Can anyone out there tell me how to damage Tamiya bricks? I have tried a few things with no good results. I'm just getting back into modeling after 30 yours of "life" so I'm open to any ideas, Thanks

Hi carving with a sharp knife but its hard to make it look good, try and make the brick wall with plaster and scribe the joints or use the cork method it is much better than tamiyas plastic bricks, hope this helps

Hi Kevin

I guess you are refering to this set



As these are made of plastic the usual methods of working plastic apply. Cutting with sharp blades, razor saws, drilling with bits attached to hobby drills, and of course using heat via hot screwdriver or similar tools, soldering iron etc.

Try not to breath any fumes when using heat, not good for you.

To be brutally honest the set is really not much up from toy soldier material, hence its cheapness in price.

You'd be better served by either creating your own as has been briefly described, there are articles here on armorama about making your own, or buying better commercially available products. This would mean spending more than you paid for the Tamiya set but would be far more realistic and probably involve less work if any before assembly and painting.

Look under dioramas both on web sites like here or Google search and find makers of such products. They come in either plaster type base material, use white pva glue to join or resin which you would stick with epoxy based glue rather than plastic model cement/glue

Alan

Tamiya brick walls, sandbags and jerrycans should be avoided like the plague

- Steve

Curiously enough, these three (very) nasty items are STILL Tamiya's top-sellers. Go figure ('cos I sure as hell can't)

I have to say I've used the brick walls and they're fine in scale, but lack real detail. I've used them to show patches of brickwork underneath damaged render, it's quick and if they're painted properly, they look ok. The most effective brickworks I've seen are those scribed or pressed into softer sheet materials or plaster. I've got some soft plastic sheet, from advertising boards, about 3 - 4mm thick, which has a soft but resilient surface, and can be cut, carved, chopped, sanded... this has the benefit of taking the impression of a brick shaped tool to 'stamp' the brick shapes into the surface, much quicker than carving, and they're all the same shape and size, like real bricks. Change the tool and change the size - instant cobbles, concrete blocks, drystone walls (Bit more tricky that last one).
Once stamped, each brick can be picked at, sliced, textured, anything to make it look damaged or eroded.
The easiest way to make a stamping tool is to remove the bristles form an old paintbrush and clean out the ferrule - the metal bit at the end. Using thin nosed pliers, shape this metal end into a brick shape, and gently press into the plastic's surface. You can easily re-shape it if it bends.
I'll post pictures of my results in a short while.
Hope this helps

btw, my post of 'PBR x 3' has images of the brickwork by Tamiya...

I would use them as a base set and build onto them with cork bricks. Cork is easy to use you can get it at lots of different places (Michaels, Target, WalMart Lowes.....)

Here is the primed right hand section of a brick and flint wall for my Normandy diorama, 1/35 scale. Obviously it will come to life a bit more with some colour on it. It was made with plastic board, as mentioned above, and some HO/OO scale cobbles chopped about for the flints.


And this is a small section of a warehouse building made with Tamiya bricks, with a 'cement' render applied over the top...

Hope this helps

Not to take his question elsewhere, but they do have use's. After 20 some odd years in the spare parts drawer I found a use for the sand bags. Glue old stocking material over them to use as bagged corn/wheat or rice. A good filler for my river barge.

Richard: Interesting "stucco" over the Tamiya bricks, I've used the same method over Plastruct bricks. I'll try to take a couple pix, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Ditto on standard tools for working styrene, still tough to get realistic damage.

Thanks for the answer, I'll know better next time but I will use what I have and do the best I can.

Thanks for the answer. I understand that these are not the best on the market but I'm trying to learn to walk before I run. I'll let all of you know how they turn out.

Steve,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep your opinion in mind when buying things in the future.