for any opinions/advice.

[steve1]

Not sure about 'sets' as such, butt the individual bottles from Humbrol are quite acceptable I have found.

 

steve

[Barry O]

Try some first as all manufacturers powders are different.

 

I use Greenscenes and Valejo and I just can't get on with the Humbrol ones - don't know why as lots of people do.

 

Bax

[Zero Gravitas]

I don't seem to be able to get on with Humbrol powders either, but am very happy with the MIG pigments; which seem to me to be finer, and have better adherence.

 

I know Hobby Holidays stock them (no relationship other than satisfied customer), but I'm sure you can get them elsewhere.

[cravensdmufan]

I use Tamiya - they come in a palette set of three colours.  About £8 per set.

 

Packs A and B are particularly useful.

 

The pigments seem less "powdery" than Humbrol and Carrs and go on nicely.  With careful handling of the models the pigment stays on. I don't seal them as varnish spoils the finish and texture.

 

Here's a photo of an old Lima Seacow - one of my first attempts using just Tamiya and a bit of brown neat acrylic "borrowed" from my wife's artist's box!

 

Really pleased with Tamiya products.

[class"66"]

Nice rust effect on your seacow!!

[tractor_37260]

Carrs weathering powders are another option, available from C & L etc

[Mick Bonwick]

I suggest you opt for a selection of individual colours rather than a set. The best allround powders (value, texture and usability) are from MIG, AK Interactive and AMMO. The colours for you to seek out to meet your stated requirements are Track Brown (new rust), Dark Mud (old rust), Black Smoke (soot) from MIG. The only pigment I can think of that will represent oil is Old Grease by Adam Wilder, but there are several enamel solutions that will do a good job from MIG, AK Interactive and AMMO. Search websites like SnMStuff for these product ranges.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Mick Bonwick

[JohnH]

Thanks very much for all the suggestions - the Tamiya set certainly looks to have produced very good results in cravensdmufan's hands! Excellent work.

[cravensdmufan]

Thanks very much for all the suggestions - the Tamiya set certainly looks to have produced very good results in cravensdmufan's hands! Excellent work.

Many thanks for your comments JohnH.

 

Here are a few more photos of items I weathered just with Tamiya powders plus a few touches of neat artists Windsor & Newton acrylics.

 

I'm a great believer in "less says more" and find these products are ideal for my purposes.  Although they were quite expensive, I'm still using the three Tamiya sets I purchased some four years ago, and I've done lots of items.  I find the lighter shades (all three in Set A)  and Snow (in Set  B) the most useful  Also Soot in Set B is great for loco and carriage roofs.  I find that Snow is also good for overall paint fading - the Rail Blue locos here were so treated.

 

I don't own an airbrush and feel the more random application and texture of the powders looks just as good (and reversible too).

[cravensdmufan]

Further to my previous posts, here is another example of using weathering powders to lighten colour.

 

I have a Hornby Class 50 045 in "revised" ie. later NSE livery. The loco is factory weathered (with the strange exception of the roof which was pristine gloss black!). I always felt that the blue was way too dark, compared with the Bachmann Mk2 coaches that I have which seem about right. I really didn't fancy a re-paint.

 

So I used my favourite Tamiya powders again and applied a light dusting of "snow" from set B onto the blue. Then used a mix of colours from Set A plus "soot" from Set B for the roof.

 

The loco has toned down beautifully - of course it's now showing up the Bachmann coaches as too pristine! The trouble with weathering is that once you do a few items it obviously makes everything else look too new! So I'll crack on and do all my stuff eventually. I must say I do find it therapeutic though and it really doesn't take long at all.

 

I forgot to mention before that I found a good "huff" of warm breath seems to help fix the powders to a certain extent, but careful handling of the models is still required.

 

I have no connection with the Tamiya company (I believe they are Japanese) just delighted with their products.

 

Now all I have to do with the loco is to re-paint the grey band at the bottom of the body which looks completely wrong - no powder can cure that!

[Raised On Steam]

I make my own weathering powders. I bought a set of pastels for less than a fiver and give them a scrape with a knife blade.

[cravensdmufan]

I make my own weathering powders. I bought a set of pastels for less than a fiver and give them a scrape with a knife blade.

That sounds very interesting Raised On Steam. Do the pastels stay on OK? Or do you seal them? Would be interested to see a photo of your work if possible.

 

CDF

[Raised On Steam]

These are the make I bought. I think I paid around £3.99 from The Range. The sticks look small but trust me there's enough to last for ages.

 

 

I've used both Humbrol powders and homebrew and found that powdered pastel behaves the same as regular weathering powders. I've sealed both types with matt varnish before but find that the varnish tends to soak up the powders so I'd either spray a VERY light coat to fix the powders or for a really 'dusty' look I'd maybe not seal at all. I think a lot depends on how much handling your model is likely to have to stand up to. At the end of the day if powder wears off you can always bung some more on.

I've gotten more into airbrush weathering now as it's more permanent but for 'dusty' grime powder is hard to beat.

 

Anyway here's a bog standard Hornby brake van I weathered a while ago. I used Humbrol 'Smoke' around the top end but the footboards are weathered with powdered grey/white and tan coloured pastels.

 

 

Here's someone demonstrating (I probably nicked the idea from here, I don't remember…..ha ha).

 

[cravensdmufan]

Excellent work ROS - really like that brake van - shows what can be done making older models look great.

 

Thanks for the video link - very useful.

 

CDF

[Pegleg90]

Ive used one of DCC concepts packs, they seem to work well.

[Raised On Steam]

I spotted sets of pastel chalks in Lidl for £1.99 today.

[cravensdmufan]

Recently powdered this standard Bachmann 37/4 using just Tamiya sets A and B. 

[orford]

I find all of the proprietary weathering powders to be a little expensive, and often not as 'sticky' as they could be, so I also make my own, as described above by others. It's very simple - just buy artists oil pastels from your local art shop - which also has the distinct advantage that you can get well over 100 different colours/shades and mix an infinite number more.

 

All you do is hold one end of the pastel stick between your fingers, place the other end down in a flat tin on the workbench - or on a piece of paper - so that it's held at an angle.....and then just scrap repeatedly and quite firmly (but not overly so) down the side of the pastel with the edge of a knife blade, again held at a (trailing) angle. The resulting 'powder' will then be caught in the tin or on the paper and is ready for use.

 

Another advantage of doing it yourself is that you only need to grind up the precise amount which you need.

 

I've been doing it this way for years and wouldn't even think of buying ready made weathering powders any more. After all, this is all that they are.

 

Here's an example of one of my locos weathered ENTIRELY with home-made powders of the kind described, simply brushed directly onto the original pristine body and 'fixed' with a light spray of Dullcote. No paint whatsoever has been added to this model.

 

 

Don Mason.

Edited May 10, 2016 by orford

[Gene]

I started back in the 1970s by shaving pastel sticks into powder and using them on armour( no dedicated powders back then). I've been using mostly Bragdons Powders in recent years and also tried some Humbrol powders which I found to be quite good also. A few weeks ago I tried some Pan Pastels which were excellent and less prone to fading if clearcoated. All these products seem to work well and do the job although they each seem to behave a little differently and some people seem to get along better with some products and some with other products. One thing I did notice is that Pan Pastels, in my opinion, seem to fade alot less than other products when overcoated with clearcoat.

 

If you can afford it ,try as many products as you can otherwise I would get what is most affordable for you and just master it.

 

Dullcote...I love the stuff but if you can't get it where you are try a spray-can of automotive matt out of a spraycan.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Gene

[Night Train]

Another vote for the Tamiya powders.

[Mick Bonwick]

An interesting selection of opinions. I wonder if the original poster (JohnH) made a decision.

[ess1uk]

Some great pictures on here.

I've used real soot and ash and coal dust before and it looked OK.

Free as well

[JohnH]

An interesting selection of opinions. I wonder if the original poster (JohnH) made a decision.

Hi Mick - still experimenting with the various free suggestions on here and my own home made experiences. I've used real coal and chimney soot as well as wood ash, talcum powder, my daughters make up(!) and even cocoa powder which makes a very authentic rust/brake dust... 

 

Thanks again for all the help.

[micklner]

These have been done using Humbrol powders. Not sealed they stay on without problem so far.