Hi, I have a truely horrible time and struggle no end trying to select
colors for anything, especially neck ties. That said, I bought the
quite large Walther’s Cornerstone Milwaukee Beer & Ale building. The
box has a picture of a nicely done brownish gray brick with cream
accents. So, I was really very surprised, and somewhat disappointed,
when I opened the box and found all the brickwork to be cream
colored. Yeah, I could repaint it, but maybe they selected the cream
color for a reason? Was that maybe a common brick color 50 - 100
years ago?
So, I was wondering if anyone else has built this building and if they
left it cream colored brick or chose another color? If left cream
colored, how does it look? In any case, a picture of your efforts
would be greatly appreciated by this person, who, in far too many
years, has still not learned to pick colors very well.
Additionally, does anyone think a cream colored brick building (with
concrete accents, and some weathering of course) would look OK on a model layout? I guess I
ask because I don’t remember seeing many cream colored buildings in my
life.
For every color, someone painted a brick building in that color. You do have to pick colors your self. If you have a prototype, that will help. Mood also helps, are the people who run your cities and businesses colorful, practical, conservative, lazy? Those attitudes will help you decide.
Weathering and detail painting is still the key to a good look. If you have been following Bob Grech’s posts, you know that bright colors with proper weathering and adaquate trash will develope the mood you are after.
This is not buying a tie to go out in public. If someone does not like the color of a building, blame it on the guy who owns the building. That will work if it is properly weathered.
Cream colored brick is very common in the midwest and is actually referred to as “Cream City” brick. The foundation of my old house that was built in 1887 was made of it. It’s made of a special type of clay to get the color and is very sought after by people who restore old buildings.
A building in that color would be right at home from 1880 to the present.
Well, sort of. In the lightly weathered parts of the DPM building, it’s close, but mine is slightly more towards the pale yellow side rather than tan. But, seeing your building, maybe doing more heavy weathering than I planned might make it OK. I can’t tell on the 2nd building as it comes out close to off white rather than creme, on my monitor.
That’s interesting & good to know, Scott. However, I just sprayed the parts with Krylon Matte and it changed from cream to more towards off white. (I do that a lot to make weathering/aging easier, but never noticed that much of a color change before). So now I have an almost off white building. Ken
Ken - As others have indicated, cream-colored brick is not at all uncommon. However, a word of advice. If the structure is to be no more than lightly weathered, odds are that it will retain much of the semi-shiny plastic look. The prototype brick it represents is, of course, dead flat in appearance. Without painting the entire building with at least a light coating of a base color, cream or whatever, chances are it’s walls are going to end up still looking like plastic.
The Milwaukee Beer and Ale is a very large structure (I know, I used one as the basis of several kitbashes) so you’ll really want the finished model to come out looking right the first time around. With small structures it is much easier to hide the plastic look than it is on a really large expanse of plastic brick wall.
Almost every building I’ve put together is changed from its original color. At the very least, the trim needs to be a contrasting tone. Since these are mostly brick structures, they need mortaring and then some weathering. If all of that hasn’t removed the plastic look, a quick coat of Dull Coat will do the job.
So now’s your chance to do something really sneaky! Color just the faces of the bricks whatever color is appropriate to your prototype area (the Northeast ran to red bricks, other regions varied in relation to the available clays) and leave the mortar lines their present not-quite-white. Done right, the result could be stunning.
Thanks to all of you for your comments and suggestions. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the input. Since the cream colored brick is not really uncommon as I feared, I feel much more comfortable leaving it and just weathering and aging, especially since now it is even lighter cream colored from the Matte spray.
Actually, it’s a pleasant deviation from all the brick reds and browns I currently have and maybe I can add others with similar coloring so it doesn’t stand out as an oddity.
