Mr. Color lacquer tips?

[Woody V]

In my seemingly unending quest to find a paint that suits my style, I've just received my order of Mr. Color lacquers which, according to my quick test looks most promising, despite the fumes. 

 

I've been through Model Air, but acrylics hate me. MRP is great but too expensive and hard to get in the US. Mission Models looked promising but I just want to paint my model instead of engaging in a chemistry experiment.

 

Any tips for using Mr. Color?

[BarryWilliams]

I did a calculation that MRP are cheaper than Mr Color, allowing for the 30ml bottles instead of 10ml even taking into account 50% thinning of Mr Color with MLT.  It was some time ago now. A lot of people just look at the price and think they are expensive without realising the bigger bottles.  

[Lothar]

The only paint I use and I'm happy with them. I thin them with Mr. Color Levelling Thinner 400 in 50/50 ratio for large areas. For

very fine paint work I thin them 1/3 paint to 2/3 thinner (I use a 0,15 nozzle for that). Personally, Mr. Color paints level extremely well and

dry rock hard in a very short time period. I've tried to thin them with Alcohol and no name lacquer thinners but would not recommend 

them. Tamiya lacquer thinner 87077 might work as well, but I haven't tried yet. BTW, Mr. Color 46 Clear coat is a dream to work with

if properly thinned. Coverage is superb. Thinned one jar goes a long way. Just my 2 cents, other may of course think differently.

 

Lothar

Edited August 18, 2019 by Lothar

[Woody V]

6 minutes ago, BarryWilliams said:

I did a calculation that MRP are cheaper than Mr Color, allowing for the 30ml bottles instead of 10ml even taking into account 50% thinning of Mr Color with MLT.

 

I should clarify this by saying I can get Mr. Color wholesale. Sorry for the confusion.

[Woody V]

6 minutes ago, Lothar said:

The only paint I use and I'm happy with them. I thin them with Mr. Color Levelling Thinner 400 in 50/50 ratio for large areas. For

very fine paint work I thin them 1/3 paint to 2/3 thinner (I use a 0,15 nozzle for that). Personally, Mr. Color paints level extremely well and

dry rock hard in a very short time period. I've tried to thin them with Alcohol and no name lacquer thinners but would not recommend 

them. Tamiya lacquer thinner 87077 might work as well, but I haven't tried yet. BTW, Mr. Color 46 Clear coat is a dream to work with

if properly thinned. Just my 2 cents, other may of course think differently.

 

Lothar

 

Excellent tips! Thank you, Lothar.

As for the satin and flat clear coats, do you use the leveling thinner or regular. 

[Lothar]

34 minutes ago, Archer Fine Transfers said:

 

Excellent tips! Thank you, Lothar.

As for the satin and flat clear coats, do you use the leveling thinner or regular. 

 

I use exclusively levelling thinner for all Gunze paints, that includes their acrylic paints as well. Agreed, it's not

very cheap (at least overhere in Germany) but it's the best thinner I have used so far.  It even worked with like 10 year

old AeraoMaster paint To clean the airbrush after a painting session, I use their regular Mr. Colour Thinner 400

which is a bit cheaper.

 

Lothar

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Lothar

[RBrown]

Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and thin to consistency of skim milk.  Regular lacquer thinner for clean up.

[Luca]

On 8/18/2019 at 3:09 PM, Lothar said:

I use exclusively levelling thinner for all Gunze paints, that includes their acrylic paints as well.

 

Wouldn't this one (Mr. Hobby thinner) be more appropriate for acrylics? rather than Mr. Color leveling thinner?

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by Luca

[Out2gtcha]

7 minutes ago, Luca said:

 

Wouldn't this one (Mr. Hobby thinner) be more appropriate for acrylics? rather than Mr. Color leveling thinner?

 

 

 

It depends on which acrylic you are talking about. MRP, while technically acrylic, is actually an acrylic lacquer, and you need to use an appropriate lacquer thinner to thin it with.  Even some non lacquer acrylics respond better to lacquer thinner.   

Some obviously do not, and it makes a goopy mess, so it really pays to know which works best with which. 

[Lothar]

3 minutes ago, Luca said:

 

Wouldn't this one (Mr. Hobby thinner) be more appropriate for acrylics? rather than Mr. Color leveling thinner?

 

 

What Brian said. I've used this thinner some years ago with their acrylics, but I've always

had the subjective feeling, that even thin layers took simply too long to dry. Since I use the

LT my impression (again subjective) is that even acrylics dry a lot faster and more durable.

 

Lothar

 

[Juggernut]

Here's a question about something that happened to me while using Mr. Color on my last build (Ki-44).  I mixed up a batch of color using Mr. Color leveling thinner, a tiny bit of Mr. Color thinner and Mr. Color prop color (Japanese).  I did not prime the plastic before spraying.  I sprayed the kit prop with it and let it dry. A week or so later, I was able to scrape it off the prop with my fingernail; it hadn't adhered well to the plastic.  I thought to myself that I had done something wrong but a second attempt (after removing the paint and adding primer underneath) pretty much had similar results.  I was able to use the prop but had to be careful not to scratch it.

 

Is this normal for Mr. Color paint to be that delicate?

[Woody V]

2 hours ago, Juggernut said:

Is this normal for Mr. Color paint to be that delicate?

 

Are you talking about the acrylic lacquer, not the aqueous version?

 

That's odd because being a lacquer it should etch into styrene and be pretty impervious to fingerprints.

I did some quick tests on bare plastic and it was rock hard within a few minutes and I could hardly get chips to come off with a knife.

My normal way of chipping is to paint over AK Xtreme metal and chip that way, so that's why I tested to see if that would work. So much for that plan.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Archer Fine Transfers
spelling errors

[Juggernut]

Yes, the acrylic lacquer...  I thought it was strange as well.  I've never had any issues with the aqueous stuff.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Juggernut

[Out2gtcha]

2 hours ago, Juggernut said:

Here's a question about something that happened to me while using Mr. Color on my last build (Ki-44).  I mixed up a batch of color using Mr. Color leveling thinner, a tiny bit of Mr. Color thinner and Mr. Color prop color (Japanese).  I did not prime the plastic before spraying.  I sprayed the kit prop with it and let it dry. A week or so later, I was able to scrape it off the prop with my fingernail; it hadn't adhered well to the plastic.  I thought to myself that I had done something wrong but a second attempt (after removing the paint and adding primer underneath) pretty much had similar results.  I was able to use the prop but had to be careful not to scratch it.

 

Is this normal for Mr. Color paint to be that delicate?

 

That is a bit odd. Something still on the prop itself?   

[Juggernut]

1 hour ago, Out2gtcha said:

 

That is a bit odd. Something still on the prop itself?   

 

Not that I'm aware of.  I doused the prop in rubbing alcohol to clean it off just in case there might have been some mold release on it or something.  On my second attempt, the primer stayed put while the Mr. Color scratched off...  Never had that happen to me before.  I had never used a Mr. Color paint before even though I've had them for a few years now.  Maybe it's gone bad but it didn't appear that way when I was preparing it.