Equipment Roster - Bricks

The focal point of my indoor layout is a dock scene that includes two brick buildings.  Because the buildings are so close to the viewer I decided they needed to be built out of individual bricks.  I find laying bricks therapeutic, but scale bricks aren't cheap and I am going to need a lot of them.  To keep my buildings within budget I needed a cheap source of bricks, so out came the 1/2' thick plastic sheet, my trusty end mill, and the result was a silicon rubber for bricks.  Here in St. Paul, MN, buildings from the turn of the century display a wide variation in brick size, sometimes as much as a 1/2 an inch in any one direction, so picking a size is dictated more by personal choice than standard practice.  My molds produce bricks that scale out at 7 7/8" x 3 1/2" x 2 3/8" in 7/8's scale.  To cast the bricks I use "soupy" Plaster of Paris that has been colored with cheap acrylic paint.  After removing them from the mold, the bricks are baked for about 2 hours in the oven at ~ 200 degrees.  The baking really improves their strength.  Before they are used the bricks get an additional color treatment.