Brick Work-?

HI RR!
Welllllll, you are loking at one very tedious job!! I do brickwork in my trade. I've done circular stuff and it is actually easier in the "real" world doing 8 inches at a time. The perimeter will be the easiest but as the radius decreases it gets tough. I think you know this. A real brick pattern, a "running bond" staggers the mortar joint exactly in half in relation to the preceding course. Unfortunetly the bricks need cut, usually on one side, at a slight angle to keep everything in line. the angle gets stronger as the radius grows smaller. OR the mortar joint absorbs the angle and the joint looks triangular. I am somewhat curious as to how they did the real one and how long ago it was done. The old masters knew a lot of tricks and also had a lot of time. To do it in scale would be mind numbing!! What material would you use??
Thin styrene sheet, brick embossed, could be cut into strips and maybe softened with heat. or, plain styrene sheet scribed with an xacto knife and compass.
Drywall guys have a tool like a large campass that holds a utility knife blade. Good luck to you in this. It will be quite an accomplishment!!!


Pete

Did you think about printing one? Of course laying out the pattern on the computer is no piece of cake either.

I would either make it in clay and cast it, or lay down a surface you could score (joint compound?) Measure off the concentric courses with a ruler from the center and then score them with dividers or a compass (or make a trammel) with one point on the center. Then put a pin in the center and holding a ruler against it at one end, score the grout lines between the bricks in a radiating pattern. You could measure these or carefully do it by eye.

Careful paint the top only (bricks) stain the grout and voila!

The only problem with using concentric circles is that your bricks will end up as curved segments rather than rectangles.

Would you notice a curve. Most brick today is a little short of 8" (.166"scale) X a little short of 2 2/3" (.0556"scale) I'm thinking to do this you would probably want to simulate bricks at least twice that size which would still be interesting.

Anywho. This is how the pit looked NS Conway yard, Beaver County Pennsylvania.






The pit is used as a collection basin for all water and other fluids from the engine facility. Collected waste water then is treated at an on site plant to remove all that wonderful stuff you see.

We, Anthony, (Lurker 2004), and I got a really good tour that day. We were asked if we wanted to go down in the pit, but declined.






We eventually did a gravel/fine ballast base in both model TT I am responsible for.
Modular TT

Layout TT






Best wishes on your project.
Mike

You could do it using individual bricks -- 1/35 scale bricks used to be available from the 135th Construction Battalion. They are what I used to build the chimney on this store/home.



I will confess and advice however that your health insurance be fully paid and cover mental illnesses since pursuing this using individual bricks may impact your well-being,

http://thenarch.com/products/b...ows-arches-details-o

I would contact these guys and see if they can make some sheets for you -

http://thenarch.com

Make a stamp and stamp the bricks into spackling. I heated the end of a plastic pen to make the cobblestone stamp here.



Dave

Dave,

Can you expand on the stamping process? Did you just square off the round plastic bore of the pen and use it to stamp into not-quite-set plaster?

Wow, awesome house MWB. Dave, I love your cobblestone. Was that done in joint compound?

Hi All!! lot of great ideas here!


King Mouse: Dave, those cobblestones are great!! really captures the look of the cobbled streets where I grew up-the east end of Pittsburgh! But can you tell me why the pen was heated?? Thanks in advance!

Pete

R. R.


What I am going to suggest is tedious, but I find very rewarding.

I use Evergree stryene strips #123 for alll my brick work. I perfer crisp edges and deep morter joints and like the iregular look of hand layed brick work, I use light weight weight joint compound as grouting. Look at my work in proces section of my web site for examples.

Les Lewis

www.westportmodelworks.com

Thanks guys,

I just heated the pen to give it a squared off shape. I think I inserted the handle end of a file. To do bricks, you would have to use something smaller than a pen to get the right shape and size.

I just pressed the end of the pen into the wet spackling. If I recall, I used two different brands and the optimum wait time was different for each one so you will have to experiment. The color is then just dry brushed on.

Pete,

It has that Smallman St feel to it!

Dave

Would it be possible to paint an appropriate brick color, then use a compass and ruler with a mortar-colored fine tip pen?

It would be very tedious and it might not give you the texture and depth you want, but you could paint the base the mortar color and cut the bricks out of brick paper. This would allow you to easily trim the "bricks" to get the circle pattern you need. You would cut out a lot of bricks and you might need a marker the color of your mortar to run along the edges, but you can get brick paper printed on thick stock from Fred Dole that might work for you.

If you have unlimited time you could make a template and lay the bricks out on it to see how it would work.

Jim,

One possibility might be to lay down a layer of drywall compound and then use a compass with a scribe type point on it to scribe the circles. You could then scribe each of the brick ends individually. As others have already said this would definitely be a tedious job but I think the result should be just what you are looking for.

If you end up doing the brick in some fashion I'd love to see pictures.

Thanks,
Ed

I'm leaning toward glueing down each brick and then mortar. I checked Scenic Express, I don't think they show a bag of bricks? Any one know a source?

Jim,

If you want to do individual bricks, why not cut them yourself from some type of cardstock. They will still be plenty thick enough for a good mortar effect. Check some of Vulcan's old builds here on the scenery forum if they are still around. He has used this technique for many of his amazing stone buildings.

Jim

You mean like this, Jim?



Thanks!

That's it!

Doesn't get any better than that.

Jim

Vulcan,

Got the paper. Never got crazy enough to give it a shot.

That looks fantastic!

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by King Mouse:
Vulcan,

Got the paper.

Dave

That's a good start, Dave. But there's a little more to it than that.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Vulcan:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by King Mouse:
Vulcan,

Got the paper.

When I was in HO, I bricked the floor of a turntable pit by cutting brick sheets into pie shaped wedges. Laying them out was tedious, but the effect was terrific. Today I would use a computer cad or drawing program. I think using a paint program like PhotoShop would be extremely difficult.

Hey Vulcan,....what were those bricks made out of?
So far, I can't find individual bricks!

Jim, they are cut individually from Strathmore Acrylic Canvas. It comes in tablet form used for acrylic painting.

quote:

Jim, they are cut individually from Strathmore Acrylic Canvas. It comes in tablet form used for acrylic painting.

Cut it out !
Really?

Where are the fishtanks?
I love those.

Eliot

Yes, really.





No fish tank but there's a fish cooler downstairs in the butcher shop.

I've made individual bricks, stamped, etc and found the fastest, most versitile way is to lay down the medium (mortar, cement, plaster, whatever) and before it dries, scrib brick lines. If you want 2 tone, lay it down dyed white, let dry, lay second coat in whatever color and scrib to the white

DaveV

King Mouse: Great cobblestone. Great idea. Did the heat help ease the edges?

RR: Best of luck. Please post your results. Vulcan does amazing work, but some of his techniques will drive most mad in the process. If you want truly amazing he's your vulcan.

Kurt

Vulcan, How did you do the ice under the fish? Do you have a drain for the melt to flow through?

The ice is pure cane sugar.

I believe I put down a layer of Mod Podge, sprinkled on the sugar, then coated it with more Mod Podge. And a sprinkle of salt, just for variety.

Since you wouldn't see the drain I could say yes, but no. So far there's been no melt anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Vulcan:
Jim, they are cut individually from Strathmore Acrylic Canvas. It comes in tablet form used for acrylic painting.

V,

Did it have a number 300-400???

David

By jove, it does!

400 series.

I have at times driven into a industrial building that seems to have had a bunch of 10 x 10's driven vertically into what is the floor.

I am not certain I want to go the individual brick route, madness lies that way for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Lee 145:
I am not certain I want to go the individual brick route, madness lies that way for me.

If you have some kind of a problem with madness, what are you doing here?