Brick Mortar on DPM Modular Building

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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For several years now I have used Roberts Brick Mortar with success on several Walthers buildings. It is easy to use and makes the bricks stand out.

I tried it on a DPM Modular Building and it is just not working out. I even followed the suggestion to wipe it off with a t-shirt using diagonal swipes. Still looks like crap. Too white and the bricks do not uniformly stand out.

I then tried a wash I say Cody Grivno used on a video, namely, 1-part Model Master Acryl Light Gray, 3-drops Liquitex Flow Enhancer, and 3-parts distilled water. I tried it on a spare piece of DPM wall. This is even worse than the Roberts Brick Mortar. Way too white, does not sink in between the bricks, and cannot be wiped down to remove some of the white.

I am open to suggestions. I have seen some discussion that the DPM Modular Building walls just do not have well defined bricks and hence the reason these methods are probably not working. Have any of you found a successful way to do mortar on DPM Modular Buildings?

I am in the slow process of removing the Roberts Brick Mortar with warm water and a tooth brush. (Any suggestions on a better way to remove the Roberts Brick Mortar are welcome!) I will then repaint the bricks a brick color to cover any residue. If I cannot come up with a better approach, then I am just going to finish the building with no mortar lines.

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Having done some of each, I agree that the mortar grooves are deeper on at least some of the Walthers buildings and shallower on DPM.

I use drywall mud. You can use it straight, or add a bit of water to dilute it. Smear it on, wait a while and wipe it off with a damp paper towel. The drywall mud should remain in the grooves but come off the brick faces fairly easily.

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I’ve had mixed results on DPM structures, although I don’t recall if this one was done with drywall mud or a paint wash…(click on the photos to enlarge them)

This one, currently with rail service a little too close, got a brush-applied dusting of powdered pastels, which does lend some relief to the appearance of the bricks. Since structures are seldom handled once installed, I didn’t both with a clear overspray…

I use drywall mud on most of the Walthers structures, applying it with a rag over my fingertips, but let it dry completely before wiping off the excess.
Here’s Tuckett Tobacco, with a nice coat of Reefer Orange…

…and with pre-mixed drywall mud applied…

…and after a little dry-cleaning…

…and now with a wash of well-diluted Pollyscale, with a little dish detergent added…

Here’s another Walthers building, with no added weathering. It was painted with the mortar colour, then the brick colour w

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Wayne how did you do these signs?

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There are buildings that the brick has been painted, thus the morter lines are the same color as the brick. If your “cleaning” doesn’t come out to your satisfaction you could paint it one solid color.

Good luck,

Richard

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Painting the brick and mortar all one color sure makes a real building look toy-like to my eye, but it sure would make modeling it a lot easier.

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-Kevin

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Good question, as I’ve done signs of that type several different ways. Just a moment ago, I went into the layout room and scratched parts of those signs with the tip of an X-Acto blade, and nothing came off, so those are all painted-on signs.

The first step was to mask the adjacent portions of the painted walls, so that I could airbrush the white background.

Once the white paint had dried to the touch, the masking tape was removed, and the paint left to cure at least overnight - a little longer won’t hurt, either.

I then re-masked the walls, carefully also covering a measured width of both the top and bottom of the white paint strips - this will form the upper and lower white borders seen in the photo.
I used Letraset dry transfer alphabets to spell out the words on the sign - any colour, except white on the white background, will work (and likewise if you’re doing a similar sign in other colours). Apply the letters as you would with any dry transfers, but do not burnish them in place, as is the usual practice.

Next, airbrush the entire area between the masking tape with black paint - obviously, this technique will work with many colour combinations, although white lettering on black or black lettering on white were very common on these types of older structures.

As soon as the paint has dried to the touch, usually only a few minutes for this one, where the paint used was either Floquil or Pollyscale, remove the masking tape.
Next, using short bits of masking tape, gently daub at the dry transfer lettering - its outline will be visible through the paint. The Letraset letters will usually lift off cleanly, albeit not necessarily in one piece. Continue until all of the rub-on letters have been removed, revealing the white painted-on words. If necessary, use a suitably-sized brush to touch-up any flaws in the words or background col

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Apologies to the OP for hiijacking his thread. Wayne I have used a similar technique using stick on letters. I did not know dry transfer letters could be lifted off like that, thank you.

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Well, since the damage is done…

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Where can we buy fresh Dry Transfers now? Does anyone still make them?

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I remember when all kinds were available at Office Depot back in the 1990s.

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-Kevin

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Kevin, there’s some info HERE regarding a replacement for Letraset - I haven’t read all of it, but it may be a spin-off from Letraset, or simply a new alternative.

Woodland Scenics offers a limited range of alphabet and numeral sets suitable for model railroading, and there may be a couple of smaller companies offering dry transfer old-time lettering for freight cars.

At one time, C-D-S offered dry transfers for many roads, and also alphabet sets, but when they quit, Ozark Miniatures bought what was left, and the last I heard was that they were going to eventually release the entire line as water-slide decals. I did order a couple of decal alphabet sheets, but the sizes were off, and the printing very hard to see on the pale blue backing paper, as the letters weren’t very opaque. They may have improved since then, as that was several years ago.

I still have a Letraset catalogue, but contrary to what’s stated in the link, found lots of the large (10"x15") Letraset sheets readily available not too far from here, well into the '80s. I’ve lettered dozens of passenger cars and hundreds of freight cars with dry transfers, and in most cases, preferred them over decals, although I’ve become a little more proficient with decals as the dry transfer supply “dried-up”.

Wayne

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Wayne, when I was building structures for a town on my old-time HO RR, back in the '70s, I used the method described by Noel Holley in RMC to make a brick building look more realistic. I prepainted the kit’s plastic walls with Floquil Boxcar Red, then with the walls laid flat, wet them with a drop of dish detergent in the water. I dusted on plaster that had a touch of black dry poster color in it, allowed it to set, then wiped diagonally with an old T-shirt. Just to be fancy(er), I painted a vertical black stripe up on a corner for a sign background, then applied white decal letters vertically to spell “MEAT.” Very pleasing, but now that I’m building a LARGE O scale 2-stall enginehouse–and not needing five pounds of plaster for one building–I bought a can of water putty.

You’ve given us a fine tutorial on creating realistic brick walls, including lots of great photos, I think I can follow your lead! Merci Beaucoup!

Deano

12

I think the reason Walthers building kits seem to “take” the traditional mortar coloring methods so well is that their mortar lines between bricks are deeper than prototype, and that DPM mortar gaps are shallower - probably still deeper than prototype, but shallow compared to Walthers.

As pointed out above, not all brick buildings feature that strong contrast between the brick color and the more white-ish mortar color. The effect can be overdone.

Jeff Wilson’s Kalmbach books on structures do go into some detail about various methods, including painting the entire wall the mortar color and then lightly dabbing on the brick color. This takes practice and Wilson uses a stiff brush that is dappled onto not stroked across the surface.

One old method you don’t hear about much is using the “tennis shoe” whitener (not a shoe polish - meant for canvas sports shoes). It seems stickier than Roberts Mortar and thus holds into the little crevasses between bricks a bit better. I wait until it is dry or nearly dry before wiping it off but again I do not push into the surface when wiping. Wrapping a piece of paper towel tightly around a small flat block of wood or masonite keeps it from digging into the mortar lines.

Dave Nelson