I’m sure there are many people who have never heard of Mr. Surfacer, or have only heard of it in passing. So I thought I’d put together a quick explanation of what it is and some of the uses for it.
Mr. Surfacer comes in three grades, Mr. Surfacer 500, Mr. Surfacer 1000 and Mr. Surfacer 1200, with each being progressively thinner than the prceeding one. It comes in a small screwtop jar and is normally applied with a paintbrush. Mr. Surfacer 1000 is similar to Tamiya’s surface primer but Mr. Surfacer 500 is thicker and more useful for the things I use it for, namely suface texturing.
The usual use for Mr. Surfacer is as a liquid filler that fills small surface imperfections, small gaps, air holes, knock out sink holes etc. Though to be honest I find using a good solid filler to be a lot quicker and easier to work with. As a filler Mr. Surfacer is however excellent for difficult to get to places.
Where it really shines though in my opinion is as a surface texturer. Applied as a thickish coat of paint to the areas that are to be textured it can be treated in several ways to create different effects.
The effect we will be looking at today is that of a rough cast iron look though this will also work to replicate brickwork surfaces and a rough poured concrete look.
Paint the Mr. Surfacer on in a slightly thickish coat as normal. As the layer of Mr. Surfacer dries press a piece of coarse sandpaper ( I use 80 grit followed by 120 grit ) directly down into the coating and then remove it. The harder you push the more pronounced the finished result. A lighter effect works best for a rough cast look or for brickwork, a heavier effect for a rough concrete look.
The photo series included here demonstrates this effect using an old Tamiya Kettenkraftrad I pick up with a boxlot of old models ( excuse the dust in the first photo, it was cleaned off after this was taken ).
First up the painted but otherwise stock standard Kettenkraftrad.
Next the layer of Mr. Surfacer 500
Next the sandpaper is pressed into the hardening Mr. Surfacer 500.
And finally painted.
Then you just finish it as desired. As simple as that.
Next week we’ll take a look at using Mr. Surfacer for doing a light cast iron effect, woolen cloth effect, and rusted surfaces effect.
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prime example of using a very expensive product that would do the same (or better ) with a common product like common spot putty..It appears money is no object with this technique…lol
Don’t see how you figure that, I bought a jar two years ago for $11 NZD ( about 8 USD ) and have used it on hundreds of items and still have 1/3 of a jar left, so hardly what I would call expensive. Certainly there are other ways of doing it and I wouldn’t recommend this way for doing a large area but it’s about providing options for builders to choose what works best for them.