cleaner and solvent

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Hi,

I have ordered a Badger 150 airbrush. Since it is the first double action AB I have owned I was looking on line to get cleaning tips for it. I found a FSM article about cleaning ABs and it mentioned using water as a solvent and Windex as a cleaner. My question is, can regular windshield washing fluid be used in place of Windex? As I use poly Scale acrylics. I have also been told that I can use windshield washing fluid as a thinner for acrylics. Is this a good idea?

2

i guess it’ll work if it has ammonia on your windshield washing fluid[:)] and yes some people use WW fluid to thin their acrylics. Happy Modelin’

3

For PollyScale I usually do what it says on the bottle – Thin with 10%-15% distilled water. Clean up with water. If water doesn’t get it out of my airbrush I follow up with some Windex or laquer thinner.

4

So here is a followup question…
Is ammonia the active ingredient in the WW cleaner that thins?

Bruce

5

Windshield washer fluid is alcohol based. Windex of course is ammonia based. An amonnia based product cleans acrylics better than the alcohol based ww fluid. Just my opinion having used both. I have not tried thinning acrylics with Windex rather I usually go with the manufacturer’s compatible thinner.

Mike M