Buying local

The cheap sides were usually build from local sources.

As the color is dependent on the type of clay used, you won't find big differences.

whereabouts and what timeframe

In upstate NY, Ohio and southern Michigan, cheap brick in the 1800s was dark red - model RR paints call this boxcar red or red oxide. Occasionally it was somewhat orange. Craft paints sometimes call this terra cotta.

Like everything exposed to weather, there were many subtle variations. And coal smoke darkened both brick and mortar.

There were notable local variations in early 1800s; these diminished as rail transport got cheaper and brick manufacturers consolidated and built larger brickwork.

Somebody perhaps has written about this. I'd like to see a detailed history.

Brick color

Often bricks were made locally so the color variation was as wide as the color of dirt (or clay).  Facing brick used on the fronts of buildings was more expensive, high quality, more consistent in size or shape and tended to have a narrower color range.  The utility brick used on the sides and backs of buildings didn't have the requirement for consistent color so the color variation could be greater.  In my studies of brick buildings, the facing brick tended to be richer, redder colors (unless there was an intentional use of a lighter colored yellow or cream brick) and the utility brick on the sides and ends tended to be more of a brown and a tan color.

Another way to think about this is, if on the model you are trying to emphasize the difference in the brick quality, then make the brick on the front one color, solid with little variation and then make the brick on the sides and back a lighter, less red, more brown tending toward tans, with more color variation, to highlight the different types of brick.

As to the cheaper craft

As to the cheaper craft paints - I've had good luck using a wash of Americana paint "Heritage Brick" color. Looks really nice when I've primed using the dark brown Krylon spray camouflage paint then watered down the Heritage brick and brushed it over the primer base. The primer shows through a bit leaving the darker spots and the Heritage brick darkens up nicely with it, I've been only using water to thin it out.

Raw sienna

Raw sienna

Brick red

I was at Michaels just last night and picked up some craft paint by Craft Smart called Brick Red.

Ages ago I used Humbrol matt

Ages ago I used Humbrol matt 70 for brick colour.

This is an old kit I didn't finish and probably never will, as I no longer have an interest in urban modeling.

Brick red in its many splendors...

My house is painted red... Mail Pouch Barn red... Red Oxide red.

RED

My left-over house paint is used on my scenery...  Red plus thinned medium grey makes for a wonderful brick wall.  With india ink, makes a dirty brick.  With beige-sand makes a residential brick townhouse.   With colored pencil highlights makes a random-color wall.

The other colors are usually from latex interior paint samplers... 4oz goes a LOOOONG way!

Paint Colors

Thanks to everyone who offered some ideas and advice.

Richard

Brick color: Theme and variation

The color of common brick varies by location (well covered above) and by time.  

Early brick was locally fired and had a softer and more crumbly finish than commercially fired brick made after the first third of the 19th century.  Brick got darker and harder during the Victorian period, and mortar lines got narrower and narrower, so that a Victorian storefront with pretensions will have mortar lines that are almost invisible.  In poorer or more rural parts of the country, there will be less difference between primary and secondary brickwork, but it would be pretty rare to use the cheapest brick on the street side.

My family is from the South Carolina Piedmont, where the local clay is red and local brick is often orange or even pinkish.  And it can be very soft.  My father laid a sidewalk with salvaged brick, and it crumbled in a few years.

The thing to remember is not to use identical colors on the sides and back of any two buildings and to increase the differences by weathering.  

A note here on mortar colors.  Fancy 19th century buildings often had the mortar tinted to match the brick, emphasizing a uniform facade.  I am trying to think of a stone building where this wasn't the case, but I haven't come up with one yet.  Almost no mortar in the eastern part of the country is white, and it didn't stay white long even if it began that way.  Don't use white paint to represent it.  In Virginia and North Carolina, historic and reproduction buildings often have tan mortar (any earth paint) and in domestic buildings, the windows are often painted the same color.

i added to this November thread because Richard has raised an interesting topic that deserves a lot more thought. I look forward to yours.

Terra Cotta

In the acrylic craft paints Terra Cota makes a very nice orange brick color.  Here in Michigan many structures near Lake MIchigan used Milwaukee Cream brick (a whole story in itself) since it could be shipped by boat.  It was used on the sides and rear walls of many structures.  It is basically the color of Vintage White craft paint and then use a pencil to darken a number of bricks.  Milwaukee Cream brick turned out to be a very poor quality brick but there are many structures still standing on both sides of the Lake built using that material.

Robert

smoke and soot before the 1960s

Another factor to keep in mind is the enormous quantities of smoke and soot during the coal age and beyond. There were some families in my neighborhood still burning coal for heat into the 1960s. And many factories, schools and others burned soft coal even later. Nowadays even the power plants have converted to natural gas.

Keep in mind when looking at preserved or restored structures, that all have been power-washed or sand blasted to remove decades of soot and grime. This also removed any old paint on brick and mortar. We see the true colors more clearly than in past decades.

Informative indeed,

Informative indeed, ackislander. Thanks.