In order to make really nice looking bricks - much patience is needed for this stage. The bricks must run straight and the courses should match up nicely at the corners and around features like windows and doors.
In 4mm scale, your average brick measures 1mm high x 3mm wide. You need to plan out your building/structure so that the measurements are right. So the width of your building needs to be divisible by 3! This way each brick ends correctly at the end of the course.
For example a 60mm wide wall requires 20 bricks across. 61mm is no good as there is 1mm left over. The next measurement up will be 63mm for the extra whole brick.
Things you need.
For the scribing you will need the following items:
A scribe.
(This can be made easily from an old paintbrush and a pin. I snapped off the metal at the end of the paintbrush, leaving a wooden handle and then clipped off the head of the pin with some pliers. Then I shoved the handle down into the pin on the patio surface and voila! A decent scribe).
A steel ruler at 12 inches/300mm.
A guide.
The guide is very important for getting even courses. It is simply a bunch of very fine lines spaced 1mm apart for the vertical courses. If you would like a copy of one made to exact measurements digitally please contact me and I will happily email you a copy.
Some sticky tape.
The method:
Begin by cutting out a piece from your guide that will fit over your wall from top to bottom, but leaving a slight gap at each end to mark the filler in the correct places. Then stick it to the wall with your tape by wrapping it around the bottom and top. The edges need to be tape free.
Then, with your scribe, push a small hole at every 1mm line in the edges of the wall to mark off the 1mm courses running up both sides. Then you can remove your guides and bin them. Line up the holes on each side with the metal rule and run the scribe across with a medium pressure. This can be repeated to deepen the line. Continue up the wall until all the courses are done. If you have done it right then all the last course should finish with a nice row of 1mm bricks at the top and not a half mm or 1.5mm!
This method is tricky to get right and requires patience when lining up the courses. Doing one wall can take longer than you think if it is to be done right.
Things you need.
For the scribing you will need the following items:
A scribe.
(This can be made easily from an old paintbrush and a pin. I snapped off the metal at the end of the paintbrush, leaving a wooden handle and then clipped off the head of the pin with some pliers. Then I shoved the handle down into the pin on the patio surface and voila! A decent scribe).
A steel ruler at 12 inches/300mm.
A guide.
The guide is very important for getting even courses. It is simply a bunch of very fine lines spaced 1mm apart for the vertical courses. If you would like a copy of one made to exact measurements digitally please contact me and I will happily email you a copy.
Some sticky tape.
The method:
Begin by cutting out a piece from your guide that will fit over your wall from top to bottom, but leaving a slight gap at each end to mark the filler in the correct places. Then stick it to the wall with your tape by wrapping it around the bottom and top. The edges need to be tape free.
Then, with your scribe, push a small hole at every 1mm line in the edges of the wall to mark off the 1mm courses running up both sides. Then you can remove your guides and bin them. Line up the holes on each side with the metal rule and run the scribe across with a medium pressure. This can be repeated to deepen the line. Continue up the wall until all the courses are done. If you have done it right then all the last course should finish with a nice row of 1mm bricks at the top and not a half mm or 1.5mm!
This method is tricky to get right and requires patience when lining up the courses. Doing one wall can take longer than you think if it is to be done right.
In the above image you can see on the right hand side one of the l guides I glued with pva to this particular wall. This is the reverse of the technique described on this page, as this piece was scribed before cutting and had space either end for the guides to be placed. If you are cutting the filler first, then the guide can be used in the middle with space either side to mark out the lines.
Next up; scribing the individual bricks
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