SteveS Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Hi All A general, and also a specific, question. Is it possible to thin all acrylic paints with plain (distilled) water to use with an airbrush? If not what would be the best overall thinner to use? I plan to use mainly Tamiya acrylics (along with Revelll Aqua and Xtracrylix) on my next 2 projects but would rather avoid too much cost in thinning what is essentially a water based paint. I have used Humbrol acrylic thinned with water quite successfully in the past. All suggestions welcome. Kindest regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Tamiya acrylics should be thinned with Isopropyl alcohol rather than water. This stuff is easy to get hold of - I got a big 5 litre polypin of the stuff for about a tenner and 1L goes for about a fiver - see here: http://www.shinyhardware.co.uk/prods/showcat.asp?cid=3561 PS: it also works great as a paint stripper for acylics - I used it to strip the paint off my Revell Rafale M last week so I could repaint it with the airbrush, easy as pie! Edited February 29, 2012 by Kallisti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MODeller Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I use Revell Aqua, Humbrol Acrylics and Xtracrylics all thinned with water and Flow Improver added. I ditched Tamiya acrylics as I found they only like to be thinned with IPA or Tamiyas own thinner which as you say is extra expense and for me working indoors is not an acceptable atmosphere. Mr Hobby Aqueous also work very well thinned with water but Hannants London do not stock them anymore and I believe MDC have cut back on attending model shows but are a reliable mail order trader and are the UK importer of the range so have good stocks. MODeller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeley Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Hi Steve, Acrylic doesn't always mean water based. Generally, the manufacturers own thinner is obviously the 'best' thing to use, but for the cheaper option I use meths with my Tamiya acrylics, as it's easy to get hold of in NZ. The purple dye in it doesn't affect the colour, as I have found out - even when spraying white. I spray thin coats at 15PSI, and generally don't have any trouble. The finished coats are fragile until clear coated though, as I don't use a primer (too tight to spend $$$, and haven't found a cheap alternative). YMMV (Oh, and apparently using alcohol in Vallejo paints will cause a jelly like mess, so don't expect every paint to react the same way to the same thinners.) Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thankyousam Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I've only used Revell Aqua acrylics and thin them with a few drops of Newton & Windsor Flow Improver, then drop in cooled boiled water to a semi-skimmed milk consistency. I live in a very soft-water area though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidelvy Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Hi Steve,Acrylic doesn't always mean water based. Generally, the manufacturers own thinner is obviously the 'best' thing to use... Chris Not what I found with Revell Aquacolour. I shelled out for a bottle of their special thinner only to find that when I added it to the paint I ended up with something resembling cottage cheese! In the end the best results were with tap water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 revrell is hit and miss even per cplour what works with one may not work wiht another but... mostly use WARM water and thin to a mil constancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcn Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I can get a years worth of IPA from ebay for £5 which for me is worth the expense over using IMO a hit and miss paint range that uses water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abacus Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 This is a great reference chart. http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com/...kBench%2049.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MODeller Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Never come across this "hit and miss" in the two years I have been airbrushing Revell Aqua. On opening each pot I add some Windsor and Newton Flow Improver and when spraying thin with 25% water which I take out of the condensing tumble dryer as our tap water is hard. Just sprayed the new "Dayglo" colour 36125 onto my Gnat and got perfect results. MODeller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Hi Steve,Acrylic doesn't always mean water based. Generally, the manufacturers own thinner is obviously the 'best' thing to use, but for the cheaper option I use meths with my Tamiya acrylics, as it's easy to get hold of in NZ. The purple dye in it doesn't affect the colour, as I have found out - even when spraying white. I spray thin coats at 15PSI, and generally don't have any trouble. The finished coats are fragile until clear coated though, as I don't use a primer (too tight to spend $$$, and haven't found a cheap alternative). YMMV (Oh, and apparently using alcohol in Vallejo paints will cause a jelly like mess, so don't expect every paint to react the same way to the same thinners.) Chris Chris is right ! Tamiya paints are quite different from revell's or xtracrylics and are best thinned using alcohol. Isopropyl works great with tamiya, however personally I use meth or denatured ethyl alcohol. As with Chris's eperience, the dye never affected any colour I used. The same thinners work with Gunze acrylics too (although IPA retarded the drying time too much IMHO). For Xtracrilics and Revell (and vallejo and lifecolor) tap water is fine, adding a couple of drops of retarder helps too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveS Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 Wow Guys Brilliant replies from you all. I assume IPA is not India Pale Ale (too good to drink than use as a thinner) but plain old surgical spirit...of which I have loads...being a wannabee guitarist. It's used to help harden the tips of the fingers on one's fretting hand. Clapton swears by it...for his fingers rather than drinking I hope. As for spraying indoors I have a bench near an open window and loads of masks. The main problem I have is colour matching between differing paint manufacturers. So I tend to stick to recommended paints, ie Tamiya in this case. Obviously Black is black and white is white so I'll get Revell for those. I'll learn more as I go. By the way I am working on 2 Tamiya 1/48 scale models...NA RAF Mustang III and a FRS.1 Sea Harrier. I find 1/72 scale a bit small now for my 40 something eyes to deal with! If I'm feeling brave I will post up some images when I'm done....don't expect anything fancy at this stage...purely OOB grade. Many thanks again you fellas Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wosipunk Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 http://www.pwm.org.pl/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12530 this is polish modeller forum. quick translation: woda-water; wodka-vodka (mostly 40% or more alk. cos we pols don't like soft drinks); spirytus-pure alcohol ( 96% alk. you can ask in polish food shops around uk for spirytus ratyfikowany); aceton-acetone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 For revell aqua, valejho, lifecolor & xtracrylix all I use is valejho airbrush cleaner. Yes the cleaner. This contains a small amount of ethylene glycol and I find retards the paint so you dont need flow enhancer. I have heard you can use this with tamyia though I have not tried it. Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 The Tamiya Mustang and FRS-1 on the go- Beauty and the beast! Best of luck with the builds- the High back British Mustang is one of my favourite builds, but a word of caution, If you are doing the camouflaged Polish Sqn one I seem to recall that the paint instructions omit any reference to the White ID stripes which should be on the wings, I finished mine without the stripes anyway... Heres one with the stripes.. http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa32/gz...to/Img_7742.jpg Cheers! Troffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardtarget Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 This is a great reference chart. http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com/...kBench%2049.pdf Does anyone have a new link to this guide or have the pdf as a dl i can have please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viscount806x Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 http://www.pwm.org.pl/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12530 this is polish modeller forum. quick translation: woda-water; wodka-vodka (mostly 40% or more alk. cos we pols don't like soft drinks); spirytus-pure alcohol ( 96% alk. you can ask in polish food shops around uk for spirytus ratyfikowany); aceton-acetone. Mmmmm, acetone and Wodka, my favourite..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jettnett2003 Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 (edited) Does anyone have a new link to this guide or have the pdf as a dl i can have please. Be nice if I could get hold of this guide too, seems the old link is dead and gone Edit : I Googled "workbench49.pdf" and it was found on little-cars site HERE Edited October 9, 2013 by jettnett2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Excellent guide, I have printed off a hard copy for future reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnobiz Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Ditto, thanks for the info! Arnaud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I have a few issues with the MAI chart,I seem to remember others have questioned some of it's findings,for instance I find that the best thinner for Tamiya Acrylics is cellulose thinners (I know it sounds odd thinning an acrylic with cellulose but it gives excellent results far better than IPA or Tamiya's own thinners) while for Polyscale enamels I've used Xtracolor thinners with good results,neither are recommended by the chart. Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I too was a little surprised to see that white spirit can't be used with Revell Color (now Email Color). This is nonsense, I thin it with white spirit all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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