Some questions about Gunze Sangyo acrylics

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Dear All,

I’m currently finishing Dragon’s 1/35 Stug IIIB (Cat# 6008) and
I plan to use Gunze Sangyo (GS) acrylic paints to do most of the painting.

I have the following questions about the usage of these paints and
I do hope that someone, who have used them, can help me out:

  1. I have found a “dedicated” GS thinner for their enamel
    line (Mr Color) but I can not locate GS thinner for the
    acrylics. Does it exist at all? If no, what “nondedicated” thinner can I use?
    My local hobby store has Tamiya and Testors acrylic thinners as well
    as some generic stuff.

  2. Same as above concerning the “dedicated” retarder for GS acrylics:
    can’t find one; if it does not exist, then what can I use? The only one that
    I’ve found locally is from Createx (for acrylic paints used to airbrush nails).

Thanks in advance!

2
  1. I’ve used either isopropyl alcohol or distilled water with the GS acrylic paints and both have worked fairly well. I am not aware if a ‘dedicated’ thinner is available.
  2. I haven’t used a ‘retarder’, but will be checking back to see what other people recommend.

M.

3

In my experience you will need to be careful about flat and clear coats over the Gunze Acrylic. I have an MPM FM-2 whose surface looked like the bottom of a dry lakebed after I overcoated it with another brand of acrylic gloss.

4

Had much the same experience as jcarlberg the last time I used GS paints…and I do mean LAST TIME. I’ve gone with Tamiya acrylics over the last number of years with no problems experienced at all.

H.M. & G.B.
Shermanfreak

5

After looking at the two latest replies (in addition to the
“dedicated support” problems I’ve described earlier) I’m
not sure either that I’ll keep using them. I have looked
for some alternatives and now I think I would also like
to try Xtracolor (Hannants) enamels. They are nicely
matched in color to german RAL’s and RLM’s,
“dedicated” thinner is present and retarder is not required.
But it looks like very few hobby stores in the US carry
this line [V]

And thanks, everyone, for your replies!

Serge

6

If you’re working on armor and want a good range of colors, take a look at the Humbrol line of enamels. I find that these paints work very well when brush painting. I prefer them over Testors.

M.

7

After working with the G.S. acrylics i found that they are very good , they also have a very good range of colors for armor, aircraft and also weathering colors. to mix them you need either water or the tinner for the Mr. color range of colors, it will work well with them, I tried Tamiyas and had no problems. for the retarder i use Mr. retarder mild wich has an orange cap.

Good luck !!!