thank you!

but i'm cheapskate only use thinner and normal marker.

thinner + marker + cotton buds can become sticky. got few parts become very sticky, so dont know how to re-clean

maybe later today i will try to clean with cloth.

Joshua Darrah is from Australia right?
EDIT: Side track a bit, need you guys sifu advice on this. I'm working on my second kit and it's going to be mostly in flat(matte) black. All of my paints are lacquer based. On my previous kit, it's mostly in matte gray/white so scratches were not very obvious but it's a different story for this black kit. Also it's a zaku so there's a lot of big armor pieces so any scratches will be super obvious and annoying.

These scratches are mostly inflicted when I was putting the painted parts back on to the kit. There are a lot of tight parts close to each other so it's very easy for the pieces to rub each other.

So how do you guys mitigate this? Do you guys top coat all pieces before putting them all back together?

Is it normal though? I'm not experienced enough to judge the quality of the finish. But the gunmetal parts are super durable, the blood red feels tough too but the matte black...it feels rough on touch and it feels like it's very weak. Very prone to scratches.

Does top coating the parts mitigates this problem?
Surprisingly the inner frame (gunmetal) is super durable. Only the matte black is very prone to scratches. Does top coating the parts before putting them back

It doesn't strip away that easily though. Just that if painted parts came in contact with another painted part, the black will have scratch mark.

I'll see what I can do, thanks!
Can you tell me where you buy the decal papers? I might wanna try printing my own decals also. But not gradient la.
Ah, too bad all my parts are already painted.  I thought the top coat will provide a wee bit of protection... 

I'm advising you from experiences before, especially for big boxes and normal release item, it is not worth it. You might even get taxed at Klia even.

That's why never assume that your experience = everybody else's experience.

In his case, he's planning to buy a normal release, big ass kit and bring it back on the plane during his trip to Japan. Unless his intention to Japan is solely to buy Gunpla, bringing that with other items and luggage, he might end up paying more for check in luggage, and risk being taxed at KLIA.

First time I did that was terribly inconvenient. On second trip, my friend was taxed for a watch that he could get here for relatively the same price. Unless it is for rare or P-Bandai kits, I'm advising him not to do that less he wants the inconvenience and risks to pay more.

Normal release kits are never sold at RRP here anyway and I would say they are still reasonable.

Hence, I stray from giving advice based on luck

Thanks for the suggestion.

This is the results , ruin it with the thick paint. Should use more thinner than I thought.

I use hardware thinner with cincai mix

Can u use laquer thinner to thin acrylic paint?