Puzzled - solvent and water based thinners

[nheather]

Yes, I know that water is a solvent, but couldn’t think of a better way of describing it.

 

I’m aware that some acrylic paints (like Vallejo) are water-based whilst others (like Tamiya) use a stronger solvent.

 

So I know that you should thin Vallejo paints with their thinner or water and that you should thin Tamiya paints with their thinner or Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol, windex etc).  And that with the likes of Tamiya you can go even hotter and use lacquer thinners (cellulose thinners).

 

That’s all very clear to me.

 

Where I begin to get puzzled is when I regularly read (here and other sites) that you MUST NOT use Tamiya thinners or isopropyl alcohol with Vallejo because it turns the paint into a gooey mess.  Firstly, I have tried it and that isn’t my experience but I’m no expert so I’ll use the existence of this instead to ask my question

 

 

if what I read is true how can such a product exist.  If you must not use water in Tamiya and you must not use alcohol in Vallejo how can a proprietary thinner that is suitable for both (and many other makes) exist?

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel 

[bmwh548]

You can use alcohol with Vallejo, you can't use lacquer thinner though (actually you can, but the ratio would be 90% thinner to 10% paint so the gloop will get disolved). 

You can use water with Tamiya, but for me water is by far the worst thinner as the paint will have a very slow drying time and it doesn't help the paint grip either.

I'm going to take a guess and say the thinner in the picture is alcohol based as that's almost universally compatible with acrylics.

[nheather]

39 minutes ago, bmwh548 said:

You can use alcohol with Vallejo, you can't use lacquer thinner though (actually you can, but the ratio would be 90% thinner to 10% paint so the gloop will get disolved). 

You can use water with Tamiya, but for me water is by far the worst thinner as the paint will have a very slow drying time and it doesn't help the paint grip either.

I'm going to take a guess and say the thinner in the picture is alcohol based as that's almost universally compatible with acrylics.

I think you are correct.  I have a 5 litre bottle of pure IPA that I use for cleaning and I have made thinner with it 80% IPA, 20% distilled water and that smells very similar to both Tamiya and Ultimate thinners.

 

But there are loads of posts around saying that alcohol based thinners will turn Vallejo into a gooey mess.  Like you, I initially thought they were referring to lacquer thinners but no, the posts refer to both alcohol (including windex) and cellulose thinners. Maybe there is a seed of misinformation which has been picked up by many and spread around the bazaars.

 

I’ve always been told that water by itself is a terrible thinner.  This is because it has a positive meniscus which is why it beads - spray pure water on a flat non-porous surface and no matter how finely it is atomised it won’t cover the surface uniformly, it will start to bead.  When I started with acrylics helping my son paint warhammer, we were advised to put a single drop of washing up liquid in the water jar.  I imagine that water-based thinners include stuff to address this issue but you should definitely avoid using water on its own. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[Space Ranger]

According to Ultimate Product's web site, their Ultimate Airbrush Thinner is a "blended formula of six ingredients." So I'm guessing that it is a mix of various substances which act as compatible solvents for all those brands listed without turning any of them into "goop." It could contain eye of newt and toe of frog, as far as I know.

[nheather]

On 11/13/2019 at 5:03 PM, Space Ranger said:

According to Ultimate Product's web site, their Ultimate Airbrush Thinner is a "blended formula of six ingredients." So I'm guessing that it is a mix of various substances which act as compatible solvents for all those brands listed without turning any of them into "goop." It could contain eye of newt and toe of frog, as far as I know.

Still smells like IPA - and not the beer kind.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel