Mr. Hobby Leveling Thinner vs. Denatured Alcohol

[Niko_]

Today I got my first bottle of Mr. Hobby Leveling Thinner. Supposedly its the best thinner for Tamiya acrylics as its like their lacquer thinner but with retarder. As soon as I open the bottle and get a whiff I realize that it smells exactly like a household item I have, denatured alcohol.

 

Now I raise the question, can I just use ordinary denatured alcohol instead of this expensive "Leveling Thinner"?

 

The denatured alcohol that I have is the Klean Strip Green Denatured Alcohol and is composed of:

Ethyl Alcohol, Methanol, 4-methyl-2-Pentanone, Acetic Acid, and Heptane.

 

The composition of Mr. Leveling Thinner is:

2-Pentanone, 4-methyl-2-Pentanone, and 4-hydroxy-4-mehyl.

 

 

I wish I paid more attention in Chemistry class because both of these products have the same ingredients but different additives. I also think this is a very interesting topic as I haven't seen it discussed before on any forums.

 

Please share your thoughts, I will experiment airbrushing both of these products this weekend and will respond to the post with the results.

 

[Rabbit Leader]

I can’t answer your question, however do suggest you give both types of ‘thinner’ a try with exactly the same Tamiya paint and show your results here. You might be onto something and able to invest your modelling dollars elsewhere. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[Ray_W]

Read this, the chemistry is quite a bit different and this is for Mr Color Thinners.

 

 

Mr Color Levelling Thinners has an added retarder reducing tip dry and enhancing the self levelling properties of the normal Mr Color Thinner and why it is the go to thinner for so many spraying, not only the acrylic lacquers (Mr Color), but, also the Tamiya aqueous acrylics which have an ethanol/alcohol solvent base and wash out in water. Mr Color Levelling Thinner gives me the best airbrush results without doubt spraying Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous. Better than with their own Tamiya X-20A thinner, which is alcohol based. I suspect denatured alcohol will work as a thinner with Tamiya aqueous acrylics but I'll guess tip dry may be a problem and you may not get that thin, lovely smooth, tough finish like with Mr Color Levelling Thinners.  Check for dusting. However, like Dave @Rabbit Leader said, give it a go and publish the results.

 

Ray 

[Matthew1974]

I’ve sprayed Tamiya acrylics with denatured alcohol with no problems, no tip dry and pretty smooth, pretty much very similar to spraying with their own acrylic thinner.  Tamiya also make a lacquer thinner for use with their acrylics that people speak highly of.

[dogsbody]

Though new to airbrushing, I have sprayed Tamiya that was thinned with X-20A thinner with a bit of Tamiya's Paint Retarded added. It worked great with no tip drying. I have also sprayed Gunze-Sangyo Aqueous with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and that worked good, too. I do use 99% Iso to clean the airbrush and paint mixing container. It works on both paints. If I get to a place where I want to paint, but have run out of those thinners, I might try some Iso with some retarded added.

 

 

 

Chris

[Niko_]

I have sprayed with Tamiya's Lacquer thinner before and seemed to get a rough surface. I never had issues with the AB but I thin heavily and some suggested that the paint dries in midair and fails to dry on the model, leaving an orange peel effect.

[Matthew1974]

3 hours ago, Niko_ said:

I have sprayed with Tamiya's Lacquer thinner before and seemed to get a rough surface. I never had issues with the AB but I thin heavily and some suggested that the paint dries in midair and fails to dry on the model, leaving an orange peel effect.

Try dialing the pressure back a bit and spray closer to the surface if you can.

[dnl42]

Definitely try moving in closer! I spray Mr Color at 5mm to 45mm. All paint must be at least slightly wet when it hits the surface; wetter for a gloss coat. 

 

Here is a description of my painting process.

[Matthew1974]

4 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Definitely try moving in closer! I spray Mr Color at 5mm to 45mm. All paint must be at least slightly wet when it hits the surface; wetter for a gloss coat. 

 

Here is a description of my painting process.

That is a great guide!

[CasualModel98]

 

 

On 9/18/2020 at 9:03 AM, Niko_ said:

 

 

 

The way to read this is...for the record

4-Methyl-2-Pentanone or known as Diacetone Alcohol with an evaporation rate of 0.12

4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-Pentanone or known as Methyl Isobutyl Ketone (MIBK) with evaporation rate of 1.6

In comparison Acetone has an evaporation rate of 5.6 and Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) is 3.8

Water evap rate is 0.3

Edited November 15, 2022 by CasualModel98