The Little World

Which, if I recall, was the title of a Damon Runyan short story….and nothing to do with today’s topic.

Some months back, in the midst of the viral shortages at our hobby shop, I was reduced to purchasing a pot of Mr. Surfacer 1200 in pink..my normal buy – Mr Surfacer 1000 – being off the shelves. Also missing at the time were any rattle cans of Mr Surfacer or Tamiya undercoat.

I used the pink undercoat with some trepidation – when you spray an entire bomber Mamie van Doren pink you are very nervous until the first coat of silver or olive drab falls onto the plastic. Pink is an elephant in the room, whether it is as a result of drinking or spraying.

However, things seemed to go well. The aircraft that were briefly pink became decently silver, and the 1200-grade finish was superb. Superb as long as I was spraying it onto a well-sanded model.

Well, today was experiment day. I had the Albatros D.III ready for the red and yellow and no excuse to delay. The pink went on in a warm shed with regular thinner, and flowed on superbly in two coats. Then the yellow tail went on with levelling thinner and it seemed to be fine as well.

Finally the red – a Madder Red from Gunze. By the time it was ready to go the temperature had dropped to lukewarm and the result was all I could have hoped for.

The spraying of orange, yellow, or red nearly always requires a light-coloured undercoat. Heretofore I always let down white base – but this experience shows me that the pink is every bit as good. I may just go buy another bottle for spare.