Has anyone tried this brick sheet material?

[Dave Schneider]

I am in the market for some n scale brick sheeting and saw this on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-pcs-N-scale-Wall-Brick-patterns-building-making-2-/150483093711?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item23097dc8cf

It doesn't look too bad to me, with a nice form and a brick size of ~5x12 inches.

Best wishes, Dave

[Chris333]

Never saw that before, but I have bought some Z scale from "We Honest" without problems.

[wazzou]

5"x12"...That's more like a cinder block than a brick.

[Dave Schneider]

I think a cinder block is 8x16 inches, so this isn't quite that big. I figured that they would be a bit oversized (like many n scale bricks), but the proportions look decent (maybe a bit too wide). This looks like a nice value assuming that it isn't made of some odd plastic or contain radioactive lead and/or flesh eating bacteria!

Best wishes, Dave

[bbussey]

Use the styrene brick sheet from N Scale Architect, which is based on the old Holgate & Reynolds product that everyone loved to work with.

[wazzou]

I only said more like a cinder block than a brick. :-*  I'll agree that the N Scale Architect stuff is good.  Fortunately, I still have a small stash of the H&R brick.

[Sokramiketes]

Use the styrene brick sheet from N Scale Architect, which is based on the old Holgate & Reynolds product that everyone loved to work with.

I love the look of H&R but hated working with it.  Contact cement is not my favorite adhesive.  Sounds like I need to order some of the NSA sheets in styrene!

[Dave Schneider]

Use the styrene brick sheet from N Scale Architect, which is based on the old Holgate & Reynolds product that everyone loved to work with.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did buy some of the NSA stuff directly from them. Unfortunately, the stuff listed as HO/N is really "more like a cinder block than a brick"  :-*, so I ended up with $60 worth of product that won't work for my application. Am I correct that only their 50031 "Small Scale Modern Brick (N/Z)" is suitable for N? If so, any hints on where to find ? This is what lead me to the eBay route. I might take a chance on the Chinese stuff and see how it looks. Other suggestions still welcome.

Best wishes, Dave

[Chris333]

I bought some N/Z direct from NSA and I while ago took a pic of it with the H&R stuff. It looked like the exact same size bricks. It also look vac-u-formed and except for the color is just like H&R in all ways.

They list the N/Z on their site:
http://www.thenarch.com/

If you have problems let me know, there is a Z scaler who is part owner with them.

[Rasputen]

RSLaserkits makes some beautiful scale brick sheets:

http://www.rslaserkits.com/N-Details.html

[lashedup]

N-scale Architect has a newer brick sheet (product number - 50031) that I used on a project. It has a more realistic size decent relief to it:



Was part of this MILW tower:

[DKS]

I always liked this scene. The modeling is just great, and certainly puts this brick sheet product in good light.

[Zox]

N-scale Architect has a newer brick sheet (product number - 50031) that I used on a project. It has a more realistic size decent relief to it:(snip)

Your building looks great, but that brick is still considerably oversized. If that's a standard 80-inch-tall door, it should take somewhere around 30 layers of brick to match its height. It looks like there are 18 or 20 layers in the model. That's the proportional equivalent of Code 80 brick; i.e about 150% actual size.

Again, not in any way a criticism of your modeling effort. It just seems that nobody seems to be willing to try making an accurate N-scale brick--probably because at that point, it should just be a printed pattern. (The mortar lines would be something like 0.00015", or 0.04 millimeters, deep. For comparison, human hair ranges between roughly 0.02 and 0.18 millimeters in diameter.)

[GaryHinshaw]

I always liked this scene. The modeling is just great, and certainly puts this brick sheet product in good light.

Ditto.   And the photography puts everything in a good light.

[DKS]

It just seems that nobody seems to be willing to try making an accurate N-scale brick--probably because at that point, it should just be a printed pattern. (The mortar lines would be something like 0.00015", or 0.04 millimeters, deep. For comparison, human hair ranges between roughly 0.02 and 0.18 millimeters in diameter.)

If you want better N scale brick, try Z scale brick material.

There's some here: http://www.zscalemonster.com/m_art/zscratch/zscratch.htm

Look for item #MA-91216.

The problem with scale brick is that it enters into the realm of perception, which relies on expectation and consistency as much as accuracy. Non-scale brick often works because most everything else is consistently oversized as well. If you go with true-scale bricks, then you'll need to go with true-scale everything else. Code 40 (or less) rail. Very fine ballast. Ultra-fine railing and grabs. Dirt that's not made from dirt. And don't even mention couplers. The list goes on and on. Anything that's not to scale will then stick out like a sore thumb. But then, assuming everything is correct (which would be amazing), you may run the risk of something not "reading" the way it should because a correct object or surface may actually look incorrect to the eye. Many things in a model scene rely on telegraphing to the brain what it's supposed to be by virtue of its texture as much or even more so than by its size. Scale ballast, for instance, sometimes looks like dirt or mud instead of rock. And it becomes an even bigger problem as the scale gets smaller--which increasingly involves issues of manufacturability, such as correctly-sized mortar lines, as you mention.

This issue opens up a whole Pandora's box about accuracy versus the information needed to correctly convey the properties of a miniature object to the brain. Also don't forget that our perception of models is different than our perception of photographs of models, and that adds to the mix as well. This can become a rather deep subject.