The cheap type u gotta be careful. although generally the glue is not strong, but due to the low density of fibre of the tape, means it cannot isolate complete paint n thinner going thru it, thinner might get thru the surface n touches the glue at the back of the tape.

When this happened, the glue will have reaction with the thinner n makes it melted onto the surface of your plastic. Very hard to remove n clean.

Ok, this is kinda tricky question.

Actually, even Gaia n Mr color, which we generally call as "lacquer", it's actually a kind of acrylic based paint; a solvent base acrylic.

but anyhow, we do not have to change that, we just use back the word "lacquer" so everyone would understand.

So i guess either the maker of this thinner is refering to that, or he's trying to say this thinner dissolve acrylic paint too.

So in general, in malaysia, we call it laquer thinner

accidentally asked these at gundam thread pulak

hi sifus of gunpla.

just want to know, is there any alternative to
the already expensive mr hobby topcoat series?

and do flat coat really can cover light scratches like
from a 1000 grit sandpaper.

if for gloss coat , can use the future floor wash (rm50+ from ace hardware, medium size bottle, can paint and air brush, after paint ur gundam smell good also )
flat cloat.. last time i found resource say tat krylon flat spray quite good, but now they cancel the old top coat liao.

other commercial brand topcoat spray don dare to try yet lol.

so mine is lacquer thinner?

not sure if got flat top coat for other brand, but for gloss stop coat, can try other brand, but i forget which brand already, cost cheaper than mrHobby

is there any flat top coat in commercial line?

mmm is it advisable to paint gundam parts using normal brush.. ? kinda costly to buy an airbrush and my condo no space to do airbrushing :T

the paint...can get in hobby shop? oil-based 1? might need to try my hand on painting my gundam models.

commercial clear spray/coat consider as topcoat but nt really sure is flat or gloss.

btw samurai 1k lacquer can be use as gloss coat, some1 here do use em

I read before that Bosny have Flat top coat. I'm trying to find one but haven't find any yet. For gloss, you can try Bosny and Pylox. Bosny even have different top coat effect e.g. Gloss, Pearl, Metallic etc.

As for scratches, based on my experience, top coat can hide minor scratches and painting imperfections. I have some little bumps and brush stroke here and there on my kit after hand brushing. I was actually planning to redo the painting but decided not to. After spraying top coat, somehow those minor imperfections were hidden and some really obvious ones become a bit better.

This post has been edited by Madz.Madz: Jul 27 2011, 10:50 AM

yes, ive heard abt Bosny flat coat also.

bt last time i checked with a shop that sells a "million" variation of Bosny paint, they said that flat coat doesnt even exist.

Hmmmmm... I'm really not sure. Back in my home country in the Philippines, they do have them. Though really can't find any here. Better buy a lot when I go back there then.

What I find intriguing are those Bosny top coat that have different finishes. I would like to try one out one of these days, specially the Metallic top coat.

Metallic topcoat? hurmm..thats new.

Yeah, I was surprised also. If I can remember correctly, the can indicated "Metallic Coat". Their top coat is labelled "Clear Coat" so I think the metallic one is also for top coating.

From i see in the photo, i m suspecting when u cut your parts outta the runner, u have already damage the part. From photo, it looks like the nip mark is actually lower than the part's surface, a.k.a a hole. Besides that, mebbe due to the cutting blade isn't sharp enough, areas around the nip has already gone white color. This white color doesn;t only appear on the surface only, but it's actually the plastic around the cut part has turn white, due to irregular direction of force. These part unfortunately without putty n priming n coloring, it wont be disappeared 100%.

However, for other areas, i think u can use a higher grit sandpaper to sand. u can also use compound. Compound actually works like sand paper, but instead of in a sheet of paper form, it's in cream form. normally, sand paper with higher grit is more expensive. 2,000 grit sand paper is still quite commonly found in the market. But grit like 4,000, 8,000, 12,000, is basically impossible to find in hardware shop (Some online shop got) So generally we use compound to substitue.

u can use tamiya coarse, then go to fine. pointer: after u compound, if u see the surface is like with a layer of white color, those r actually extreme fine scratches due to sand paper or compounding, it means u can use a higher grit compound/sand paper to continue. Using compound to polish, if u do it right, your plastic surface can be as shiny as a car body.

P/S: when the grit is going higher, generally we dont call it sanding anymore, we generally use the word "polish"



Don't use detergent when u do wet sand.

The only time detergent exist in modeling is when u wash the plastic part, clean mold release agent from the plastic if there's any exist. Also the alkaline nature of detergent, there'r cases, when u soak the plastic in overnight or for days, sometimes the plastic will have chemical reaction. bubbles will be formed n spoil the plastic.

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Added on July 27, 2011, 12:49 pmYeah, i just confirmed with the owner of the brand. It's what we, malaysian, generally refer as "lacquer" thinner (For Mr.Color).

This post has been edited by rayloke: Jul 27 2011, 12:49 PM

whoah i did not expect someone would reply this long.
thanks for taking the time to help me
yeah this buster gundam is actually my first bandai brand. and uh, i was using a wire cutter & cardbox knife
will using top coat fix the white stuff cuz im not going anywhere near spray paint or airbrush due to its cost.
also i read that marker with same/near like colour could help abit from the eye sore.

wait this mean going from 1500 grit to coarse compound is very2 stupid
now i waste my money on the compound already
btw cap-ayam/normal hardware store sandpaper will do right?
dont really need bandai or other branded sandpaper

so basically i ruin my finger for nothing
thanks for clearing that one out.

Huhu, i know i m long winded. can't help. old people's syndrome

I wouldn't say stupid, in fact i think u r doing something that can make your kit looks good. Generally is very hard to find high grit sand paper. 1500, even 2000 grit will leaves scratches quite visible to eyes, so if u want something like the original smoothness, at least use compound coarse, if can use until fine even better.

normal hardware shop sand paper can be used. but for higher grit ones, which means the work is very fine n mistakes can be easily spotted, i would recommend use tamiya or other good brands. this is mainly because, the grit is the size of the stone sticked on the paper. Better brand ones tend to have more standardize roughness. while lower brand ones sometimes have mixed roughness.

i usually use hardware shop one until 1200. after that (usually for car model kit) higher grit ones, i use tamiya sand paper.

im not complaining la in fact i really appreciate it
so how would u gauge the coarse compound grit? if i also buy fine, will that make it shinier than out-of-the-box plastic type of shine?

just trying new metallic marker...this one quite nice than the shake metallic marker



hehehe
both gold n silver cost RM5.50
not like sachihata artline 0.8 which cost RM6.50 each..

so if i use lacquer thinner to thin the paint, and if my gunpla already got paint it will wash away the existing paint?

This is a wip i tried to record various compounding. the part is black in color, so the cloudy, whitish layer due to compounding. i realised if the color of the part is lighter tone of color, it's harder to realise the cloudy effect.

YHes, if u compound, u can actually achieving mirror like effect, something even more glossy than MG HD version. but to that extend, u need compound-Finish. Stopping at compound Fine, u can wow normal people but still can't escape eyes of those who r really picky.

yes.

so if i want to spray my kit and then use the wash method for panel lining

the base paint should be in lacquer type then the panel line should be aryclic or enamel?

or can i go like this, lacquer base spray can > gloss top coat > panel line with wash method + decal > final top coat (gloss/flat)?