Painting mortar

[The Fatadder]

Having finally got on and painted the red oxide base coat for the bricks on my bridge I've now started thinking about painting the mortar before I start picking out individual bricks in differnt colours.

 

While I am pretty much decided on using a dark grey enamel for the colour, I'm a little unsure as to what method to use for actually painting it.

Any advice?

 

The brick sheet uses is southeast finecast

[Guest jim s-w]

Hi Rich

 

First up wash the wall in thinners then paint the mortar colour on and scrub it so that it beds in the the grooves and doesnt sit on the bricks.

 

HTH

 

Jim

[Wizard of the Moor]

You won't want to hear this

 

but it might be easier to paint the mortar colour first and then drybrush the brick colour over it. I followed the method described by MRDBLUE17 and it worked really well.

[darren01]

HI

 

For the mortar on all my buildings I used this method; I used Das clay (Grey)

 

Get a jar of water and drop a lump of clay in and leave over night, in the morning you should have slimy clay water in the jar.

 

Now get an old brush and paint the clay slush over the area of brick work you have painted.

 

Leave to dry and you will see that the clay has gone into the brick work , I clean it back a bit with a damp cloth ,to remove excess

 

Once dry you will end up with nice neat mortar between the bricks, have a look at my layout on here all the buildings where done with this method (Torrington)

 

All the very best

 

Darren

 

 

[Dave Holt]

Having finally got on and painted the red oxide base coat for the bricks on my bridge I've now started thinking about painting the mortar before I start picking out individual bricks in differnt colours.

 

While I am pretty much decided on using a dark grey enamel for the colour, I'm a little unsure as to what method to use for actually painting it.

Any advice?

 

The brick sheet uses is southeast finecast

 

Rich,

 

 

 

I think I'm with Jim's method. Painting every individual brick sounds too time consuming unless you have a very small area to do or are working for Pendon! No experience with DAS clay, but it sounds a bit messy and I'm not sure what advantage it has over paint (enamel or acrylic - if you want water based material).

 

The method I was told by Gravy Train is to paint the brick colour, then matt black (could be dark grey, to suit) over the whole suface. Let the black partially dry, then wipe off using vertical strokes of a cloth or kitchen roll. This leaves the mortar courses black and the bricks discoloured/weathered, to an extent dependant on how long you let the black dry and how vigorously you rub it off.

 

The colour (and degree of weathering of the bricks) depends on the location, the age of the structure and period being modelled. In urban areas before the Clean Air Act, buildings/structures, especially close to railways, would be almost blackened and I think the mortar would be darker still, due to chemical changes caused by atmospheric pollution. Rural areas or newer structures would obviously show more of the original colours.

In my view, many steam age models show brick/stonework looking far too clean.

 

Whichever method you adopt, I suggest you do a trial, or several trials, on some spare brick sheet before commiting to the actual model.

 

regards,

 

Dave.

[The Fatadder]

Have been doing some trials on the back face (which will not be seen on the layout). Ended using a much lighter colour for the mortar (having re examined the prototyp). End effect is ok, but I did find that the red paint was coming off when I wiped the excess mortar off

[Captain Kernow]

Rich,

 

Some good tips here from various folk, including Darren, Dave Holt and Jim S-W. If I were you, I would vary the method, depending on the type of brick surface you are using.

 

Wills brick sheets have a much deeper mortar course than Slaters plasticard, so for the Wills, you could certainly try Darren's method.

 

Alternatively, once the top brick colour has really dried thoroughly (it shouldn't come off when you wipe the mortar off!!), dampen the area to be mortared with water, with a small bit of washing up liquid mixed in. Then get some grey poster paint of a runny but not too thin consistency (mix the precise hue to suit) and dab it into the mortar lines with a small brush. Capilliary action should draw the mortar colour into the mortar lines. Repeat the process (possibly varying the mortar colour slightly) until the whole area is done. When the mortar paint is touch dry, get a dampened cotton handkerchief (a sacrificial one, not your Sunday best handkerchief! ) and wipe the mortar colour off the surface of the bricks in a vertical motion.

 

You can dry-brush individual bricks as well, but this is best done before the mortar is applied.

 

An alternative is to look at Barrowroadman's blog, with regard to the way he's using Faber Castell coloured crayons on a brick base sprayed with Halfords grey primer.

 

My methods shown above also work on Slaters brick plasticard sheets.

 

Other weathering can, of course, be added subsequently to suit.

[Gravy Train]

Hi there,

just to clarify a few things with regard to brick colouring.

 

Firstly i don't have a set way of producing the brick colour, it all depends on what the brick and mortar colour is you are trying to represent.

For red brick of a darker shade i use Humbrol N070 and the mortar either a no64, 1, 79 grey again all dependant on what the motar colour is.

 

 

Tthe brick surface is washed over with the initial motar colour and when drty the brick colour is applied in between neat and dry with a small flat ended brush at approx 45 degree angle, usually a couple of coates will cover it.

 

For yellow - cream type brick colour , something like no103 i use a different method, that of the initial brick colour applied first then when dry something like no79 grey applied but then wiped away almost imidiatley, this way it tones down the yellow brick.

 

What Dave Holt is refaring to is the representation of Yorkshire stone wereby the initial stone colour is applied in this case something like desert yellow, when dry it is covered with matt black and when nearly dry wiped away with meths on an old rag,that is a general technique, this cam also be varied by applying the matt black nearly neat with a flat ended brush to get variation but you have to decide from the off wich parts you leave out the black covering.

 

It is important to know that this particular stone colour method does not work in my opinion on the likes of lighter stone such as that found on the Settle carlisle.

 

With regard to brick sheet i tend to use the Southeastern Finecast as they are bigger sheets and from a viewing point of most buildings at around 2 to fiveft away you cant tell the difference, thats my opinion, if asked which is the best method i have to say scribing but for commisioned work it is a none starter.

 

I do like most of the Slaters embossed sheets but not the brick sheet, i find that most of the time it goes out of true when trying to but up your corners on the end of a building but the stone sheets are superb and use them regularly.

 

The Wills sheets are very good but beware of there small size which makes for difficult disguising of the joints for larger areas and more so with the roofing tiles.

 

I hope this gives you some idea, any questions ask away.

 

cheers

Peter

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

Hi

 

Firstly I paint over al of the brickwork with a thin wash of mortar colour thinned down, this acts as a primer/undercoat, I then dry brush roughly with a brick colour, then once that has dried, dry brush with a slightly lighter brick shade, I then get a thin wash of mortar colour and hold the tip of the fine brush to the brick (SE Finecast) capilary action will let the paint do the pointing.........

 

I then paint some individual bricks different colours. All this is done with enamel. Once completely dry, I then dry brush a very thin coat of white acrylic, which lightens the overall effect. Do not paint the brick work too dark, it does not look right.

 

I will post some photos of Llanfyllin Station tomorrow which is currently at stage two and a half.

[Dave Holt]

Hi there,

just to clarify a few things with regard to brick colouring.

 

Firstly i don't have a set way of producing the brick colour, it all depends on what the brick and mortar colour is you are trying to represent.

For red brick of a darker shade i use Humbrol N070 and the mortar either a no64, 1, 79 grey again all dependant on what the motar colour is.

 

 

Tthe brick surface is washed over with the initial motar colour and when drty the brick colour is applied in between neat and dry with a small flat ended brush at approx 45 degree angle, usually a couple of coates will cover it.

 

For yellow - cream type brick colour , something like no103 i use a different method, that of the initial brick colour applied first then when dry something like no79 grey applied but then wiped away almost imidiatley, this way it tones down the yellow brick.

 

What Dave Holt is refaring to is the representation of Yorkshire stone wereby the initial stone colour is applied in this case something like desert yellow, when dry it is covered with matt black and when nearly dry wiped away with meths on an old rag,that is a general technique, this cam also be varied by applying the matt black nearly neat with a flat ended brush to get variation but you have to decide from the off wich parts you leave out the black covering.

 

It is important to know that this particular stone colour method does not work in my opinion on the likes of lighter stone such as that found on the Settle carlisle.

 

With regard to brick sheet i tend to use the Southeastern Finecast as they are bigger sheets and from a viewing point of most buildings at around 2 to fiveft away you cant tell the difference, thats my opinion, if asked which is the best method i have to say scribing but for commisioned work it is a none starter.

 

I do like most of the Slaters embossed sheets but not the brick sheet, i find that most of the time it goes out of true when trying to but up your corners on the end of a building but the stone sheets are superb and use them regularly.

 

The Wills sheets are very good but beware of there small size which makes for difficult disguising of the joints for larger areas and more so with the roofing tiles.

 

I hope this gives you some idea, any questions ask away.

 

cheers

Peter

 

Sorry if I've mislead anyone. As Peter says, his method was suggested for the coarse stone retaining walls for my coal drops. However, in my ignorance, I applied the same technique to the brick support pillars with what I think is a fairly satisfactory outcome - a bit dark perhaps, but I was looking for a very soot/coal dust blackened effect. Gentle use of a glass fibre pencil enabled removal of a bit more black, once everything was completely dry.

The final effect appears to depend on how long the black is left to dry before wiping off and how thoroughly/vigorously one wipes.

I'm sure the other techniques mentioned are more easily applied to large areas of brick-work.

 

Dave.

[Captain Kernow]

I would also draw everyone's attention to the very effective methods used by Robin Whittle on his Barrow Road engine shed:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/116/entry-4231-barrow-road-workshop-wall-colouring/

 

I've gone out and bought some similar coloured pencils today, after having experimented in the art shop in Totnes with a couple of pieces of Slaters brick sheet, sprayed with Halfords grey primer this morning...

[Gravy Train]

hi,

Yes I agree that colour pencils are another option widely employed by Ken Ball to great effect and the beauty of it is you can just wipe away if a mistake is made.

be sure to fix in place with water colour spray fixative.

 

Here is a photo of a station building i constructed many years ago now' i think Hemyock or something like, in 7mm scale but you get an idea its a different colour to Barrow rd but it would be as different brickwork was used on the prototype but thats the beauty of pencils they are so versatile.