Painting Downtown Deco kits advice

[tom mann]

I'll give sealing a shot.  The building in the last structure looks awesome.

[DKS]

The building in the last structure looks awesome.

I agree, but I also tend to think it's off somehow. Dark mortar lines, perhaps? The model is almost too well done, if that's possible, kind of like an actor who's good but knows it, projecting a bit too much in the process. I tend to find that realism comes from being more mundane, almost boring. But that's IMO.

[tom mann]

David, I see your point.  I can't say that dark mortar doesn't exist (with dark bricks), but usually, what looks dark is a combination of shadows and filth.

Actually, I'm starting to discover that replicating brick is more challenging than what I expected.  The appearance close up and far away is very different.  This is often the case with aspects of models, but brick seems to be the most drastic.

The mortar here is almost not visible and looking like our dark mortar:

http://mannresearch.com/rr/misc/chicagobuilding_01.jpg

In this photo, the mortar is very obvious:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44704258@N06/4348571311/

Other interesting examples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leerentz/4522507768/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myeye/3447522760/

This is something my wife helped me on years ago:

http://mannresearch.com/rr/structures/3story_01.jpg

[wcfn100]

Waterloo has mostly lighter brick but I did find this:



Taste the rainbow. 

Jason

[downtowndeco]

Yes they could probably use a bit of mortar but more often I find people over do it & it looks worse than if it just wasn't there. It's sort of like the G Scale modellers that insist on painting the whites of the eyes on their 1/24 figures. Done artistically, it can work. More often it looks overdone & strange though. Just MO. Cheers.

Randy

[tom mann]

I primed a portion of the kit with gray automotive primer.  I must admit:  this is the way to go.  The result is a surface that doesn't absorb nearly as much as the raw plaster, but it is also is not like painting styrene either.  I painted with Burndt Umber and Oxide Red, and then "buffed" some of the paint off with a paper towel.  I did about 5 layers in this manner.  The result looks pretty good. 

I'll seal it tonight and then put a coat of mortar on.  Randy has a point about "over mortaring".  I'll probably use a fairly dark mortar mix and apply it to select areas. 

[wazzou]

 ;D...See. 

[tom mann]

;D...See. 

Yes, it still doesn't compute...but it works.

[tom mann]

try #2:

[DKS]

Oh, yeah. Hot stuff.

[John]

I wonder if that would work with DPM?

[wazzou]

I wonder if that would work with DPM?

I always primer all of my DPM structures as well.

[John]

I always primer all of my DPM structures as well.

not to hijack the thread .. but then just paint them with brick colors?

[railbuilderdave]

Here you ca nsee a sample of brickwork I did on styrene.  The process isn't much different from hydrocal after you paint hydrocal with a base color of white or gray.
http://rbdhd.t35.com/societyHillThouse/

Dave