1:48 Scale Realistic Brick & Stone Finishes

Posted on by

1:48 scale dolls houses have grown dramatically in popularity in recent years and as a supplier of realistic brick and stone finishing materials for larger 1:12 scale dolls houses and 1:24 scale, we have received a growing number of requests for 1:48 scale products.  Keen to follow this growing trend we have been busy experimenting and developing our products in recent months and having overcome some difficult technical challenges we now produce a range of brick and stone stencils and impress moulds in 1:48 scale.  In addition we also produce these in various railway modelling scales including ‘O’ gauge (1:43.5).  These can be found on our website at https://www.craft-products.com/realistic-brick-stencils.asp.

Using the new stencils effectively to produce realistic finishes on 1:48 scale dolls houses still remains bit of a challenge.  We have experimented with two different approaches, both of which are fairly tricky, but can produce very good results with a little skill and perseverance.

The first technique was to use the stencils with Realistic Brick Compound in exactly the same was as the larger scales are done.  Whilst this does work, the compound texture appears more coarse at the smaller 1:48 scale and also it is difficult to prevent the compound from bleeding under the mortar lines on the stencil due to their very fine profile.  This method is probably better suited to stone finishes and creating more rustic effects.

The second technique we have experimented with is using the 1:48 scale stencil as an impression mould to impress the pattern on air drying clay or similar material.  First the clay needs to be rolled to a very thin sheet which can be glued to the dolls house wall.  The stencil can then be laid over the wall and pressed firmly into the surface using a flat faced tool.  After impressing the brick or stone pattern the detail can be highlighted using acrylic or water colour paints to enhance the detail after the clay has hardened.

The methods described are not foolproof and perfect results are not guaranteed, but I have learned from a number of 1:48 scale dolls house enthusiasts that they are not afraid of a challenge and feedback has been very encouraging.

Below are some examples showing 1:48 scale stencils used to create brick and stone impressions on air drying clay.

Stencils
1:48 scale stencils
1:48 scale stone impression on air drying clay
1:48 scale stone impression created by pressing a stencil into the surface of air drying clay
Sample of 1:48 scale impression on clay
Finished sample of 1:48 scale impression on clay after washing with acrylic paint to highlight the impressed mortar lines
1:48 scale brick impression
1:48 scale brick impression on terracotta colour air drying clay
painting the mortar colour
Acrylic paint wash to create brick colour and contrasting mortar colour
Finished sample of 1:48 scale brick impression on clay
Finished sample of 1:48 scale brick impression on clay
Realistic Brick Compound
This image shows the coarser finish created using Realistic Brick Compound which is applied using a stencil. This example is 1:43.5 scale for ‘O’ gauge railway modelling. The slightly larger scale is easier to apply using the stencil and compound.