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| Last updated on January 11, 2021
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very cool tips…thank you Gerry
Hello Gerry. The one thing I was really interested in, was how you actually made the “driveways” from the street into the garages. Was there a special technique to smooth the sidewalk to form it into the street?
Gerry, love your techniques as always! Did you get Eagle Lake completed and filmed before deconstruction? I know the shutdown has slowed Jenny and crew down but really waiting to see it to conclusion if you got I’d done.
Thanks Gerry, I did learn a bunch. Woodland Senics has an outstanding Concrete paint tha works well for sidewalks and streets.
Jeffery — Good question The reason I didn’t put the styrene on top of the bricks is because you’d see the bottom edge of the styrene at the mortar lines of the bricks. Granted, it’d be subtle, but because there are so many mortar lines, your eye would pick up that horizontal edge.
Really have enjoyed all of your presentations. I love the brick street idea, but the closeups I’ve found of 97430 show the bricks laid in a herringbone pattern. I’m confused.
Love the brick streets Gerry. I’d planned to use Walther’s Brick Street System on a city section of my layout, but this is more subtle appearing. I did wonder why you trimmed the brick sheets to butt up against the sidewalk rather than having the sidewalks sit on top of the brick, since the brick sheet is so thin to begin with? Besides eliminating the radius trimming, wouldn’t it also negate the need to paint the styrene base “brick red” along the edges where the street and sidewalk meet? Either way, looks awesome!
Thanks Gerry
Gus — that’s a great question! Here’s what I’d suggest, and bear in mind I haven’t tested this. If you use a piece of 1/4” foam core as a base you could put slight indentations into it with your thumb. Don’t make the indentations too big, though — remember the scale you’re working in. So even a 1/16” indentation would be 6” in HO. Then use the high-tack double-sided tape to mount the plastic sheets, my guess is that the plastic sheet would stick well enough to show the indentation. Just don’t go too crazy with the indentations — you don’t want the street to look like a piece of bubble wrap!
Wow, Eagle Lake is a ritzy place with brick streets?? Is there any practical way Gerry to model that eventual unevenness that creeps into older brick streets? Unless that is a new brick street, the surface eventually begins to become uneven and broken. I guess one could place an uneven surface below that brick sheet before gluing down? Thanks and good luck on the new layout.
Great as always. More detailed than I thought. Thanks for making all your wisdom available to us. U’d da Man!
Gerry, How long did your Eagle Lake portion of the Buena Vista last before you tore the whole layout down, last? It’s tough watching you work on this layout, knowing that it no longer exists!
Are you in your new house, yet? If so, have you started on a new layout yet?
Steven and Robert — Dullcote has a tendency to react with alcohol (which is in the India ink solution) and create a white “film.” It’s a great effect if that’s what you want, but in this case, not what I would want on a brick street.
Mark — Eagle Lake lasted about a month beyond Part 4 of the video series before we decided to sell and build. We’re not in the new house yet and probably won’t be until June. But I’ve been planning the new layout for months, and will share the plans and some of the house construction with everyone sometime later this year!
I would like to suggest doing something at the joints where the brick pieces meet each other. Maybe putting some small weeds and dirt in the seem. There would probably be cracks in the brick too where the weeds are trying to grow up between the bricks. Other than that…. well done. 🙂
Gerry, another great video on simple projects that most of us over look. -Greg
Depending on the era, but would oil drips from older vehicles be more obvious than tire rubber, unless the teenagers like to ‘drag race’.
Jerry, really enjoyed this segment. A question regarding the weathering of the bricks. I agree with you that the alcohol solution will have an affect on the pastel paints, would it be prudent to lightly mist the brickwork with dulkote before applying the weathering solution, or would that be overkill? Thanks, Steve
Great looking roads Gerry, old brick roads always are cool. Eagle Lake is looking really good, I’m looking forward to the next episode. This has given me some ideas for my layout, I’ll have to check out JTT for O scale brick sheets. Plastruct makes some, but they are thicker. I like the idea of the thinner sheets, and using the transfer tape.
Turned out very nice Gerry, you’re truly a ‘master modeler’ doing way more detailing than what I would’ve done… so now back to working on other areas to try and improve them to your standards! Good thing you didn’t ‘smoosch’ the brick streets… would ruin the whole scene.
So, giving your brick road a shot of Dulcote to begin with wouldn’t do?
Another possibility would be to use a cloth dipped in the brick color and spread it over the plastic being careful not to make it an even coat.
The ink wash looks good, even with the pooling.
Got no picture on today’s episodes.
Its looking great Gerry I’ll have to try the brick streets. I have used your idea for the sandpaper roads with very good results.