Paint Color to Simulate Red Brick - suggestions?

I use rusty red primer....Rust-Oleum or?  And may give it a "dusting" , from a distance, of dark or light gray or even flat black, to get a different effect.  I use that for walls and chimneys, as for this mill l am working on.

Currently on the shelf.  Krylon Ruddy Brown Primer 51317.   There is also applied a light gray brick wash for mortar detail. 

You can use rustoleum painters touch brown primer or krylon as stated previously

I had done one model with a green paint. 

zinc chromate primer. very available color

Greg,

Whichever color you choose, the model will be enhanced by the wash.    Roundhouses were not the cleanest buildings on railroad property.  Grime and grit was everywhere.  A few items alongside the building would be appropriate, at least one well used pickup truck, maybe new or well used welding tanks, two and four wheel carts, etc.  While the base color is important, please remember everything gets at least one tone darker when moved from your work table to the layout. 

John in Lansing, ILL

Steam Loco Greg posted:

 Also looking for something in a rattle can, ie Krylon, Rust Oleum, Valspar, .... that would be good.,

While I generally advise hand painting using 7-8 different reds and some browns, the basic Rustoleum Red Primer also sees a lot of use in my shop.

Martin is right. Red brick comes in many shades, from something like Georgia clay all the way to almost black.

The chimney in this station was painted with a couple variations of Tuscan red, some with a little black added, some with a little brown added, and some straight Tuscan...

I have also sanded the brick surface in various areas to obtain different shades of color and texture

Greg, why limit yourself to rattle cans? You can get as good or better results with a brush, and your color selection is unlimited. If you want to get fancy, get yourself a cheap single action air brush. When I say cheap, I'm talking under $10 on eBay, Of course you'll need a compressor to go that route, but once you have one, you're set for life.

OGR buildings, with a brick wash.  A house paint, latex grey, diluted to the consistency of milk.   It may take a couple of application to get the effect you want.  The red is the OGR plastic, tends to dull with wash applied. 

Detail paint was done with a good brush, panels flat on the work bench, before assembly.  Window detail is available from OGR.  

I've had nice results by using more than 1 color for the bricks on the same structure as each brick tends to be multi shaded

I dust them with rattle cans with several shades of primer ,brown tones, black grey tones, orangish brown

You're looking for a varied uniformity in the finished wall sections

They all tie in when you do the mortar washes and weathering, personally I avoid pure white mortar washes

as they are rare, khaki/ tan colors were more common.

Elliot,  Is it possible to use compressed air from a tank designed for propane?  When the pressure gets low, refill it at a gas station, truck stop, auto repair facility or tire store.  John in Lansing, ILL

Everyone, thank you for the great suggestions and please keep them coming.  Elliot, I do have a Paasche single action which I use a lot as well and that is a quite viable option.  Was looking for a quick rattle can and there are some great options here.  I hope some others get some good ideas from all of your folks suggestions as well.  The comments on the mortar and grime are excellent suggestions.  Plan on doing the mortar as well.  Mike love your Mortar lines you got with the diluted gray.

Do all of you spray at the end with a matte clearcoat to protect the finish at the end?

Thanks again,

BTW, Mike, what did you use for your Korber roundhouse base and how thick is it?  Thanks,

Steam Loco Greg posted:

Everyone, thank you for the great suggestions and please keep them coming.  Elliot, I do have a Paasche single action which I use a lot as well and that is a quite viable option.  Was looking for a quick rattle can and there are some great options here.  I hope some others get some good ideas from all of your folks suggestions as well.  The comments on the mortar and grime are excellent suggestions.  Plan on doing the mortar as well.  Mike love your Mortar lines you got with the diluted gray.

Do all of you spray at the end with a matte clearcoat to protect the finish at the end?

 

Thanks again,

 

Unless its painted brick, it should be a dead flat. I use dilute "dust". Spray a coat and let it dry. Add more coats to suit. Its much flatter than any of the matte finishes. I used to use both Poly Scale and Floquil but Tru Color Dust will work here.

Korber Roundhouse base is a three layer build-up.  Floor and track completed before side panels were installed. 

3/16" luan board was used to level the floor to near top of rail.   Dry wall compound and sanding smooths the floor.  Another rattle can spray, was used for the aged/slight yellow concrete look. 

  Hitting some bricks with a dull satin will darken them and change sheen, which can also vary.

Modern bricks may even be sealed with a gloss.

New to washes? Try cheap water based craft acrylic from companies like Apple Barrel (wallymart, etc)  If you don't like it, water will remove it. Soap and water if it cures a day or two, usually with a scrub brush after that..  Getting it all off seldom matters with washes anyhow. Also great to practice dry brushing with it. Only 80 cent for a 2 once bottle. Lots of color variations and easy to blend. I stagger my colors giving a day or two  between coats, so if I do wash a layer off, the one under it remains solid. The only drawback is it is thick and has more texture when dry compared to smooth lacquer or enamel. It also is softer by far once cured. Clearcoats can help protect it.

Use black, brown, red, green, and grey for rain grime. Basically a few pigments of everything with a heavier base in black or brown is what you see outside. Colors in nature are seldom pure anything.

Greg:

You can also experiment with different Rust-o-ileum or Krylon color combinations - examples

Base Brick - Chestnut Brown over Red Oxide

Base Brick – Dark Gray over black

Flat red over black

Joe

rattler21 posted:

Elliot,  Is it possible to use compressed air from a tank designed for propane?  When the pressure gets low, refill it at a gas station, truck stop, auto repair facility or tire store.  John in Lansing, ILL

I'm not sure about a propane tank. I'm guessing you're referring to the standard 20 pounder that you might use for a grill. You'll have a little trouble getting an adapter for those threads to hook up to air. At one time, Badger had a tire adapter, so you could take an old tire and use the air from that. Then go to the gas station for refills. They may still make it.

If you want different colors of individual bricks or stones, the easiest way is to darken some of them with various colors of marker pens. A set that includes several shades of brown for touching up scratches in wood are good. Do it after a primer coat but before a light finish coat of spray paint. Quick, easy, and produces a nice subtle variation.

The auto racing guys use air tanks all ready fitted for this. Not necessary cheaper than a Harbor Freight air brush but has the advantage of being silent.

Jegs air tanks

I have had good results using Krylon Cover MAXX -  Red Oxide Primer...  Very flat, almost like a chalk paint finish.  On all recent buildings I go back with the track painting markers weathering colors and use rust and rail tie brown and hit about 20 % of the bricks... On larger buildings where that would take too much time, I have just used some craft paint colors, some in the rusty orange family and one that's darker and just randomly darkened bricks by stamping the brush to create blotches....  Then seal it with flat clear coat before applying mortar.  My preferred mortar method now is the lightweight fast drying spackling.... I make up two batches one tinted darker than the other  with india ink... some photos of results below

I like the Artist Marker pens in various shades of brown, tan and grey.

The width of the pen tip is the same as a brick... random color application is slow but it looks great.

SWEEET!

I like how you even painted the handles on the doors!