scratchbuilding supplies

the OTHER Mike:

First...where do you get your brick paper? I've been looking for that stuff at a reasonable price for ages.

Second...brick paper is actually perfect for flush brick joints (no relief!) and rather closer to scale than any scribed brick. A 3/8" mortar joint in HO scale, struck 1/4" deep, would be about .003 high and .002 deep! Typing paper is about .004 thick.

Most scribed brick material, then, is grossly overscale except for very worn and ragged brick. It relies for realism on our non-scale eyeballs and its shadow-casting ability. If you look at real brick buildings, their mortar lines commonly fade to obscurity at common 'train layout' viewing distances.

The salient features of many brick walls are their varied shading, texture, salt-and-pepper brick patterns, and white lime stains. You can add the stains and shading with white and black chalks or washes.

Have you tried adding texture to your brick paper? Lay it down on no.

000 sandpaper, printed side up, and rub it down into the surface with a rag.

Cordially yours: Gerard P.

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't want to name where I had bought from but I really didn't like the product. Like an idiot I bought some sight unseen and when it came in ......well, "I" didn't care for it.

Yes, I'm used to weathering with washes and chalks and airbrush. In fact besides the normal colors I have also used green chalks and gotten a pretty good effect near drain pipes and gutters.

It's just that these two products just didn't look good. While the somewhat random patterns and shades of red brick and old red brick were not bad, the not so random pattern of off color bricks such as black, stood out like a sore thumb.

I've seen models that were done with really good carkstock but that was at a time before I had interest in it to ask the people who built them where they bought it..

The sheets that I ordered that I DON'T care for were about 11 x 24 and the cost was about 5.25 a sheet.

When searching I came across the MicroMart's sheets as I linked above and they "look" to be much better. I was hoping someone had used them to give me a review before I buy anything else that I might not be satisfied with.

I'm stating to experiment with taking pictures of buildings and signs and reworking them in photo shop before printing them out on card stock to use as backdrops etc.. I'm thinking of "trying" to experiment with pictures or brick walls but geeeeezzzz, I'm starting to wonder aboput myself mentally.

I'll try to put a bunch of links together for you on the card stock brick suppliers. I have also tried downloading some paper models to see if they have the look I'm looking for but have not found it yet.

I don't know if anyone remembers but RPI has a website that used to be free - and John Nerich showed how to print your own brick from photos. The series was great but I lost it in a crash a few years ago.

Now the Rensselaer web site is a pay site - they say about 17 cents a day - but it could be well worth looking at a subscription.

See:

While you are shopping around:

stuff is kind of pricey, but... I don't know if is thill there, but they used to have an HO outhouse as a sample to d/l.

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