Working with a clean slate, we make sure a few things are taken care of, before we pull out the paint.

Clean the model with soap and warm water. Yes, you heard us, clean it. Many things could hinder the paint from sticking correctly - and cleaning the model removes that issue very nicely. 

After your model has dried, it is time to start with painting. We start by painting in the grey mortar lines. NO you don't paint each line with accuracy. We water down the grey acrylic paint very slightly - just enough to get the paint to creep into every crevice easily. Watering down the acrylic paint also makes sure we do not cover any details with thick paint.

Now we used two different colors to do the window trim and fascia trim, the fascia being darker. So next step is the fascia trim. Don't worry too much about staying in the lines. There is still a chance to fix this when the brick goes on.

Next is the part where you can use your own judgment on how to continue. We used the brick- colored paint full thickness, with a stiff straight brush. Dab excess paint off. You only want to have a little on the brush, since it is thick. Next, paint the structure lightly - and I mean lightly, because with any pressure you might fill in the mortar lines. Now, I know it looks weak at this point, but don't worry. We will still weather this baby.

Okay, we are leaving the window glazing until all the weathering is finished. The way we weather will make most of you cringe. However, we aim to shock you with the ease of these procedures - and this one does exactly that. You may have some alcohol and ink mixed in a jar. Throw it in a spray bottle and spray the whole model. Do two coats of weathering and let dry completely.

It is now time to add the glazing. We cut it to size and use brush-applied CA to the window frames on the inside. Using the CA brush makes this task very quick and clean. 

Okay, now the model's done, right? Wrong. We have one step left to do and this is an important one. Paint some card stock black and fold it into the structure to hide the other windows and walls like you see in this picture. This is important for the final look of the model.

Follow these steps and any plastic model you build will be done very quickly and easily. The only problem you might have, will be picking colors. Oh yeah, we used Amish Grey, Mushroom and Terracotta for our palette.  We hope you enjoy painting plastic models after reading this article, as we have also found an appreciation for it we never had before.