"Yellow Brickwork."

[Ray Von]

Hi all,

 

Just a quick request for some expertise / experience in creating the pictured effect in paint on plastic kits. I like the idea of this on an engine or goods shed - but just thinking about where to begin is making me crosseyed! I notice that the majority of buildings on other layouts are red brick or stone, is this "yellow" colouring avoided because of its complexity or is there a trick to easily replicating the varied colours and tones? I would hazard a guess that a base of a khaki or sand colour would be a good place to start....?

All input welcome, thank you.

[ColinK]

Hi Ray, this is how I do it - no doubt there are other ways that work.I'm assuming that the bricks are embossed plasticard

 

Paint the whole wall the basic yellow brick colour (creamy yellow) and let it dry thoroughly.

 

On a mixing dish (large lid off a jar), put a bit of the basic yellow colour in the middle. Them put a small dab of each white, grey and red brick (or leather or rust) in the mixing dish round the base yellow. Now take a small paint brush and use it to mix a tiny bit of the white with a bit of the yellow, the aim is to have a slightly lighter version of the base yellow. Now use this to pick out some random brickes in this lighter colour. Repeat the process for the grey and red. When you've finished around 10% of the brickes will have been picked out with these new shades. They will look a bit too garish at this point. Let it dry thoroughly.

 

Now you need some mortar coloured paint. This needs to be thinned, but you could probably use one of the Humbrol Washes instead. Get some kitchen paper towels to hand. With a large brush paint the whole side of the building, the paint will run into the mortar courses. Now rub it off the brickwork with a paper towel, the harder you rub, the more you remove, so don't rub too har at first. By painting it over the whole building side, the mortar colour unifies everything.

 

That's it. Its harder to describe than do.

[Classsix T]

That looks like a wall constructed from reclaimed building materials Ray. In the main "Suffolk White".

 

If doing it from printed media card kit it'd be possible to use photo manipulation software to randomise the pattern. I'd not underestimate the work involved though for best results.

 

C6T.

[steviesparx]

Yes, I too would love to know the secret of good weathered yellow brickwork...

 

My own efforts have been less than satisfactory by my own admission - I think this is mustard yellow weathered with allsorts..

I did take some pictures out and about to see if I could replicate - it does look far from the original yellow ( London ) brick after years in the elements...

 

 

 

[Ray Von]

That looks like a wall constructed from reclaimed building materials Ray. In the main "Suffolk White".

If doing it from printed media card kit it'd be possible to use photo manipulation software to randomise the pattern. I'd not underestimate the work involved though for best results.

C6T.

Thanks chaps, I did realise that the example image that I posted wasn't quite typical of the sort of brickwork I'm getting at, but the overall colouring would be along those lines.

Obviously, "reclaimed" wouldn't​ be quite the effect I'm after! Many buildings where I live are made from these type of bricks, so I should have no shortage of resource material. I will have a stab at the technique described by Colin K though, I think experimentation will play a big part in the endeavour......

[RexAshton]

Hi all,

 

Just a quick request for some expertise / experience in creating the pictured effect in paint on plastic kits. I like the idea of this on an engine or goods shed - but just thinking about where to begin is making me crosseyed! I notice that the majority of buildings on other layouts are red brick or stone, is this "yellow" colouring avoided because of its complexity or is there a trick to easily replicating the varied colours and tones? I would hazard a guess that a base of a khaki or sand colour would be a good place to start....?

All input welcome, thank you.

 

Hi Ray, this is how I do it - no doubt there are other ways that work.I'm assuming that the bricks are embossed plasticard

 

Paint the whole wall the basic yellow brick colour (creamy yellow) and let it dry thoroughly.

 

On a mixing dish (large lid off a jar), put a bit of the basic yellow colour in the middle. Them put a small dab of each white, grey and red brick (or leather or rust) in the mixing dish round the base yellow. Now take a small paint brush and use it to mix a tiny bit of the white with a bit of the yellow, the aim is to have a slightly lighter version of the base yellow. Now use this to pick out some random brickes in this lighter colour. Repeat the process for the grey and red. When you've finished around 10% of the brickes will have been picked out with these new shades. They will look a bit too garish at this point. Let it dry thoroughly.

 

Now you need some mortar coloured paint. This needs to be thinned, but you could probably use one of the Humbrol Washes instead. Get some kitchen paper towels to hand. With a large brush paint the whole side of the building, the paint will run into the mortar courses. Now rub it off the brickwork with a paper towel, the harder you rub, the more you remove, so don't rub too har at first. By painting it over the whole building side, the mortar colour unifies everything.

 

That's it. Its harder to describe than do.

I'd agree with that with the possible suggestion of painting the bricks with enamels and then the mortar with thinned down acrylic or even artists watercolour (I've used both) so that a damp cloth can be used to remove the surplus.

Edited April 24, 2017 by RexAshton

[The Johnster]

Yellow colour in bricks is dependent on the locality they are sourced from and used in, mostly London and the South East.  Mine are much redder, being intended to represent South Wales buildings, but in any case the virulent red of most kits and ready built models needs toning down.  FWIW, my method is to initially mix up a creamy-yellow weathering mix and apply it liberally in a fairly dilute form to the plastic brick wall, the idea being to build up a residue of it in the mortar between the bricks and leave a coating of mortar dust over the whole surface.  Once applied, the whole wall is given a light rub down with a tissue or similar, leaving a coat of fairly thick weathering in the mortar and a thin coating on the main brick surfaces.  When I am satisfied with that, the whole thing is given a coat of grey/brown 'dirt' weathering.

 

I think this basic method would work for yellow bricks, except that the initial mix of mortar colour might need to be lighter, even almost whitish, to achieve the same effect, and the rub off of that coat might need to be a tad more vigorous.

[Steamport Southport]

Yellow brick is quite common Oop North as well.

 

Bank Hall railway station for example.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Hall_railway_station#/media/File:Bank_Hall_railway_station,_Liverpool_-_DSC00763.JPG

 

 

Jason

[stevejjjexcov]

Hi Ray, I used hand coloured hand cut bricks individually stuck on. A good effect but a b#££%r to do!

I used ink washes to colour the paper then photo copied it. Then marked out each sheet into brick sized oblongs 3x1.5 mm then stick them on. The drawback is the time it takes!

 

P.s. Two years so far I don't think I will finish it now cos its no longer needed

Edited April 24, 2017 by stevejjjexcov

[Porcy Mane]

Yellow brick is quite common Oop North as well.

 

You bet. Here's a million or four.

 

 

Have a quick spin around here.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/XcG74RhbRvF2

 

High silica content that  makes an excellent temperature resisting refractory brick.

 

P

[Ray Von]

Going off on a slight tangent here, what is everyone's preferred way of painting their model kits? Is it best to paint the pieces before assembly, or make the kit and paint after??

[L49]

Hi Ray,

 

For the last 15 years or so I have been a firm believer in printed card being the best way to reproduce London yellow brick. However, knowing that many people still prefer using embossed plastic, we decided to have a go at the club, trying to get a brick finish with plasticard which would stand up to nicely printed and weathered card.

 

The first results were a disaster! We tried base coat with mortar flooded in, which just made a mess. We tried the base colour with mortar painted over then wiped off. We tried painting individual bricks, which just looked spotty even after airbrushing, we tried dry brushing the whole thing, I even tried wet mixing humbrol on the surface of the building to try to get some tonal depth, but nothing looked right.

 

This was as good as it got, with a base coat of Humbrol 103 (cream) dry brushed over with 29 (dark earth) and 33 (matt black) Apologies fort he shadows on the following pictures. I have literally just taken them on my desk, and the light in the study is appalling.

 

 

 

Then I stumbled on an article in one of the magazines which used coloured pencils to reproduce red brick, and it didn't look too bad, so I decided to have a go at the same technique for yellows.

 

Here is the result so far. It looks better than the best of the painted buildings, but the technique still needs a bit more work.

 

 

 

 

And here is a  comparison of the two as they fit together on the layout (ironically this is the side which faces away from the public!)

 

 

I used a base coat of Humbrol 83 (which is a stone-ish colour), then after leaving it to dry overnight I went over it with Faber Castell artists pencils:

 

1122-182

1122-187

1122-179

1122-177

1122-157

 

in that order ranging from a light yellow ochre to a dark blue/brown, including making a few random marks on individual bricks to break up the overall colour.

 

These were then dry brushed over very lightly with Humbrol 29 before being lightly airbrushed with 33. Quite a faff, but I think it has been worth it.

 

The trouble is, my next building to finish is a big block of flats, with loads of red brick relief detail to do as well. I'm not looking forward to those, so I am doing a good job of procrastination before trying to get them finished!

Edited April 25, 2017 by L49

[Ray Von]

Cheers L49, that's a really useful and informative post, I think I will try these techniques on a spare piece of brickwork sheet a few times and see how I get on. Thanks for the Humbrol reference ​numbers too. :-)

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Yes, I too would love to know the secret of good weathered yellow brickwork...

 Me too. The really, really, yellow brick of Kings Cross station and much early GNR construction is very difficult to make a convincing job of, as per other posts here.

 

The trouble it seems to me is that it is just so improbable. There's that fresh mustard yellow base colour, and then all the other brick colours imaginable, here, there and everywhere, mainly thanks to the very crude 'clamp' firing: you can even find blue-purple fused patches. I have in the past gone down the route of mustard yellow, coated all over with a dark grey-brown filth, which isn't really quite right but doesn't offend the eye overmuch. It needs a sensitive artist's eye for colour palette, which I have not got...

[Steamport Southport]

Going off on a slight tangent here, what is everyone's preferred way of painting their model kits? Is it best to paint the pieces before assembly, or make the kit and paint after??

 

To be honest it often depends on the kit/model. Sometimes it's easier painting before or during construction and other times it's the other way round.

 

When I was a youngster and built model planes I had a friend that wondered why he made a mess of painting his planes. He would build the whole kit first and then painted it. He didn't realise that it was usually far easier if you painted some bits as you went along and took your time. Some of the little parts are easier if you painted them whilst still on the sprue and touch them up again later if necessary.

 

 

Jason

[Jan]

Hi
Interesting discussion.

I quite like the Scalescenes look: http://scalescenes.com/product/london-brick/

But as I have 8ft of Wills viaduct to colour, I'll be trying out some of the methods shared in this thread. So thanks from me! 
 

Cheers

Jan

[Ray Von]

It needs a sensitive artist's eye for colour palette, which I have not got...

I was an art student in my youth, but the thought of accurately reproducing the effect we are talking about fills me with a fair bit of dread! I'll have a stab at it though. The posts seen here so far will be of great assistance (keep em coming!)

As it is, I am JUST approaching the final (technical) stages of my track and baseboard - see my blog - so now the REAL work can begin....

[Ray Von]

Hi all, just wanted to let you know how I got on.

So, I started with a grey primer undercoat followed by two coats of Beige. This was followed by a few coats of a Yellow wash - the resulting colour was quite sandy. I then set about picking out individual bricks as described above by ColinK, the mortar was a wash of white and beige mixed. Once this has dried, I gave the whole building a wash of Dark Earth.

I think it's turned out pretty well, not as yellow as I originally envisaged, but it still resembles some real-world examples. I just need to detail the window sills and obviously the roof is still bare primer.

[Ray Von]

*edited for duplicate post!

Edited June 19, 2017 by Ray Von