discussion Silver pencil

[Guest]

I've seen a few people reference using a silver pencil to create wear patterns and chips e.g. on leading edges of wings/props, well-handled edges in cockpits and scuffed wing roots where pilots and crew walk a lot.

Went down to the local craft shop, but they didn't have anything like this, and the girl I spoke to wasn't any good. What exactly are these pencils and where can they be bought?

Ta!

 

[stona]

Mine are made by Faber Castell who are a German firm. I think I bought them at an artists supply shop in Birmingham called Spectrum which I'm afraid won't help you. The manufacturer's name might if you are looking on line.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I got a couple of different ones from Hobbycraft a silver. black and brown, mine are the Faber Castell ones don't recall them been too much and I do find them useful; as you can smudge them if you need to create oil stains etc

Adrian

 

[Guest]

Ta both.

Hmmm maybe I better pop down the road to MK and hit a different Hobbycraft then!

Oh and thanks for tip re oil stains, wanted something like this on last build but couldn't do it at that scale the wash etc I was fiddling with.

 

[Guest]

Hobbycraft up here has all the metallic pencils too, the shops quite a size so you have to look around for stuff, maybe the pencils were in several areas in your store, they are here.

To be honest sometimes you ask an assistant and they only know about their individual area.

 

[Guest]

Alasdair I use Pilot & Pesco. Think W H Smith will have them. Amazon also have them. Both Gold & Silver.

The the ink does not dry out as you have to pump the felt tip up & down to get the ink to flow.

Laurie

 

[AlanG]

I presume you are on about the Faber Castell watercolour pencils? Or is it the pens?

 

[Guest]

Allyne sounds interesting. Please tell me more about these watercolour pencils. How do they fare on acrylic paint & etc.

Laurie

 

[stona]

The pencils. I use them to literally draw on the model or, more often, I sand off some of the colour and brush this onto the paintwork. It makes for quite good distressed but not completely worn through walkways.

It's really hard for me to photograph but this may give an idea.



Cheers

Steve

 

[Guest]

Laurie... For actual watercolour painting I'd reccomend buying the more expensive watercolour pencils as they are a better paste, but for our modeling scene I've found that the cheap pencils found in the ''pound shops'' are more than adequate.

If you have these cheap ''pound shops'' in jersey I'd give a set a go, if not then pm me your address and I'll grab a set from here and post them down, it'd only be a couple of pounds including post so call it a gift.

*edit* forgot to say what they do ..... They're water soluble ''leads'' so you can draw with them and use a paintbrush to spread the watercolour around and blend... You can also wet brush and take the colour directly from the tip and paint ... Very handy for doing sharp detail as they sharpen with a standard pencil sharpener or scalpel etc

 

[Guest]

Thanks Colin. Actually just finished ordering a set on Ebay.

Although I have given up "given in" the Architectural side of my life ( and taken up the much more time consuming frustrating stressful freak mind bugging more important model making world) I still dabble every now & then in a bit of art work. So I thought I would multi task the pencils & got the Faber set.

Not a bad deal £13:50 for 24 pencils.

Many thanks indeed for your info & more important neighbourly kindness. Very much appreciated.

Also Steve thanks for you info. So another string to my bow in this weathering & distressing (the latter in many ways) business which I am getting more & more infected by. The human mind 6 months ago I hated weathering & distressing. No doubt the full circle syndrome will take place.

Laurie

 

[Guest]

No problems Laurie

If you've got the Faber set that I think you have, and you're going to do more than modeling with them and put them to good use then you won't be disappointed.

 

[Guest]

I bought mine from my local branch of The Range

 

[AlanG]

The pencils. I use them to literally draw on the model

Sorry to bring up this old thread but Steve. Do you add the water first before using them or are you using them dry?

 

[stona]

I do some chipping by literally dotting with the pencil. To give the impression of general wear I sand off some of the pencil and pick up the "dust" with an old short artist's brush and apply where I want. I just blow the excess away. A surprising amount seems to stick to the varnish even though it's dry.

Cheers

Steve

 

[AlanG]

Cheers Steve. I've just ordered a silver pencil and was wondering which way you did it

 

[Guest]

I do some chipping by literally dotting with the pencil. To give the impression of general wear I sand off some of the pencil and pick up the "dust" with an old short artist's brush and apply where I want. I just blow the excess away. A surprising amount seems to stick to the varnish even though it's dry.Cheers

Steve

I have used a silver pencil (its designed to be used dry) and also do "dotting with the pencil". I found that it was best to limit strokes to very tiny ones, or not do strokes at all which can look artificial, but the odd tiny random shape seems OK. Practice on some painted plastic.