Brick on plaster

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Here's how I did a Downtown Deco plaster-cast brick wall.  (This will be a flat that sits behind my roundhouse, one of these years...)
First I prime the casting.  This gives me a uniform sealed starting point.  The color here is Liquitex water-based spray paint "raw sienna."

After that sat for a couple of days to be well sealed, I applied a wash of thinned artist gouache.  (Gouache is 'opaque water color', water color paint with very fine marble added to it to make it opaque.)  The wash was the consistency of milk.   The color I'm using is Neutral Gray #2, a light gray that isn't quite as stark as white, so it looks a bit weathered), thinned with "wet water" (water with Liquitex Flo-Aid added.)  As the paint dries, the effect goes down.  If you want more prominent mortar, use a thicker solution (more paint.)

And the full wall with the mortar:

Then I painted the wood doors with artist burnt umber, to which I added some white.  I also painted the insides of the window openings a dark color (in this case, "Midnight" dark blue, because I will eventually do the window castings in dark blue.  I painted the full well, to get a dark shadow effect.)

I used a Vallejo "brown wash" (new product) to color in the cracks by the doors, getting rid of any white or red where there should be shadows.  The wash flows nicely into the cracks!  I also painted the stonework a beige color with craft paint ("sandstone")  I had to give this 3 coats to get even coverage.  For this work, I used a 1/8" angle shader brush, which makes it easy to control.  When I got a bit of the sandstone paint where it didn't belong, I 'erased' it using a damp rubber tipped "colour shaper." 

Before adding windows and glazing, I need to 'fix' the work with a matte finish (since gouache will wash off if any moisture hits this.)  But first I want to think about adding some variation to the brick color.  Right now, particularly since this is a background building, it might be good enough.  But I will want to add downspouts (in part to hide the seam in the middle of the wall) and to give a bit of texture to the flat.


Yesterday I made the huge mistake of trying to spray prime the (Tichy) window castings.  It was too humid, and the result was "popcorn".  Fortunately, I was able to scrub off the gunk, and will re-prime today (using the airbrush inside, rather than the rattle can outside.)  Then I have to find where I put the clear laser-cut glazing for these windows :-(


dave

[deemery]

Spotted in position behind the roundhouse.

I have a Monster Modelworks kit coming to fill the blank space, I'll have to see how the two flats look next to each other and figure out what else to fill in the gap back there.


dave

[MAP]

This is some great information Dave!!  I've seen others using the gouache but I've never picked any up.  The use of it for mortar sounds like a great idea.  I'll pick some up this weekend and give it a shot on a hydrdocal kit that I'm working on now! 

[cuse]

Nice work Dave.


I got some Monster Modelworks stone and brickwork and it was pretty amazing...in N scale, no less!


John