Remaking of the Ridley Keystone & Mountain

[TMo]

I've used the tape and Smooth-It on my layout Tom with pretty good results. You can also add curbing with the same stuff as an additional layer on top of the roadway. Woodland Scenics has some good videos on youtube for their system. I have not used the Walters product.

[Charlie B]

Those darned LPB's can create a lot of work. Someone is always complaining. null
It looks like a lot of work but it will save a lot of accidents and potential LPLawyer suits. 
Charlie

[tompm]

How many times have our best laid plans for the layout or modeling project been stymied by the infamous “I need to order that”? It just happened to me.

I need to make a base for Union Station. Went looking for my stockpile of foam board. Found it and then realized I used my last big piece for the Coal Dealer. Now I need to make a trip to Michael’s or Staples to get some. I need to get the base in place because the station location dictates where everything else goes.

I did clear out some of the area around the station. I moved some scenery supplies and extra track. I adjusted the location of some of the buildings. This made me recognize I need to build a few more structures and locate them on the layout.

Off to the model buildings pile. I need to move this and that to get to the kit I need. This lead me to reorganize about half of the supply table. I did fill up one trash can with stuff I could not identify or came to the conclusion that it was broken beyond repair. I eventually made my way to the kit I wanted.

I looked at the workbench and grasped that I could not build anything on the workbench in its current condition. Now I cleaned and organized the workbench. More stuff for the trashcan and I found a use for a couple of those extra plastic organizing boxes I had.

What kit did I select? Lunde Studios Morton House.



Open the box and here is what the parts look like.







Looks like I have some painting to do. Now bricks are shades of red, orange, or brown. Okay time to look at the paint stock. Red you say…

[tompm]

These walls and mortar lines are driving me crazy.

This wall is after I painted the wall a shade of orange.



I went with my tried and true method. Paint over the bricks and wipe off the extra. Not happy with look.



I painted a second wall. This time I used Pan Pastels. This is the wall after the application.



This after sealing with Dullcoat, applying a second coat of pastels and Dullcoat.



I am still not liking the results. I also tried a wash and a thinned paint. Both were so bad I didn't even finish the walls.

I am thinking of trying painting the wall the mortar color and drybrushing the brick color.

[jim currie]

tom my go to method of Morter lines is to paint bricks desired color with a solvent based paint then let it dry for several days then use thinned down spackling with a few drops of gray in it wiping it on with a pallet knife then after it dry's wipe brick with a damp linin or satin rag cotton has too much nap to it to remove color from brick face .
Jim

[doctorwayne]

I paint the brick structures in whatever paint colour seems most appropriate, then after the paint has fully dried, slather-on some Durabond 90, using a clean cloth and a little clean water from the basement dehumidifier.
Once it has dried, I use another dry clean cloth to rub-off the excess "mortar", then use a chisel-type blade in my X-Acto to scrape off any excess mortar around window sills and other protruding details.

I'd like to provide photos, but apparently photobucket pictures are not permitted here.

Wayne

[tompm]

Thanks Jim and Wayne. You have given me somethings to ponder. I may need to make a supply run to get some additional materials.

[tompm]

I took a close look at the mortar lines and they are very shallow. I am thinking because of this any kind of wash or overlay is either going to come off when I "clean it off" or won't stick. I decided before I make a trip to the hardware store to buy supplies I am going to make one more attempt. If this doesn't work I will be trying the spackle/DAP methods.

I painted the wall Linen which is best match I have for the concrete/mortar. Next I drybrushed the orange brick color.



While not perfect here is a side by side comparison to wall done with the pastels.



I now drybrushed the second wall and added a second coat of drybrushing to the first wall.



As I said previously not perfect but I am thinking I can live with it. I am going to apply a third coat to the first wall and then same number to the second wall.

I don't think I am going to have this problem with the other walls as the mortar lines are deeper.

[TMo]

Bricks, especially with mortar joints that are very lightly recessed are certainly a challenge. Perfection, meaning every single brick and mortar joint is uniformly colored with the "correct" color is (in my opinion) impossible, and doesn't look "real" anyway. So, here's my thought. If you look closely at every brick building, you'll note that despite the brick manufacturer's attention to detail, the color of each and every brick is not the same, especially if there's dirt, smoke, mud, etc. I'd suggest maybe taking what you have already (which is a great base!) dry stipling other colors close to the brick color as well as blacks and browns (light and dark) to the face of each brick face. The dry stipling would be done by lightly loading the small brush and then removing almost all of the paint (either on a pad or paper towel). At first you might think the initial attempts stand out like a sore thumb, but if you blend a bunch of different colors across the surface, you'll get that random effect that mimics the reality of a brick wall. Also don't be afraid to add whites stipling in some areas as the mortar itself tends to bleech out over time. I'd also suggest having no expectation that you'll get it right the first time, since you can always blank out what you've done and start afresh. I use this technique in virtually every scenery project I approach - whether that's rocks, water surfaces, or weathering. Another guiding principle I use is taking the view of the project from arm's length. All too often we're right on top of the structure where we see "imperfections", but if we hold it at arm's length, these imperfections tend to balance out. 2 cents for free!

[tompm]

Bricks, especially with mortar joints that are very lightly recessed are certainly a challenge. Perfection, meaning every single brick and mortar joint is uniformly colored with the "correct" color is (in my opinion) impossible, and doesn't look "real" anyway. So, here's my thought. If you look closely at every brick building, you'll note that despite the brick manufacturer's attention to detail, the color of each and every brick is not the same, especially if there's dirt, smoke, mud, etc. I'd suggest maybe taking what you have already (which is a great base!) dry stipling other colors close to the brick color as well as blacks and browns (light and dark) to the face of each brick face. The dry stipling would be done by lightly loading the small brush and then removing almost all of the paint (either on a pad or paper towel). At first you might think the initial attempts stand out like a sore thumb, but if you blend a bunch of different colors across the surface, you'll get that random effect that mimics the reality of a brick wall. Also don't be afraid to add whites stipling in some areas as the mortar itself tends to bleech out over time. I'd also suggest having no expectation that you'll get it right the first time, since you can always blank out what you've done and start afresh. I use this technique in virtually every scenery project I approach - whether that's rocks, water surfaces, or weathering. Another guiding principle I use is taking the view of the project from arm's length. All too often we're right on top of the structure where we see "imperfections", but if we hold it at arm's length, these imperfections tend to balance out. 2 cents for free!

Todd I know what you are talking about. That was problem with my first attempts; they were too perfect. There was no variations. With the drybrushing I am getting more than one shade and it is random. After I get this painting done and the building assembled I will go back and do some weathering.

The hardest thing for me to overcome in modeling was realizing the real world is imperfect. There are variations and imperfections everywhere.

[TMo]

Now you're on to something! Keep plugin' away.

[tompm]

Getting back to Union Station, I bought the foam board and placed the station on it in order to outline the walls of the building.





Cut.

[tompm]

Test to see if the building fits





I will need to clean up the cuts some.

Now test in its location on the layout.







Given the size of the base and my past expereince I will glue it down before painting. This should prevent any warping.

[Tyson Rayles]

Mortar lines are always a pain. I'm in N scale and they are an even bigger pain than HO. Your down town area is coming along nicely!

[tompm]

I know it has been sometime since I posted an update. I have been working on the Morgan House for some time and I decided it is time to finish it.

Here is the right wall with the brick and trim painted.



For the "plain" walls I decided to go with red brick instead of the orange. Since these walls were plain they would have used the cheaper red brick. Here is left side repainted.



This time to do the mortar lines I used Vallejo Pigments Desert Dust. I applied the pigment and then used my finger to rub the pigment into the mortar lines. I then sealed the wall with Dullcoat.





I did two coats.



The rear wall after two coats