Mr Color Levelling thinner - pigment softness

[Tempestwulf]

Hi team from the turning seasons in New Zealand

 

I've been using Mr Color paints for over 10 years now and enjoy them thoroughly, however have run into a problem when I decided to try Mr Color Leveling Thinner. I'd always used hardware store brand thinner which was fine though flashed off a lot quicker so had to be wary, getting it down to a fine art. Thinking Mr Color thinner was perfect, being own brand, I used it to thin Mr Surfacer 1000 before painting. However I've found it causes the paints not to adhere to the surface of my model. As though the pigment separated from the carrier medium (?), leaving a dry yet crisp film. Pigment is normally mixed from powder form no? Well this kinds what it felt like what it did. The pigment bound to itself, not the surface.

 

Happen only locally in 1-2 spots on a recent Airfix P-40B, however disastrously on my Spitfire Mk.I which I had to strip back.

 

Has anyone heard of this happening before and is the normal Mr Color Thinner (no levelling) better or will it do the same? In the mean time I'm using some Tamiya lacquer thinner which works fine and a small bit of hardware thinner from a friend.

[colin]

I don't think it's the thinner, more likely that you may be spraying too far from the model and it's air drying before it hits the model, this can happen with any primer thinned with lacquer.

Mr Levelling thinner has a retarder in it which should help this, but it can still happen. I have had it the same thing happen, usually in areas where you are likely to get bounce back or overspray using Alcad pre thinned primer, small areas it was lovely and smooth, then when it came to bigger areas I had the dreaded grittness.

You can normally micromesh and polish it out then lay another wetter coat on top to smooth it out.

 

[bmwh548]

I've been using it for years with no issues. Are you sure you didn't have any contaminants in those areas?

[Duncan B]

Both of the above  ^  went through my head. I have also been using it for years with only some of the 'bounce back' that Colin mentioned happening in areas like wing roots or other tight areas where I've had to pull back a bit to spray into. I even use Mr Color Thinners (both types) to thin Enamels with no problems.

 

As with any 'new to me' paints and primers I'd test it out on an old paint mule or plastic card/bottle etc before going straight onto my latest build. It can save a lot of grief by experimenting on a throw away item instead.

 

Duncan B

[Tempestwulf]

Thanks for the replies crew. Not sure why it would do this honestly. Used Tamiya lacquer thinner for the respraying and no issues at all, coats are nice and strong. I'll have to do some more testing on a mule model to find out what caused the issue.