Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer Questions (answered) and now Gunze Mr Surfacer 1000 experiment

You can thin it with generic lacquer thinner, but I've found that you can also thin it with denatured alcohol (ie. ethyl alcohol - it doesn't respond to isopropyl).

I've airbrushed it using Tamiya lacquer thinner and cleaned up afterwards with denatured alcohol, no problem.

Most importantly, if you mess something up, it can be cleaned off your model with denatured alcohol without any risk of a stronger solvent melting it.

Thank you very much. I have a bottle of denatured alcohol on my work bench now... I presume you thin it to your liking by trial and error?

Yep, not terribly scientific. These days I tend to thin by feel/look.

Hopefully your denatured alcohol is like what we have here in Australia (methylated spirits). You can thin this stuff out an awful long way and have it still stick.

How well does it stick to Photo Etch?

I haven't tried it on PE actually, but I suspect it will work well, as it sticks pretty tenaciously to glass (ie the bottle) :-)

Glass is usually slicker than brass. Sounds good. Thank you for all the helpful advice Phil.

Yup, the stuff works great for priming PE.

stikpusher: How was your experience with the Tamiya primer?  I have been tempted to order some.  DId you end up thinning it with the denatured alcohol?  How was the cleanup of the airbrush when you were done?

Thanks.

I thinned and cleaned up with generic brand hardware store Lacquer Thinner. I think I thinned it about a 1/1 ratio of thinner to primer and had no issues with my airbrush spraying or clean up. I did not try the denatured alcohol for thinning, but I know that I will have more opportunity in the future to do so. I cant say if I like it more than Humbrol primer aside from packaging. I am gonna try Mr Surfacer next in the same manner since I have a jar of that too...

I much prefer to apply any primer from my airbrush rather than a rattle can due to superior control I can get in thinning and in application.

But I say go for it if you are thinking about it buying some Tamiya Surface Primer in the square bottle. The stuff is a great primer on plastic and PE. Excellent adhesion.

It doesn't dry as hard as Mr Surfacer, but it feathers out beautifully when wet sanded.

I've had no problems cleaning LSP from brushes and my airbrush using denatured alcohol.

Phil, have you airbrushed Mr Surfacer? And if so, what did you use to thin it?

I haven't airbrushed Mr Surfacer, but presumably one could thin it with regular lacquer thinner.

I have also airbrushed Tamiya's LSP with Tamiya lacquer thinner.  Slick and smooth 

Ok, I guess that I will be the wind dummy on Mr Surfacer with an airbrush... Next build that needs it.

Stik, when you do that, let us know which brand of thinner you used, then we can compare with my own results using the following combos

Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 (short fat bottle) and Tamiya Lacquer Thinner (large yellow cap bottle)

AlClad gray microprimer,,,,,,thinned with the Tamiya if needed

I am going to use both of these on opposite wings of the same model, to see what happens when the cover coat goes on

Rex

OK, sounds good to me Tarn. But a heads up in advance is that I will be using Ace Hardware's own generic Lacquer Thinner, with the short fat round bottle of Mr.Surfacer 1000.

Well today I tried out Airbrushing Mr Surfacer 1000 thinned with Ace Hardware store generic lacquer thinner. I used an external mix siphon fed single action Paasche cheapo airbrush in case of any mishaps. I did not want to clog my good airbrush. The first batch I thinned at a ratio of 6 parts Mr Surfacer to 5 parts Lacquer Thinner(48 to 40). That airbrushed quite well. The next batch I thinned down just a tad more for a 1 to 1 ratio of Mr Surfacer to Lacquer Thinner. Again no problems noted. I just primed some styrene figures so I can not at this time comment on adhesion to any other type of surface such as resin or brass photo etch. But I am very pleased with the initial result. Adhesion to styrene is excellent, and the finish is not quite so grainy as Humbrol's Enamel primer. I will give it overnite to dry, harden, and cure then report back on resistance to scratching.

The Mr Surfacer is very scratch resistant once dry.  I like it!

yea, it's some tough stuff. remember not to over thin it because it was start to web up very fast.

what pressure are you spraying at?

randypandy831

yea, it's some tough stuff. remember not to over thin it because it was start to web up very fast.

what pressure are you spraying at?

I have no idea... My compressor has no regulator with a pressure guage. It is an old basic noname compressor that I have had since about early 1989 that I bought at an art supply store. But it still is putting along after all these years.

Well today I tried the Tamiya surface primer thinned with Ethyl Alcohol. Big no go. As soon as the alcohol hit the Tamiya primer it gummed up and tuned into a big blob in the mixing jar. So I mixed up another batch using generic lacquer thinner and that worked just right.

Hmm. That's very strange. I've never had a problem with Tamiya  LSP and methylated spirits, which is 95%+ ethyl alcohol (ethanol). My jar of LSP is several years old though, and they may have changed the formula - won't know until I buy a fresh jar.

I am wondering if that is what happened. Or if ethyl alcohol is a different formula/percentage here in the USA.