Sheets

I have been using sheets from N Scale Architect, they have all scales and types.

https://thenarch.com/catalog/building-sheets

Brick facing sheets

a company in Canada makes various brick and stone facing sheets, in both paper and plastic.  These are designed to face a styrene or acrylic core, using either a double side adhesive sheet or MEK solvent.

The company has an on-line store at http://modelbuilderssupply.com. You can purchase a variety of modeling  supplies in a wide variety of scales.

There is a recent train masters.tv episode "Modeling with patterned sheets" providing more information.

John (in Canada)

MicroMark

Latest catalog middle of page 87. 

or:  http://www.micromark.com/building-materials.html

Russ

You could print them yourself . . .

Using brick photos from CG textures or another source, since you noted that you would find cardstock acceptable.  This would give you infinite variations available as far as color of brick, new or old brick, etc.  I have found this very useful in making models match prototype structures. Good luck!

Mayang and CG Textures

Hi Matt,

Like CG Textures, Mayang http://www.mayang.com/textures/ is well worth a look. They were probably the original go-to texture site but lost ground to CG Textures after their webiste crashed for several months a few years back. Their bricks start at  http://www.mayang.com/textures/Architectural/html/Brick/index.html 

CG Textures  is now Textures,com, see  http://www.textures.com/  for the main website, with the bricks at this part of their webiste  http://www.textures.com/category/brick/1 

Both texture sites are for free textures but have download limits. There are options to buy on each website.   

Enjoy and happy printing

N Scale Architect

I second the opinion on using N-Scale Architect brick sheet.....and they do come in HO scale!  This sheet is stryene so it bonds easily to a plastic backing.  I would not recommend using card stock at all as it will eventually warp and is more difficult to use than styrene.

Thanks All

Great resources - and thanks to those that added direct links; that saved some searching time.  I'll add them to the original post so it's easy to find for a future me (or someone like me).

@Rog.38 - absolutely on printing them myself.  Dad is actually a bigger proponent than I am of paper modeling (he's an old school architect, currently hand-drawing the surface detail of Esmeralda Canning).  I suggested we find a vendor that sold the metal siding that adorned that building.  He said Naw; I'll just draw it...  He's drawn whole walls of brick before, but decided he's perfectly ok not doing that this time - though I suspect he'll end up shading it.

@Tom, a gentleman known for cardstock modeling (Jim Gore) was being interviewed on the Model Rail Radio podcast about five years ago, and I jumped in and asked the question about cardstock warping.  My view had previously been the same as yours.  His response was that, if properly assembled, cardstock models will stay square a very long time.  I took one of his clinics and found cardstock not necessarily harder (or easier) than other materials - it just required different skills and materials.

Matt

More on surface textures

There is this site from UK that allows one to chose different scales, colors, and patterns of brick to print out:

http://www.paperbrick.co.uk/index.php?action=home

I had a blog post a while ago that described my experiences with printed textures:

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/cyprr-using-printed-surface-textures-12203279

The brick examples are down the page following the pavement uses. 

Brick streets

Another consideration is the brick pattern.  Many streets are done in a herringbone pattern, others have a brick pattern that goes across the street crosswise and others have pattern that goes along the street lengthwise.

Street normally don't have a "bond", the pattern of half bricks that ties the bricks in a wall through their depth.

Another pattern that was common was in cobblestones, there was a "fan" pattern of curved arcs.

I have some and can cut in

I have some and can cut in Basswood or task board. Plus will have a exposed brick in stucco  soon.

Srop me a note of what you need .

rich

rslaserkits

You missed my favorite -- Rusty Stumps

I've used most of those that have been mentioned, but I prefer brick and concrete blocks sheets from Rusty Stumps Scale Models. These are available in all scales N, HO, S, and O. Also American bond pattern, sometimes called seventh row lock.

The sheets are laser-etched so have a subtle relief that makes it easy to add mortar using the method of your choice..

HTTP://www.rustystumps.com

Thanks, Mark!

I'll add http://www.rustystumps.com/products.asp?cat=45 to the list. Interesting product; do you use the card stock or RC Board? If the latter, what type of adhesive do you use?

There is also...

... Monster Modelworks. I heartily recommend them.

http://www.monstermodelworks.com/

Rusty Stumps - an example

Here's a work in progress. There will be a freight platform and stairs at the personnel door.

Freight doors sills and corners are also from Rusty Stumps.

@Matt, I use the RC board, and laminate it to subwall using 3M spray adhesive.

Scalescenes.com

Some very realistic 'print yourself' textures available here:

http://scalescenes.com/scratchbuilders-yard/

Available in British OO and N scales, but you could scale the printing from OO to HO easily enough.

Ian Morgan

Hampshire

Brick

Plastruct makes brick sheet advertised as 1/100 HO scale. I am working with it now.

Rough Brick 2 pcs cat . no PS-91 (91605) A little funky but OK.

Brick 2 pcs cat No. PS-97 (91611) Nice, very durable and cuts easy with a sharp knife. Not overly thick.

I laminate it to Crescent Illustration board with spray adhesive. Works great just be right the first time.

Gordon Spalty

I use Rusty Stumps

Rusty Stumps Hoosegow kit in O scale brick.  Laserboard scribed with laser to give mortar lines.  I use cornstarch as the mortar for all my brick structures.

Brick Sheet sources

Don't confine your search to just North American sources. There are excellent brick sheets from Germany such as Kibri and other European sources including a new company from Spain. Also UK 4 mm scale is close enough and there are several excellent suppliers such as Wills (a Peco company now) which readily adapt to HO modeling.

Also there are large ranges of brick papers from several suppliers that sell their product as a PDF file that can be downloaded and printed on your color printer.

Ken Adams

Printing downloaded textures to decal film

Rather than printing a downloaded image on paper or card has anyone tried printing onto decal film, then applying that to a plastic structure? Either onto a smooth surface or even onto a brick sheet - printed mortar lines may not line up with embossed lines but that might not be a problem, the eye can let certain things pass. May need to cut the film to manageable sizes before applying though.

You'll then get the strength and longevity of an plastic model.

Chris

Minuteman Scale Models

While going through my supplies the other day, I found a sample of Minuteman Scale Models brick sheet that I probably picked up at a train show.  This is a resin impregnated paper.  Adding it to the list above.

http://www.minutemanscalemodels.com/category-s/184.htm

CG Textures

Great site. Used this resource for my city scene. Prints over foam core.

Monster Modelworks

I agree.

Joe Horter

http://www.mayang.com/ is no longer available (1/31/2022)

Thank you for the many great resources