Red brick in MDF Laser cut buildings

[Ssendam]

So .... I'm drawing a creative blank.

I have some MDF laser-cut buildings, (well they are all the rage now, aren't they), and I'm trying to find a good method to paint the red brickwork ... 1980's Britain Style.

I've seen some great natural effects with the red brick and dark shading but I just can't get a look that I like.  Can anyone please give me some guidance as to how they achieved the right effect?

[Daeothar]

Check Thunderchicken's threads on his buildings; they're amazing, with top notch painting, all 19th century UK brick too...

[_Si_]

Seconded, I have this one bookmarked: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=49154.0

[Malebolgia]

That one is awesome! But note that most (if not all?) MDF buildings have rather thin lasercuts, so it's almost impossible to get a good cement effect between the bricks.

[orm1]

Hi mate I've been building a 1970s town with mostly mdf it's in the aggro thread over in conflicts that came in from the cold sorry don't know how to link.

Anyway the method I've used is to paint the mdf brick work in the chosen brick colour mines a mocha and then get a pastel chalk got mine from local art shop for about a quid in a mortar colour and just rub the whole surface down wipe excess with a dry piece of kitchen roll don't blow as it will come out of where you need it. Then with a slightly wet finger rub the whole thing down and then dry brush your brick colour back over bit of black to dirty it up and pick out the odd brick and paint a shade different.

Don't panic first time I did it thought I'd ruined it but the end result was exactly what I wanted.

Hope that helps

[Ssendam]

Thanks for all the good advice ... not sure why my searching didn't reveal some of those threads but it's good to know they are there.

I've tried two methods: (and remember this is laser-cut MDF so the gaps where the mortar sits are very narrow).

a) Painting it all white then dry brushing: This worked better than I expected but the dry brushing needed quite a few coats.  That said I've not used the house paint yet (getting a few tester pots today).

b) Rubbing chalk in the gaps and wiping off: This looked promising but I think I was too heavy with wiping it off ... will try again :-)

Looking across the road the mortar in the house opposite is dark anyway .... ho hum. 

[Thunderchicken]

Thanks for the nice comments chaps.

I was going to suggest orm1 as the master of red brickwork, but he's here anyway 

[fastolfrus]

Also might be worth considering that not all brickwork is red.

We have a lot of local terraced streets with cream brickwork and slightly darker mortar
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54841255.html

Other streets that are more of a caramel colour, again with dark mortar
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-51433297.html

[z1pp132002]

fastolfrus it is true but from a modeling perspective most walls a plastered and painted colors and red bricks just give a nice contrast.

[grant]

Seconded, I have this one bookmarked: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=49154.0

Brilliant!