Yellow brick painting advice sought.

[Ray Von]

4 hours ago, sb67 said:

Thanks for that "how to" Ray. What was the yellow you used? I used Revell Ochre Brown, lightened with a bit of white. 

The paints are packed away at the moment - but it was a vivid yellow, I recall that being the advice from others on the forum.  It sounds counterintuitive, but the loud yellow really is the secret.  Also don't be afraid to use light blues, greys and whites at random in your brickwork (amongst flesh, dark brown and dark red) - look at yellow brickwork, all the shades are there.  Then use a gradual build up of "brown earth" wash and LET IT TRULY DRY between coats (12-24hrs) as it's amazing how overpainting can ruin the effect you're looking for.

[sb67]

So the bridge is finally done, I thought I'd take a couple of pics outside to see how the colour looked.

 

 

 

 

[ColinK]

Looks great. Nice to see bricks that are not red.

[Mick Bonwick]

You've captured that very well, Steve. Nice result.

[sb67]

Thanks Guys 

[sb67]

On 04/01/2021 at 23:43, Ray Von said:

The paints are packed away at the moment - but it was a vivid yellow, I recall that being the advice from others on the forum.  It sounds counterintuitive, but the loud yellow really is the secret.  Also don't be afraid to use light blues, greys and whites at random in your brickwork (amongst flesh, dark brown and dark red) - look at yellow brickwork, all the shades are there.  Then use a gradual build up of "brown earth" wash and LET IT TRULY DRY between coats (12-24hrs) as it's amazing how overpainting can ruin the effect you're looking for.

 

Hi Ray, I'm painting a building now and I'm giving your method a go, I'm on to the wash stage now, was the wash made from acrylic paint or enamel's ?

 

Many thanks.

 

Many 

[Ray Von]

The wash I use is Revel Brand acrylic "Brown Earth" built up gradually. All the best, let's see some pics?!

Edited March 7, 2021 by Ray Von

[sb67]

Thanks Ray. 

Here's the state of play so far.

The first pic is painted a basic yellow colour

The second one Browns, White and Blue have been randomly added to individual bricks.

At the moment it doesn't look great.  I made a schoolboy error by not erasing my marking out lines before I painted it yellow so they show through a bit! The brick plasticard hasn't got a lot of relief so it was difficut to pick out individual bricks and it looks very messy at the moment but I'm hoping the wash will sort it all out. Just giving it a day or so to dry thouroughly. 

 

[Ray Von]

13 minutes ago, sb67 said:

Thanks Ray. 

Here's the state of play so far.

The first pic is painted a basic yellow colour

The second one Browns, White and Blue have been randomly added to individual bricks.

At the moment it doesn't look great.  I made a schoolboy error by not erasing my marking out lines before I painted it yellow so they show through a bit! The brick plasticard hasn't got a lot of relief so it was difficut to pick out individual bricks and it looks very messy at the moment but I'm hoping the wash will sort it all out. Just giving it a day or so to dry thouroughly. 

 

Looking good, the wash does do a great job of neatening up the edges of the bricks.

At this stage (if you wanted to) you could wash some white or mid grey into the mortar, depending if you want it to look more or less aged.  Leaving it as you have it works too, it will become a mid tone from the brown wash. The same is true of the window sills etc, if you pick them out with white or grey, the brown washes will make them appear to be made from a lighter or darker "sandy" coloured material.  I've painted buildings using several variations of this method in the past, all have turned out well.  Look forward to seeing the finished piece! 

[sb67]

3 hours ago, Ray Von said:

Looking good, the wash does do a great job of neatening up the edges of the bricks.

At this stage (if you wanted to) you could wash some white or mid grey into the mortar, depending if you want it to look more or less aged.  Leaving it as you have it works too, it will become a mid tone from the brown wash. The same is true of the window sills etc, if you pick them out with white or grey, the brown washes will make them appear to be made from a lighter or darker "sandy" coloured material.  I've painted buildings using several variations of this method in the past, all have turned out well.  Look forward to seeing the finished piece! 

 

Thanks Ray, I was going to leave the sills until after but maybe I'll give them a coat of paint before the wash. I think I'll let the Earth Brown washes take care of the mortar as there's not a great deal of relief I'm wary of them filling with paint. 

[Ray Von]

8 minutes ago, sb67 said:

 

Thanks Ray, I was going to leave the sills until after but maybe I'll give them a coat of paint before the wash. I think I'll let the Earth Brown washes take care of the mortar as there's not a great deal of relief I'm wary of them filling with paint. 

Good call, I rarely fill in the mortar these days - working in N Scale, it barely shows if I do!  Best of luck with it. 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Thank you for this thread, South Western Potteries were definitely not red brick, this thread is beginning to answer many of my questions.

 

Thanks and StaySafe

 

 

 

[sb67]

1 hour ago, Jack Benson said:

Thank you for this thread, South Western Potteries were definitely not red brick, this thread is beginning to answer many of my questions.

 

Thanks and StaySafe

 

 

 

 

Glad it's of some use Jack 

[Ray Von]

Out of interest, which yellow did you use in the end? 

[sb67]

AS the shopd are shut I went with what I had it was Revell Matt Yellow No 15. I was going for an Earth Brown No 87 for the wash. 

[sb67]

Ray - how thin was the wash you used? I've tried 1 coat  but think I might have made it too thick in places.

[Ray Von]

3 minutes ago, sb67 said:

Ray - how thin was the wash you used? I've tried 1 coat  but think I might have made it too thick in places.

Hard to say exactly, I usually mix it by eye - a thin wash, maybe one part paint to three parts water, not too opaque - applied gradually.  I wouldn't worry too much about uneven-ness, it should all level out as layers are added.  Maybe if you could share a pic? 

[sb67]

Thanks Ray, I 'm at my partners tonight so I'll post one tomorrow before I start on another coat. 

[Ray Von]

No probs, I'm amazed that I haven't got any pics of the wash during application - it does look worryingly bad on the first few coats, and it's very tempting to slather it on thicker to improve things!  Patience is the key though. 

[sb67]

Here's a couple of pics so far. I think you can see the places I've used a darker wash. I think the yellow's a bit too dark if I'm honest but we'll see how it goes. 

The plan is to apply the wash only on the lighter areas.

 

 

 

 

[Ray Von]

3 hours ago, sb67 said:

Here's a couple of pics so far. I think you can see the places I've used a darker wash. I think the yellow's a bit too dark if I'm honest but we'll see how it goes. 

The plan is to apply the wash only on the lighter areas.

 

 

 

 

That looks great already!  Obviously there would be a variation of tone real examples, so I wouldn't be too concerned over lighter/darker areas.  Well done!! 

[Philou]

Don't forget the bricks are going to be 'darker' under cills and eaves as the rain can't get to them to wash off the dust and grime - particularly if you're doing the steam era due to the additional soot and smoke particulates in the air then (London smog anyone?).

 

Depending where you live, the mortar joints may not have been cement/lime/sand based but lime/coal-dust based as they were in S Wales, very, very dark grey to black in colour.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[Ray Von]

I took a few snaps while out and about this morning: 

 

 

 

I think they illustrate the variation in tone and texture well.

Edited March 11, 2021 by Ray Von

[sb67]

Nice photo's Ray, they show the mortar colour to be lighter than I thought.

[Ray Von]

36 minutes ago, sb67 said:

Nice photo's Ray, they show the mortar colour to be lighter than I thought.

As Philou said, the mortar may well be darker on trackside buildings - the ones pictured are residential / town (near the sea too) so maybe that's why they appear lighter...