Just getting back into model building after many years & new to using an airbrush. I'm confused about what paint thinners to use with enamel paints (Testor, Model Master). Are there different grades for airbrush use, cleaning brushes, and general cleanup? I bought a small bottle of Model Master airbrush thinner, which works great, but it's a little expensive. I also got a cheap can of mineral spirits, which hardly works at all. Is there something out there that's both effective and not too expensive?
I use Floquil enamels and buy lacquer thinner in a gallon tin from the hardware store. It works well for thinning as well as cleaning. I also picked up a smaller container of xylene to experiment with; it was equally effective at thinning. I didn't notice any great difference between thinning floquils with lacquer thinner or with xylene.
FYI, lacquer thinner is pretty hot; you can glue plastic together with it, all sorts of nasty stuff. When you thin your paint with it, there's not enough to damage the plastic although I'm sure it helps the paint bind.
The main advantage of using lacquer thinner is that it makes for a nice low density paint-particle solution going through the nozzle. You can spray for hours (if you need to) without the needle getting clogged.
The majority of the thinner will evaporate before it hits the surface; the trick is to get to know when it's just enough to hit the plastic surface wet, then almost dry instantly. DO NOT let the surface get wet, or it will start eating away at it.
It's also a good medium in that you can 'overthin' the paint, and lay on thon 'smoky' colour layers, handy in these pre-shading days. A couple of drops of clear varnish (matt or gloss) added to the mix can help too.
Well, you have opened up a can of worm here - and you thought it was paint! Two responses have already wandered off into the use of lacquer thinners, which can work with some enamels but is not really an answer to your question.
You can clean up with many more solvents than you can use for thinning - thinner has to work properly with the paint chemistry, cleanup just needs to carry it all away. I airbrush enamels, and use white spirit (which is called mineral spirits in the US, I believe) for cleaning brushes and for most of my airbrush cleanup. Final clean for airbrush parts is in Badger airbrush cleaner, which is an aerosol can of xylene. It think it is important to clean the airbrush throughly after each painting session. Paintbrushes get a wash with detergent-and-water.
The safest answer *for thinning* is to use the manufacturers thinner with each brand of paint. That is the only way to be sure that the paint chemistry is not upset.
Other solvents can work well, or can be a disaster, the only way to be sure is to experiment. I once tried thinning Revell enamels with white spirit. The resulting mixture took about three days to dry!
Apparantly Revell enamels are 'synthetic' enamels, and the chemistry is not as simple as I am used to. White spirit works for cleanup, but thin with Revell Color Mix thinner.
I mostly use Humbrol and Xtracolour enamels in the airbrush, and have found that both of these can be thinned successfully with white spirit (the UK name for mineral spirits). Humbrol do make their own thinner, but over the years I have never had any problems using white spirit. But try it out for yourself!
Yes, you can use different solvents. I have yet to find a substitute for the Testors thinner as far as actual airbrushing, so I buy the Testors stuff. BTW, it is available in half pint cans, that makes it cheaper than the bottles. Some other concoctions work, but not as well as the Testors thinner.
For cleanup and airbrush cleaning, I use hardware store paint thinner.
You will find if you use the Testors stuff for thinning only, it goes a long ways. A half pint lasts me at least a year, and I do a lot of modeling.
I have had bad luck using lacquer thinner with Testors enamel. The pigment seems to want to clump up into small globs. Tends to clog nozzle and not flow as smoothly. It does seem to work with some other brands of enamels, though.
I use all sorts of thinners with all sorts of paints (and lots of experimenting).
But I don't use Lacquer Thinner with Testors paints. Also, each brand of Lacquer Thinner has a slightly different formula - so unless someone mentions a specific brand - you'll have to experiment yourself. Most of the time, Lacquer Thinner is too "hot" for styrene plastic.
I use Testors Thinner exclusively with Testors paints. And your Hobby Shop can order bigger quantities. I buy mine in metal tins. It is much cheaper than buying it in small bottles.
But for cleaning my airbrush (after painting), Lacquer thinner is the best!
Hmmm... this question seems more complicated than I thought. It sounds like matching Testors paint with Testors thinner would be the best choice for applying paint, but to use the laqcuer thinner for cleaning. I read elsewhere about one method for cleaning airbrushes by first flushing out with mineral spirits, then cleaning with lacquer thinner. It seems like this should work. My original concern was that the mineral spirits wasn't cleaning the airbrush thoroughly enough, which was why I was using/wasting my airbrush thinner for cleaning. Thanks again for all the advice.
If you're referring to Testor's Model Master enamels, I've found that they spray better with lacquer thinner than with any other thinner I have tried. I do use Floquil military or railroad enamels, as well as Aeromaster enamel (Floquil by everything but name) and lacquer thinner is the best that I've used yet.
Again, I referred to this page before, but do check it out. The words of the master, Ted Holowchuk:
I find paint thinner or turpentine cheaper than lacquer thinner, and it does a better job if paint is not too hard. I only clean old airbrush jars with lacquer thinner when paint has not been cleaned out well enough and let sit. It does seem to disolve the hard stuff better than paint thinner, but when I clean the brush after spraying (and for cleaning actual brushes), the paint thinner seems to work better.
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