Dave100TR

Hi, I've used pastels a great deal and the answer is certainly to put them onto a matt finish as they need something to key onto. If you apply them to a matt surface you shouldn't need to dampen them - you'll probably end up with quite a mess if you do! If you are going to apply them wet I would use something like white spirit not water. You will also find that certain colours/pigments "stick" better that others - at least, that's my experience. Darker earth colours & black work best. As for fixing them, again, the results vary depending on the colour/pigment. Personally I would make it the last job before sealing the whole model with a matt/satin varnish but be aware that some pigments just vanish when they are sealed! Have you thought of using weathering pigments instead of pastels? I know that pastels are cheaper but there's a pretty big range of pigments available now which might work better. I'm just getting back into aircraft after some years making 1/35 scale armour and I have used a lot of pigments - fixed with white spirit or even very dilute white glue if you want them to really stick! The answer is to experiment on something you're not too fussed about messing up! The results are often unpredictable but sometimes great & unexpected things happen! Hope this helps! Dave

Piero, I think this must be one of the best aircraft models I've ever seen in terms of imagination & execution. Terrific idea and so well done! Dave

I've been recommended Britmodeller by several people now so decided to have a look, join up and post a few of the models I have made recently. Actually, my recent models have been mainly armour but I am getting back to aircraft so I thought I'd dust off a few of my earlier efforts and put them up here. The ME109G-2 and FW190D-9 are 1/32 and are Revell/Hasegawa kits. The ME109K-4 is 1/48 and is Hasegawa. All comments gratefully received! I hope to post more recent stuff soon! Dave