At first I was skeptical about those Bragdon Enterprises weathering powders. I thought they may be too potent for my use. So to get soft “dusty” effects I stuck to multiple layers of chalk or airbrushind a heavy wash. But in my current situation, I decided to buy a 12 pack containing all the powder colors. I figure, what the heck, I’ll try them out. DUDE! These things are awesome! I know they are not chalk, but they work like super-powerful pastel chalk. Like 5 times stronger. I just did a Mckean PRR 40’ PS-1 boxcar up with them. They went over the initial wash and 2 hits of dullcote. Impressive!
If you were thinking about getting a set of Bragdon Enterprise weathering powders, do it. You’ll be glad you did.
I’ve been using these powders for a few years and they are great. Also very easy to use. I have various paper box lids (11" x 17") that I use as containers to apply the various colors. One box per color. This way when the color comes off the model, I can catch it in the box lid and re-use it. When I use lots of colors, I save the mixed left over that comes of the models during application (I use only the browns, rust, blacks and grey) and use it as an all purpose dirt wash for rolling stock.
One cool trick that I use on reefers is to re-paint the roof black with polly scale and then after it is dry hit it real heavy with the black powder. It gives it a nice chalking paint kind of look. This also works with other colors as long as the powder comes close to matching the base color.
These powders also work well on stock cars to give that dusty look…