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painting mortor lines between brick

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  • Member since
    February 2007
  • From: Union, KY
  • 86 posts
Posted by Robby on Friday, February 25, 2011 8:52 PM

Why didn't that link work?  It's active on photobucket???

  • Member since
    February 2007
  • From: Union, KY
  • 86 posts
Posted by Robby on Friday, February 25, 2011 8:51 PM

I'm still a fan of spraying the entire structure with concrete and then using Prismcolor pencils to color the raised brick surface.  It's so fast and fail-safe there is no way I will go back to brick color first and then trying to flow in lighter color after the fact.  The pencils come in dozens of colors for that much wanted color variation.  Over spray with dilute grimy black and seal with dullcoat.

 

All the brick work in this shot, including the chimneys on the station were done in this manner.

[img]http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd247/robby-ky/CV%20Subdivision%20Layout/?action=view&current=Barbourville_001.jpg[img]

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • 152 posts
Posted by strider on Friday, February 25, 2011 4:23 PM

I use drywall compound (Sheetrock plus 3) on mine. The good thing is that its cheap and even after it dries you can wash it off as long as you haven't sealed it with dullcoat. I paint the brick with Floquil zinc chromium primer, let it dry, apply joint compound and wipe most of it off then let joint compound dry. Next take a damp rag and wipe off the top of brick, joint compound will stay in mortar lines  When all looks right spray with dullcoat to seal.

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • 10 posts
Posted by bigray1964 on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 1:10 PM

Thanks Crandell and everyone else that replied to my questions. There was a lot of really good ideas. I tried the spackle or dry wall patch and it works really good. I figure after it drys i will try to go over with a brick colored weathering powder and then hit it with a dull coat.

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 12:13 PM

Most households have a sealed small container of drywall patching plaster, or mud, to fix holes and gouges.  That would do.  Some have even used white flour.  Stain with India Ink wash.

Crandell

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: Bristol, RI
  • 24 posts
Posted by WinRI on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 11:45 AM

I attended  a "Building" clinic put on Bar-Mills at the Amherst Show last month.. The speaker recommended "Spackle" found at any hardware store - the benefits - cheap, easy to apply, water soluble, and will take a stain...

w/re

Walter

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Franconia, NH
  • 3,130 posts
Posted by dstarr on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 11:32 AM

I just did that last night.  It's a plastic brick building.  I gave it a coat of red auto primer for a good brick color and then applied a wash of  craft store acrylic white with a dash of light gray.  The wash soaked into all the mortar lines, no sweat.  I gave it a minute or two to dry some, and then wiped it down with a damp rag.  This wiped the wash off the surface of the brick.  The result looks OK by eye.  The red brick now has a whiteish cast.  I am going to give it a harder rubbing out today now that the wash is good and dry.  Last night, while the wash was still somewhat wet, a hard rub would take it out of the mortar lines altogether, so I went easy. 

   It does NOT photograph well.  My little point&shoot's color balance got confused by the white reflecting a lot of overhead fluorescent light into the camera lens and the color came out odd.  I'm going to try a shot by daylight to see if it looks any better.

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: western ny
  • 342 posts
Posted by wsdimenna on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 10:12 PM

Recently I tried the white cottage stain from hunterline for my greyhound bus station.  Dilute it  a bit with rubbing alcohol. It was the easiest mortar procedure I have used.

  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: US
  • 4,648 posts
Posted by jacon12 on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 9:20 PM

Here is one of the commercial products I've used..

and I'm trying Roberts Brick Mortar right now and like it..  This structure was done with Roberts

http://www.robertsbrickmortar.com/index.html 

I like them both though the Roberts is more forgiving in that you can let it completely dry before removing the excess.

Jarrell

 HO Scale DCC Modeler of 1950, give or take 30 years.
  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Jacksonville, Florida
  • 132 posts
Posted by The Ferroequinologist on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 9:13 PM

Dear Sir: Try Roberts Brick Mortar. It is applied with a paint brush, let dry and wipe off. You can leave it on a month, doesn't matter. An excellent product! Address in P.O. Box 27057, Milwaukee, Wi. 53227. They may have a web site.

The Ferroequinologist layoutconcepts@yahoo.com eBay store: Backshop Train & China Store Facebook: Model Trains, Train Sets, Buildings & Layout Concepts

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 8:53 PM

bigray1964

First, welcome to the forums!

There are several ways to colour mortor. I have used a wash of very thin concrete coloured acrylic paint followed by a rub down with a slightly damp cloth to remove the excess. Others have used baby powder rubbed into the brick lines followed by hair spray. One method that may help your current situation is to paint the structure the desired mortor colour and then use a brick coloured craft pencil to go over the walls to restore the colour of the brick. 

There are many more ways to do it.

There is a search engine on the right side of this page about half way down. When I typed in 'mortor' I got lots of hits. You may find a method there that suites you.

Dave

P.S. Just in case some of you don't think I know how to spell 'colour', don't forget I'm Canadian and we use the British spelling!Wink

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    October 2005
  • From: Ulster Co. NY
  • 1,464 posts
Posted by larak on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 8:43 PM

The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open.  www.stremy.net

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • 10 posts
painting mortor lines between brick
Posted by bigray1964 on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 8:28 PM

Can someone give me some ideas on how to make the brick work on my bulidings look realistic. The buildings are Walthers Cornerstone Roundhouse and back shop. I've tried to paint over the bricks with Acrylic white paint and then sanding the white off and then spraying a lite coat of dullcoat. This dosent look bad but is there a easyer way?

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