Does anyone have good experiences using Mr Primer surfacer 1000? I got it for priming resin parts because it claims to attach well to the surface. My problem is no matter what I have tried it seems to be almost transparent and you can never gauge how much is going on. It feels like you have to apply a dozen layers until you get full coverage. Im thinning it 50/50 with leveling thinner. I usually use tamiyas liquid surface primer in the jar and works without issue.
I use 1500, so even a bit thinner. It goes on perfectly thinned 1:1 with SLT. I spray it through an Iwata Eclipse with a .5 nozzle and 20psi.
If you’re sure it’s all stirred well in the jar then it sounds like you could use a bit less thinner. That’s about it, separation and you’re not getting the solids mixed in, or too thin. It should be covering nicely. The thing that bothers me is I don’t know if there is such a thing as mixing lacquer primer so thin at 50/50 to the point it’s transparent. At least it’s something that’s never happened to me.
Yeah I mix it pretty well. What I dont get is how am I able to thin tamiya primer 2:1 (thinner to primer) and it is more opaque in coverage then the primer surfacer 1000 mixed 1:1. I’m also not hosing it on mind you, building it up slowly. Im just giving this stuff a hard pass…
^^^
In my experiece, Tamiya LSP is pretty thick (more like Mr Hobby 500) so the extra thinner makes sense.
Yeah the tamiya LSP is pretty thick stuff.
I suspect you’re over thinning. I watched a video of a guy using the 1000 and according to him he only thinned it 25-30% thinner with MLT. And it was spraying fine on smaller parts,leveled nicely and came out very smooth. Worth a shot I say. I’m sure there is a simple answer to this. He wasn’t doing a hose job either but fine/light passes.
Just curious. Are you thinning and mixing your Mr. Surfacer before putting it in the airbrush cup, or are you doing it in the airbrush cup? I have run into issues here and there with getting a proper mix when trying to do it in the airbrush cup, so I started doing all of my thinning/mixing in paper Dixie bathroom cups before putting the paint in the airbrush cup. Haven’t had any issues since I started doing it that way. I also do extremely thin, light passes and get good coverage. Granted, it has been a while since I have used Mr. Surfacer, but when I did use it (mixing before putting it in the airbrush) I didn’t have any issues.
Also, I recommend keeping a pad of yellow Post-It notes nearby when airbrushing. I always start by spraying a little paint on one of those just to double-check for proper atomization and coverage…the bright yellow background gives you good contrast usually for a preview of how the paint is spraying.
I never mix inside the airbrush cup. I use small epoxy cups to mix everything. I don’t know whats going on, I tried just plain regular Mr surfacer 1000 and it worked better.
Since you’re talking about mixing techniques, I’ll offer mine.
I mix up batches in 46ml Tamiya jars. Mix the heck out of the MFS 1500 and add 20ml to 20ml of SLP. Mix the heck out of the blend on a 4Es vortex mixer with 3 mixing balls in the jar. Mix again before each use.
Sorry, JA, I didn’t realize that there was another product called Mr. Primer Surfacer…I thought you were talking aboout Mr. Surfacer. Yeah, definitely stick with what works for you. Life is too short to screw around trying to figure out how to make things work like they’re supposed to. Always had good results with the old Mr. Surfacer, and now I’m using decanted Tamiya Surface Primer with excellent results. Never tried the Mr. Primer Surfacer.
I have a bottle of the Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 coming, be here Tues. I’ll mess around with it and see what I get. The difference between it and Mr Surfacer is the primer, it’s supposed to have more grip not just for plastic models but also resins and metal. IE it should be an improved product lol. This info is according to their own web site. But we shall see. I’m not anticipating any trouble, the reviews look promising and I at this point don’t know what’s happening with the OP’s product. My curiosity has peaked and I need a resin primer on hand anyway. I’ve never run into lacquer primer that doesn’t behave itself, I shot barrels of the stuff in 1/1 literally, primer surfacers, grey and red oxide. The ony variable being the amount of thinner or drying rate of the thinner. I have both levelling thinner and medium dry, one of them should work in this Mr product.
I’m wondering if its maybe just a case of it not having the same appearance as what we’re used to with primers. Maybe there is just enough pigment in it so you can see where its going, but its not meant to be opaque? Their Mr. Metal Primer is pretty much translucent, so maybe the other stuff is meant to be as well.
When mine arrives I’ll shoot a test and report in to this thread my thoughts. Maybe meanwhile someone else will.
I just want to be clear, I’m not saying its a bad product. It just behaved differently from primers I have used in the past. Maybe I have to change my usual painting habits and thin it less for this particular product. I got rid of my old jar out of frustration. Ordered a new one to test some more.
I just received my Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 and it looks to me almost ready to spray. It’s pretty thin in the jar already so I can see maybe max 25% thinner depending on the airbrush and the tip size. But 50/50 is what’s called 100% cut and that it looks to me would basically make it a wash consistancy. I have an athsmatic in the house today so testing will have to be tomorrow, I wouldn’t want to trigger an attack and it’s only about 12f outside… I’ll report back but I think my Paasche H would spray it as is right from the bottle.
This stuff is different than just the unthinned Surfacer products that have no primer designation on the label. I’m really looking foreward to this test though.
It will shoot with just a little thinner but you gotta push the pressure up a lot with the Paasche H and #3 tip. Didn’t care for that. Try 2 parts primer to 1 part Leveling Thinner. And bump the pressure up till you get good flow, I was probably around 26 lb working pressure and it sprayed well… I’m sure a gravity feed would need less pressure. Worked for me, covers in about three coats that still looks very thin retaining great detail and feels very smooth to the touch. Put them down wet. It is not super opaque. I shot these on prescription bottles and sunlight will let the amber through the hollow bottle. Out of the sunlight it’s fine.
To those speculating on it being a clear primer, it is not. But it does take more than a single coat to cover for sure. It dries light/medium grey. The scratch resistance is great, within 15 minutes it passed a fingernail scratch test on both sanded ( 1500 micro mesh pad) and on bare plastic , no prep but a quick wipe down with mineral spirits. A little later I’ll do a blue painters tape test .
The finish is very smooth if I didn’t say that already. The stuff stinks ( to be expected with lacquer), it’s definately not Stynylrez in that department. Good primer, I may stock it, it’s primer surfacer with a good hard finish and excellent bond ( depending on the pending tape test). I assume sandible, I haven’t tried that yet. But there are no 1500 sand marks to be seen in the finish so it didn’t sand scratch swell or anything like that… Got a couple of fuzzies or cat dander or something in one, so that can be the sanding test.
The finish sands fine but Non detacked blue painters tape with non sanded plastic (under the primer) of the type prescription bottles are made of is a no go. The primer peeled off with ease. Detacked it was fine. The only area that lifted on the one sanded with 1500 were spots where there had been some dirt before sanding that smooth…The ease of peeling is Surprising to me where it seems so scratch resistant. Different principles at work I know and of course blue painters tape is very agressive.
I’ll try this again with some old model styrene parts though, could be a different result. That probably won’t be till Fri.
Thanks for your input, I have a new jar on the way and it should be here by Thursday. Ill give it another go.
I look forward to hearing how you make out with this batch.