Dollieh Sanctuary

Can someone explain to me why MSC is better than other spray on sealers? What others have you tried?

90% of the spray fixatives that you will find - particularly those you find at art stores, are designed to be sprayed on artwork - that is to say - something drawn or painted onto paper, canvass or such surfaces They are not designed for resin and can have wildly unpredicatible results such as not drying, being sticky, etc...

Why do I use MSC? Because that's what everyone recommended and I figured that all those voices couldn't be wrong. Unless you spray it in a humid environment there are few problems with it. Testors Dulcoat is an alternative that many use. Anything else is a "use at your own risk". Except, perhaps the Zoukimura finishing powder (?) which I believe is made specifically for Volks and the Super Dollfie line so should work on any BJD. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I have used MSC, Testors and ZM (Zoukimura finishing powder). I have not had any issues with any of the sprays - but I find MSC and ZM have the better "tooth" for applying pastels. Also -- after too many coats, Testors will cause a yellow/amber tint.

MSC is flat-out the nicest finishing spray I have ever tried, both in terms of effectiveness as a fixative/isolation coat, and as a preparatory surface for working with pastels, watercolour pencils, or paint. Given infinite resources, I'd use it on everything that needed a fixative/UV protection!

Testors' can -and has, for me- fail most disastrously due to changes in humidity, even used according to instructions on the surface it is meant for, plastic models. It also ages poorly and attracts dust like nobody's bidness. I'll never touch the stuff again if I can avoid it.

I have a sampling of other fixatives I've tried, but - as stated above - they were made for work on canvas/paper, not resin, and I found they tended to be 'sticky'.

Also, I have found cans of MSC seem to last far longer than you'd expect for their size, which is a definite bonus; this is probably dues to the extremely fine spray they produce.

Over at Den of Angels someone asks this question at least once a week despite the big fat sticky at the top of the painting forum. Also, despite that same big fat sticky plus one brave soul who has tried out every other fixative available on the market (literally), someone comes up with some matte spray or other that they want to try that has already been tried (I won't go into the apparent inability of some folks to use the "search" function).

The reason MSC is recommended over and over and over again--and, with somewhat less enthusiasm, Testors Dullcote, Model Masters Matte (used on Warhammer miniatures and found in Warhammer RPG gaming shops) and the stuff from Volks---is because it is the right tool for the job. Sure, you could USE a knife for a screwdriver, but you risk slipping a lot and getting frustrated, not getting the screw down tight enough and having it work loose, gouging the surface of the wood and ruining it forever, or stripping the screw and having to replace it. Yes, that IS the equivalent. With anything other than those four, people have had everything from robotically-shiny faces to MELTED RESIN. And as for plastic--

The cheapest small obitsu is about twenty five bucks. The cheapest resin is 100 for a tiny. A can of MSC is about ten bucks, and will last for many, many faceups.

WHY would you risk anything else but what works?

Thanks for the enthusiasm in replies everyone.

But what is it about MSC that makes it better? or is the formula not known?

Since this is a thread on the subject, and I am curious...

Should I buy MSC when I order my Obitsu form JunkySpot? My only hesitation is that I bought a new can of Testor's just last fall for sealing my painted miniatures. So I already appear to have a suitable sealant.

And I have not had Testor's yellow on my yet, and have been using it on miniatures off and on for about five years. I've also used a Krylon matt spray product on my miniatures, but I don't think I would try that on a doll.

You will find that chemical formulas are closely held secrets by the companies that produce them. This is not a surprise, since this is how they make a living. So, while there might be general ingredient list on the package, there will be no percentages or formulations, and how these things are put together and in what proportion often is what makes them work (or not). This is complicated by the fact that the MSC label is in Japanese.

Testors has a history of yellowing or getting sticky on vinyl. Will it do that on your obitsu? I don't know.

From personal experience, Testor's yellows. I tried it a handful of times on my Hujoo and it dried with with a yellow cast every time. Granted, she's plastic and not resin, but that was enough to hand the can over to my husband for his miniatures.

MSC allows the chalk pastels to stick MUCH better than Testors. I was shocked how terrible the testors was.