Just got a bottle of it that I had ordered a while ago.. and I diluted it with Tamiya lacquer thinner at a 1:1 ratio.. and I primed several figures and some plastic parts with my AB.. and I got am almost perfect smooth and clean finish every single time... needless to say, I'm very happy with it

Now for the question What makes this different so that I can get a perfectly smooth finish with it every single time.. while I can't do that with either "true" acrylics(diluted with their own thinner) or Tamiya acrylics(also diluted with Tamiya lacquer thinner)? That's just driving me crazy

Hisham

Hisham,

I've been experiencing the same for a while...but this is what did it for me:

First the realisation that just about every color has its own "special mix" of thinner and air pressure. My paint is always acrylic: Vallejo & Ammo mostly, with some others in there like Hataka. Experiment and get to know your paints;-)

The second realisation was that the receiving parts have to be very clean. Whenever I'm about to put paint on I wash it first...just water and soapy stuff and more water. Plastic as well resin! The important thing that made a big difference is to wear gloves...the ones without the powder (the kind that doctors use when...). Your naked hand will leave a residue on plastic that makes the paint want to go somewhere else...

I usually use a primer, but I notice that when you spray on clean plastic you really don't need it anymore. This has the big advantage that a "thick" primer can hide that subtle scribed detail you worked so hard on.

Both, with and without primer, work just fine for me.

As for the Mr primer working for you, well have a think just how aggressive that stuff has to be to do what it does...

H.

I think in terms of the smooth finish, I've noticed that lacquer based paint self-levels better. This might simply just be because of paint characteristics and composition.

I haven't had much problems with solvent based acrylics like tamiya and gunze

Lacquer based paints don't dry as quickly as enamel or acrylic based ones. Therefore, it has less issue of drying between the brush and the model. If you are using Tamiya acryls, try Mr. Hobby self leveling thinner and a little Tamiya retarder. Use Vallejo airbrush thinner and a little Vallejo retard for Vallejo paints. And, so on. Retarder is the key.

Actually, the dry times would vary depending on the composition/formulation of the paint. For Mr. Color lacquer based pants, I find that it completely dries faster than acrylics such as tamiya or mr hobby color. Generally enamels will cure the longest but there are also QDE's (quick dry enamels) so it really depends on how the paint is made.

This is helping me too because I bought some Mr.Surface sometime back and have not used it yet so this does help me a lot.