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7 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said:

I've always used enamel reducer to thin my MM paints but, Mr. Color Leveling Thinner works with them as well.

Steve

I think if you want to get down to that level then all enamel "thinners" are actually reducers, the same goes for any urethane based paint (Some of the vallejo paints are urethane based), while a lacquer uses a thinner.

 

All that really means is you have been using a product whos label is technically correct as they all function in the same way for enamel paints, which is why there is so much cross product compatibility.

Edited by ElectroSoldier
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  • 1 month later...

So... I didn't want to start another thread with regard to my new query here - I'm that concerned about this forum's broadband width - and something has come up that I needed your expertise to make up my mind, hence, I hope you won't mind my firing away in here.

I've finally found a local vendor down here who's got the Mr Color range of paints; I went checking out his webpage and, according to what I'm accustomed to seeing on webpages abroad, I've noticed that the jars this vendor has all have this different lids on them:

 

dUNThqD.jpg

 

So I was wondering whether or not these might be old jars or something? :hmmm:All lids (caps?) are just like those. How long have GSI Creos switched to the other type of caps? Please advise. Thank you.

Cheers,

 

Gwen 

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7 hours ago, Gwen Phoenix said:

So... I didn't want to start another thread with regard to my new query here - I'm that concerned about this forum's broadband width - and something has come up that I needed your expertise to make up my mind, hence, I hope you won't mind my firing away in here.

I've finally found a local vendor down here who's got the Mr Color range of paints; I went checking out his webpage and, according to what I'm accustomed to seeing on webpages abroad, I've noticed that the jars this vendor has all have this different lids on them:

 

dUNThqD.jpg

 

So I was wondering whether or not these might be old jars or something? :hmmm:All lids (caps?) are just like those. How long have GSI Creos switched to the other type of caps? Please advise. Thank you.

Cheers,

 

Gwen 

I agree with Chuck, Gwen.  I've never seen a Mr. Color paint jar/bottle with that type of top, and I've been buying them for longer than Chuck, and I have also gotten them from US shops and Chinese sellers (via Ebay).  My guess is that these are/were older style caps, but that's JUST a guess.  it certainly would help give you a better grip to open a sticky cap, though!  I'm also guessing that the supplier's actual paints have the current flat style cap.  They may have just grabbed an archived photo of these paints.  I've seen similar photos for other paints or products including Creos/Mr. Color with different styles and colors of bottle labels in the photos than what was actually on the bottles when the paint arrived.  😊

Edited by Curt B
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12 hours ago, Chuck1945 said:

Can’t say with authority but I’ve been buying Mr Color paints from USA and Chinese vendors for the past six years and all have normal (flat top) lids

 

Hi Chuck,

Indeed; I had never seen those types of caps on the Mr Colour range of paints before, so I thought that perhaps they might be too old?

 

9 hours ago, Curt B said:

My guess is that these are/were older style caps, but that's JUST a guess.  it certainly would help give you a better grip to open a sticky cap, though!  I'm also guessing that the supplier's actual paints have the current flat style cap.  They may have just grabbed an archived photo of these paints.  I've seen similar photos for other paints or products including Creos/Mr. Color with different styles and colors of bottle labels in the photos than what was actually on the bottles when the paint arrived.  

 

Hi Curt,

My guess at first as well, so early in the morning today, I took a bus and headed up to the shop to see those jars up close and personal. According to the jars I saw advertised on webpages abroad, the blue colour on these jars' labels look dodgy, like the colour had faded, or some.

When the vendor was busy, I snuck behind counters to take a picture at the shelves, and I found these clear boxes full of the same colour of paints inside; six jars each.

 

TQxtqXW.jpg

 

All of them had the strange type of lids, or caps (or whatever 😅). When the vendor saw me, he didn't like it at all. But yes, the jars he had on display on the shelves are all the same type. Are you able to notice how strange the labels look like? Or maybe it's just me?

 

Yrk53NO.jpg

 

And last; when I asked the vendor what these jars dated back to, his answer was kind of rowdy-dowdy, as though he didn't like the question. I highly doubt he would let me open a cap now. :rofl: 

 

3 hours ago, Delanie said:

I was at the IPMS (Scale Model World) last week and the Mr Color stand had jars similar to the Tamyia pots.

 

Hi Delanie,

Nice to see another lady on this joint! Thanks for your input, and hope that you're not nearly as noob as I am at modelling.

 

3 hours ago, Scott Smith said:

Man, those caps would be great with my arthritis. 

 

Hi Scott,

Sorry to hear that. But of course the lids may be a lot easier for people like Will Pattison to open. Too awkward for the paint racks, though. 

Cheers all,

 

Gwen  

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18 hours ago, Gwen Phoenix said:

So I was wondering whether or not these might be old jars or something? :hmmm:All lids (caps?) are just like those. How long have GSI Creos switched to the other type of caps? Please advise. Thank you.

I just did a reverse image search using that initial image, Gwen - the earliest result which stemmed from that was a Youtube 'unboxing' type video from three years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=CKmUIy1cEiA

An exact match for the pic came up on an Argentinian site, which appears to have a full range in stock: https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-906688064-pinturas-mr-color-gunze-sangyo-a-eleccion-_JM

A Californian-based store also appears to have them available: https://r4lus.com/collections/mr-color

The same type of lids also showed up for a few Russian sites...

....and then searching another image which came up resulted in this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MrColor_before2007.jpg

 

Edited by andyf117
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Hi Gwen,

It seems very clear to me with the data provided here that your vendor probably came upon a stash of older Mr. Color paints, who knows where they came from or what kind of handling or storage they may have gone through.  That doesn't mean that the paint isn't perfectly fine, as it's been my experience that lacquers tend to have a longer shelf life than acrylics (again, just my personal experience).  However, the fact that the vendor was being evasive about the product would give me pause.  An above board reseller should have no reason to provide odd answers to straightforward questions about his stock.  This would be enough for me to seek out a different supplier for these paints, if at all possible.  Oh...just curious...was he selling these at a discount compared to other sellers, or a premium or the same price as others?

Edited by Curt B
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5 hours ago, andyf117 said:

the earliest result which stemmed from that was a Youtube 'unboxing' type video from three years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=CKmUIy1cEiA

....and then searching another image which came up resulted in this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MrColor_before2007.jpg

 

Hi Andy,

Clever! Yes, I kind of arrived to the same conclusion on YouTube, when asking Google about the different lids on Mr Colour jars. The video was by one Mokanaman, and it was regarding Mr Colour Flat Base. Surprisingly, it also dates three years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H7mF5W6LqA

Wow, there's quite a different Mr Colour label on the left and centre in the picture on your link before 2007! I had never seen those. Or could it just be that these three jars with different lids and labels belonged to jars which have been made outside of China? Or is it Japan? :hmmm:

 

XkWyhcP.jpg

 

So, last question would be how good can the paint be if the jar is three years old? I guess they were not opened.

Thanks a lot, Andy.

 

54 minutes ago, Curt B said:

Oh...just curious...was he selling these at a discount compared to other sellers, or a premium or the same price as others?

 

Hi again, Curt

As far as saw, they're published at $920 each. That's more or less between USD 3.20/2.55, depending on the currency exchange ratio. No-one of you will believe this, but lately, there're more exchange ratios down here than stars are in the sky! It's so frustrating.

Cheers,

 

Gwen

Edited by Gwen Phoenix
Where's GSI from? Is GSI Gunze Sangyo...?
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In the picture you just posted Gwen, the jar type on the right is what I’m currently getting albeit with a flat top. The last time I actually had any Gunze in the lids with a ‘handle’ was with metallics around 1990. I too  wonder if it is different packaging for different markets? I bought the aqueous from the mid 80s through about 2015 when I switched to the Mr Color version and, except for some metallics as I just mentioned, all have had flat lids. That said I have some of the aqueous Gunze paints for  20+ years and they are still fine. The Mr Color tend to thicken but adding more levelling thinner or their restoring agent thins them back just fine.

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25 minutes ago, Chuck1945 said:

The last time I actually had any Gunze in the lids with a ‘handle’ was with metallics around 1990. 

 

Hi Chuck,

1990? :gr_eek2: Wow... that's 30+ years back in time.

Well, that's the thing. I was going to invest a lot of dough in 31 jars that I need, but it's just that I'm not sure whether these jar paints are too old or not.

The Aqueous range is readily available down here (at a high price tag, but with the flat lids). I'm not quite comfy using that sort of paint.

I don't know if this vendor will accept my returning the jars if upon opening them I find out they're all thick.

Thanks for your reply.

Cheers,

 

Gwen

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Gwen

I have a selection of MR Color paints that I have acquired over the years. I make it a practice to write the date I buy the bottle of paint on the bottle. I do this for all my paints, not just Mr Color. Anyway, I have a mix of both the "handle" type lids and the "flat" lids in my paint stash. The earliest handle top lid I have is from June 2007 while the latest is March 2015. All the rest are flat top lids. Of course, the jar of paint I bought in 2015 may have been old at that time. I have found that Mr Color paint has the tendency to thicken in the bottle faster than any of the other paints that I use. 

Have fun modeling!

Mike

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5 hours ago, Mike J. Idacavage said:

Anyway, I have a mix of both the "handle" type lids and the "flat" lids in my paint stash. The earliest handle top lid I have is from June 2007 while the latest is March 2015. All the rest are flat top lids. Of course, the jar of paint I bought in 2015 may have been old at that time.

 

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your reply. I'm sitting on the fence once again with regard to buying these ones or not. As you said, an expert modelling friend I've made down here told me that these paints still might be okay, provided they have not been opened, as there's no way to know for how long paints have been sitting at the LHS' shelves. He also suggested I buy one jar and then check how the paint is, but that's sort of a shot in the dark, I think.

There's no other vendor in the whole of Argieland who's selling these.

 

4 hours ago, bashace said:

I keep a bottle of Mr Color Replenishing Agent on hand, this restores the thickened paint back to its former glory.

 

Hi bashace,

Please, I'm too noob at modelling, and have never used Mr Colour Replenishing Agent, so it's not that I'm judging either you or your advice, but doesn't "Modelling 101" advise not to ever tamper with the paint inside the jar, but always do it once you've extracted some paint from it? Like, if you add thinner into the jar of paint to dilute it, you hurt the pigment, or the carrier, or something? :hmmm:

My intention here is just to learn from you guys.

Cheers,

 

Gwen 

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Even when I think I have adequately tightened the lid on Mr Color paint jars, the paint often thickens in storage. This is one brand of paint that can be thinned still in the jar without side effects. Mr Replenishing Agent will work miracles bring old thick paint back to life.

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Ive not seen that style of top on sale for quite a while now.
Last time I had them was on their metal colour paints, which might still use them, I moved to Vallejo and AK quite some time ago so I dont know.

 

The Mr Hobby paint line I used is always the lacquer paints not the water based paints and all mine are flat topped.

 

If you are talking about the lacquer paint line then it wont be a problem buying some of the older jars, you can just take it back if there is a problem, but Mr Hobby Levelling thinner will replace what has evaporated over time, the medium and pigment will still be there provided it hasnt dried out.

 

Give one a try, a local retailer is always welcome.

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Gwen, you are not supposed to use a "thinner" in the paint jar, the Mr Color Replenishing Agent is not a "thinner", it is basically the carrier that evaporates from the paint, specifically formulated for their Mr Color paint line.

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So what is the difference then between a thinner and the paint carrier then?

 

I always thought that they were the same thing, you add thinner paint get 'thinner'  if a paints' carrier evaporates it gets thicker or am i being too logical?

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Think clear coat paint.  There is no pigment in it.  There is no thinner (Mr. Color) until you add it.  But yet when it dries there is a clear film left on the surface.  If it was just thinner or reducer it would be gone once it evaporated.   There are many chemicals mixed together to make paint, I cannot sit here and give you all of the ingredients because I don’t know.  But there are color pigments, solids that build up the paint, binders that hold it all together (the glue in the paint) and thinner that, well, thins it out so it will go through an airbrush or paint gun and kinds of helps to “melt” them all together. 
 

Im pretty sure the “carrier” is the solids and binders. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been using Testors/MM enamels since the late 70s and have been experimenting with different brands over the last few years.

 

Tamiya acrylics work pretty nice but their paints don't try to match any of the FS numbers.

 

I have had pretty good results using Humbrol paints.  Humbrol works like Testors enamels, for airbrushing, I thin it in to the same (milk like) consistency as Testors enamels.  Like Testors, Humbrol does have an odor.

 

I have also had pretty good luck with Life Color and have bought additional colors for future projects.  Life Colors does sell their product with FS numbers and doesn't have any odor to speak of.

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MCW Finishes makes enamels for popular FS colors. I have used them and they behave like old MM but IMHO with better results, since they use automotive-grade ingredients. I thin with Levelling Thinner and the resulting finish is smooth as butter.

MCW Finishes

 

They are expensive, thou. 

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