Hey all.... currently building a HG G-Saviour Space Mode model.... should i apply any type of primer before spray painting it ? Im using tamiya's spray paints... Wat kind of primer should i use ?
Wat kind of spray paints are good for gundam models ? thnx in advance

This post has been edited by noob4life: Sep 16 2007, 01:11 PM

Hey guys... ive got a question..

Mr. Colour : No.183 - Super Clear Gray Tone (Flat Clear)
No.182 - Super Flat (clear)
No.181 - Super Semi Gloss (clear)

Wat are these for ? Since they are '' clear '' paints... i assume they can act as top coats ?

And by the way... XL shop doesnt ship Mr Hobby Top Coat cans ( the one for protecting ur figures after painting )... im having a problem getting it in Penang area... Currently finding an alternative to protect my painted figures.
Any ideas ?

Wat happens if i PAINT the clear coats ( 181, 182 or 183 ) on my figures insteead of airbrushing them ?
Airbrushes are WAY out of my budget..

Painting it over works fine too rite ?
Thnx for all the replies, btw.

This post has been edited by noob4life: Sep 30 2007, 09:13 PM

Lol the problem is not the price... is the availability... penang area hard to get topcoat. XL shop not selling the topcoat cans also... Dillema.

Lol... guys i think i just bought the wrong marker set.

I ordered the 6-colour Gundam ''Ultra-fine'' Marker set... comes in metal green ,pink, white, black, yellow and red....
Can these be used for lining ??? it says '' ultra fine ''....

I noticed theyre different from wat Danny Choo uses for lining... his pictures show that the marker he is using has a metal tip... mine dont have lol.

I tried doing the lining... and damn it was ugly. =.=
Cant clean them off before they dry up... dry too fast .... T_T
any ideas ?

Omg i bought the wrong one.

Ive been using Mr Hobby colours ( the mohawk shaped cap ) for quite some time now... and i dont use thinner to thin my paints before painting... all i do is add a few drops of Mr Retarder Mild... and all the brush strokes are gone. UNLESS if the paint is too thick... cause certain colours are particularly thick... like the flat black. Then u will need a drop of thinner or two.


My standard procedure :

1. Stir paint bottle with toothpick.... ( dont use it to pick ur teeth after that )

2. Use toothpick to transfer the paint onto a Mr Hobby paint tray.. ( available online at xl-shop.com )

3. Use a drip to transfer a few drops ( u have to test it out yourself... putting too much retarder will make ur paint too thin to paint ) of Retarder into the paint tray.

4. Start painting.

I noticed that the paint will even out ( spread out ) by itself when i leave it to dry... thus removing all the paint brush marks. Never paint over an area when the area is still wet with paint... it will seriously ruin your work.
Sometimes the reason u get paint marks is because u use too little paint... make sure u re-dip ur brush after each stroke.
And also dont blow a table fan directly onto your painted parts. The whole point of this is to make it dry SLOWER so that the paint will even out by itself... dont worry about smaller details like grooves on your kit... if the right amount of retarder is added, the paint will eventually spread out and u can see the grooves again.

Just my two cents.



@ chriswoo

Your strikefreedom and hayushiki dont have top coat ? I am considering not to apply topcoats too.

''Tight budget '' is an understatement... 1 TAMIYA spray can RM 39.90 lol.

You could always stick with handpainting... but it will be a problem with bigger kits... AND I HATE HAND PAINTING WITH FLAT WHITE !
NEed so many freaking coats.



The reason why spray cans ( and AB of course ) are SOOO much better than handpainting is cuz you get a really smooth and even painted surface... devoid of brush marks... But i heard Mr. surfacer spray cans are very toxic... more toxic than the bottle one ?

Why wanna import from overseas leh.... local can get d ma.

Bro are u sure ur gundam marker isnt thin enuf for lining ???? Are u using the correct one in the first place... the one specially for lining is Gunze-Sangyo's finepoint blue-body marker pen... here. : http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/gunmargunbla.html
This one... if u line wrongly u can use an eraser to erase it.... very handy stuff.

U cant use those other marker that come in set ( set of 6 ) ... they aint thin enough. And u cant erase these with eraser cuz most of it is oil based pen... very irritating need to use gundam marker remover.... Best to use the set one for colouring small parts cukup.

When u do panel lining, just make sure u dun " over line " ... some panel lines ive seen are too thick... damn ugly lo. Use an eraser to clean it up. Theres nothing much to it, really. I dun recommend painting ur panel lines with a brush... its tough work...
Top coats doesnt matter on which paint u use... just whether to use FLAT- or GLOSS-type topcoat... the latter will make ur model shine. The flat one will make it " no-shine ". So its up to you la... military vehicles use flat lo... i mean.. how often do you see a shiny Abrams tank...

Top coat i recommend getting Mr. Topcoat spray cans. http://www.backyardarmor.com/Gunze_Sangyo.htm
This site has a small list of gunze sangyo's finishing products.

Some of ur questions might have been answered here... u shuld use the search engine more often.

Any brush is fine... but i prefer Nylon brushes though. ( the ones with orange brush head )
Rm 0.50 brushes also can use la. Just depend on ur painting skills. I buy all my brushes from Popular bookstores.


Depends on d colour... flat colours are usually thicker than the other types... well thats my opinion anyway. The thicker it is, the more thinner u add.
Just go experiment la... we tell you 1:1 ratio also no use... theres so many types of paint and not all follow the 1:1 ratio. Test it on a cheap gundam ( i test my paints on FG kits ) or sprue....

Oh yea btw... u shuld get a bottle of Mr. Retarder Mild.... add a few drops to the paint mixture. It slows down the drying process... allowing the paint to even out, therefore giving a smooth finish.

Paint : Retarder : Thinner ratios are a difficult thing to master... let alone to teach... experimenting is the best way.

This post has been edited by noob4life: Jan 5 2008, 06:27 PM

Just a question... Can Mr. Mark Setter be used over decals instead of before applying decals ? Im having problems with my decals not sticking properly... its ugly leh. Is it possible to apply abit of Mr. Mark Setter over them ?

I cant seem to find Mr. Mark Softer in Malaysia.... so im looking for an alternative.. any suggestions ?

Eh no one answer my question .. ?

Well ill ask again... can Mr. Mark Setter be used to apply over decals instead of BEFORE applying decals ? If not, wat others can be used to do this ? Most of my decals are peeling off... and its kinda ugly...
Thnx in advance.

Wow... powerful insights from masters... Ok i will try it liao haha. Thnx again !

Sorry i do not understand wat u mean.

Guys im having a bit of problem with my Mr. Metal Colors... im using Aluminium... i stirred the bottle and used straight from there without any thinner or retarder... but the paint come off so easily leh. I let it dry for like 2 days d... as long as i touch the thing the paint come off alredi... lol. Even Mr. Metal's Brass color is like that.... swt. Any idea why ?

And mr metal is shitty expensive...

This post has been edited by noob4life: Jan 19 2008, 11:44 PM

Oooo.... icic. But isnt it called mr metal primer ? Its mr metal primer rite...

Regarding the breaking thing.... one of my Freedom's gun joints ( the guns on the side of his leg ) broke into many pieces.... i painted the thing with Super Black ( thinned with mr color thinner and added retarder ). It broke when i pieced the whole gun together. I didnt even extend the gun yet, the joint break d lol.... not into two, but into many pieces...

Same thing happened to the joint on my Crossbone gundam's leg ... and both are the same type of joint.

Does painting a plastic part with thinner based paint make it weaker ???? I heard from one modeler that thinner based paint can sorta deform your kit after many years... and advice me to switch to water based paint. Any ideas ?

Well said, fren... well said.... U wont learn if u dont try. Alot of ppl ( like us ) learn it the hard way...

I use First grades to test my paints and weathering skills .... I got 3 FG strikes that look like graffiti in my house now.

I read before somewhere that water colors are totally non-toxic. But too bad it doesnt look as good as lacquers la.... theres one hobby shop owner that told me Japan modellers already switching to water colors d.... no more lacquer.... If only gunze sangyo will come up with more choices on water colors...

Oops... by water i mean Acrylics.... not those poster color ler... lol. Acrylic dry d wont be affected by water... sorry for the misunderstanding.