Most model railroads include at least one building with brick walls. Many in the hobby find that brick walls are not the easiest things to model realistically.

One option is to use card models for buildings with the brick walls already printed or to print out a brick pattern and glue the sheet of paper on the walls. Although this can work okay, this technique is without any surface texture and can require additional retouching to add a look of authenticity.

Plastic model kits of building often have brick walls moulded into surface and for scratch building there is embossed plastikard available.

These surfaces provide the contours for brick and mortar, but they are of a plain, a semi gloss color and need extra work to make them look realistic.

For anyone who has modeled brick walls they will know that to acheive a realistic brick wall appearance there needs to be variations in the brick color and mortar lines.

Here is one way of doing it. Start by mixing a suitable color such as “brick red” or “stone gray” and apply it with a brush or better still, an airbrush. Gloss or enamal paints may work best for this part of the process. The next step is to apply a variation of the color onto the bricks. Again, an airbrush can give a subtle effect.

Then paint individual bricks at random in a variety of colors using a fine brush. The colored bricks could vary in range from white through to black including various shades of brown. After you have finished the wall will look too artificial and the colors will look too bold, but don’t worry.

The next step is to soften this effect to give a more realistic appearance. Do this by spraying on a thin translucent coat of brick red paint. An airbrush is best for acheiving the desired effect.

You are then ready to start applying the mortar. The wall will need to be laid horizontal for this task. A mixture of stone gray and white paint is often the right combination for the mortar color. The key is to thin the colors down and using a fine brush applying a drop of this into a corner of the mortar line (as accurately as possible into the recess). When thinned down enough, capillary action will carry the paint along the recess to follow and fill the mortar lines.

If some of the mortar paint sits on the brick faces simply wipe it off with a cloth before it dries. The wall will now be ready to be weathered according to the age and location you are modeling. You could use weathering powders or pastels for the desired weathering effect.

Finally, fix the weathering with an airbrushed coat of matt varnish.