Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Hiya, just tried this mix on a whim (very thin mix) and wow - it sprays so well. Have I just had a lucky day - or has anyone else tried this too? Jonners 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregW Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 (edited) Hiya, just tried this mix on a whim (very thin mix) and wow - it sprays so well. Have I just had a lucky day - or has anyone else tried this too? Jonners Hi Jon, Never used Xtracrylix but I am given to understand that both the standard Mr Colour and Mr Colour self levelling thinner are a type of cellulose, so will thin any number of paint types including some (Alcohol?) based acrylics? I mainly use Enamels (Xracolor primary) thinned with cellulose, but do occasionally go over to the "dark" side using a number of the Tamiya acrylics and these thin and spray superbly with cellulose. Greg Edited July 11, 2015 by GregW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 just a note to say Ive tried the self levelling thinners with both Azure blue and Mid stone now - and while it needs a very good shake to mix it thoroughly it sprays really well, doesn't dry on the tip of my H&S Evo silverline, and dries nice and tough, if a lot more matt than Xtracrlix normally does. I never had any joy spraying Xtracrlix before using their own thinners with my old Aztec, so Im pleased to have found a solution that works ( for me at least) Jonners 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 <checks date to make sure it's not April 1st> I'd never have believed it, but if you say so, I will. Might try it next time I'm in the spray booth, but I'll take the precaution of mixing it in a pot rather than the cup, as no-one likes a goopy mess in their airbrush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Jon, Mr. Hobby (Gunze) Levelling thinner was recommended to me by someone else here on Britmodeller. I used to procrastinate the whole painting stage as I knew I would always struggle to get that seemingly perfect AB paint/thinner ratio. I've since started using this stuff on all my enamel paints and can honestly say that it behaves itself very well. I just need to stop working so much and start modelling once again. Cheers .. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 <checks date to make sure it's not April 1st> I'd never have believed it, but if you say so, I will. Might try it next time I'm in the spray booth, but I'll take the precaution of mixing it in a pot rather than the cup, as no-one likes a goopy mess in their airbrush HI Boss - that was what I thought too, but it does thin and spray nicely. When you initially thin the XtraAx it doesn't seem to thin, but if you add more SLT and give it a damn good shake it comes out nice and thin ( my theory is that the SLT needs to act on something in the XtraAx to beak it down and that the shaking does this...) Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 I watched a video on youtube t'other day about a guy mixing his own thinner from water, IPA, flow improver & retarder. As he says, it smells exactly like Tamiya X-20A & he also uses it succesfully on xtracrylic. I mixed some up & its perfect on Tamiya & Gunze paints but I've not had chance to try it on xtracrylics yet. I don't know how the self levelling thinners would differ from X20A or this mix? Must extract digit & try it on some xtracrylics.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Marshall Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Assuming it's Mr Levelling Thinners it's completely different - Mr Levelling Thinners is 100% organic solvents ( according to the label ), with no water / alcohol at all. It's also brilliant stuff for Gunze and Tamiya paints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Very interesting, Jon! I've long hated spraying Xtracrylics, but perhaps this is the silver bullet I've been looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Marshall Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 My Preferred solution would be for Hannants to import the Agama 'Red Top' alcohol based acrylics - I believe Agama make the paint for Hannants, but their 'Red Top' sprays like Gunze paint with just IPA or Mr Levelling thinners. Only problem is that i've only ever been able to get any by ordering direct from Agama in the Czech Republic directly - a real shame as it's really nice paint, in the same colours as Xtracrylics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 My Preferred solution would be for Hannants to import the Agama 'Red Top' alcohol based acrylics - I believe Agama make the paint for Hannants, but their 'Red Top' sprays like Gunze paint with just IPA or Mr Levelling thinners. Only problem is that i've only ever been able to get any by ordering direct from Agama in the Czech Republic directly - a real shame as it's really nice paint, in the same colours as Xtracrylics. Hi Pete - so is it actually what Xtracrylix is then? Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Marshall Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 http://www.agama-color.cz/en/ I've got a few of their Acrylics and they behave exactly like xtracrylics, in the same style bottles. The "Spiritous Colour" RED Top range are alcohol based and spray a lot nicer while still brushing nicely. I can't confirm they are exactly the same, but they feel too close to be an accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franky boy Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 I'd never have believed that one! I use SLT all the time with Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous paints and they spray beautifully but I've never got on with Xtracrylics. Will give it a go tonight and see how I get on. It would be great if they do go well together as I believe Xtracrylics are generally quite accurate colour matchs. James the very excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Assuming it's Mr Levelling Thinners it's completely different - Mr Levelling Thinners is 100% organic solvents ( according to the label ), with no water / alcohol at all. Ah, right, I can't read Japanese, and apart from 'Made in Japan' everything on both my Mr. Color thinner & levelling thinner is in Japanese! And there's no ingredients at all on the X-20A label. But isn't alchohol at it's most basic an organic solvent? And at a stretch so is water - it'll dissolve salt for example? Not being funny, but if the label just says 'organic solvents' they may both be in it? My totally unscientific smell method suggests they are all much the same! Be interesting to know exactly what the differences between them are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Marshall Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Ah, right, I can't read Japanese, and apart from 'Made in Japan' everything on both my Mr. Color thinner & levelling thinner is in Japanese! And there's no ingredients at all on the X-20A label. But isn't alchohol at it's most basic an organic solvent? And at a stretch so is water - it'll dissolve salt for example? Not being funny, but if the label just says 'organic solvents' they may both be in it? My totally unscientific smell method suggests they are all much the same! Be interesting to know exactly what the differences between them are? Mr Levelling thinner definitely smells a *lot* different - I do not recommend smelling it at all - closer to White spirit than X20A. You can use Mr Levelling Thinner with their Laquer paints as well, which is another indication that it's all organic solvents. Sounds like you have a bottle prior to them being 'officially' imported - mine have stickers on with "100% organic solvents" in english. X20A is mostly water, with some Alcohol in it. X20A does work in Xtracrylics but they still dry on the needle tip. AK Interactive's new Nitro thinner is probably worth a try - it works wonders on 'stubborn' AK and Ammo acrylics but not tried it on Xtracrylics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 OK I've just done a quick totally unscientific test using two colours that always give me trouble spraying, Light Aircraft Grey, & the worst of all, Sky. I have never been able to happily spray the latter. The results, using my old Aztek airbrush with a white nozzle as I didn't want to spend the rest of the day cleaning out the Iwata if I snafu'd it; 1 - using the aforementioned 'home brew', namely approx. 2/3 de-ionised water, 1/3 99% IPA & a couple of drops of Winsor & Newton flow improver. I didn't have any retarder when I mixed it up. I used approx. the same amount of each thinner. Light Aircraft grey - sprayed beautifully, down to pen line thickness & mottles easily achieved. It mixed well & after standing in the pot for half an hour or so was still well mixed. Sky - sprayed OK over a big area. Much better than thinned with water & flow imp. alone. Couldn't do very fine freehand lines or mottles as small as the LAG. After standing was getting a bit thicker than the LAG, less pigment mixed back in when it was shaken. 2. Using Mr. Color Levelling thinner. With this, I I had to use nearly three times as much Levelling thinner on the Sky & it was still a bit thicker. LAG - Sprayed OK. Nowhere near as good as using the 'home brew' though. Clogged the needle more quickly when trying to do freehand fine lines & mottles & they were nowhere as easy to achieve. Still quite fluid & mixed up again after standing for a while Sky - Disaster! Wouldn't spray at all, stripped the nozzle/needle assembly, cleaned it, still no joy. And the paint in the airbrush cup jhad turned to gloop - as had the paint in the cup I'd mixed it in. So,very subjective I know, but I'll now happily use Xtracrylic Light Aircraft Grey with the home brew thinners in my Iwata. Sky with the home brew maybe, but with Leveling thinner - nope! I also find it strange how different colour paints in the same range with I'd have thought the same formulation can act so differently. Is it somethng in particular pigments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franky boy Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Hi Everyone So I tried this for myself last night and was very pleasantly surprised by the results. I was a little pushed for time so I only tried it with interior green and as stated above it does take quite alot of SLT to paint and a vigorous stur. I like to spray my paints fairly thin and for this reason have stuck with Tamiya and Gunze for some time now and whenever I've sprayed Xtracrylics I've found over thinning just makes them form into droplets on the models surface. So for this I did exactly that and no droplets. The finish was satin and it dried pretty quickly into a tough finish which passed the finger nail test. It does still have that slightly plastic look that Xtracrylics always seems to. Picture below, sorry it's not very good. Well done Jonners, I'll deffinately be trying this one again. James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Hi all. Good to see that I'm not "losing it" sanity wise, and that my result can be replicated. The secret seems to be a small amount of paint to a larger amount of SLT, vigorously mixed. My batches of Azure blue and Mid Stone have been in sealed bottles, and every morning I've agitated them, and they seem to remix nicely. I have to do some touching up work on the model, so we'll see how the paint works again now it's a little older. The Azure did seem to thin more easily than the Mid Stone, so the theory that different pigments affect the thinning might have some truth too. I have XAC sSky to in my range so will try that and see if it's a fail like Keefr22 experienced. Cheers Jonners (relieved he's not going bonkers) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Just an update to say the SLT thinned Xtracyrlix which dried quite matt on my Spit seems to need a few extra costs of Klear to get a shine on it. So that may be a downside, as it normally dries pretty glossy anyway.... Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Just in case you were wondering what I've been painting..... Jonners 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franky boy Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Looking good! How many coats of klear in the end? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Looking good! How many coats of klear in the end? James I think I did 4 or 5 before I was happy with the gloss. The Dark Earth which was Gunze was glossy after 3 Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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