Detailing and Weathering Brick

[jbovinette]

Hey guys,

I wanted to know who everyone weathers and details brick because I have a couple structures that I want to do some high detail work on. For example, how do you and or what colors do you use to make the bricks look individual? Like as in different colors. Do you use the stock color of the plastic and then color from there or do you pain the plastic first then got over it? How is it done. I finally found the right mixture on how to do the mortar. That's really neat but now if i can get this brick detail down I'll be alright!


Thanks,
John

 

[UP2CSX]

John,
You've now come to a part of structure modeling that really takes a lot of work and research. The first thing is to get some color photos of the type of brick building you're making. Most buildings with multi-color brick had one base color so that's color you spray first. Depending on the part of the country, you could have two to six additional colors of individual bricks. Study the patterns in your photos and then try to reproduce the same pattern on your model.

Some modelers use artist's colored pencils, whcih are soft and oily, not hard and brittle like the ones you used in school. Craft stores have paint pens used for textiles in many different colors that work well. If you have a steady hand, a #1 or #2 fine brush and the right color paints also work. Now it's just a matter of coloring the bricks to reproduce the color and pattern in your phots. That means one brick at a time. There's no easy way to do this. Don't worry if slop a little paint on the base color brick. It wll be mostly covered when you add your mortar lines and few on a brick wall will just blend in. Take it slow and stop when it just starts to look like the color and pattern in your pictures. You can go too far and have it come out looking like a circus. I like to do this kind of work when I know I'll have a couple of uninterrupted hours. You get on a roll if you're doing it right and nothing ruins the process quicker than having to stop and come back later.

Good luck and post some pictures of how it comes out.