Mortar ... or not?

[Dave Schneider]

Figure I would revive this thread with a new result. I haven't painted many brick buildings, and my Lincoln Warehouse gave me an excuse to try my hand at mortar.

Here is the unpainted Lincoln flat. I used brick sheet from some Chinese manufacturer who used to sell on eBay. It seems more like ABS than styrene, but the brick form is really good. Wish I remember who I bought it from!


A close up of the painted and mortared brick.


I used the recipe from John Pryke in his book Building City Scenery For Your Model Railroad.
Light mortar wash
1 part Polyscale concrete
9 parts 99% alcohol
7 parts water
A couple of drops of detergent

Painted the brick Polyscale boxcar red.
After drying, apply the wash with a flat brush. It flows very easily into the mortar gaps. I speed up the drying process with a hairdryer. As an aside, this is the same hairdryer I used in high school 30+ years ago and for which I have no other use at this point. After drying a minute or two, I dry brushed more boxcar red on the surface of the bricks. Again, a very flat brush and just lightly use the flat portion. I still need to add a very light overspray of grime.

Best wishes, Dave

[wazzou]

It looks good.  I'd like to see a broader shot for context.

[MVW]

Nicely done, Dave.

I'd heard about the eBay source for brick sheet. Last time I looked, I wasn't certain that what was being offered was HO or N scale ... or something else. Whatever you're using, I sure like the way it paints up.

One question: How did you get the texture on concrete portions of the building?

Nice work! Thanks for sharing.

Jim

[peteski]

The results look good!   I suspect that the dry-brushing (after applying mortar) made a big difference in appearance.  The nice thing about the brick material you are using is that it has nice deep mortar lines.

This technique doesn't work nearly as well on kits with very shallow mortar lines (like DPM kits).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think you'll have even better luck if you try adding some of the boxcar red to the mix to tune down the value change between the brick and the mortar, so that the oversized mortar lines look smaller.

[Dave Schneider]

Good suggestions everyone and thanks for the kind words. I plan on using a darker very thin wash or spraying a very thin grime coat to cut down on the "whiteness" of the mortar. The idea of adding the base color to the wash is one that I hadn't considered before. I'll have to try that.

As for the concrete texture, I stippled some acrylic modeling paste mixed with a concrete color craft paint on it, and gave it a light sanding with some 600 grit paper to knock it down a bit.
Here is a link to the modeling paste. http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-artists-acrylic-modeling-paste/

The texture is oversize in closeup, but I have always thought that having some texture was important rather than having the exact texture scale. Sort of similar to ballast size where actual size sometimes looks too small. Another idea would be to stipple the concrete paint with some small cell foam after it sets up a bit. Another reason to add texture was to cover up the pock marks I caused in the concrete frame. The is .010 styrene and the glue I used to glue it to the brick sheet caused little concave marks on the surface. If any one complains I will explain that this is how the prototype looked. Some will fall for it.... Next time I will used a spray adhesive.

I need to go back over a couple of spots to clean things up. You can see a couple of areas where the dry brush wasn't dry enough. I don't have a good overall photo that I am happy with at present, and will be out for a week of travel next week, so I probably won't have a chance to get back to this until I return.

I wish I knew where I got this brick. I did some searches but didn't find it. The material properties are a bit odd. It bends more than styrene when you score and snap. It was a very good deal though and I think the bricks look really nice.

Best wishes, Dave

[peteski]

Could the brick be the long-discontinued Holgate & Reynolds (H&R) small H0 brick sheet?  The material they used was more flexible than styrene.

[wazzou]

Could the brick be the long-discontinued Holgate & Reynolds (H&R) small H0 brick sheet?  The material they used was more flexible than styrene.

It was red though, right?  I know the sheets that I still have are red.

[Dave Schneider]

Could the brick be the long-discontinued Holgate & Reynolds (H&R) small H0 brick sheet?  The material they used was more flexible than styrene.

Nope. It is white as shown in the unpainted photo. 

Best wishes, Dave

Edit: Found the transaction in eBay from September 2010. The seller was wehonest_cn
They don't seem to have N scale for sale, but I sent an inquiry. Here is there O scale product.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150483087457

[Dave Schneider]

Good News!

It looks like the ABS bricks I used are back on the market...although the price has gone up a bit and the vendor is different.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ABS11-4pcs-ABS-Styrene-Wall-brick-patterns-A4-215mm-x-300mm-White-N-or-HO-Scale-/221100655826?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item337aa044d2

Thanks to Spookshow on Trainboard for finding these.

Best wishes, Dave

[Chris333]

Thanks! Just ordered 8 pieces.

[kelticsylk]

Thanks for the info. Just what I need for Altoona depot.

Frank Musick

[MVW]

Briefly updating an old thread with a new pic.

The closeup below shows the plastic sheet I'd been using upthread alongside Monster Modelwork's lasercut "old" bricks.



No attempt at adding mortar to either. MM recommends using a wash with weathering powder; I may try that someday. At any rate, the picture speaks volumes about the two building materials.

Jim

[Philip H]

That Monster Modelworks stuff is fabulous. Well played.

[peteski]

Briefly updating an old thread with a new pic.

The closeup below shows the plastic sheet I'd been using upthread alongside Monster Modelwork's lasercut "old" bricks.



No attempt at adding mortar to either. MM recommends using a wash with weathering powder; I may try that someday. At any rate, the picture speaks volumes about the two building materials.

Jim

If his is N-scale old brick - Wow!