Paint

[diesel]

I am at present building a Kestrel station building but need some matt brick red paint anyone any suggestions on the best manufactura to use for realistic colour ? I am brush painting the building.


Cheers all

Brian

[Michael Shillabeer]

The model in my avatar was brush painted with Humbol acrylic brick red.

I'm now using Vallejo Model Air paint for airbrushing - sprays straight from the bottle, which are a neat design with a built in dropper for dispensing small amounts.

"US Brown" looks like it could be brick red

There is a colour chart at http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/model-air/family/17

Michael

[Gnep]

I find the Tamiya acrylic flat red-brown a little too dark for bricks - I've used it and it looks OK (with light colourded wash over the top for filling in the mortar layers), but have been keeping my eyes open for other options (other than mixing) for a better brick colour in acrylic...

[EtchedPixels]

If you are looking for "a brick colour" I think you already lost. Except for some very modern buildings no two bricks are the same colour and they cover a huge range of base colours. I've done buildings in everything from railmatch light brick to frame dirt and various other mixes.

Get a small jar of acrylic thinners and experiment with mixing shades. I find it useful to mix them badly so you can pick different shades off the paint to do individual areas. Works well with locos too.



Alan

[Rabs]

I'd definitely suggest NOT using expensive model paints for buildings.  You can get mixed set of all the colours of cheap artist's acrylics for the same price as a single pot modelling paint:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-6ml-Tube-Pack-Acrylic-Colour-Art-Crafts-Paint-Set-Acrylic-Craft-Paints-/380625642382?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item589f0e638e.

Alternatively a high quality make in 120ml tubes:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chiltern-Arts-8-Tubes-Of-Assorted-Colour-Acrylic-Paint-120ml-Tubes-/390552116052?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item5aeeb85b54
Thinned with water these make approximately 2x as much usable paint per ml than modelling acrylics, so you get a lot for your money.

You just need to experiment on a plain ceramic tile or similar for mixing a range of shades.  That way if you're not happy you can just wipe it off and start again.

[Gnep]

If you are looking for "a brick colour" I think you already lost. Except for some very modern buildings no two bricks are the same colour and they cover a huge range of base colours. I've done buildings in everything from railmatch light brick to frame dirt and various other mixes.

Get a small jar of acrylic thinners and experiment with mixing shades. I find it useful to mix them badly so you can pick different shades off the paint to do individual areas. Works well with locos too.

That was kind of where I was likely to end up next time I need to paint a kestrel brick kit Fully agree with you on "brick colour" - I'm just lazy though and am always on the lookout for an easy way of creating a "looks good enough from 6 foot away" look... Will probably dig out my old painting (ie "artist") acrylics for a bit of a mix next time. Can make anything from the primary colours...

[Rabs]

Will probably dig out my old painting (ie "artist") acrylics for a bit of a mix next time. Can make anything from the primary colours...

Indeed.  And for anyone who's afraid to try, here's a couple of links on paint mixing to get started:
http://artintegrity.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/11-your-art-stories-here/
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=799401

And here is a very useful picture that I use all the time to get close to colours I want from the three primaries + white and black:
http://sugru.com/blog/how-to-colour-match-your-sugru-pdf-colour-mixing-chart
It's not for paint, so the percentages aren't quite right for my acrylics (and yours will be different too) but I find that it's better than a complete guess.

Unlike fine art, our models generally look better if you don't exactly match colours!

[diesel]

Thankyou all for the suggestions   

[E Pinniger]

If you paint with acrylics, I've found the best match for a generic "brick red" colour is Humbrol 62 (Matt Leather). It also covers very well and dries to a completely matt finish, unlike some Humbrol "matt" acrylics.

You can see this paint on the two right-hand terrace houses here (with some weathering from craft acrylic paints): http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/EPinniger/Model%20photos/Railway/N%20gauge/Buildings/TerraceBpainted2.jpg