Last Monday I bought several more kits from my LHS and they threw in a bottle of Mr. Surfacer 500 and 1000.

They told me to experiment with these and he did not charge me for them. I know they are primers, but what difference is this primer to the one that I normaly use, which is from Tamiya?

I did not get to ask him this question coz I was in a rush, wife was waiting outside the shop, and she began to have a craze look in her eyes at a nearby jewelery store.

Can someone help me understand how I am to use this and what is the difference bwt 500 and 1000.

Thanks for any help,

Desperate modeler going broke

Although they call the 500 a "primer," it's more like a jar of thick liquid filler. It sort of bridges the gap between a putty and a primer. Very useful for filling small gaps. Some people spray it (thinned heavily, I presume) through an AB to get a no-slip tread surface on armored vehicles.

BTW, I have no idea what thinner you're supposed to use to get this stuff off brushes - water sure as heck won't touch it. I use hardware store laquer thinner, which seems to work pretty well, but that stuff thins everything.

Hi Richard ...I use the Mr Surfacer 500 more as a putty than a primer ....I also did my non skid surface on my Challenger II with this stuff but I wouldn't dare spray it thru my airbrush . I used a cut down paint brush and dabbed it on instead... I love this stuff as it makes it real easy to fill in punch marks and works great on seams as well ..I don't know what I did with out it ..I haven't tried the 1000 or the 1500 but I'm sure I will one of these days.

Rick

Haven't seen the 1500 (unless it's in a spraycan) i see a 1200 in bottles now available........

I use both 500 and 1200, as liquid filler. The numbers correspond to grit size. You can use acetone (nail polish remover) to wipe it off areas you don't want it on and for clean up.

There is also a "new" product Mr. Disolved Putty, yep that's what it is, very thin putty for filling seams at joins, etc. You brush it on the area, it dries very quickly and works very nicely with file or sand paper, just like putty. Oh, and it's "self leveling".

Hi Richard
I use it to texture cast turrets etc

Mr.2 Surfacer is my all time favourite filler. Absolutely great stuff that I couldn't live (or at least build models) without.


If you want to thin Mr. Surfacer for application, then I would use liquid cement, like Testors or Tamiya. If you want to thin to clean up, then these will work as well, but laquer thinner is a better bet. Using laquer thinner to thin Mr. Surfacer that you want to apply to a model has problems because it appears that the laquer thinner seems to break down the ability of the Mr. Surfacer to stick to the model. If you use glue to thin it, then it sticks very well.

I use a brush to apply it to large areas and to stipple for cast texture and a pin to apply it to small areas and resin bubbles to fill them. I like to apply it to surfaces I am sanding/filing to use it as an indicator of when I have saned enough to achieve the effect I want. It's like a machinist's ink showing where I have and have not changed the profile of the part.

Paul

I like to use it that way too. Like "red leading" to get an indicator of the surface. Works wonders for areas requiring alot of work. A MUST for NMF jobs.

Another Mr. Surfacer fan here. I use it primarily for creating cast textures and filling small cracks, seams, scratches, etc.
The best thinner I have found for the stuff is Gunze's Mr. Thinner. It works well to clean the stuff off of brushes (buy a couple of those cheap nylon Testor's brushes if you can, they are perfect) thin the stuff for broader application, or reactivate it if it has hardened.
Mr. Surfacer will probably become one of the indespensible items in your toolbox.

Wow, thanks for all your replies. So the concesus is that Mr. Surfacer is more of a filler than a primer. I bought the Mr. Gunze Thinner as well, so at least I won't have the problem of removing it from my brushes.

If some of you folks use it for texturing the turrent etc, will this replace the method of just using thinned glue by combining these two products to achieve your results?

Many thanks for the insight.

Richard,

like others, i also fancy this product. I have all of the grit in my collections. You're so lucky to have them for free. Is that LHS in JB or singapore???

btw, i thinned them with regular household lacquer thinner and sometimes i used Mr.Thinner. i think both will work but sometimes household thinner can 'eat' the plastic underneat especially when i clean the surrounding area.

anyway, here's another article about texturing surface using mr suracer. click here

For building up cast textures, you don't need to add glue or thinner. My method is simple: Apply with a cheap nylon brush in a small area (3-4cm square), then with a cut down nylon brush stiple the area. Repeat until done. You will quickly learn how much to work the brush around to acheive the effect you want. Sometimes, the stuff gets a little stringy with the brush, but that is easily sanded away. Also, if you want thicker buildup to recreate really rough castings, you can do this in layers after the previous layer dries (couple of hours at most). If you think you've overdone an area, the stuff sands very easily.
You'll find Mr. Surfacer very user-friendly, and you bought the optimal thinner for it so you should be set.

I used the 500 strait from the bottle in my air brush.I use a big tip and high pressure for "non slip".

I tried the way Vodnik does it.I like the way it turns out.

Give his site a look http://www.vodnik.net/ .It is under features ,Easy to make non-slip surfaces.Have a read and see what you think.

Jim