PaperBrick

[finescalerr]

Finally, Jimmy's (Monster ModelWorks) chimney and trim pieces. Again, HO scale. -- Russ

[finescalerr]

Jimmy's chimney is on the left, by the way. It is laser cut on all four sides.

The photo below is embossed paper inkjet print. I think I posted an image of the original artwork a page or two back on this thread. It's pretty obvious where the embossing ends and you lazy guys who think you can skip that step had better think again.

Russ

[finescalerr]

This final shot may be superfluous because it's a close up. The bricks are 1:48 scale. It's nothing more than an inkjet photo I printed on some artist's pencil sketch paper from Canson (I think) and embossed with a rounded finishing nail. It lacks the brick-to-brick surface variation Dave (Dakra) achieves with his VectorCut products but, of course, you don't have to paint or weather a photo! -- Russ

[BKLN]

I think the printed an embossed paper brick looks pretty good. In conjunction with other wall details (cables, signs, lintels) you should get a convincing result. You might also want try to cut out a couple of bricks, and replace them from the back. I tried that unsuccessfully with HO printed brick, but it might work 1/48.

[Rail and Tie]

This final shot may be superfluous because it's a close up. The bricks are 1:48 scale. It's nothing more than an inkjet photo I printed on some artist's pencil sketch paper from Canson (I think) and embossed with a rounded finishing nail. It lacks the brick-to-brick surface variation Dave (Dakra) achieves with his VectorCut products but, of course, you don't have to paint or weather a photo! -- Russ

Newb' here to the forum (been lurking about for a year or two).

Russ, I like your embossed brick. Could you not use a flat burnishing tool to vary the surface of random bricks to change the surface angles. It might reflect the light enough to give it that random surface that we try to achieve for older brick. 

I have been experimenting with laser cut brick in N Scale for some time with various results. I am finding that matt board painted in various shades and then cut through the dark matt to show the light matt underneath for mortar works well (at least in small scale stuff).

I also tried the embossing idea over a form as discussed from inkjet and laser printed sheets, but found that the indexing does not match the moisture changes from the inkjet printed items (the sheets stretched a slight amount by the time you get to the bottom of a sheet.  On the laserjet, I got calibration issues, though slight, which casued errors in the grout line match up. This probably largely depends on the printer quality... and my limited skills.

Darryl

[mabloodhound]

Dave,
90% of the work on his brick walls is done in Photoshop,(the shadows the shading and enhancing the colour), the weathering streaks and rust are brushed on.
Ralph

Well, I just finished watching Troel's excellent DVD for the second time and he actually shows how he does his brickwork.   It is as I said, he actually paints individual bricks different shades and dry brushes acrylic colors over the wall.   He then adds shadows with his brush and then the rust and weathering.    It is a nice looking job from 2 feet but there is no embossing, only the build up of some painted bricks.
I do know he does some preliminary color adjustments on the computer but most of his technique is with a brush.