Meanwhile I wonder how many of the brick sheet products actually incorporate structural bonding -- it ought to be easy to adapt TF's 'stampcrete' approach to produce other bonds -- or to allow easy cutting of 'one row' of bricks from a stamped sheet, say one of the ones pictured, to get a header course, and tremie one of these rows in every, say, six rows of a conventional running-bond sheet. This will get you American bond of any degree just by picking the number of running courses, and adjusting the relative height of the mortar lines would be a cinch.
My approach to walls involved wrapping a 'reverse mold' sheet around a roller and approximating the roll use in stampcrete paving; you have to turn the roller diameter precisely so the pattern of the 'mold' sheet will line up correctly -- I never did get to where the 'measured' diameter was quite right. (I also spent considerable time messing with the ridges at the join line, which in hindsight was ridiculously obsessive compared with just tooling the join lines deeper to match!)
I did not think to use clay; I used vinyl high-strength spackling compound backed up by fiberglass mesh and arranged a straightedge to keep the roller lined up, and 'fences' either side of the plaster sheet to roll it out to consistent thickness before 'stamping'. I think TF's material (he's using oven-bake clay with fiber reinforcement, right?) is likely to be easier, and some of the techniques evolved for full-scale stampcrete ought to be applicable for getting pattern repeats over large areas...
Overmod --
When I was in college (quite a few decades ago) I worked for a contractor a couple of summers and actually laid some brick walls. Before then, I couldn't believe buttering and tapping could possibly produce the geometrical regularity that every brick structure depends upon. But you know what they say..."learn by doing".
But I digress...this discussion has been fascinating and illustrative.
The prototype boiler house I am modeling was built by the CNJ in 1911 next door to the roundhouse built in 1879. From the existing photos I have been able to make out that both used the "Common" or "American" bond because with contrast enhancement and good magnification, I can make out 5 rows of stretchers between rows of headers.
To the best of my ability I'm seeking an historical diorama approach to this compact facility layout and its structures so I'll have to check Walthers or Evergreen or other commerical material but I don't think they offer five over one stretcher/header material.
In any case, I'll have to stew on this a bit to determine how to proceed. It was fascinating to see the availability of individual scale bricks referenced above via an eBay link although fascinating, I don't think I'll go there!!
Anyway, many, many thanks to you all for really illuminating this issue for me!
All the best and stay well, all.
Ed
cnjman721From the existing photos I have been able to make out that both used the "Common" or "American" bond because with contrast enhancement and good magnification, I can make out 5 rows of stretchers between rows of headers.
Hi Ed,
Walthers brick sheets have 6 rows of 'stretchers' between the 'headers'. They describe the walls as "7th-Row Lock Brick...".
https://www.walthers.com/brick-sheet-4-x-9-3-4-quot-10-1-x-24-7cm-pkg-4-dark-red
https://www.walthers.com/brick-sheet-4-x-9-3-4-quot-10-1-x-24-7cm-pkg-4-light-red
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Take a look at Monster Model Works:
https://www.larkspurlaserart.com/ho-brick-sheets
millraceTake a look at Monster Model Works: https://www.larkspurlaserart.com/ho-brick-sheets
That is sheer genius, and I am kicking myself for not even thinking of that method on that substrate.
Even a photo of brick could be scanned out as a raster to get reasonable results...
I'd be tempted to get a couple of these, seal the wood carefully, and then make reverse molds of all or part for TF-style stamped molding... just don't sell the castings in competition; those guys deserve their profit margin.
Wow -- That is just what I was looking for!
Thankjs for this tip! Sure glad I turned to the forum to explore answers!
Clickable link:
Those walls are really nice!
Hey all --
Well, my basswood brick material arrived from Monster Modelworks/Larkspur today and they are beautiful. Have any of you used their sheets in a scratchbuilt structure? The "sheets" are really walls unto themselves because they appear to be high quality basswood and are 1/8 in. thick, which is great for structural strength, but here's a problem -- making wall pilasters.
At first, I thought I'd just slice a section as wide and long as the pilaster and glue it atop the wall to create the pilaster, much as I have seen done with sucessive layers of styrene brick. However, the Larkspur bricks and mortar lines are probably near prototypically thick and deep, so on edge, the sheet shows at least 3/32 in plain, smooth wood.
If you look at my avatar picture of the CNJ roundhouse behind the camelback, you'll see exactly what I'm trying to create.
I suppose I could take a strip of the basswood brick sheet and carefully carve mortar lines and brick rows into the smooth "sides" of the pilasters, but I'm afraid I'd never be able to match the precision lines of the laser cut Larkspur sheets.
Any suggestions? Do you think that using some syrene brick sheet material to "layer" on pilasters would work? If that's the case it might be smarter to just do the whole thing in styrene brick but that means duplicating the sunk cost (~$20) of the wood sheets. I'd like to find a solution before I start cutting into the Larkspur material.
Thanks, y'all
cnjman721....but here's a problem -- making wall pilasters...
I'd guess that the brick detail on plastic pilasters will be noticeably different than that on the very nicely-done wood sheets. You may be able to cut pilaster material from the wood sheet, then thin it somewhat using sandpaper, but you'd still need to scribe mortar lines on the edges.
Despite the great appearance of those sheets, I've not been all that enthusiastic about using wood for anything on my model railroad since discovering styrene building materials. I'd do your roundhouse using styrene brick sheets and pilasters, and save the wood-version brick for another structure that won't need pilasters. If you use some of the Tichy or Grandt Line windows and doors made for use in masonary, in the laser-etched wood, you could still create a contest-quality model that could also be placed front & centre on your layout. While this would, of course, require an additional outlay, I'm sure that you'll need other structures besides that roundhouse, so the money spent on the wood version wouldn't be lost, but merely re-allocated for another project.
Wayne
What happens if you make a carefully aligned double 45-degree inside miter to form the 'box' of the pilaster and then a butt joint at proper depth, also carefully aligned, with the 'wall' sheet? That should give you brick 'all the way'...
All -
I reached out to LAsrkspur/Monster ModelWorks and they provided me with a solutions:
A) Although somehow I had overlooked it on their website, they provide corner pieces that match the sheet https://www.larkspurlaserart.com/product-page/ho-scale-1-8-aged-american-brick-corners Problem 1 solved
B) For the cornice issues, they now offer -- just went up on their web site yesterday in fact, perfectly matching 1/32 in thick brick sheet that can be used to model layered cornices at the top of the wall.
C) They also pointed me to an MRH article that is an incredibly detailed 29 page how to entitled, "Scratchbuilding With Monster Model Works Brick" by Dave Karkoski that provides tons of details and tips including how he layered the cornicework.
Jimmy at MMW was incredibly helpful and fast to respond to my initial query in the "chat" box on the Larkspur website https://www.larkspurlaserart.com/
I recommend them highly!
Best,