Eat Ye Heart Out , Barney !

[k27rgs]

has this place got a internal "corner" 

[finescalerr]

Yes, custom made for you to stand in. -- ssuR

[Lawton Maner]

Has anyone used the weathering powders from Secret Weapon Miniatures to color plaster for bricks?  They have a method to color mud for figure bases using them and plaster to simulate the mud.

[danpickard]

Just dragging this one out of the dust...
Sir Nick (yup, suckin' up a bit by droppin' sir bit..), where did this little project of trials end up at?

Cheers,
Dan

[shropshire lad]

Just dragging this one out of the dust...
Sir Nick (yup, suckin' up a bit by droppin' sir bit..), where did this little project of trials end up at?

Cheers,
Dan

   You'll have to wait until Easter weekend to find out !

   Shall we say , it is not quite finished yet ! Understatement of the year .

[danpickard]

There's always the fold down tray table on a long flight down under 

Cheers,
Dan

[Marc988]

not wanting to start something new I thought to add a related question here.

I have fought of this 1:35 brick virus off until know but I feel I won't be able to do so for much longer   
Since DD is not shipping the pigments the use for the coloring I was wondering which pigments and which colors you guys use for recreating the typical brick color. Also how much pigment would be required for coloring a batch of bricks ?

Looking forward to reading your experience.

Regards,
Marc

[finescalerr]

An oblique answer: Check Marc Reusser's thread on 1:35 paper. His approach seems slightly less time intensive than casting and coloring plaster and you can use any kind of paint to color the chip board bricks. -- Russ

[shropshire lad]

not wanting to start something new I thought to add a related question here.

I have fought of this 1:35 brick virus off until know but I feel I won't be able to do so for much longer   
Since DD is not shipping the pigments the use for the coloring I was wondering which pigments and which colors you guys use for recreating the typical brick color. Also how much pigment would be required for coloring a batch of bricks ?

Looking forward to reading your experience.

Regards,
Marc

   Marc ,

   I don't use DD's pigments ( although I ought to try them some time to see how they compare with what I use ) , instead I use cement mortar dye available from builders merchants . It comes in 1kg containers and goes along way . I have three colours , red , buff and black . For bricks and tiles I use varying combinations of the red and buff added to my casting plaster , in no set ratio . I just mix and match as the mood takes me . There is nothing scientific about it . Just keep adding pigments until you are happy with the colour . I have found that the dry colour isn't that different from when it is wet . The only time I would want to have the colour of the different batches the same is if I wanted to have a uniform brick wall , but as I can't see this ever happening I just carry on as I have said .

  Be warned , these pigments are very strong , and you don't need that much per mix . As with everything else , just experiment . If you muck up it is only a bit of plaster and colouring you are wasting .

   Dry pigments are better than liquid colours . As an alternative you could try some sort of art supplier .

   As they say on their website , don't bother with plaster of Paris , as it is not really strong enough .

   There is no such thing as a typical wall .

    Don't overthink the process , it is not that difficult . After all , I can do it !

  Oh , and don't listen to Russ , as he is a dribbling fool , shortly due to go into a care home , and knows not what he says !

  Nick

[marc_reusser]

Marc,

Listen to Nick....and though I appreciate Russ's nod to my cardboard bricks, There are areas where my approach requires some nice headache creating work....such as areas of broken wall, or tops of walls where there are no caps...and thus whole bricks need to be visible. (Currently working on doing this by cutting individual bricks from Strathmore board, impregnating them with ACC, and then chipping/texturing them.)


...oh, and Nick...if not plaster...then what? Will the Woodland Scenics "Hydrocal" work?

[artizen]

I am using casting plaster which is harder than plaster of paris but there are high strength plasters available from builders' merchants for specialist applications. Using the dry plaster with dry oxide colours is definitely the better way to go.

Here are my mix ratios (based on a small yoghurt tub as a scoop and a disposable plastic spoon - one for each colour as the oxides stain everything)
BRICK COLOURS
TUSCANY
10 x full scoops of casting plaster
40 x teaspoons of tuscany cement oxide
DARK RED
10 x full scoops of casting plaster
40 x teaspoons of dark red cement oxide
SANDSTONE
60 x full scoops of casting plaster
60 x teaspoons of sandstone cement oxide
10 x teaspoons of light brown cement oxide
1/2 x teaspoon of black cement oxide
MORTAR
4 x full scoops of casting plaster
1/4 x teaspoon of black cement oxide

[shropshire lad]

Marc,

Listen to Nick....and though I appreciate Russ's nod to my cardboard bricks, There are areas where my approach requires some nice headache creating work....such as areas of broken wall, or tops of walls where there are no caps...and thus whole bricks need to be visible. (Currently working on doing this by cutting individual bricks from Strathmore board, impregnating them with ACC, and then chipping/texturing them.)


...oh, and Nick...if not plaster...then what? Will the Woodland Scenics "Hydrocal" work?

  I would say that WS lightweight hydrocal is way too soft to use in these moulds , and takes too long to go off . For best results as hard a casting plaster as you can find is the way to go . I use a plaster that has a compressive strength of 9000psi . There are harder ones , but I haven't tried them . It has been suggested to me to try Crystacal R or crystacast plaster , but I haven't done so yet . I do not know how they compare strengthwise to the plaster that I use already as there don't seem to be any figures published .

  Nick

[danpickard]

Ian,
Are you doing bricks in commercial quantities?  That is biggish volumes of pre coloured plaster mix.  Also sounds like a high proportion of the oxide coloring.  The first mixes I did were fairly high on oxide content, but all that seemed to do was make the bricks very dirty to work with.  Kept having oxide stains on anything they touched. A little colour goes a long way with the batches I've been doing, and also makes the finished brick castings much cleaner to work with.  The only real staining issues I have now are when cutting bricks, and the dust created from this smudges on the work surface.

Cheers,
Dan

[artizen]

Hi Dan - yes I need commercial quantities. Done 26,000 so far with approx another 6-8,000 needed for board five alone. If I do what I want to do on board 6 that alone will need over 10,000. I mix very large batches in large plastic bottles for consistent colour. The amount of oxide was arrived at by trial and error back in the early days and will now be deliberately changed every so often to get a less "new brick" effect when building. Your idea of using a sprinkling of black in the mould before pouring the plaster has merit as well.

[lab-dad]

I tried the sprinkle of black in the mold before pouring.
it did leave a little black but not really what we are after, and it made a HELL OF A MESS!!! and darkened subsequent pours even after (trying to) clean the mold.

May be a sprits of water on the black then pour over that?

BTW I am using a 32:1 ratio of plaster to (powdered) oxide red.

-Marty