Mr Surfacer

Got a question about techniques, materials or other aspects of physically building a model? This is the place to ask.

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Kylwell
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Post by Kylwell »

I dunno, I though the same ting as you
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Blappy
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Post by Blappy »

Joseph C. Brown wrote:
Kylwell wrote:Spray on Vinyl vs Mr. Surfacer spray, on vinyl...

That's what I read it as... was I wrong again? :shock:
The PDF from the website......

http://www.rustoleumibg.com/images/tds/ ... 0Final.pdf

"A permanent, flexible coating to restore the color on vinyl, simulated leather and some fabrics."

Interesting!
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Post by Whiteraven_2001 »

Wug wrote:Hi Whiteraven_2001,

I've airbrushed Mr. Surfacer on a vinyl kit. It worked fine. If you're worried test it on the pour stubs.

Mike
Why is it I never think of spraying the trimmed-off bits?

Thanks!
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Post by Glorfindel »

Blappy wrote:
Thomas E. Johnson wrote:So the 1000 stuff can be airbrushed if thined 50%/50% with Mr. Surfacer thinner?
Yes. I use more like 70% thinner though.
Wow, that's thin! I've been toying around with the idea of shooting Mr. Surfacer for priming but I never thought of thinning it down so much. I mean it makes sense because it dries up so fast and using the airbrush, well you can get a nice light coat of primer rather than the heavy thickness of a rattlecan.
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Post by AbsoluteSciFi »

macfrank wrote:Mr. Surfacer is actually a car paint primer; David Meriman thinks that an equivalent is Lucite 131S primer (or its equivalent). If you need a lot, this is by far the cheapest route.

If you don't want to go to a car paint/refinishing store, you can get it from Squadron, or Megahobby.

Frank
It is true that MOST of the hobby industry paint is formulated directly from automobile industry paints, you really don't think that someone spent all that money in research to corner 15% of a market that is less than 3% of the population do you?

After working Maaco, I can see how nearly all of the paints used to put on cars are far better than the crap LHS's dole out by the micro-liter... for 600% the cost!
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Post by Glorfindel »

Mr.Surfacer 1000 & 1200

This is like an amazing primer. It goes on smooth and can give you a very good indicaton of any imperfections on your model that needs fixing before final paint.

Again when you are airbrushing this you need to thin it a lot for best results. I thin it about 70% thinner to 30% primer.
I think this has been covered before but when cleaning out your AB after shooting Mr. Surfacer should straight Lacquer Thinner be used? Is there an alternative like Denatured Alcohol?
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Post by Kylwell »

Glorfindel wrote:
Mr.Surfacer 1000 & 1200

This is like an amazing primer. It goes on smooth and can give you a very good indicaton of any imperfections on your model that needs fixing before final paint.

Again when you are airbrushing this you need to thin it a lot for best results. I thin it about 70% thinner to 30% primer.
I think this has been covered before but when cleaning out your AB after shooting Mr. Surfacer should straight Lacquer Thinner be used? Is there an alternative like Denatured Alcohol?
I use straight lacquer thinner. It's the only way to be sure.
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Post by Wug »

If you airbrush Mr. Surfacer thinned with lacquer thinner, it's no better than any other good primer.

If you thin Mr. Surfacer with Mr. Thinner it will not etch plastic and cause ghosting. This makes it better than other primers.

I've never tried it myself but a dealer who sells it says he thins it with 99% isopropyl alcohol. This is not denatured alcohol. It's like rubbing alcohol with almost no water in it. Find it at Meijer.

Mike
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Post by Kylwell »

Wug wrote:If you airbrush Mr. Surfacer thinned with lacquer thinner, it's no better than any other good primer.

If you thin Mr. Surfacer with Mr. Thinner it will not etch plastic and cause ghosting. This makes it better than other primers.

I've never tried it myself but a dealer who sells it says he thins it with 99% isopropyl alcohol. This is not denatured alcohol. It's like rubbing alcohol with almost no water in it. Find it at Meijer.

Mike
er... Mr. Thinner is lacquer thinner. Mr Color Leveling Thinner is lacquer thinner with some magic something that makes things flatten out like nothing I've ever used.
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Post by Mr. Badwrench »

I think it's lacquer thinner and bacon grease. 'Cos you know, everything is better when it's cooked in bacon grease.
I speak of the pompatous of plastic.
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Post by Glorfindel »

Yummm....bacon!
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Post by Glorfindel »

Mr.Surfacer 1000 & 1200

This is like an amazing primer. It goes on smooth and can give you a very good indicaton of any imperfections on your model that needs fixing before final paint.

Again when you are airbrushing this you need to thin it a lot for best results. I thin it about 70% thinner to 30% primer. I know this sounds like a lot but it will give you a very smooth almost mirror like finish and show any imperfections. You can spray this on pretty wet but be careful of runs. I have found though that even minor runs dissapear once it has dried. I have also noticed details that seem lost when the primer is wet will "reappear" once it has dried.
So I just quoted Blappy. I thinned Mr. Surfacer 1200 about 70% with lacquer thinner and AB it on the back end of an A-10 Thunderbolt (I know it's aircraft not Sci-Fi) because I stupidly used a spray can of Duplicolor sandable primer on the front end. The difference is amazing. I've lost so much detail, panel lines and rivets, spraying primer from a can that it's astonishing. On the tail end AB with Mr. Surfacer the details remained crisp and sharp. So now I have lost detail in the front end of the hog which I am not going to fight to get back. I'll chalk it up to a learning experience and use it as pure practice.
I think I'll be AB Mr. Surfacer as my primer coat on all builds moving forward. Thanks gentlemen for your input and knowledge on this seemingly seldom used process.
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Post by Glorfindel »

I also sprayed straight lacquer thinner through my AB to clean it out and it shot out great. Unscrewed the tip and cleaned off the needle real fast and the whole process was much easier then I anticipated.
Thanks again boys.
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Post by Mr. Badwrench »

I've also successfully airbrushed Mr. Surfacer 500. You have to thin it way down, like 70% lacquer thinner, (or Mr. Color levelling thinner). But it works in a pinch. (It was 2:00am, I was all out of Mr. 1200).
I speak of the pompatous of plastic.
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Post by kryptosdaddy »

Glorfindel wrote:
Mr.Surfacer 1000 & 1200

This is like an amazing primer. It goes on smooth and can give you a very good indicaton of any imperfections on your model that needs fixing before final paint.

Again when you are airbrushing this you need to thin it a lot for best results. I thin it about 70% thinner to 30% primer.
I think this has been covered before but when cleaning out your AB after shooting Mr. Surfacer should straight Lacquer Thinner be used? Is there an alternative like Denatured Alcohol?

All I have are mr Surfacer 500 and the Dissolved putty. I sprayed the 500 mixing it almost 50/50 with no issues- cleaning the AB was like washing out a good decanted dose of rattlecan krylon- messy but came out with no issues- the surfacer worked fine.

I'll be doing this again today.
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Post by Go Flight »

Just heard thru a friend that Brookhurst Hobbies is telling him that Mr. Surfacer 500 in the jar is being discontinued? Any body have news on that?
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Post by Kylwell »

Go Flight wrote:Just heard thru a friend that Brookhurst Hobbies is telling him that Mr. Surfacer 500 in the jar is being discontinued? Any body have news on that?
No, just being difficult to find in the states. They've also come out with Mr. Primer Surfacer 1000 which is hotter for use on metal and resin.
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Post by Blappy »

Kylwell wrote:
No, just being difficult to find in the states. They've also come out with Mr. Primer Surfacer 1000 which is hotter for use on metal and resin.
I have Mr. Resin Primer and it is much better on resin than the regular stuff. The regular stuff will peel and flake off during masking. Resin stuff does not.
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Post by Go Flight »

Thanks guys. I know I could get down to the right answer here.
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Post by Kylwell »

Blappy wrote:
Kylwell wrote:
No, just being difficult to find in the states. They've also come out with Mr. Primer Surfacer 1000 which is hotter for use on metal and resin.
I have Mr. Resin Primer and it is much better on resin than the regular stuff. The regular stuff will peel and flake off during masking. Resin stuff does not.
You can also polish it to a damned high shine I've discovered. Sticks like glue to PE also.

Now if it just wasn't so damned nasty smelling.
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Post by Blappy »

Kylwell wrote: They've also come out with Mr. Primer Surfacer 1000 which is hotter for use on metal and resin.
Today was the first time I heard about this. I happened to be at my LHS today and they had it in stock so I bought a jar. I will give it a try on my next build.
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Post by DeltaVee »

To update you, there only 2 entries for Fill-n-Sand on e*bay now and only one quart entry and it's $53.50. I'd have to be cranking one or two models out a week to justify that.
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Post by DeltaVee »

Is this the equivalent of primer surfacer products?
http://www.eastwood.com/usc-high-build- ... DE=1SE1531
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Post by Kylwell »

No.
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Post by DeltaVee »

Thanks. So has anyone tried to find primer surfacer in the cheaper auto body primer quantities? ...Like the Lucite stuff mentioned above?
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Post by Lt. Z0mBe »

DeltaVee wrote:Thanks. So has anyone tried to find primer surfacer in the cheaper auto body primer quantities? ...Like the Lucite stuff mentioned above?
I bought some DuPont 131S a while back after hearing from Dave Merriman that Mr. Surfacer was re-packaged 131S. I may have the document around here somewhere. It may also be up on the main site too. But, he did the research, ran down the people at DuPont, a wholesaler and cross referenced the SKUs to figure it out.

All that being said, the 500 and the 131S to my mind are absolutely no different. I mean, they smell the same, have the same viscosity, have the same dry time, airbrush the same, etc... I compared them side-by-side myself because to be honest, I thought there was no way it could be that simple.

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Post by DeltaVee »

Thanks Kenny,
Great info. Have you used the Dupont primer surfacer and found out that it performs the same? Is it more like the 1000 stuff or the 500 stuff? 1000 seems thinner.
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Post by Blappy »

DeltaVee wrote:Thanks Kenny,
Great info. Have you used the Dupont primer surfacer and found out that it performs the same? Is it more like the 1000 stuff or the 500 stuff? 1000 seems thinner.
1000 had a finer pigment so you get a much smoother finish. They also have the 1200 and 1500 primers that are even finer. I never spray 500 and a jar last me for years.
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Post by DeltaVee »

Thanks, Blap. But presumably the 500 is better for filling gross flaws? So you brush 500 and spray 1000 and higher? The finer grain sounds great, but aren't most modelers going to sand it anyway down to at least 400 or 600 grit?
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Post by Kylwell »

Priming gives you a uniform surface and helps paint adhesion. Primers are also usually less susceptible to surface contamination.

One of the issues with heavier primers is that they also will cover up details. Primers don't know the difference between flaws & details. Mr. Surfacer 1000 contracts, showing all the details and flaws, hence the need to fill those flaws with 500.
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