Can anyone suggest a color combination for realistic brick work. I intend to lighten or darken the mixture to highlight indvidual bricks, but I am at a loss for where to begin the mixture. I work primarily with Tamiya acrylic paints and would like to stick with that brand if possible. Has anyone found a good combination, or even a straight out of the bottle color for brick work? Thanks.

Hi Tyler,
On a whim, I recently used LifeColor Acrylic 'Italian Mimetic' (I normally use Vallejo Acrylic). The LifeColor paint went down very smoothly (airbrush and hand painting) and I was very pleased with the results.

Here's the information from the bottle:
Italian Mimetic
Brown 2
UA 088
FS 30109
1005

Maybe you can find a Tamiya equivalent to this color.

Examples before and after weathering:
https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/29054/IMG_12392.jpg
https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/29054/IMG_16002.jpg
https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/29054/IMG_1659.jpg

Hope this helps,
--mike

How about Hull Red XF-9 ?

I like that color but it's a little dark (at full strength) ... I think. However, you could mix it in order to tone it down a bit. Afterwards, much can be done with variants of that color and pigments to weather the bricks.

Note: A lot also depends on the period and setting that you are portraying. Curious: Can you give more info. on your project?

--mike

First step. Take 3 colors of brown, dark , med & light...paint the bricks in a sporatic pattern with these 3 colors.
You could use....for this purpose...
XF9 - Hull red
XF 64 - Red Brown
XF 79 - Deck Brown

other brown colors
XF 52 - flat earth
XF 78 Deck Tan
XF 57 Buff
XF 10 Flat Brown

Tamiya red brown, Tamiya flat Brown & Tamiya flat earth....then just add Tamiya flat flesh to it to lighten it up two more times for two more light shades. After the acrylic is dry cover the whole piece with burnt umber oil paint, this will be "dark brown" color...then wipe off immediately with a sponge. Leave the dark umber oil paint in the crevices etc....Finish it off with 2 shades of pigments...lightly brush on dark brown pigment & then a "buff" color on the top edges or top areas. Then...get some thin Tamiya "buff" & gently drybrush the very top edges of your brick..be sporatic about it...just imagine where the sun would be shining from & stick with that through the whole painting process.

Thanks all for the great ideas. I am building the Miniart Dioarama with Ruined House.
http://www.amazon.com/MiniArt-35-Diorama-Ruined-House/dp/B001JD13HQ

I plan on airbrushing a lighter color coat on the whole bricks and then going back and brush painting individual bricks for contrast.
I think I need to make a trip to the hobby shop. I have a ton of paints, but only a couple of those mentioned.

Tyler;

"Bricks"... Building bricks are a many-varied lot! It all depends on where they were made, when, what from, and often by what company or maker. The typical brick is a fired clay block - the clays come from different areas and are often mixed. Here in the US, for example, one can readily identify several distinct "yellowish", "brownish", "reddish" and even nominally "grayish" types - many known for their area of first or major usage, such as "Boston red", "Chicago common" (a rather yellowish brick), "Burlington" (rather dark browns), etc. And bricks age differently when in the wall - many will weep or seep some whitish carbonates and lime, all stain and mottle, etc. There are more than a few folks who are real brick gurus... me NOT one of them!

With respect to the offered brick recipes... I'll bet that they all look pretty good... "somewhere"! But, without knowing what area and type(s) of bricks YOU want to model, the suggestions may not be very helpful - and I would not just jump up and head for the paint store to get the "right stuff" to mix one up - not without addressing FIRST what it is I really want!

This is one of those areas where you have certain latitude, but also want to take some care and determine what the prevailing color(s) were or are in the locale and type of structure you are modeling.

FWIW, my suggestion would be to do some homework on your desired locale first - looking at stuff - Dragon box-top art is a great place to see some neat impressions of European bricks - some other kit-makers also pass along nice "locale" artwork, too. Seeing some modern travel photos taken in the types of locales will also be useful. The point here is to get both a flavor of the "typical colors" in buildings in that area and some sense of the actual variations one might see (and try to model) in a given structure. ONCE you have a good idea of the color-range you want, then go looking for how to get there from your paint collection.

Just my opinion and suggestion, of course!

Bob

If you have not done so, take a look at Mini Art's website. They have some great how to's on painting their dioramas in a box that includes brick. I almost don't think the exact color matters because variety of color and all the other steps are so important. It looks to me like it is all earth tones in shades of red brown. Then all of the color layering and effects you apply.

I have gone to Miniarts website and watched their painting guide. You are right, I did learn a few things from the guide. Thanks.