WEATHERING PENCILS FULL RANGE CLOTH CASE

Thirty-seven pencils in a roll-up case

This package brings the whole assortment of pencils intended for creating traces of wear together into a single roll-up cloth wrap. Each pencil has its own pocket, so they do not roll about the table, do not break in a drawer and during the work you have the whole range laid out in front of you in the order in which you want to use it.

The range covers four areas. The first is corrosion and damaged paint: light, medium and dark rust, primer, a shade for chipped paint and two tones for peeling wood. The second is deposits and traces of weather: dust, rain streaks, streaking grime, concrete patches, an earthy brown and an ocher. The third is metals including aluminum, bronze, copper and gold. The fourth is a basic color palette from white and black through greens and blues to yellow and red, from which the shades of shadows and highlights are mixed.

The pigment can be applied dry, or the mark can be blended out with a damp brush, in which case it behaves like a watercolor. From this comes the main advantage of this technique: until the surface is sealed with a varnish, everything can be washed off and started again. A matte base is ideal, because on a smooth gloss film the pencil leaves almost nothing.

Most often such pencils are used to draw streaks under rivets and tank caps, to bring out the edges of metal panels, to draw the chipped edges of hatches and to color the worn places on wooden floorboards. Working with them is slower than with an airbrush, but much easier to control.

The point is sharpened with an ordinary pencil sharpener, but carefully and in small steps. The lead is soft and cracks under strong pressure, so it pays to prepare it rather longer and thinner and to shape it with a piece of fine sandpaper.