I need to try the hard paint pen. I will first have to work on my Master's Degree.
I want to get a perfectly-painted building, then weather it to my liking.
I might have to try the painting using a hard paint pen when I get home. I have to first work on my Master's Degree. Priorities!
I would like a perfectly painted structure, and then I can weather it from there.
It seems like I can't win.
I tried to go to Home Depot to get some Window glazing putty, the non-drying kind, and tried rubbing it on the brick face. I even warmed it up by rubbing it in my hands a couple of minutes. No go. The putty was waaay to sticky and would not adhere to the brick surface.
Even tried a wash of diluted off-white paint with water, and then tried wiping off the face of the brick once the wash was applied. The result was crap. The wash was not consistent and when I wiped it took away some of white mortar lines. I was wiping perpendicular to the mortar lines, and then even tried at a 45 degree angle, with horrible results.
Why can't I get a consistent mortar line on N scale brick?
Mike, that looks very convincing. I will definitely try doing that on one of my "test" walls.
Chris
Loads of good ideas on here.
I used artists pastels [chalks] to do mine :
Powder the chalk with a blade, rub it on, blow away the excess and gently spray with artists fixative or matt varnish. I like to be a bit hit and miss with the chalk.
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
I used thinned white laytex paint. I put it in a cap and added some water to the mix. Brush paint on a side of a building, then wipe it off.
I may have over-did it.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
I recently began my first laser-cut craftsman type structure (hang in there as I will get to the point). In an attempt to get some additional information, I emailed FOS structures - attempting to find out if their line of fine structures was suitable for a "craftsman newbie". They recommended a DVD by Scotty Mason called Building Craftsman Structure Kits - Volume One. Honestly, I learned more in the first 15 minutes of this outstanding video than I could ever have gained on my own. Scotty is an excellent instructor and the quality of the production is first rate.
More to the point: Scotty describes how to deal with brick walls. His method is easy and suitable for any modeler. Mr. Mason's DVD's (there are a total of 3 in the set...I only bought the first one - something I will correct ASAP) can be bought from his website www.scottymason.com . I think I paid about $40 for Volume 1...money very well spent. Trust me, you will want to eventually move to laser kits (nothing resembles wood quite like....wood). Many of today's craftsman kits can be assembled by anyone with minimal skills, a willingness to learn, and a dash of adventure. I just finished Northeastern Scale Models "Cheese Factory" and found it to be straight-forward and enjoyable to build. Yes, I built it before I sent for Scotty's DVD - made some mistakes; but resolve to do better on the next kit.
"Keeping my hand on the throttle...and my eyes on rail."
I bought a can of Roberts Brick Mortar Formula from Caboose Hobbies to try it out, and I will never use anything else anymore. This product is the easiest way I ever did mortar lines, no hassle, no mess, just brush it on, let it dry and wipe the brick faces. It looks really good and works well on both bare plastic walls and painted walls. I can only recommend it.
Per, Summit Customcuts
gatrhumpy wrote: tomkat-13 wrote:Rub, press the chalk into the lines & with a lightly damp cloth whipe the bricks off.OK, so when you seal it with Dullcote, does it go away? I tried the chalk, however, I didn't wipe it off with a damp towel. I will have to try that method.
tomkat-13 wrote:Rub, press the chalk into the lines & with a lightly damp cloth whipe the bricks off.
OK, so when you seal it with Dullcote, does it go away? I tried the chalk, however, I didn't wipe it off with a damp towel. I will have to try that method.
I do not use Dullcote.......First I use a flat paint in a brick color.....(sometimes I use a light India ink wash)....then I use a chalk mixture (white with gray, or tan)....rub and/or press some in between the bricks.... some plastic models hold the chalk better than others (if the lines between the brick do not hold the chalk, a paint or ink wash will do better)....after you can whipe the bricks with an old all cotton T-shirt rag....sometimes I get it lightly damp. Rub off the bricks to get the effect you want.....do not do all your buildings the same way.....try different brick & mortar colors.
Here is a tutorial I wrote several years ago (with pictures) that'll take you through the steps of painting, assembling, brick mortor, signage, weathering that I often use on buildings.
Enjoy..
http://www.rolleiman.com/trains/clinic1.html
(made active by selector)
White & gray chalk
White chalk on the brick bottom.
India ink wash.
Use very small amounts each time and be prepared to many layers instead of one.
Most good painting is done with many, many layers of very thin paint.
Magnus
I tried the wash method and it failed on me also!
I might try the wash method of using a water based wash rather than an oil based wash as when I wiped the wash off it took the brick colored paint with it.
Could it have been that I thinned the paint with mineral turpentine rather than thinners? It was all I had at the time!
gatrhumpy wrote: Blah! Tried the whitewash, and it didn't work too well. Some mortar lines didn't come through, and some of the whitewash dried on the brick.I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.The whitewash was heavily diluted with 70% alcohol, and brushed on.
Blah! Tried the whitewash, and it didn't work too well. Some mortar lines didn't come through, and some of the whitewash dried on the brick.
I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.
The whitewash was heavily diluted with 70% alcohol, and brushed on.
I use regular dishwashing liquid.
secondhandmodeler wrote: I used the method of diluted, white paint. I first sprayed the sections with rust colored primer in a can. I then diluted white paint with alcohol and applied with a brush. The alcohol lets the paint run down the contours of the brick. One thing I would do in the future is use light gray instead of white. After the white dried, I had to add multiple washes of diluted black to tone everything down. I prefer craft paint over ink washes because you can wipe off excess paint while it's drying. Here is a picture of one of my projects. I never did get around to finishing them before I dismantled my layout.click on photo to enlarge
I used the method of diluted, white paint. I first sprayed the sections with rust colored primer in a can. I then diluted white paint with alcohol and applied with a brush. The alcohol lets the paint run down the contours of the brick. One thing I would do in the future is use light gray instead of white. After the white dried, I had to add multiple washes of diluted black to tone everything down. I prefer craft paint over ink washes because you can wipe off excess paint while it's drying. Here is a picture of one of my projects. I never did get around to finishing them before I dismantled my layout.
click on photo to enlarge
I may have to try that when I get home. Thanks!
I tried the drywall spackle method yesterday, and I failed miserably. I may have to paint the entire model again (N scale DPM) just to start over and get the spackle completely off.
Has anyone tried the chalk method before?
Lillen wrote:When looking at pictures of real buildings in contrast to model buildings the model buildings have to much white in general.
When looking at pictures of real buildings in contrast to model buildings the model buildings have to much white in general.
I agree completely. I have a brick building to paint but went a bought some sections of modular brick wall to experiment with. The pics I see of the "wipe off" method seem to leave the brick very light but I have to see it under actual layout lighting to get a feel for it. Most of the brick buildings around my way have been around a long time and have faded mortar and a deep red brick color.
I am inclined to think that painting the brick white and then dry brushing red will err on the side of brick rather then mortar and perhaps get what I am looking at.
I am terribly guilty of too much thinking and talking and not enough doing as far as this goes.. I will need to give it a try sometime soon!
chris
The technique that has worked well for me is:
1. Spray the walls with whatever brick color you want (I use the 97-cent cans of red primer from Wally World)
2. brush on a wash of whatever mortar color you want (shoe polish works well for this too).
3. to bring the brick color back out, LIGHTLY spray a mist of your brick color over the surface of the bricks.
I wish I had pictures to post, but I'm posting from work.
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the
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