Mr. color help....

[owais]

Hi all,

I tried looking for an answer to this question before starting an new thread, but wasn't successful. So here goes.

I am totally confused by the whole Mr. color Mr. hobby difference. While it is pretty clear that the Mr. color brand of paints is acrylic, I read somewhere that it is solvent based. Does this mean that it has the same fume/stink problem as lacquer paints? Is eye/breathing protection required while using this paint? Also, can it be thinned using water/windex?

Just to avoid confusion, this is the paint I am referring to:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MR-HOBBY-COLOR-180-KIN...=item414e5fe163

Thanks in advance....

Edited December 1, 2010 by owais

[Paolo Maglio]

Those are laquers, you can thin them with regular laquer or with Mr. Thinner that is a odourless (almost) laquer and you will need to add a lot of thinner to spry them.

Water or Windex will not work, sorry.

[Janissary]

Hello, Gunze GSI Mr Hobby Aqueous are acrylic paints. I use them frequently. I use Tamiya acyrlic thinner X-20A to thin them. Very nice paints. If need be, you can thin them with lacquer thinner too (just because lacquer thinner can thin petty much all kinds of paints) but the paints are not lacquer based. These paint bottles have circular lids.

On the other hand Gunze Sangyo Mr Color are specifically lacquer based paints. One must use lacquer thinners to thin them. You can't use water or alcohol to thin them. Their bottles have knob-like lids.

In the picture you showed, most of the bottles seem to be Mr Hobby Aqueous. There are a few rows that seem to be the Mr Color paints. I say this based on the lid shapes.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Janissary

[Zotted]

Mr Color = Lacquer

Mr Color Aqueous = Acrylic

They use different thinners that appear to be in the same shaped bottle.... Don't get them confused.

[Flying Pancake]

Hello, Gunze GSI Mr Hobby Aqueous are acrylic paints. I use them frequently. I use Tamiya acyrlic thinner X-20A to thin them. Very nice paints. If need be, you can thin them with lacquer thinner too (just because lacquer thinner can thin petty much all kinds of paints) but the paints are not lacquer based. These paint bottles have circular lids.

On the other hand Gunze Sangyo Mr Color are specifically lacquer based paints. One must use lacquer thinners to thin them. You can't use water or alcohol to thin them. Their bottles have knob-like lids.

In the picture you showed, most of the bottles seem to be Mr Hobby Aqueous. There are a few rows that seem to be the Mr Color paints. I say this based on the lid shapes.

Not all the lacquers have the easy off lids. Most newer Mr. Color lacquers (with the blue label not the older purple label Mr. Colors) have regular flat lids. Most of my lacquer paints have flat lids.

New Mr. Color Lacquer bottle:

Also Mr. Hobby Aqueous paints have a white/turquoise label that really separates the two:

[Janissary]

Not all the lacquers have the easy off lids. Most newer Mr. Color lacquers (with the blue label not the older purple label Mr. Colors) have regular flat lids. Most of my lacquer paints have flat lids.

I was unaware of that, thank you for the correction.

[Spruemeister]

Aqueous... aqua.... blue/green color, sorta like a body of water.... water soluable paint.... acrylic

Sometimes I need a word picture to help with the old head mounted computer memory of forty...... some.. years.

Rick L.

[MoFo]

The long answer is that both are acrylic and (more importantly) acrylic doesn't mean what you think it means.

Specifically, acrylic refers to the pigment/binder - the chemical goop that makes the paint solidify once it's applied. It doesn't mean it's water based. Doesn't mean it's alcohol based. It means the chemical goop is a synthetic (plastic) concoction, and dries in a specific manner.

The term "Acrylic" doesn't have anything to do with what you use to thin the paint.

A lot of Japanese paints use the same basic acrylic chemical goop as a base, but require different thinners for application. Tamiya's spray cans are lacquer paints, and they are acrylic. Tamiya's square bottle paints are acrylic enamels. And the round bottle Tamiya paints most people are familiar with are water-based acrylic. If you go to an art store, you'll find tubes of water based acrylics, oil based acrylics, and acrylic enamels.

There is no such thing as Mr. Hobby Color, or Mr. Color Aqueous. GSI (Gunze Sangyo Inc - they changed to GSI about five years ago) has a number of lines and brands; their product line for the hobbyist is Mr. Hobby; within that Mr. Hobby product line, which covers everything from putty and glue to airbrushes and compressors, are the two paint lines: Mr. Color (lacquer thinned) and Aqueous Hobby Color (water thinned). To help put things into perspective, compare it to a better known American company. RPM is a large company with a number of brands for different markets: Rustoleum for hardware stores, Painter's Touch for crafts/home use, Varathane and Watco for woodworkers, Bondo for automotive... and Testors for the hobby market. Testors itself has a number of product lines: Model Master, Pactra, Floquil, Acryl, Polly Scale. GSI is like RPM - the overarching corporation. Mr. Hobby is like Testors - the brand oriented for hobbyists. Mr. Color is like Model Master, the primary, solvent based paint line; Aqueous Hobby Color is like Model Master Acryl, the water-based version of the hobby paints.

Aqueous Hobby Color is water/alcohol based, while Mr. Color is lacquer based. You can use standard, hardware store lacquer thinner with it, but will have better results using a higher quality, synthetic lacquer thinner. Gunze's own lacquer thinner is plastic safe - it won't melt plastic - and will actually work with both the aqueous and lacquer paints. There is a more objectionable odour when using the lacquers vs. acrylics, but IMO Mr. Color thinned with Mr. Levelling Thinner isn't as bad as, say, Model Master thinned with hardware store paint thinner. As for masks, ventilation and health hazards, aqueous paints are just as unhealthy for you. They don't *smell* as bad, but inhaling the paint particulates is just as bad for your system. So yes, you'll need good ventilation and proper protection using Mr. Color paints, but you should be using the same ventilation and protection with anything you airbrush.

Sooo... summing up:

Use lacquer thinner with Mr. Color paints.

You CAN NOT use alcohol/windex/water to thin Mr. Color paints.

They smell worse than water/alcohol based paints, but not as bad as standard lacquers or enamels.

You will need proper ventilation and protection when airbrushing any kind of paint, and Mr. Color is no different.

[owais]

The long answer is that both are acrylic and (more importantly) acrylic doesn't mean what you think it means.

Specifically, acrylic refers to the pigment/binder - the chemical goop that makes the paint solidify once it's applied. It doesn't mean it's water based. Doesn't mean it's alcohol based. It means the chemical goop is a synthetic (plastic) concoction, and dries in a specific manner.

The term "Acrylic" doesn't have anything to do with what you use to thin the paint.

A lot of Japanese paints use the same basic acrylic chemical goop as a base, but require different thinners for application. Tamiya's spray cans are lacquer paints, and they are acrylic. Tamiya's square bottle paints are acrylic enamels. And the round bottle Tamiya paints most people are familiar with are water-based acrylic. If you go to an art store, you'll find tubes of water based acrylics, oil based acrylics, and acrylic enamels.

There is no such thing as Mr. Hobby Color, or Mr. Color Aqueous. GSI (Gunze Sangyo Inc - they changed to GSI about five years ago) has a number of lines and brands; their product line for the hobbyist is Mr. Hobby; within that Mr. Hobby product line, which covers everything from putty and glue to airbrushes and compressors, are the two paint lines: Mr. Color (lacquer thinned) and Aqueous Hobby Color (water thinned). To help put things into perspective, compare it to a better known American company. RPM is a large company with a number of brands for different markets: Rustoleum for hardware stores, Painter's Touch for crafts/home use, Varathane and Watco for woodworkers, Bondo for automotive... and Testors for the hobby market. Testors itself has a number of product lines: Model Master, Pactra, Floquil, Acryl, Polly Scale. GSI is like RPM - the overarching corporation. Mr. Hobby is like Testors - the brand oriented for hobbyists. Mr. Color is like Model Master, the primary, solvent based paint line; Aqueous Hobby Color is like Model Master Acryl, the water-based version of the hobby paints.

Aqueous Hobby Color is water/alcohol based, while Mr. Color is lacquer based. You can use standard, hardware store lacquer thinner with it, but will have better results using a higher quality, synthetic lacquer thinner. Gunze's own lacquer thinner is plastic safe - it won't melt plastic - and will actually work with both the aqueous and lacquer paints. There is a more objectionable odour when using the lacquers vs. acrylics, but IMO Mr. Color thinned with Mr. Levelling Thinner isn't as bad as, say, Model Master thinned with hardware store paint thinner. As for masks, ventilation and health hazards, aqueous paints are just as unhealthy for you. They don't *smell* as bad, but inhaling the paint particulates is just as bad for your system. So yes, you'll need good ventilation and proper protection using Mr. Color paints, but you should be using the same ventilation and protection with anything you airbrush.

Sooo... summing up:

Use lacquer thinner with Mr. Color paints.

You CAN NOT use alcohol/windex/water to thin Mr. Color paints.

They smell worse than water/alcohol based paints, but not as bad as standard lacquers or enamels.

You will need proper ventilation and protection when airbrushing any kind of paint, and Mr. Color is no different.

Man, you set all my paint fundamentals straight Thanks everyone for the responses....

[LZ82]

Use the Mr. Leveling thinner for thinning your Mr. Color and Gunze/Aques paint's...I've had great success with it leaving a super paint smooth finish

[tempestwulf]

I recommend this trader myself:

http://myworld.ebay.com/icanucan/

I've purchased off him heaps of times and always please with his service. His range is decent, prices are cheaper and postage is prompt. He also wraps each little jar in tissue paper and bubble wrap. Sent from Hong Kong.

I live by lacquers now too, great paints and the colours are pretty bang on.