Does anyone know a good referance for painiting bricks and buidlinga? Doing a first time diorama.

Thanks.

I walk around the neighborhood.
A second one is the gallery here under the Photo's tab or in MOD features.

The key is to pick a general tone (reds, yellows, grays) then vary it by adding either a buff/dust/cream color or darken it by adding a dark brown. Use the varying colors randomly around the whole thing.

Modern brickwork can be misleading--bear in mind that Europe up through World War Two was mostly a coal-burning world, and most heating (and sometimes cooking) was done by burning coal, so building exteriors had decades of soot build up, and the exposed brick as well as the grout between the bricks could be quite dark. Where brick has been shattered by gunfire, there might be some scorching from explosions and subsequent fires, but mostly the exposed inner faces of the brick will be quite new-looking, while exterior faces will be dingy. And everything will be coated with gray dust from pulverized cement, at least until the next good rainstorm.

Thanks for all the info. I guess what I'm looking for is some direction from the time you take a cast (like Verlinden) out of the box and the differant steps you take for base coating, etc.

This may help some
Simple Diorama

Out of the box. I inspect the piece for broken segments. Then use white glue to fix those. If there are any pieces I couldn't reassemble I will fill in with squadron putty. Then shape that if necessary.
I test fit the whole kit to make sure it fits. I sand down anything in excess. I may have to fill in other areas. If the pieces are simple I use two part epoxy to glue them together. If they bear a lot of weight I will drill matching holes in either side and use a toothpick or wire reenforcement piece.
Then I reinspect for more puttying and datailing.
To prep plaster for paint I usually make sure I have cleaned up the excess plaster. I test fit it and make sure I have etched any detail I may need.
Then I usually use a fairly thin coat of hobby acrylics in a dark coat of a base color (reds or yellow or gray).
Then I put a few drops of color on a palette - one base color, then one lightening, one darkening color. Then I mix and paint. Every brick will get a new color.

Ooh, it's been a while since I needed to do bricks (and I had to make my own ...).

The best advice I can give you is to start with the mortar and do the bricks themselves afterwards. As Gerald said, be aware of the amount of discolouration. In central London many bricks were originally yellow but have weathered over the years to anything between mud-brown and (in Bloomsbury) tyre black.

Other little things to watch for:

Some buildings use much more uniform bricks than others - generally, the more expensive it is, the tidier it'll look. At the upper end of the scale some buildings will have patterns built in from different coloured stock. Even quite cheap buildings may have a few details added if they're put up by the mile. In London, for example, a lot have string courses in red brick, plus quoins and window reveals.

Over-fired bricks go a deep, sometimes metallic grey colour. If they're near the edge of the kiln and the over-firing isn't too great, only the exposed surfaces will darken, so some bricks will have one header or stretcher grey and the rest body-coloured. Sometimes these are used to build patterns; more often, they're just thrown in any old way.

Some bricks weather very badly - they spall and crumble, often at random. Acid rain and the like accelerate the process. You can sometimes see one or two bricks all but missing, as though they've been chewed away, in a wall that's otherwise sound.

Beware of stretcher bond (all the bricks laid with their long sides showing, as if you were building wth Lego). It's not all that common on earlier buildings, as it's the preferred bond for modern cavity walls.

Mortar often discolours as well, but differently from the bricks, since it's a completely different substance. London again - mortar that starts out nearly white goes earth-coloured.

Some mass-produced buildings use better bricks on the front than the sides and back, and better pointing to match. There's a lot of 1930s semis built like this around here - the sides look as though they haven't been finished, as the bricks are rough-looking and have streaks of lighter colour across them. They are fully fired, though, and fully functional. Just not so pretty.

Some brickwork appears to have almost no pointing at all. It's a special technique called tuck pointing that involves a brick-coloured mortar with very thin lines of special white mortar to give the pattern. It's expensive, as you might expect.

seán

Hi Scott
very nice job and very nice tips!
you have something for snow diorama maybe?I need some tips to start the base!
thank you!

Petros - I do actually - give me a bit to get home and get it organized. I am heading out the door right now.. Stay tuned.....

great i'm waiting

Here is a feature about snow - Snow

I personally use Woodland scenics "Snow" product. My method is pretty much the same.
1. Build the scene
2. apply a thinned layer of white/water and sprinkle on the snow.
3. let it dry
4. repeat where you need it thicker.

If you need drifts or lots or snow - build up a base of white styrofoam or clay or something solid and use your "Powder" for texture not build up.

ok! thanks for the tip i will try it