Brown Brick - any ideas?

[Rich Papper]

Hello

Brown brick. Does anyone have any recommendations for a starting colour for painting Wills / Slaters brick sheets? I'm thinking of the approaches to Paddington or the arches on the way into Waterloo - every bit of brickwork is a sludgy / muddy brown tending towards black in some places. I'm fairly sure I could dry brush the black, but what colour to start with for the brown? I'm also not at all sure whether these are actually brown bricks or started life another colour that is now just absolutely filthy, in which case would it be better to start with the colour they should be?

Sorry, many questions, would love any and all suggestions.

Thanks

Rich

Edited April 22, 2018 by Rich Papper

[coachmann]

My process involves cellulose. However, find the colour you want in the Halford car aerosol range and buy a can of Plastic Primer as well. Spray your brick building with primer then the brown colour. Whatever the mortar colour is, mix a bit in a tin lid thinned with white spirit and brush it over the bricks (do one side at a time).  When it is close to being dry, wipe it off the surface of the bricks. Any discolouring of said bricks can be removed with a piece of kitchen roll dampened with white spirit. Finally, spray a coat of matt varnish over the lot.

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by coachmann

[mezzoman253]

I used craft matt acrylics, various shades of red-brown. Then mixed a thin wash of cream for the mortar, sometimes adding a little black to get a greying effect. Over this, you can add weathering ( I used chalk pastels). I managed to create a smoke effect by floating the pastel on the wash, to get that smoke stained brick you see in photos. Purely accidental. Experiment, as you can always re-do it if it's not how you like it.

 

 

 

[Guest]

Brown brick. Does anyone have any recommendations for a starting colour for painting Wills / Slaters brick sheets? I'm thinking of the approaches to Paddington or the arches on the way into Waterloo - every bit of brickwork is a sludgy / muddy brown tending towards black in some places.

 

I found the same thing trying to represent the brickwork around the Kings Cross suburban side. Originally it would have been yellow London brick but years of grime and brake dust turns it an almost uniform muddy brown colour.

The brickwork in the photos below is made up from Wills sheets. After priming, Humbrol 29 Dark Earth acrylic (from a rattle can) was used. A dilute mortar wash was applied using a cream tester pot from Homebase. Dark brown and smoke Humbrol weathering powders were used to create streaks etc, and to dirty the mortar. If you need a cleaner yellow London brick, Humbrol's 93 Desert Yellow is a pretty good starting point.

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Pete 75C

[RexAshton]

You could try water colour pencils over an acrylic mortar wash. If you're not happy it's easy to wash it off and start again. Once you've got the effect you're after a spray of matt varnish will seal it in place. These were builkt from Wills kits and use vermillion, madder carmine and black.

Edited April 23, 2018 by RexAshton

[Rich Papper]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Funnily enough Pete one of the tester pieces I did was Humbrol 29 but I was worried about the similarity to the track colour. Will find the bit I did and have a bit of a dry-brush session. I did also have a go at mortar, but couldn't get it to flow so ended up just making the bricks paler. I think this was a combination of not diluting enough, not having the wall wet to start with or not waiting long enough before wiping off. Interested by weathering powders too, have never used them. More experimentation needed.

Happy for more ideas / pictures if anyone has any.

Thanks

Rich

[Guest]

Funnily enough Pete one of the tester pieces I did was Humbrol 29 but I was worried about the similarity to the track colour.

 

It is a little too pale as it is, Rich, but not bad as a base coat. Darkened with dry brushing and streaked with powders/washes works well.