Mr. Color #183 Super Clear Gray Tone

Mr. Color #183 Super Clear Gray Tone

The normal super clear is used for top coating, and I frequently use their super clear flat to achieve flat surfaces. But I was really curious about this super clear gray tone they’ve come up with. It’s flat, and from my limited experience it seems to be very slightly tinted with some black particles similar to their smoke, only weaker. It’ll probably look good on a stark white Gundam, but otherwise I should read the HJ issue that introduced this product to see what it’s recommended for.

Alclad II Lacquer Chrome

Alclad II Lacquer Chrome

“Wow” is all I can say. I’ve seen the amazing finishes from this paint by the aircraft modelers, but after seeing it with my own eyes it’s really something! The only requirement for working with this paint is you have to prime the surface with black enamel. But even when I base coat it with Mr. Color #2, it still has that bumper chrome luster that I lusted after for some of my projects. In well-prepared areas, you can actually see yourself! The only downside of this product is the price tag… a small 1oz bottle is in the $6 range, and it comes already thinned which makes it super pricey. But there’s nothing that can beat the ease of use and the finish achieved in the market right now.

Random tips

It seems I never write anything about modeling ever since I was done with the how-to’s Here are some random bits (warning: very random) I thought that were worth mentioning… perhaps you can enlighten me on some stuff also

• Turpentine is a pretty useful chemical! It dissolves gum, which includes gum-based glue such as 3M spray glues, Elmer’s, and most importantly the latex liquid mask. I used to hate doing liquid mask because if you apply it with a brush, it’s impossible to remove. It takes forever to apply with anything else. But now there’s a remedy to that! I suspect turpenoid and other substitutes would work as well, and less toxic, but I haven’t tried it.
• If you’re looking for an inexpensive router set (i.e. Dremel and clones), sciplus.com has one that I bought for just $30. It’s variable speed and corded, going from 8000-30000rpm. It doesn’t have a whole lot of attachments, but the great thing about it is that it comes with a flex shaft! I was too cheap to get one before, but now I have one, I won’t live without it… it makes detail work easier, and removing flash is a much less painful process!
• You can drybrush with Mr. Color if you thin it purely with Mr. Retarder. Oil is great, but its very slow drying time and weak staying property is sometimes frustrating. With Mr. Color + retarder, you have about 20 seconds of drying time, so you’ve gotta work fast But it does feather pretty nicely.
• Mr. Neo Mask sol from Gunze is my favorite liquid mask of late. I used to buy Modeler’s green mask sol, but the fact that Gunze’s comes with a brush inside the bottle is a big plus – less hassle to clean the thing and apply. It seems Gunze’s is thinner though, and it seems to run a bit. But then it seems like it’s not as easy to gunk up inside the bottle and become useless. This leads to the other reason why I use more liquid mask nowadays, besides the fact that it’s more convenient that masking tape: that all the bottles of liquid mask I own gunk up/solidifies before I finish using half of it. That says to me I should be using them less conservatively…
• I now use Tamiya white surfacer as the primer of choice for figures. I used to use Mr. Base white 1000, which is a bit more opaque that Tamiya. However I’ve a few kits that has Mr. base white cracked and chunks of base white and paint came off. Perhaps I didn’t wash the kit too well, or the base white went on too thick. But anyway, Tamiya doesn’t seem to have this problem, and it’s just convenient to have a spray can primer. Sometimes it just takes too long to prime with an airbrush.
• Castro Super Clean and Simple Green (among others) are all useful as paintstrippers and mold release remover. Castro Super Clean is much stronger however, after some experimentation.
• While Castro Super Clean is great for stripping paint off your glass bottles so that you can reuse them, metal paint lids should not go in. The stuff eats the chrome and any plating off the metal and induces rusting. I ruined more than 10 lids that way

Liquid Leaf Classic Gold

Liquid Leaf Classic Gold

Ever since I argued with a moron who refused to believe gold has a metallic luster, I’ve been on the look out for easy to apply gold that looks great and easy to apply. The traditional silver/clear orange+yellow approach just doesn’t cut it. This thing I picked up randomly from an artstore may just be the answer. The metal particles are very fine, and they are suspended in a liquid tinted yellow, which makes the final color very close to real gold. Gunze’s gold color is definitely paler in color. I’ve applied this to a Nadia figure I’m building with very pleasing results, looking forward to trying it on larger surfaces.

Mr. Dissolved Putty

Mr. Dissolved Putty

Mr. Surfacer 500 had been my choice of putty for a long time, it can be pretty thick if you grab the bottom of the bottle, still there are times when I wish it is more filling. I also don’t like to thin putties such as Tamiya grey or Squadron, since I’m really lazy So now comes this new (?) product from Gunze. It’s white in color which I like, and the bottle says don’t thin it. It looks translucent when I applied them, I thought it was going to be thin but in fact it dried to a translucent mass. It sands like Mr. Surfacer 500, i.e. easier than superglue but more difficult than Tamiya grey. If you store the bottle upside down you don’t need to stir it next time you use it.

Mr. Masking Sol Neo

Mr. Masking Sol Neo Date Price From Manufacturer 10/20 200yen R10 GSI-Creos (formerly Gunze) Mr. Masking Sol was a pretty horrible masking liquid, and no one knows why it takes them this many years to figure it out. Now they come out with the “Neo” version, which smells, act and look like Modeler’s Mask Sol (green stuff) that everyone uses, except it’s slightly cheaper. Like the green stuff, it has less tack and removes nicely.

V-color

V-Color

I’m sick of people saying you can’t paint on rubber parts. V-color can go on rubber and will stay on (i.e. not crack up). When you smell the thinner you know it’s acetone, but acetone kills your brushes. Their brand-name thinner is milder and safer for the brushes; acetone dries too fast and leaves brush strokes. The paint levels pretty well with their thinner, but it can also be airbrushed.