Zaku ver 2 self destruct, ABS platic shatering

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GorFrag
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Zaku ver 2 self destruct, ABS platic shatering

Ok I got the Zaku Ver 2 and tonight I primed it and gave it a wash of thin black paint useing Tamiya thiner to thin it. I use the brand of spray primer found in home depot, and now every ABS piece of plastic is shattering, even the big ones. The whole knee section just gave out in 3 places! The model is now ruined. I've built and painted MG models before and I've never had this happen. Does anyone know what went wrong?
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ShadowCell
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I dunno, but not posting this in the Models forum was a subsequent misstep.

Moved to proper forum.
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GorFrag
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Sorry, I'm a bit Frazzled now, I just had a $40 model turn into chalk. I think its the Tamiya thiner, it turns the plastic that the Zaku's skeleton is make of super brittle. its literally falling to pieces.
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neolordmaxwell
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It's more liekly the chemical reaction between your tamaya thinner and your home depot brand primer. Generaly speaking, anything from home depot is commertial grade, as opposed to hobby grade, and is just too strong for your model kits. The tamaya thinner almost certainly reacted with it to chemically weaken the ABS for your Zaku. What type of thinner, and what kind of paint were you using? Laqure and oil thinner are both known to weaken plastic as well, with laqour (which I cannot spell, forgive me) being the biggest offender.

It doesn't count for much now, but be sure to always test a peice of spare plastic when using any sort of chemical, be it paint, glue, thinner, ect.
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GorFrag
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I have not idea what makes up Tamiya thiner as the entire bottle is in Japanese, but it certainly has a lot of alcohol in it. I can smell it.

No pieces that I only primed were effected.

I haven't used the thiner on anything by its self.

The primer is enamel based in that mineral spirits will dissolve it. but Tamiya thiner is designed for water based paints. Its why i use it on enamel primer, it Shouldn't react with it. But Shouldn't is a far cry from wont I know.
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bluemax151
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I had a friend that had a simialr experience when he used thinner on his 1/144 Wing Gundam. Of course we all just laughed that off as a Heero self destruct. So this could or could not be related specifically to your primer as he used none and still had a similar problem. I've used Tamiya paints and thinner on and off my entire life and never really had any problems myself but there are tons of variables to be considered.
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GorFrag
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Its similar to when I tried to strip a kit with Naphtha, It didn't desolve the plastic so I thought it would be ok, but it made the plastic very brittle but nothing like this tonight. I can try some experiments with the left over bits to see what combo killed it.

I'll try calling Bandai customer service tomorrow to see if I can get a new half a zaku. what I did was by no means a bizzare use of material and I bet money other poor saps will run into it too.

So all you guys out there, beware of Rustolium brand primers and tamiya thinner!

Just tryed out tamiya thinner by its self, and its the culprit!! Primer works fine but the thinner all by its self fubars the ABS plastic!!

Mod Edit (Red): The last line didn't really need a seperate post, particularly so close after the one before it. An edit would have been fine.
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Duraham
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as far as primers are concerned, RJ London is the cheapest and most effective. just be sure that your skills are good, else the texture is going to be pretty rough. the paint particles are very big, which causes the rough texture if you do mis-spray.

anyway, right now you could try cementing back the pieces, or add a layer of plaplate on the pieces.

else just chuck the whole kit and savage what you can, use it for the diorama. eg, a hand here or there on the ground for the effect
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GorFrag
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Fixing the joints is not an option literally every joint no mater how big or little has crumbled.
Derringer
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My guess is the thinner diluted wash didn't like primer.

Wait. Why were you giving your suit a panel line wash right after the primer? Normally you would do a wash after all the painting was done first, because there would be a layer of paint above the primer.
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Deus EpS Machina
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Thinner does, however, tear ABS apart if its not diluted. The face plate of my WZC was torn apart from undiluted thinner.

And yea, what Derringer said, why are you doing a wash on top of the primer?

As for Rustolium brand primer...its ok. Iv been using it for a good year now and nothings been broken apart.
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GorFrag
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The gray primer is the right color for the under carage for my Zeon mobile suits. So I tend to just use it as the final coat too. Once inked and sealed with clear coat it works fine.
adamech
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I used to have a similar case where I primed a plastic kit and gave it a really intricate detailed paint job. It looked amazing - well, for about half an hour. After that the whole kit started to literally melt. All the plastic got soft and deformed, it was trash from that time on. Primer and paint had a chemical reaction, it also seemed that the fumes of the primer where so strong but got completely covered up by the paint and instead of going to outside they went inside and ruined the plastic. Maybe it would have been fine if I would have aired it out for a week or so outdoors before painting it.
Derringer
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GorFrag wrote:The gray primer is the right color for the under carage for my Zeon mobile suits. So I tend to just use it as the final coat too. Once inked and sealed with clear coat it works fine.
Primer != paint or final coat

Final coat = the finish (flat, gloss, satin, semi-flat, etc.)

I would recommend you not do this anymore since most of Bandai's kits now use ABS plastic for the joints and on other parts of the body.
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GorFrag
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oh I wont.
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