How to Create Brickwork for Small Scale Model Buildings

1. 
   1
   Cut the façade out of 5mm feather board with a sharp scalpel blade. The positions of windows and doors are drawn on very precisely and their openings are lightly incised using the scalpel. Once its done, the feather board is ready to be peeled off from the side to be embossed by slipping the sharpened blade between the cardboard and the foam at one of the corners. Hold the sheet firmly with a large metal rule and then take off the cardboard avoiding any possibility of the foam being torn away.
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2. 2
   
   
   Create a punch matrix the size of a single brick, to emboss the surface in the foam. For forming 1:72 scale bricks such an embossing tool can easily be produced from an old fine No.3 brush with no more bristles left. Once the ferule has been hollowed out, the edge of its open extremity is shaped to the size of brick required with a pair of small pliers and later refined and sharpened with a flat file to obtain a perfect rectangle.
3. 3
   
   Create a punch matrix the size of a single brick, to emboss the surface in the foam. For forming 1:72 scale bricks such an embossing tool can easily be produced from an old fine No.3 brush with no more bristles left. Once the ferule has been hollowed out, the edge of its open extremity is shaped to the size of brick required with a pair of small pliers and later refined and sharpened with a flat file to obtain a perfect rectangle.
4. 4
   
   
   Emboss the bricks.This can begin first without applying too much pressure into the foam. It is best done in a staggered way using the metal rule as guide for the embossing tool. To give a more realistic aspect you can stamp deeper into the foam to create eroded joints in the brickworks mortar in some places, and carve off missing bricks or simulate fissures. These tricky operations in 1:72 scale can be made with a refined point of a needle.
5. 5
   
   
   Finish painting the façade. The items that can be painted when the façade is treated can now be done; for example, wooden and metal lintels, and other small details. At the same time such fittings as shutters, gutters, down pipes; air hole bricks, grilles and doors are scratch built using styrene, brass tube and copper wire.
6. 6
   
   
   Apply two coats of Humbrol Camouflage Grey 28 with a wide brush ensuring distribution in all the recesses. The foam is porous and the primer coat will be fully absorbed by it, so a second coat is imperative. When all is dry, a generous overall wash of acrylic matt black is applied. After 48 hours, the foam is tough enough to be gently sanded with 400-grade paper. This is done to polish the surface and give the bricks a texture true to scale. Carefully wipe off the dust from the recesses with a soft wide brush.
7. 7
   
   Paint the brickwork with a wide brush and near dry paint, much like a quick dry brushing. Mainly two shades of red - Burnt Sienna 411 and English Red 339, mixed with matt black or simply just these two colors can help you achieve the various nuances of real bricks.
8. 8
   
   
   Turn to the mortar courses between the bricks. These are simulated using white pigments applied overall onto the surface of the bricks with an old wide brush. After the excess pigment has been blown out, the remaining can be embedded into the joints with just your fingers. The bricks now appearing in relief are cleaned with a slightly dampened rag to remove excess pigment.
9. 9
   
   Re-use the paints from Step 6, but this time applied alternatively on each brick with a fine No.2 size brush.
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This step will give infinitely more shades to the bricks and give them a definitive appearance.

1. 1
   
   Apply an aging effect to the model's brickwork. The last phase concerning the brickwork itself is to create the places where rainwater or humidity has eroded the mortar in the courses and given the bricks a greenish aspect. There are three easy steps necessary to reproduce this aging effect. Apply black pigments into the mortar courses with a fine No.0 brush. Apply light green pigments on the appropriate surfaces. Blow off the excess of powder and brush Sienna Earth coloured pigments onto the raised parts of the bricks.
2. 
   2
   
   Enhance the façade by painting and aging the final details you add using a micro painting technique, which gives a realistic old touch to this brick built house. Now all it needs is a roof, a chimney and so on,
3. 3
   Display the house near the façade of the garage that was built earlier.
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