Modeling a brick building to look like old bricks

[relation]

I'm going to build a brick machine shop from plastic its Walhers machine shop does anyone have a process that they are happy with to make this model look like old chicago brick?

[dehusman]

Depends on what you consider "old chicago brick' to look like. What I do is paint the base color of the brick, the side that faces the street is usually a brighter color (brick red, tan, yellow, orange, etc) and the side that is away from the street is usually a browner, rougher brick. Then I tint a few select bricks here and there with artists color magic markers. Some buildings get more variation than others. After the base coat is dry I give it a wash of a grey or brown color for the mortar, either oil based paint (regular Floquil) in thinner or water based paint (acrylic like Polly S or craft paints) in water. Rougher brick gets a heavier wash, finer brick gets a thinner wash.. If the wash is too heavy, you can either dry brush brick color over it or use fine steel wool to "clean" the mortar wash off the brick.

I was reading an article on making weathered, chipped paint on model airplanes and think it might be great on painted brick buildings. I'll dub it the soft pretzel technique. First paint the brick building the base brick color and then do the mortar wash. When it completely dries, mist the building with water, then apply rock salt to the areas where you want the paint to be chipped (around doors, windows, more exposed surfaces, etc). Let the building dry. Then overspray the building with the painted color and paint the details. When that dries, use a stiff bru***o knock off the rock salt leaving the little holes and pock marks in the paint, showing the brick and mortar color underneath.

Dave H.

[simon1966]

Make sure that you really wa***he parts in soapy water before trying to paint. I have had bad results with poor paint adhesion when I do not get the plastic clean before painting.

[cwclark]

I paint the brick a barn red color and let it dry a couple of days...then I'll make a wash using poly S antique white and water and paint it on the building...the white color will flow into the mortar and enhance it and make it look old....if the brick is a light or sandstone color, i'll make a wash of india ink and alcohol to weather the building...Chuck

[mgruber]

The above suggestions are great, but will not give you that "Chicago Brick" look. I'm also looking for that look, becausing I'm modeling parts of the city. Hope someone can help us. By the way, it seems Chicago brick has more black in it. Just not sure how to achieve that look.