N Scale Brick/Mortar Ideas?

I have used both methods and have been successful. I don't have a favorite. It just depends on the mood I am in at the time. My mistakes at first was using to light of a color for mortar.

A couple months ago in model railroader magazine they suggested painting the building the motar color then with an artist pencil at a low angle highlight the bricks. I tried it using Prismacolor pencils that I got from Michaels. I used Tuscan Red,Black,and a little White. I am pleased with the results and plan to use this method in the future.

I've tried both methods -- brick building with mortar wash and mortar building with a drybrushed brick.  I was never really happy with either method.

So I started using a different method for mortar and have had a lot of success with it.

 I paint the building the brick color.  I let that dry completely and seal it with Dulcote.

 Then I use a white chalk -- not sure exactly what it is, but it's sold next to the artist charcoal and pastels at the art strore.  It's not the white chalk you'd write on a chalkboard with.  It's more like a square white pastel stick, but I think I've used chalkboard chalk too -- can't recall.

 I grind that into a fine powder with the edge of a blade into a container.  I then fill the container with water.

 The chalk does not mix with the water.  Instead, the water is like a carrier agent for the chark.  So, I just stir the water quickly so that my brush picks up the particles and then I just brush it on. 

 What's nice about this....is that it's not permanent.  You can keep brushing -- either with more particles or more water -- until you're happy with it. 

 The particles will settle into the cracks and the water will evaporate.  This also tends to leave a very slight film on the surface of the brick which you can either wipe off with a dry cloth once it's dry -- or leave it -- I think it weathers the brick really well. 

 Once you're happy with the results, you just need to seal it with Dulcote.

Like many others I've tried a few methods looking for the way that yields the best results for my abilities. I had had the best results with a base coat of offwhite for the mortar and then drybrushing the brick with a flat brush. However it still didn't give me the finish I was really looking for. Then I saw mytrains' post in this thread and thought it was worth a try. The results were great. To my eye at least. I used a dry cloth to wipe off extra colour. I'm going to detail in with a darker colour before spraying with an artist's matt sealer.

Opened up all sorts of possibilities for weathering as well. Amazing what gems are thrown up on this site.

Looks good, Frank. Not just the mortar, which is very realistic, but the weathering all around is great.  What struck me at first with the building, though, was the broken out window panes.  Often overlooked detail but very prototypical.