ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
I've starting on some buildings for my layout and I had a couple questions about weathering. What do you do to make brick stand out? Like adding mortar in between the bricks. I KNOW that each line is "not" painted. How do you get that weathered look? Another thing is after I am done with all the weathering what do I coat it with? I have heard Testors Dull Coat works but is this the best? Also after weathering an engine with powders what do I coat those with?
All that I do with bricks is to first give them a heavy coat of a grey or tan colored wash. You need to put on enough of the wash so it fills in the mortar lines. Let that dry and then you can weather with powders or leave it the way it is to look like newer brick. With a very thin wash you can't see the paint on the bricks themselves, but it pools in the mortar lines and drys leaving the paint showing there. If you make your wash too strong, you can remove the paint from the bricks and leave the mortar lines alone by using a Qtip dampened in water.
After you are done weathering, Dullcoat works well. I use a thinned out mix in an airbrush so that it doesn't build up to much. Alot of powders get much lighter or dissapear altogether when you coat them with dullcoat so it takes some experimenting to get it right.
For the mortar lines I do not recommend using enamel paint. The thinner will attack some plastics. I use cheap crafters acrylic from the dollar store for this.
I've used light weight spackle to fill in the motar lines as well. Spread it on the brick wall, use damp sponge to wipe the brick face clean, and let dry. Then if you spray it with a wash, the dry spackle will really absorb the wash. It's kinds like grouting a tile floor, just on a much smaller scale
If you want white mortar lines, white liquid shoe polish works well and is safe on anything. Just wipe it off the way Josh describes for acrylic paints so you only have the white color in the mortar lines. If you want dark mortar, a very thin india ink wash works the same way. I then use a combination of chalks and paint to do the weathering and seal the whole thing with dullcote.
A wash consists of paint or India Ink that has been greatly diluted. It might be one drop of India Ink in an ounce or two of thinner -- a very thin solution.
When spread on a flat surface, a wash is barely visible, but where it settles into depressions and grooves (such as mortar lines), it will be visible. In addition to making mortar lines stand out, washes can also be used to make a factory fresh piece of rolling stock look dirty or dusty.
The "cheap crafters acrylic" paints are the acrylic craft paints found in craft stores or in the craft section of stores such as Wal*Mart. These paints are cheap and water-based, so they won't damage plastics or remove factory-applied paints.
Commonly used thinners include windshield-washer fluid (yes, the blue stuff) and 70% isopropol alcohol. Water can also be used but the windshield-washer fluid and alcohol seem to work better.
In my few attempts at weathering freight cars, I found an off-white wash to be useful in making the car look much-used and dusty.
