paulprice Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I need to build a number of Terrace houses and various other buildings for my layout and was thinking of using Mettcalf brick papers but is this cheating? I have used embossed pasti card in the past but from normal viewing distances this is not that noticable?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted March 25, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 25, 2013 Why should the use of brick paper be cheating? What are you expecting, that we should all draw our own? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium zarniwhoop Posted March 25, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 25, 2013 Yes, if you have to ask the question then it must be cheating! ;-) But seriously - the colours of printed brick paper are good. I wouldn't touch it with the proverbial barge-pole because I like the relief of styrene, but arguably my relief is excessive and the colours of printed paper are better than what I usually manage when painting. Most of us can't achieve perfection - anything which looks good enough and which *you* can live with will do. Your railway, your rules! ken Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 46444 Posted March 25, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 25, 2013 Evening Paul, Personally speaking I wouldn't consider it cheating. At the end of the day it's your layout and you have a feel for how you want to portray things. I've seen some brilliant modelling with brick papers and with the advent of downloadable kits/paper etc there has been a kind of renaissance in recent years. It may be worth having a look on this section of the site: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/113-card-structure-modelling-forum/ Hopefully it will give you some ideas and Scalescenes may save you some money. The brick papers come in a multitude of colours and types of brick or stone to add a variety to your buildings. Here's the link if you've never come across them before: http://www.scalescenes.com/ Some modellers are printing these brick papers onto self adhesive labels thus aiding application. Hope that helps? Look forwards to seeing the fruits of your labours. Cheers, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted March 25, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 25, 2013 What are you doing that it could be considerd cheating? Is it an art exam in drawing brickwork? In a model contest, it would still count towards scrachbuilding, but you would get even mode points for drawing them individually. Or laying them. I suppose it might be cheating to use photocopies of Metcalfe's bricks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Its just beecause I'm not use to using it. Normally I use good old plasticard, but I can see the time it will save me using brick papers the only problem is when it comes to weathering, still I suppose it gives me the chance to develop a whole new set of skills, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilcompton Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Printed brickpaper is flat, with no relief for the motar lines. If you scale a real brick wall down to model railway size it too will be flat, with no relief worth talking of for the mortar lines. Ergo. no problems with using brickpaper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted March 30, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2013 There are various members on this site who achieve (to my eyes) miraculous results with card and brick and stone papers - no, it's certainly not cheating. If you do use Scalescenes papers try printing onto matt A4 label paper - ready gummed with peelable back sheet. Saves a lot of phaffing around with messy glue, and at around 7p per sheet well worth it in my opinion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartmodels Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Personally I prefer card modelling for buildings. The printed brick papers can be more realistic than embossed styrene depending on how good your painting skills are. People often think my brick paper is embossed that they have to run their finger over it to check. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Another source of print it yourself brick paper is Paperbrick. They have a large choice of bricks and the patterns are randomised. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted March 30, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2013 Why do we model? To get an effect, to imply realism. Any method that gets the right result is kosher, and will be admired if decently applied. Brickpapers versus moulded plastic is a score-draw in my opinion - each has its admirers, each has super results for the patient worker. Try the paper method and see how you like it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
george356 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I agree with Brian Taylor (above). I have built several of his downloadable kits and the effect is good. I have no connection with him, except for being a satisfied customer. Plasticard for me looks too sterile, the pointing is moulded too deep - when you look at a prototype brick wall the pointing is, at most, 1/2" below the brick surface. Scale that to 4mm to the foot and it equates to .166r mm. In real terms that is just a scratch on the surface of a sheet of plasticard. If you want a textured surface on brick paper a good tip is to place the brick paper sheet printed side up on a sheet of sandpaper and, without moving the paper, rub it gently with your hand. If done carefully this gives a realistic texture to the brick paper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Chaps thanks for the tips, all I have to do now is find the bag of mounting card I put safe in the house and as normal forgot where I put it I'm sure I will develop some new skills as I have roughly 40 terrace houses to build the good news is that some will be in half relief so that should save me some time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dorset Wanderer Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 These are covered in brick paper. Although to 3mm scale, I feel that the extra work to clad in plastic just isn't going to produce anything better. Plus card/brick paper doesn't cost so much and little expense is wasted if you get it wrong first time. As a preference I use black mounting card- and touch the edges with a Conte pastel matched for me by my local art shop- also a good source of offcuts which are cheap. Good luck Steve ( more on card modelling on my blog- click on link below.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartmodels Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Another advantage of the printable papers, if you are scales like the 3mm one above you can take a standard 4mm scale texture paper and print it out at 75% and you got 3mm scale texture paper. That wouldn't be possible with plasticard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazz Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 An interesting assumption that using brick papers is cheating. Isn't practically all railway modelling cheating one way or the other? Electric motors in steam & diesel locos. Plastikard houses with plastic glass. Plaster/cork etc for rock and earth. The list is endless. My ethos, if it looks good, use it. I do agree that larger scales should avoid paper brick/stone, embossed card/plastikard is much more realistic. Hardly noticable in smaller gauges from normal viewing angles IMHO. Having said that, I think roofs should be embossed or indivually tiled as they are very noticable if printed papers are used. I use a mix of both in my HO layout. But stick to embossed/plastikard on my 7mm layouts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 well so far I am happy with the brickpaper I have used so far, now I just need to build the roofs and try and get some texture on them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Bob Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Hi, I think the other disadvantage of using embossed plasticard is, especially for roofing. It is just too rigid. If you are modelling older buildings, the roof timbers will probably have warped and the ridge sagged in the middle. Using card (whether hand building with individual slated or with printed papers, you can bend card to get a good profile. Many an old farmers barn has been made look unconvincing, with a roof like a modern "lego" house. Good luck, Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Why has no-one argued for the real finescale answer - moulding, firing and laying 2.8215223mm x 1.3451443mm x 0.8530183mm bricks? That is assuming P4 standards, of course; T gauge would just be silly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Metr0Land Posted May 11, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 11, 2013 Still very much a work in progress but I'm happy with the way it's progressing. The wall and booking office are Scalescenes printed brick. The roof tiles are Howard Scenics printed tiles (laid in strips to get some regularity and some iregularity with age). The platform edge (not terribbly clear here) is Metcalf. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Why has no-one argued for the real finescale answer - moulding, firing and laying 2.8215223mm x 1.3451443mm x 0.8530183mm bricks? That is assuming P4 standards, of course; T gauge would just be silly. Not forgetting making the mortar. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazz Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 I think the roof is the most important part of a convincing building. (The walls are not quite so and printed pares/card are acceptable in the smaller scale of 4mm and below. Time spent laying indivdual tiles/slates are well worth the effort. The strips of tiles on your model roof does look convincing. Sagging of older roofs are important too, as was stated above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted May 14, 2013 Author Share Posted May 14, 2013 yes I have some experimenting to do with the roofs on my buildings, sometimes working in N gauge is not easy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.