Painting Lego?

jpcz

so, I am doing an MOC. a model of my house to be exact (my house is sand green so yea, I've got about 800 sand green bricks). I'm up to the roof and I'm at a tough spot. I need the front (front of house so side of tile) of the roof tiles to be white, yet the rooftop itself to be black. 

I have come up with the idea of painting a white slope black (or vice versa) or finding all white or black stickers that fit. I'm thinking paint will be easier to locate. 

So my question is what kind of paint will work?  Has anyone done this before?

bobabricks

You could use black electrical tape, or white out strips if you could find ones that are wide.

cakeinmilk

Water-based, like acrylic, and then a matt varnish. Go for a spray (Citadel do a decent one for modelling). Couple of coats should do it.

MattsWhat

If you are building a model of your house out of LEGO, why would you paint it?  Making it out of LEGO means you stick to the medium, if you want a perfect replica of your house then use something that isn't LEGO.
You can get a white edge with black tiles pretty easily, you might just need to increase the thinkness of the roof by a plate or accept that the black/white transition isn't going to be at the exact same place as your house.
If you are going to do it, then you could cut thin strips of any normal sticker.  Or, if you really want to paint then Citadel do a white base coat.  I wouldn't use spray - hitting the edge of the tile would be a challenge.

scrumper

bobabricks said:

You could use black electrical tape, or white out strips if you could find ones that are wide.

or white electrical tape. :o)

Would the scale not suit attaching a SNOT white tile or white plate beneath the roofline and using black tiles/plates for the roof?

scrumper

Or paint your house.

jpcz

thanks for the replies!

bobabricks what a great idea. I think thats how I will work this

cakeinmilk thank you.  If the tape doesnt work, this is my next stop

MattsWhat why Lego?  Well, I decided I wanted to MOC, and landed on doing my house.  I didnt start out wanting a model of my house.  Plus Lego is so much fun to work with, why not give it a shot and try to be as close as i can?  I am not worried about changing a few 10cent pieces.

scrumper white tape it will be! It will look better, since black tape wont match the black roof tiles.  And I love the idea of painting my house, especially since I dislike green badly.  While I am at it, I should probably change the roof, it is going to be a disaster to build from Lego!

BTW, here is what I am talking about..I cant find a white window in my drawers so i just left it open for the moment...it looks funny because of the back being green too.





and here is the house so far....it's certainly not perfect as i built it out a little too wide, but pretty fun to do.  Not using LDD or anything, just these pictures.



And finally, in case you were wondering what the floor plan of my house is...accurate colors as well.

Edmic

A real LEGO fan would paint his house to match the tiles.

:D

graphite

Fauch

take a look at winter village models, for exemple, for different ways to make roofs.

CCC

I wouldn't bother with roof slopes for the roof. A layer of white plates (or just round the edges), with a layer of black plates on top will look better. 

BrickDancer

I must be color blind, because your house looks more like Light Bley with Dark Bley roof than Sand Green with Black roof. Or is that just the pictures?

jpcz

Def. just the pictures.  Sand green is the closest match to the house color that i could find.  And the shingles are full black.

jpcz

Thanks @CCC I might give that a shot.  I will have to figure out how to lay the plates on an angle though, i will admit this is my first attempt and I am a far ways away from knowing all the pieces that exist and how to use them.  Maybe the winter village models that @Fauch mentioned will be a good place to start!

datsunrobbie

Set #7257, step 10 in the instructions is one way to angle the roof. The roll-bar assembly for #31037 is another.

MattsWhat

Well the first question when considering a different roof design is do you have sand green slopes (e.g. the 1x2 roof brick)?  If you do then you are laughing.  If not then you sould make a white panel that covers (boxes in) the 'steps' createrd by the green bricks.. like this (very crude) example: