Mr. Sufacer and Primer Questions (post 'em here)

[Ezechiel]

Tamiya basic putty or Bondo Glazing & spot putty work well.
The tutorial ( http://www.fichtenfoo.com/02GiantRobots/02c-MGHowTo.html ) has a perfectly good explanation of the use of putty.
The thing is, if you don't paint your kit, there's no point in using putty, it'll just messed it up.

[HKR]

So besides GreatModels.com and hlj, where else online (Preferably in the US) can I buy Mr. Surfacer in a jar 1000, 1200 and Mr Leveling Filler?  GreatModels doesn't seem to have them in stock anymore, and I'd rather not wait for shipping from Japan.

[Funaka]

You might check your LHS and see if they can special order it. One of my LHS's can, and the other usually has it in stock:

http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/

It's not specifically listed on their website (although they do say they carry Gunze products), but there are contacts way on the bottom of the homepage. You might email them and see if they can ship you some.

[HKR]

Either my LHSs are Games Workshops, or are run by guys who just order off of HLJ and tack on a 50% fee.

Thanks for the link, I'll check them out later.

I went ahead and bought some of the Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer (Even that took a call to more then seven stores to see if they had it in stock).  Their site says to dilute it with lacquer thinner to use it in my airbrush.

While doing research on this, a lot of people have come to the conclusion that you can't get Mr. Surfacer in the US anymore thanks to shipping regulations.  Anyone else know about this?

[Treize]

I'm trying the Mr. Surfacer 500 spray to get a bit of a rough look on my 1/60 PG Zaku, and had a question- how many layers does it usually take to get a real rough look? I'm testing it on parts without panel lines (like the shoulder shield) first, and after two light layers I'm noticing that while it does cover it evenly and smoothly, its building up the texture very slowly. How many layers does it usually take? I'm afraid of losing detail on the areas with panel lines and surface detail, but I'm also determined to get the look.

Has anyone who's done it before run into this issue, or is it thin enough despite the built up texture that it doesn't really damage the detail?

Sorry, but I don't have a digital camera to start a thread in the "works in progress" forum for continuing feedback, so I came in here with the first big question I've had.

[chaos_theory]

While doing research on this, a lot of people have come to the conclusion that you can't get Mr. Surfacer in the US anymore thanks to shipping regulations.  Anyone else know about this?

From what I understand most of the US distributors are no longer gonna import Gunze-Sangyo. Less about legal issues more about cost prohibitiveness. The US market is tiny and it cost alot to import specialty items.

I'm trying the Mr. Surfacer 500 spray to get a bit of a rough look on my 1/60 PG Zaku, and had a question- how many layers does it usually take to get a real rough look?

the spray won't really give you the texture that you want what you need is Mr. Surfacer in the jar. You brush it on the area and as it starts to dry tease it with the brush to get your desired texture.

[Treize]

See, the tuturials I've found online say the opposite- spray several very thin (ie., non-covering) layers and slowly build it up to build up the texture, and use the lower grade to get best results. Now I'm even more confused. 

[EximiusNero]

Hi all,

FF you said in your modeling tutorial that you only prime 10% of the time. How do you decide if you need to prime or not? I'm going be airbrushing using Tamiya acrylics (and some old Hobby Color I have laying around) and was wondering if I needed to prime before. I'm just afraid of filling in a lot of little details and stuff with the primer.

[Ezechiel]

Better prime. Tamiya's acrylics are easy to scratch, the primer helps. If you're not sticking to the original paint scheme, primer is definitely needed.
If you use a good brand (Tam for ex) and use your can wisely, you won't fill any details, Tam primer is very thin.

[FichtenFoo]

That's old... now I prime about 95% of the time. I should fix that. The only things I don't prime are clear parts and parts meant to be natural metal.

[EximiusNero]

Alright I'll defiantly have to prime then. My local hobby shop didn't have any Tamiya primer so I got Pactra Prep Primer-Surfacer spray from a friend. It's lacquer-based and says its compatible with most plastics. The store also didn't have any Mr Retarder, is this really necessary if I'm using a combo of Tamiya acrylics and 91% alcohol to thin it?

[NickM]

If I understand you right you are confused. Mr Retarder is for lacquer paints, not acrylics. Sometimes lacquer paints are victim to a phenomenon called 'flashing' which is when it dries in the air before it hits the model. The retarder slows down the drying time and solves the problem, but it does not occur with acrylics so you should be OK.

Test your primer to see how well it sprays first. If it spiderwebs you need to add a retarder, but if not then don't worry. A lot of lacquer primers come with retarder in it, sans Mr Surfacer because Gunze Sangyo wants to make you have to buy Mr Retarder too. If you can't get Mr Retarder you can also try getting some Mr Leveling Thinner which is a lacquer thinner with Mr Retarder mixed in it.

[EximiusNero]

ah, alright thanks. Actually my primer is a spray can, so if it drys bad not sure if I can do anything about it except get another brand.

[Soul3ss]

Work has been piling up for me recently so I don't have much time to research here on the site. I at least have enough time to write this and one more post.

I've been using Tamiya primer for a while now. I prime my kit to check for any mistakes during sanding. There are always many mistakes. When I start to correct the mistakes, I prime once again. The problem is that once the primer is dry, you can see where I sanded. You can see where the primer was left unsanded, it looks like I used 2 different kinds of primer, so it's very noticeable as you can see that's it's not a leveled surface.

Would switching to Mr. Surfacer (jar, so I can thin it) be better for this?

Would it go on even, once I correct mistakes?

What jar would you recommend? 500, 1000, etc?

What are the differences between 500, 1000, etc?


Sorry to bug you all with this. This has stopped me from painting my kits.

Thanks.

[clee-cm]

I have not used Mr. Surfacer, but a while back I found a good article about Mr. Surfacer.

Here it is: Swanny Models Mr Surfacer review.

[BDN]

I just wanted to throw in that I'm doing the RX-78 GP Perfect Grade right now, and it looks like I'm going to need something like 4 cans of the Fine Taimya Grey primer.  Not the little ones either.

Worth noting that it's pretty windy outside, and I'm sure that's not helping, but still...

[clee-cm]

you know, you can use automotive primer, you will get more coverage out of it. Plus automotive primer will be a little easier on your wallet. If you are looking for something that is a little more durable, you can use sandable primer.

[mtomczek]

you know, you can use automotive primer, you will get more coverage out of it. Plus automotive primer will be a little easier on your wallet. If you are looking for something that is a little more durable, you can use sandable primer.

Yea, for the bulk of all my primer I use sandable filler primer from Home Depot. Not sure the brand off the top of my head, but for $3.50 for a large can, its great. One can was enough primer for my entire 1/48 Hi-Nu build, and thats all resin. One plastic kits you would use even less.  I would say that if you are using 4 of the large cans of Tamiya primer, you might be using too much.

The Home Depot stuff is great because you can wet sand it also, and it really gets a fantastic finish to it.

[makalaka]

YO. Has anyone had any luck with priming a kit with mr surfacer then painting it with in a few hours. Saaaay 2 hours?

I'll be using Mr resin surfacer thinned with Mr leveling thinner and I'm thinking something crazy will happen if I don't let it cure long enough. 

thanks.

[clee-cm]

You really should give Mr. Surfacer time to dry, you will get better results. Mr. Surfacer like primer needs time to set so that the paint you apply to the model has a something to stick to.