I could these alongside a binder, would they be useful?
EDIT:
I read that pigments are a mess to use, as the binder essentially turns them into paste just like my pre-made vallejo mud, so I’d rather avoid it.
About the streaks on the panels, could I do them using the Vallejo wash dark brown? If yes, how?
If not, which specific products do you suggest for this purpose?
I’ve been using Mig pigments for years with just water thinned to various ratios and they work fine. They’re expensive but I like them slot. As I said I only thin them in water. Other modelers use thinners etc.
Personally, I’ve never found a valid justification for buying MIG or AK’s high priced 
pigments 
. Some folks like them obviously and that’s perfectly well and good.
In my opinion, Shepherd Paine pretty much explained the pastel chalk uses in his books back in the 1980’s. Mig definitely popularized the use of the media and took their use to new amazing levels.
Back in 1988, I paid $5 for a very basic starter set of artist pastel chalks for this sort of weathering. More than half remain.
It was something like the one below a local art store. Today’s cost about $10 to $12 at Hobby Lobby.
Just rub pastels on sand paper and mix the desired color. Easy to apply with an old paint brush. Naptha aka cigarette lighter fluid works great a solvent just mix chalk dust in and brush on.
I prefer modelling pigments, chalks contain binder that you can not separate, so I doubt you can get the finesse of pure pigment -although it can be good enough for some.
As for the cost, I just need a few shades of brown, ochre and black. Say ten jars at most, which are about 40 euros. And I did not even get all of them at the same time.
You may use them for streaks on panels, like on this VMS video:
However it is not the easiest way. Again, oils should be useful for that. Get some browns and odorless thinner and play with them, there are some very good videos about it.
About the oil paints, which is a good brand? I am afraid that shops areond here won’t have them.
This Vallejo product instead, I could find it:
Alternatively, I was thinking of thinning the Vallejo mud I already put on the tracks and see if I end up with some useful grime…I could just spatter it on the bottom hull, the corners, some on the top near the hatches, some random splotches here an there and call it a day. What do you think?
I’ve found Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Color paints to be an outstanding good brand. There are other good brands too. Others wills have their pet favor brands too naturally. All of the Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colors, I’ve used over the last 33 years have been consistent excellent quality. I still have the original tubes I bought and occasionally add new colors. The tube I bought this year has the same consistent quantity as the 1980’s tubes 
Personally, I greatly dislike oil paints that have to a less ideal balance of pigment to oil. They typically need to have excess oil removed from the paint by placing the paint on cardboard. A lot of the buzz word brands are like that. Thats one of the marks of a lower quality oil paint in my opinion.
Likewise, Winsor-Newton uses single pigments wherever possible to create individual colours. This helps avoid issues in some applications like doing washes since only one pigment is generally used. If two pigments are used sometimes they can separate out etc.
I’ve never had to drain excess oil off of Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Color paints before using. Excellent Quality at a fair price.
Winsor-Newton should be readily available at most art supply stores or via mail order.
Oil Paint Brands In Review - Best and Starter Brand for the Money
Found this, could it be a good deal for 20 €?
Make sure it has the colors you want. I found a similar set but 8/10 of the colors were useless to us modellers
I think I will try this oil technique on my next model, I am too afraid of making mistakes, but it is surely interesting and the result is amazing. By the way, I see people use thinner to make streaks with oils, what kind do you use? And how does it react to acrylic paint and the gloss finish?
I bought a KV-2 and streaking like that will look very good on those flat panels.
Maybe for this ISU it’s better to continue building on the “thick mud” theme.
It’s definitely a good idea not to do much new on each model and maybe focus on getting one extra technique down per model.
One nice thing about oils is that they are super forgiving. Don’t like what you did? Get a lint free cloth or cotton bud damp with thinner and remove the oil! For thinner I use Mona Lisa odourless thinner. I think it is similar to naphtha (lighter fluid). It is marvellous stuff! Great flow quality, and doesn’t attack the acrylic layers. Mind you I’ve never put it over acrylic paint, but it doesn’t attack the acrylic gloss and Matt varnishes I’ve used
Does anyone had experiences with these pre-made Vallejo mud splashes/streaking effects?
I wonder how they are applied, on YouTube I only found people using the toothpick trick, but I’d rather make some streaks going from top to bottom on the sides, nothing dramatic, just some to make the sides look dirtier and cover some sections of the top which I found mildly discolored under very close scrutiny (next time I airbrush I am going to use the cell-phone flash-light, it really shows all the imperfections). Also I would like to use it as excuse to rough up those dazzling white decals.
I also had an idea: I like the idea of using pigments but I really dislike having to use a pigment binder as it essentially turns the dust into mud.
So I was thinking: my gloss coat was very sticky, I had to actually pluck dust away from it (including some hairs too). Wouldn’t then applying pigments over a fresh coat of varnish make them stick forever?
Night Shift - Armor Modeling this is an excellent site to check out. NightShift discusses quite a bit about pigments and application in his various videos. Well worth a look if you haven’t already seen his work.
Sticky gloss coat or sticky paint isn’t something I would want to apply anything too personally. It would want it fully cured.
When flat coat gets applied some of the pigments will disappear if the pigments were applied to the gloss coat.
My experience has been if the model is mounted on a base so the model it isn’t touched, the pastel chalk dust aka pigments remain where they were placed. The chalk dust was applied to the flat coat. Have some that are 30+ years old on the shelf that pastel chalk is still in place etc.
I also had an idea: I like the idea of using pigments but I really dislike having to use a pigment binder as it essentially turns the dust into mud.
No, it depends on how much pigment you use. And there are several ways of using them, even without binder. Wade has linked a very good place to learn.
Wouldn’t then applying pigments over a fresh coat of varnish make them stick forever?
Yes, sure… but it would be very very hard to control where and how you put them. I don’t think it will produce a good result.
In any case, take everything as a part of the learning process and do not expect a wonderful model at first, without practice is nearly impossible to do any decent finish.
I love those welds, nice one…
That Nightshift guy makes great videos, will make a nice playlist.
However, all I found about pigments in his channel were videos with “NO PIGMENTS” tags!
Maybe I couldn’t find it!
Anyway, tonight I’ll visit this shop, hope to find some interesting stuff and a bunch of other colors I need for future models.
Pigments are definitely more pure than pastels. Pastels do have their time and place so that cannot be disputed. Back to the pigments I’m making blend my own and have good results with them. One good way to use them is to use the naphtha because it dries quickly and make a thin slurry. The slurry can be used on tracks tires and once dry the excess is brushed away onto a paper towel which can be disposed of. Also they can be mixed very thin with water or the same naphtha and applied like a standard wash to road wheels streaking effects anything that any of the other products would be used for Penguins can do the same job
If I add some water, will Vallejo pigments stick well enough? Am I supposed to apply them on the final Matt varnish coat or before?
Pigments will stick without any medium. The mediums are usually used to flow them into places like between tracks pads, once the medium dries the pigments have as much grip as they do if you were to put them on dry. Depending on the look you are going for will dictate the method. For dust, brushing them on dry works, for streaks youll want to do something like @Chris_Bryan suggests.
The issue with water, as opposed to the naphtha he recommends is that it dries slow, and has surface tension. These two combine to pull the pigments to places you didn’t intend
Interesting.
I just want to make a light dusting on the vertical panels and decals which look too clean and a little on the top hull to mask a slightly decolored patch I ended up discovering after applying the gloss.
Also applying some black grime on the exhausts and the back of the fuel tanks were exhaust fumes hit.
Maybe a very little rust on some specific parts, but don’t know where.
Anyway, are they to be applied on the final Matt varnish or on top of the gloss and then covered with matt along the rest of the model?