No, not the Gunze paints who also use the Mr prefix, these are a new range of paint from Eastern Europe that are not yet available in the UK.
I have seem some comments about these paints that sparked my curiosity and in a moment of madness I shipped in a couple of bottles from Germany to try them out at a much higher cost than I would like. http://www.uschivdr.com/shopping-categories/shop-colors-pigments-primer/mr-paint-superfine-inks-1/
So what got me interested?
Well firstly they are developed for use in an airbrush straight from the bottle and are so 'fine' that they are described as inks rather than paints. This means you can use a smaller a/b needle than standard model paints at a lower pressure to get some very fine a/b detailing done (in the hands of a more expert airbrusher than me that is!!)
Secondly they are bringing out more colours all the time and expanding their range very quickly. They are also focussing heavily on aircraft colours. Most of their range, apart from basic colours, are for modern Eastern Bloc jets but (and for me this is where it gets interesting), they have brought out a set of RLM shades for Luftwaffe aircraft. No doubt other WW2 colour will follow.
Thirdly. I have read good thing about how they spray and wanted to try them.
This is how they looked when they arrived:
View attachment 88073
On with the review:
Packaging:
They arrived in 30ml bottles and for me, building large scale aircraft, this is a good size compared to 17ml for the Vallejo I use at the moment, 10 ml for Tamiya and Gunze and 14ml for Humbrol. There are no eye dropper spouts like Vallejo, just an open bottle but they pour OK into the airbrush cap. I much prefer the eye dropper style as they are 'spillage proof' and much easier to dispense. These bottles are just too vulnerable to getting knocked over for my liking. These paints need a thorough shaking for which there is an agitator in the bottle, a nice touch Vallejo should learn from.
The Paint.
I have not ever seen paint with a consistency as thin as these and I have to agree this is much closer to the Indian Ink I sometimes use for a pin wash.
How they spray.
Initially I used the fuselage side from my spares box (Trumpeter Wildcat) and just sprayed the black straight onto it. My pic of this is very blurred so I am not showing it here as you can see little of what I found. I sprayed thin coats which looked very translucent to me and as the paint darkened whorls and swirls appeared in it. When it was dry I compared it to the unpainted half and realised the paint had emphasised marks left by the moulding process as plastic flowed into the mould. I believe that a combination of my not washing the plastic, no primer, the very thin paint and somewhat glossy finish brought out these minute imperfections in the plastic.
Next I cleaned with ipa and primed a wing from the same kit (with the same imperfections) with Vallejo Bronze Green primer. This is the proper test as I always prime before painting. What differed from my normal practise was not leaving the primed piece to cure and harden for 24 hours, instead I sprayed the black Mr Paint as soon as the primer was touch dry. I also made sure I shook the bottle a lot more first....
Once again the paint sprayed effortlessly in thin coats and inperfections in the plastic were brought out. That said it was a lot better than the first time and, I suspect, that had the primer cured properly first I would have had a better more even finish.
View attachment 88074
I waited for 30 minutes (on the bottle it says varnish after 30 mins so I used that as a drying time) and then sprayed the white. We all know how difficult white can be but not this one, it sprayed and covered perfectly in thin coats while exhibiting the same qualities I found with the black coat.
View attachment 88075
The coats were not even, showing as they did any underlying imperfections but I thought a varnish would cure that (it is my normal practise to varnish anyway, so no issues). I allowed the paint to dry the prescribed 30 mins but before spraying I ran my finger down the paint and found a superb smooth even surface. I then sprayed Vallejo matt varnish. When that dried I found it did the trick, a perfect finish.
View attachment 88076
Cost analysis
To ignore the shipping costs these paints cost 5.90 Euros each and on the conversion that was £4.72 which sound a lot but remember that is for 30mls. So I did a comparison with Vallejo which come in 17ml bottles, Tamiya and Gunze (10ml bottles) and Humbrol (14mls).
I used the prices in Scale Model Shop before the discount is applied so it is like for like full retail price and pro-ratered to get a price equivalent to Vallejo's 17 ml bottles and it works out as follows:
Vallejo £2.20
Mr Hobby £3.40
Tamiya £2.72
Humbrol £1.94
The Mr Paint reviewed here works out at £2.67 consequently fits right in the middle of the price bands.
Conclusion
I would thoroughly recommend them, despite their quirks. I will wait until they become more easily available through UK stockists and, if course, wait until the range expands to cover more WW2 aircraft but I love the way they spray along with the finish you can achieve and will certainly get them in future, but not from Germany....
I have seem some comments about these paints that sparked my curiosity and in a moment of madness I shipped in a couple of bottles from Germany to try them out at a much higher cost than I would like. http://www.uschivdr.com/shopping-categories/shop-colors-pigments-primer/mr-paint-superfine-inks-1/
So what got me interested?
Well firstly they are developed for use in an airbrush straight from the bottle and are so 'fine' that they are described as inks rather than paints. This means you can use a smaller a/b needle than standard model paints at a lower pressure to get some very fine a/b detailing done (in the hands of a more expert airbrusher than me that is!!)
Secondly they are bringing out more colours all the time and expanding their range very quickly. They are also focussing heavily on aircraft colours. Most of their range, apart from basic colours, are for modern Eastern Bloc jets but (and for me this is where it gets interesting), they have brought out a set of RLM shades for Luftwaffe aircraft. No doubt other WW2 colour will follow.
Thirdly. I have read good thing about how they spray and wanted to try them.
This is how they looked when they arrived:
View attachment 88073
On with the review:
Packaging:
They arrived in 30ml bottles and for me, building large scale aircraft, this is a good size compared to 17ml for the Vallejo I use at the moment, 10 ml for Tamiya and Gunze and 14ml for Humbrol. There are no eye dropper spouts like Vallejo, just an open bottle but they pour OK into the airbrush cap. I much prefer the eye dropper style as they are 'spillage proof' and much easier to dispense. These bottles are just too vulnerable to getting knocked over for my liking. These paints need a thorough shaking for which there is an agitator in the bottle, a nice touch Vallejo should learn from.
The Paint.
I have not ever seen paint with a consistency as thin as these and I have to agree this is much closer to the Indian Ink I sometimes use for a pin wash.
How they spray.
Initially I used the fuselage side from my spares box (Trumpeter Wildcat) and just sprayed the black straight onto it. My pic of this is very blurred so I am not showing it here as you can see little of what I found. I sprayed thin coats which looked very translucent to me and as the paint darkened whorls and swirls appeared in it. When it was dry I compared it to the unpainted half and realised the paint had emphasised marks left by the moulding process as plastic flowed into the mould. I believe that a combination of my not washing the plastic, no primer, the very thin paint and somewhat glossy finish brought out these minute imperfections in the plastic.
Next I cleaned with ipa and primed a wing from the same kit (with the same imperfections) with Vallejo Bronze Green primer. This is the proper test as I always prime before painting. What differed from my normal practise was not leaving the primed piece to cure and harden for 24 hours, instead I sprayed the black Mr Paint as soon as the primer was touch dry. I also made sure I shook the bottle a lot more first....
Once again the paint sprayed effortlessly in thin coats and inperfections in the plastic were brought out. That said it was a lot better than the first time and, I suspect, that had the primer cured properly first I would have had a better more even finish.
View attachment 88074
I waited for 30 minutes (on the bottle it says varnish after 30 mins so I used that as a drying time) and then sprayed the white. We all know how difficult white can be but not this one, it sprayed and covered perfectly in thin coats while exhibiting the same qualities I found with the black coat.
View attachment 88075
The coats were not even, showing as they did any underlying imperfections but I thought a varnish would cure that (it is my normal practise to varnish anyway, so no issues). I allowed the paint to dry the prescribed 30 mins but before spraying I ran my finger down the paint and found a superb smooth even surface. I then sprayed Vallejo matt varnish. When that dried I found it did the trick, a perfect finish.
View attachment 88076
Cost analysis
To ignore the shipping costs these paints cost 5.90 Euros each and on the conversion that was £4.72 which sound a lot but remember that is for 30mls. So I did a comparison with Vallejo which come in 17ml bottles, Tamiya and Gunze (10ml bottles) and Humbrol (14mls).
I used the prices in Scale Model Shop before the discount is applied so it is like for like full retail price and pro-ratered to get a price equivalent to Vallejo's 17 ml bottles and it works out as follows:
Vallejo £2.20
Mr Hobby £3.40
Tamiya £2.72
Humbrol £1.94
The Mr Paint reviewed here works out at £2.67 consequently fits right in the middle of the price bands.
Conclusion
I would thoroughly recommend them, despite their quirks. I will wait until they become more easily available through UK stockists and, if course, wait until the range expands to cover more WW2 aircraft but I love the way they spray along with the finish you can achieve and will certainly get them in future, but not from Germany....
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