How do you paint mortar between bricks?

[Anonymous]

I went to Michael's tonight and bought a small bottle of Liquitex acrylic paint, "Titanium White", to paint over brick walls to simulate mortar. After washing the pieces in warm water and dishsoap and watering the paint down some, I slopped it on the walls, waited a little while for it to dry, then wiped it off with a damp paper towel. I'm not getting perfect results but things don't look too bad so far on the taxpayer building I'm working on. So, is this how it's done? Or is there an easier, more effective way?

After the pieces have dried I will spray over everything with a coat of Testor's Dullcote in a few days. Then I will attempt to weather it some with pastel chalks I also bought at Michael's. The problem is, though, is that they were out of black and gray pastel chalks so I bought the earthtone ones. Will using the earthtone ones work OK or should I wait and do the weathering in black and gray pastel chalks?

Am I heading in the right direction with the painting of the mortar, though???

[jhugart]

The way you describe painting the mortar or tuckpointing is the way I would do it. It's an old house-painting technique in the real world, too, which brings out the texture of a surface. Paint it, then wipe it off. Pitn gets left in the cracks. Which means, of course, if you wanted your bricks to be a different color, painting them first would be a good idea. :-)

As for weathering...weather in the color that you think will be there. If you ever saw a metal window or door frame around a buff-colored factory wall, you noticed the rust-red or black discoloration from where water flowed. If you look at the base of a building in a dirty area, you can see how the dirt has spattered onto the walls.

if your era burns a lot of coal, you might have an overall light coat of grime. There's nothing that says you can't weather your buiding in stages. if you have earth tones, use them for the spatter and any organic stains (leaking pipework and such). Later, you can use the black and gray for places where those would be appropriate.

[Jetrock]

Titanium White is kind of bright for mortar unless you're modeling a brand-new house--mortar tends to get gunky and stained before too long.

One method I prefer is a mortar wash: 1 part light tan or gray paint (Polly S Aged Concrete is my preferred color), 5-6 parts alcohol, a drop or two of detergent, and a little water. I use a foam brush and wipe it on each side--preferably before I build the model so the pieces can lay flat. The alcohol and detergent help the wash run into all the cracks and crevices, with very little staying on the top surface of the bricks.

This is typically followed by an ink wash (60:1 alcohol:India ink) to reflect grime and crud that settles into mortar crevices.

[Anonymous]

As far as the mortar wash goes, and without trying to sound too stupid on this one, how do you measure the "parts"? Like "1 part light tan or gray paint", and "5-6 parts alcohol"? Do you measure with an eye dropper and each "part" equals 1 drop?

Good information, though. I will try it.

[jhugart]

Parts just indicates the ratio, so you can measure it by weight or volume. If you need only a small amount, go ahead and use the eyedropper. If you need more, use a 6 oz paper cup.

[ndbprr]

I must be different (like that is something new) but I take the lid of a water soluble white paint and I just touch it with my finger. Then I dip my finger in a cup of water. I then take my loaded finger to the wall and rub the thinned mixture into the mortar lines. becaue of the varying paint to water ratios it comes out splotchy which is what I am looking for. It also leave a little white on the surface which can be wiped off if you want but it cuts down the brick sheen so I leave it.

[Anonymous]

A different way, but with a lot more work, I used plumbers putty. I liked the color and it not only took the sheen off the brick but gave me a better 3D effect. Definitely not fast, but nice for the upfront buildings.

Allen

[cwclark]

i like to use antique white by poly s and water..All i do is brush it on and let it dry...the paint won't stick to the brick but flows into the mortar joints...if it is a light brick color, i like to use a black india ink and alcohol wash

[Anonymous]

My method is similar to Jetrock's. I use a very thin wash of concrete color, thinnned with alcohol. Probably in the 10 to 1 range alcohol to paint. Insted of flowing over the whole prepainted wall, I dip a brush into the paint and then into one of the grooves representing a mortar line. It then wicks into the rest of the mortar area. You may have to do more than once depending on how thin the paint is.
My $.02
Mark
http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1015590/

[BRVRR]

I usually paint the brick walls with a red primer first. Once that is dry I apply a thinned coat (10:1) or so, of acrylic white with a brush or sponge. Before it dries I wipe it off. The prime dulls the brick and is just rough enough to hold some of the white acrylic. I am pleased with the results. Pictures on my website (links in the signature) under the What's New Button.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all for the info! I think I'm headed in the right direction!!!

The building I've been referring to here is an IHC kit as my first mortar-painting project, the "Wun Tun Chinese Laundry/Dan's Barber Shop", and it came out pretty good so far. Now I need to spray it with some Dullcote and weather it a little bit with the pastel chalks that I bought. But for my next mortar-painting projects, I think I'll do those in gray.

[davekelly]

I think that adding alcohol and a few drops of detergent to acrylic paint results in better mortar than just adding water. I don't use any scientific method, I just pour some paint onto a paper plate and mix in alchohol until it is very thin. I know it's thin enough when I touch a loaded bruch to the wall and the"mortar" runs along all the lines by itself.