Painting Brick ??

[Anonymous]

Hi, I was wondering if there were any suggestions on how to paint and weather brick. Everytime I try to paint the mortar, I leave a big mess. I've tried a few things but nothing seems to achieve the effect I'm looking for. I've got a Walthers Modern Round house I want to detail.
Regards, Confused !![:(]

[Anonymous]

I think one of the problems is trying to paint the mortar.

[Anonymous]

Consider Robert's Brick Mortar.
PO Box 27057 Milwaukee Wi 53227 Answering phone [phone]

Approx cost $8.00 4oz jar, $3.50 shipping

Will do approx 20 sq feet, washable liquid, apply let dry wipe off wet towel, fills in the
mortar lines.

[lupo]

have you tried a wash with 20 parts water 1 part flat white

[orsonroy]

Since I'm modeling central Illinois, I've got a lot of "common brick" to paint. Common brick is mostly plain old Illinois clay fired into bricks, and the colors vary widely. I've taken to adding several shades of craft paint light browns and tans to a pallette, swirling them together (but not blending them), and then brush painting the walls with the tie-tye paint. It looks pretty good, and MUCH better than a single color!

I generally don't paint mortar lines, since you usually don't see them in real life, until you're relatively close to a building. Take an HO building outside some time, and hold it up to a real building in the distance. I've done it, and rarely see mortar. I add a black India Ink wa***o most buildings, which highlights mortar lines, but adding white mortar to a wall usually whitewashes the brick color too much to be worthwhile. (by the way: if you do decide to add mortar, remember that most mortar weathers to a medium grey color, and NOT white!)

[orsonroy]

Since I'm modeling central Illinois, I've got a lot of "common brick" to paint. Common brick is mostly plain old Illinois clay fired into bricks, and the colors vary widely. I've taken to adding several shades of craft paint light browns and tans to a pallette, swirling them together (but not blending them), and then brush painting the walls with the tie-tye paint. It looks pretty good, and MUCH better than a single color!

I generally don't paint mortar lines, since you usually don't see them in real life, until you're relatively close to a building. Take an HO building outside some time, and hold it up to a real building in the distance. I've done it, and rarely see mortar. I add a black India Ink wa***o most buildings, which highlights mortar lines, but adding white mortar to a wall usually whitewashes the brick color too much to be worthwhile. (by the way: if you do decide to add mortar, remember that most mortar weathers to a medium grey color, and NOT white!)

[Anonymous]

I use a white, or grayish white acrylic paint, thinned with lots of water for mortar. First I
do a bit of random brick coloring, using colors only slightly different than the over all
brick color. When happy with the effect and it has dried, lay the surface flat & level and
brush on a layer of water to allow the thinned mortar paint to flow out. Brush on the
thinned acrylic paint, making sure {with water as needed) that the paint really doesn't
want to adhere to the surface. Thinned like this, the paint has a tendency to flow into the
mortar lines. Allow to dry, and don’t mess with. The effect will diminish as the surface
Dries. However, if more mortar is desired, the process can be repeated. For another
effect, as the paint starts to dry, go over with the bru***o pick the paint out of the
bricklines and spread this over some of the surface. Do this in random-blotchy areas to
look like added weathering of the brick’s surface, or white paint which has weathered
off.

[Anonymous]

First I painted the entire wall with Boxcar Red. For the mortar, I then used a full,thick bru***o apply a fairly heavy coating of white weathering chalk. With the right touch, the "mortar" (chalk) will stick only in the mortar lines between bricks. I then sprayed the whole wall with Testor Dullcote. Depending on your structure and your individual taste, you can also add other colors to your brick--black, other shades of red, concrete,etc. Have fun!

[Jetrock]

I start out brush-painting the brick in some appropriately bricky color--rust, boxcar red, etcetera. I like to use a foam brush for painting walls--wider and smoother than a hair brush. Some like to airbrush but, since brick tends to vary in color, I don't want the surface too even or regular.

I apply a mortar wa***o the brick (1 part Aged Concrete or other medium grayish-brown, 7 parts water, 9 parts rubbing alcohol, and a couple drops of detergent. It runs right into the cracks and doesn't whitewa***he brick too much, and is far superior to using, say, diluted white paint.

Sacramento has a lot of old brick buildings (and had more in the period I model) from local brickworks--a bit of lightening from the wash is appropriate because of the lightening effect of lots of sunlight (in Sacramento's blast-furnace summers) and the relative lack of large amounts of coal dust and other dark pollutants (local power was primarily hydroelectric, steam railroads ran on oil rather than coal.) But a wash of diluted India ink (60:1) or some brown color in alcohol is good for a layer of dust and grime.

[Anonymous]

I faced a similar problem with Spani***ile flooring. I made three washes and randomly painted individual tiles with each of the three. I finished the grout with a medium gray artist pencil. Then a spray of dullcote, a very dilute spray of my layout dirt pigment, finishing with another spray of dullcote. I'm well pleased with the result.

Randy

[Anonymous]

I use "Mudstone" tole paint, heavily water down. I paint everyhing and the paint migrates to the cracks.

I'd be interested to see photos of everyone elses work[X-)]