Mr Hobby Acrysion paints

[Fayfaychu]

I couldnt find any detailed review about this new type of paint despite it has been released for a while. So I decided to share some of my experiences with it with the pros and cons I have encountered so far. All paints were bought out of my pocket.

Firstly this is a paint that is completely new in terms of formula. I dont think it behaves like ordinary acrylics like Tamiya, Lifecolour, Vallejo, or even Mr Hobby's brand of water soluble acrylics. This paint is water soluble to a degree that you can clean your brushes with water when it is still wet. But it cannot be thinned with water. The drying time varies among colours, but normally it will dry in 5-15 seconds when applied by brush.

The consistency of the paint is like milk out of the bottle, which suits very much for airbrushing directly. However Mr Hobby has produced two types of thinners for the Acrysion line, and both has its own property that should be considered when applying. The drying time varies among colours, but normally it will dry in 5-15 seconds when applied by brush and this is where the thinners come into play. The solvent with blue label has a high retarding property that will prolong the drying time and can remove unwanted brush marks. Meanwhile the thinner in green label is meant for airbrushing and the labels says you need to shake it before use. Do shake it before use unless you want a really high gloss finish that dries in 24 hours! Dont ask me how i know it though...

After trying out the paints (i have bought dozens of them) the followings are noted:

1) I believed these paints are formulated for airbrushing. If thinned with the airbrush thinner they dont clog like the other arcylics do, and give a rather consistent appearance sort of like Mr Hobby lacquer line of paint. As the consistency of the paint is almost airbrush ready, you only need to add a few drops of thinner for each spraying session.

2) Coverage varies from colour to colour. Some of the colours is of a consistent liquid, while others, notably the white and grey ones, will have heavy pigment separation. For the gloss orange I showed here there are almost no pigments on the bottom but for the greys I always have to give the bottle a good stir before it becomes the colour it should be. The orange is also very transparent and required at least 3 coats before a solid colour is obtained. The coverage also varies from colour to colour and I think the orange is the most transparent I have experienced. I airbrushed on bare plastic, paint to thinner ratio around 70-30 (Can be unthinned as well), around 15 PSI. As you can see it produced a gloss finish that is hard to be done with acrylics. The humidity at the time of spraying is almost 98% but the finish wasnt really affect by it. I oven dried it at such high humidity to speed up the curing process.

3) So why bother with this new line? Well first it claims to have 8x% less VOC than their lacquer paints, which makes spraying indoors more tolerable. An extract fan is definitely needed but after say 1 min of spraying there is no smell what so ever left. Secondly it produces a coating that is so hard and durable that it almost compares to lacquer paints. Masking can be done almost immediately after it has cured and I have not experienced any lifting at all.

4) Some thinners (Lacquer and enamel thinners) can still dissolve it, but not with alcohol, Mr Hobby's own weathering thinner and water. After airbrushing I often find paints dried inside the airbrush cup and deep cleaning should be done first with water then their own tool cleaner.

So the cons of the product? First the properties of it required practices. I made mistakes by thinning it too much and spraying at a low pressure, and the surface tension just got me. Some colour may appear to have a rather thick consistency but a few drops of thinner is really all it needs. These two bottles lasted me for couple months and is still more than half full.

The drying time can varies and it is best to practice on scrape plastics before the formal application. Priming is not a must but will certainly help. The choice of colour is rather limited at this time but Mr Hobby seems to be expending the range slowly so we will see.

The final verdict? I think I will use this line of paints for painting the base colours of a model, where masking is often required for the succeeding layers. It has a higher learning curve than most arcylics, and is not as convenient that the likes of Vallejos. But is durable and considerable less toxic than lacquer paints. Hopefully Mr Hobby can come up with a wider selection to suit more purposes.

Sorry for the long and boring post hope it helps

Edited March 21, 2016 by Fayfaychu

[zeus60]

I think I picked up a bottle from this line a while back. This review was very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to write it up.

Stacey

[Chris L]

 Hello  Fayfaychu,

  I was trying to figure out how to contact you, having reviewed the N type paint but you found me instead . It's all good !

 

 Reading your review, I would think that this new paint would not mix with either the Tamiya or the Gunze H series paint.

 

 Is that a good assumption ?  Vallejo maybe ? as this product mixes with water .

 

 Grateful  useful experience. 

 

 Regards, Christian 

 

[Fayfaychu]

Hi Chris,

I believe this new paint type is not compatible with Tamiya, H series or Vallejo. They certainly looked like different stuff to me.

I have not tried mixing them myself but i can do a bit of experiment later on and see what comes out with that.

The below caution notes is directly translated from their Japanese website:

 

* It can be painted also on Mr. color or enamel paint. It can not be used because it causes cracking when painting on aqueous hobby color and other company's aqueous acrylic paint. ※ It can not be mixed with the aqueous hobby color or Mr. color.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Fayfaychu

[Fayfaychu]

Did a bit of experiment now and tried mixing N line with Vallejo Model Color and Model Air paint.

To my surprise, these two paints actually can be mixed, but not fully. Some separation is still seen and I believe they are not completely compatible.

1) Red Vallejo Model Color was added to grey Acrysion. 

Although a greyish red colour was  produced, the two was not completely mixed and you can see some grey underneath the red

2) Yellow Acrysion added to Blue Model Air

Pretty much the same result. Although somehow the yellow still appeared at the bottom though it was added to the Model Air.

 

In short, I think although these 2 lines are able to be partly mixed, it serves not much modeling purpose.

[Fayfaychu]

Found a useful Youtube video from Japan showing the properties of the new N Line.