Whats the best way to add white mortar joints to molded red plastic brick styrene. Thanks p.s. I’m in ho scale
I think you’re going to get a few “best ways” on this question. My personal favorite is to paint the structure the color of the brick face first. Next, I apply spackling compound and rub it all over the painted sections until the brick face shows through and only the cracks are left with the compound in it. Here is a sample of the results:
(click to zoom in for a better look)
I think you’ll likely see paint wash solutions from others as well as dry-brushing techniques.
Good luck,
EdW
Nice work, EdW. I may give your method a try. I have used the thinned acrylic wash and the results are decent but I find I lose a lot of the mortar when I wipe the film off the face of the wall or apply weathering. I end up with faint mortar lines that can be seen if you look closely but don’t really stand out. From the photo, it appears your mortar lines are more pronounced in the cornices and pilasters. To what do you attribute that or is it just a photographic illusion.
The variation you are seeing is likely a combination of poor consistency on my part when applying the mortar and some photo effect. It doesn’t look nearly as pronounced in person. One thing I forgot to mention is that you may want to overspray the area with dullcoat to seal in the spackling compound and any weathering chalk you use.
Some find this technique aprototypical because the mortar joints come out much larger than scale. The reason mine “stand out” is because they are likely too large for an HO scale buiding. All I really care about is that they look pretty good. I’m still pretty new at all of this so I’m easy to please! [:D]
have you tried using white artist’s chalk? i rubbed it all over and wiped most off–this left some in the molded lines…
i used these (way back in 1991) when i was in grade school…model is up in MI and i’m in TX, so i couldn’t tell you how it looks now…i was happy with it back then, though…
Two popular methods:
- A combination of off-white mixed 7:1 (water to paint ratio) with a drop of two of dish washing fluid. I tried this with 4 buildings. I varied the mix ratios and tried a little alchohol to get it to dry quicker. None came out they way I thought they should.
Pro: Can make motor various colors. Toned down motor is best for oversized motor joints.
Con: I had a problem with even application. Uneven application can look “sloppy” Con: Overpaint on brick faces can alter brick color and wash it out. Track erasers technique on the brick face didn’t work that well for me.
- Rub talcum powder using finger into motor joints, spray with hairspray to seal
Pro: Easy even application. If you mess up, you can wash it off with water even after hairspray. I did this with two “test” buildings.
Con: Motor is often bright white, making it stand out like a sore thumb on dark structures. When using Cinderblock, Bright or light tan brick, this technique works well.
I thought about trying chalk powders. But I really need to find a place that sells the powders and not the sticks. I have a lot of buildings to motor myself.
try any school that still has “chalk” boards…
While I haven’t tried this yet, I have a friend who used ground up chalk from a sporting goods store that is used for lining baseball diamonds and football fields. The application is simular to above and it is sealed with dullcote. A few dark india ink washes, toned down the white morter joints.