When I dropped off the Donut Shop at AGHR, there was a stock 3 story MTH building taking up space in the Donut Shop's lot. I figured this would make a good next project - I'd never had a chance to work on an MTH building before, and would be fun. I addition, it's a chance to make this building more unique... maybe give it a little more character.
Unlike my previous projects, I don't really have a plan. I haven't decided on what business this will be, but am sure something will come up as we go.
Here is the building before I got started. Looks good, but a little plastic-y:
First thing I did was remove the base. These make the buildings unnecessarily tall, and hard to match up in a scene. We'll eventually add a Masonite base for whole sections, complete with integrated sidewalks.
The building comes apart in 3 sections, which will make it easier to work on and remove/reinstall windows. I also removed the original incandescent lighting so we can replace it with LEDs.
The windows and doors just pop right out. I removed them all temporarily to make working on the exterior easier.
For the brick mortar, I took the suggestion of a club member and used paint (I normally use lightweight spackle). Technique is simply to paint the area, then wipe off the excess leaving the mortar lines filled. I tried a sand color and gray, then decided I liked sand better:
Here's the top of the building with the sand color mortar in place:
This is the color I used. I realized after I was pretty far along I grabbed a bottle of enamel (doh!) instead of acrylic (which would wipe off more readily). The enamel ended-up working fine, but I imagine a water based paint would have been easier:
Incidentally, this is why I had "sand" color sitting around. One of my previous projects was this yellow submarine depressed center flat car:
Here's a few shots of the full building fully mortared:
Next, I took 0000 steel wool and "sanded" the whole building to remove residual paint from the "brick" and scuff it up enough to make the surface look less plastic. I'm pretty pleased with the result:
More to come!
-Dustin
The decal on the wall is just printed on regular paper and attached with white glue (laser printers work better than inkjet for a durable, sharp print). I like to get a nice even, thin coat of white glue on the back and them use a soft cloth to press it into the brick a little when I apply it. After it's dried fully I go over the add gently with 0000 steel wool to give it a less "brand new" look. Nothing fancy, and nothing I came up with myself... some of our club members have mentored me with good tips. 
