Gunprimer Tools

Today we’re going to talk about some tools.

Gunprimer is a Korean company that sells “premium hobby tools”. If you go to their website, you’ll see that they sell quite a lot of things, but in the Gunpla community they’re probably best known for their “Raser” glass file:

I’ve heard nothing but praise about this thing for years now, and now I’ve finally taken the plunge. The only question is, does it actually work?

About the Raser

I didn’t know this until recently, but glass files are an actual thing. Indeed, they seemed to be used primarily when doing your nails:

I’ve said before that Gunpla is essentially nails and makeup and fashion for boys (and girls), and this only furthers my point.

Anyway, the Raser glass file’s claim to fame is simple - Gunprimer purports that it can completely sand down a nub mark without damaging or scratching the surrounding plastic. It does this via super fine, super tiny pits in the glass, which are allegedly tinier (and finer) than the pits in competing glass files.

The Raser comes in two different sizes, depending on what size models you like to build. And while you can buy them a la carte, the company’s best selling product is “Gate Remover Set”, which is a starter kit containing the Raser file and a few additional complimentary tools:

This is the set that I ordered, as it seemed like the best place to start.

What’s in the Box?

We start, of course, with the Raser itself. This is the smaller version, which is best suited for ¹⁄₁₄₄ and ¹⁄₁₀₀ scale kits:

Next is the Balancer stick:

The marketing claims that you can rub this on plastic to create a glossy finish.

Then there is the Recover cloth:

The marketing claims that you can rub this on plastic to create a semi-gloss finish that’s close to the original finish found on most model kit plastic.

Finally, we have this Grey Balancer:

This isn’t part of the starter kit, but for some reason they threw one into my order as a bonus. The Grey Balancer is supposed to be quite different from the white one. The marketing claims that it “can produce up to 2000 grit surface from a 600 grit surface.” In other words, if you sand down a part with 600 grit sandpaper, the Grey Balancer will remove all scratches and make the part look like new.

So Do they Work as Advertised?

Short answer - amazingly, yes, they do.

Longer answer - yes, but you have to use them correctly.

Using the Raser File

The big thing you have to understand about the glass file is that those tiny pits can and will get clogged up with plastic dust as you use it, which in turn dampens the tool’s effectiveness. That means that, every so often, you’ll have to clean it off. You can do this in a variety of ways - you can pry the dust out with a good piece of sticky tape, or you can wash the whole thing with soap and water.

I also found that a toothbrush works pretty good at wiping most of it out. I tend to use the brush after cleaning up 3-4 parts, and then rinse the whole thing down when I’m finished with a build.

The second thing you have to understand is that you’ll get different levels of effectiveness depending on how you sand. For example, if you have a long flat edge, I found that you’re usually better of sanding in parallel:

As opposed to sanding perpendicularly:

I also discovered that you can’t just do a couple of swipes and call it a day. You’ll want to make quite a few passes to really knock out those nubs (and also to clear up any scratches. Yes, it can scratch the plastic, but it usually means you weren’t thorough enough).

Finally, if you’re going to use a tool like this, you don’t want to cut the nub too short when you remove the part from the runner. If you cut it too short, you might end up warping the plastic as a result, and if that happens then the Raser won’t be able to fully remove that stress mark. In some cases, this means that the traditional “double snip” method of parts removal is a bad idea; you might be better off with a single snip, and letting the Raser take care of the nub.

Once you get into a groove, and get a feel for how the tool works, you’ll find that it really can get rid of nub marks entirely. And when you’re building models that are in dark colors (which tend to show off nub marks more easily), this can be a gamechanger.

Using the Recover Cloth

It is important to understand that while the Raser isn’t supposed to leave scratches, that doesn’t mean it will leave the finish of the plastic untouched. It’s still going to leave it looking rough. This is what the Recover cloth is meant for. You can use it to restore some of the plastic’s original shine.

I took out one of my spare parts and roughed it up a bit with the Raser, as you can see here:

I’m going to caveat this by stating that 1) you’re not actually supposed to rough up that much of the surface when using the Raser, so this is an extreme example, and 2) this isn’t very easy to capture on camera. In any case, here is what I got after using the cloth:

It’s not perfect, and in some places it’s actually a little shinier than the base plastic, but it definitely did something. I think this is a case where it looks better when treating the small area around a nub, rather than the entire flat side of a part.

Using the White Balancer

The White Balancer is the same idea as the Recover Cloth, except it’s supposed to create a high gloss shine. Here is how it looks on the other side of the same spare part:

Using the Grey Balancer

This one is great for when you’re removing seamlines. As usual, you’d sand down the seamline with increasingly finer grits of sandpaper, and when you get to 600 grit, you then use the Grey Balancer.

The final result is going to vary greatly depending on how good a job you did sanding. If you aren’t thorough enough, and you leave behind some scratches caused by the lower grit paper, the Balancer isn’t going to do very much for you. However, if you take your time with each grit, and sand the surface down smoothly, then the Balancer will leave it with a pretty nice finish. Not perfect mind you, but it should look close enough to perfect from a distance on a finished model (especially if you topcoat it).

For example here is a spare part that I sanded down to 600 grit:

And here it is after using the Balancer:

Again, it isn’t perfect. You can still clearly see where I sanded and where I didn’t. But it still looks a lot better than it did before.

A Criticism

If I were in charge at Gunprimer, I’d swap the white Balancer out of the starter pack and replace it with the grey one. I’ve found it to be so much more useful in practice. The white one is impressive in terms of what it can do, but unless you’re doing a lot of gloss finishes on your models, you might not find much of a use for it.

Being Careful

I don’t tend to have a gentle touch, even when dealing with something as small and delicate as a model kit. So it’s probably no surprise that both of the Balancer sticks have taken some … damage already. So far this hasn’t appeared to have affected their performance, though it’s certainly possible that they’ll start to fall apart if I’m not more careful going forward.

And that could be a problem considering …

Cost

Gunprimer’s tools work, but they aren’t cheap. They’re up there with God Hand nippers in that category of “tools that cost as much or more as quality model kit (or two)”.

But it turns out they’re even costlier still. Gunprimer is located in Korea, which means you’re going to be paying a hefty $20 international shipping fee if you order directly from them.

When you add it all up, you can imagine that I’d like to not have to replace these tools any time soon if I can avoid it.

Final Verdict

These tools really do work, and I’m genuinely amazed that that’s the case. However, I’d very much classify these as advanced tools. They’re costly, they require a bit of upkeep, and while the results are amazing, I wouldn’t call them necessary, especially not for new builders who are still learning and growing.

That is to say, it’s okay for your early builds to have mistakes, so you don’t necessarily need tools like these to clean up your parts perfectly. But sooner or later you’ll feel like you’re ready for something like this, and when that time comes I can’t recommend them enough.