RUST & STREAKING: EFFECTS SET pencils

Rust that runs down the metal

Rust marks under rivets, on welds and around damaged paint are among the most common jobs when finishing a model and at the same time among those where it is easiest to overdo it. For this work the five pencils offer pigment in solid form, which is placed exactly where it belongs and only then blended out.

The set contains three grades of rust, from light through medium to dark, plus a rich ocher and a vivid orange. These five match the way corrosion really ages: a fresh chip is orange to ocher, an older deposit darkens toward a red-brown and the oldest layers are almost black-brown. When the shades are layered in this order, the result reads as a process rather than a single stain. It is the orange that tends to be overlooked, and yet without it corrosion on a model looks dead and flat.

How to work with the pencils

Rest the tip on the surface of the model and draw a short line or a dot. A damp brush then pulls the pigment downwards, creating a streak that follows gravity. The less water, the sharper the mark. Pigment holds better on a matte coat than on a gloss one, and if the result needs fixing, a coat of matte varnish is enough. The tip can be sharpened with an ordinary pencil sharpener, but for the finest work it pays to grind it into a wedge on fine sandpaper. Until varnish covers the surface, everything can be washed off and started again. Anyone who wants to go further can rub the lead on sandpaper and apply the powder with a brush as a dry pigment into corners, around hinges and into recesses that the tip could not reach.