generic lacquer thinner verses Tamiya lacquer thinner

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I have a couple of questions regarding using lacquer thinner as a paint thinner when airbrushing.

First: I bought some Tamiya white surface primer before I knew it was lacquer-based, and could not be thinned with isopropyl alcohol. Now I understand that Tamiya makes their own lacquer thinner for use with their primer. Is this different from using straight lacquer thinner from the hardware store?

Second: I use lacquer thinner for my liquid cement (was recommended when I first came back to modeling) with excellent results. It bonds beautifully. It seems to me that something hot enough to melt the styrene would be an awfully hot paint thinner. Is it simply the fact that in the paint it is much more diluted, and going on much finer and more even?

I have never used anything hotter than alcohol while airbrushing, but now am considering an airbooth, probably combined with a respirator, to experiment with mineral spirits or lacquer thinner as a paint thinner.

I have read through some posts, and some really like Mr. Gunze products, but I already have the Tamiya primer, so would like to use it.

Thanks for any advice.

2

I’ve used Hardware store laqcuer thinner before to thin Humbrol, Model Master, and White Ensign enamel paints, and it worked great. But that was just a few times. I do use Mr. Color laqcuer paints from time to time, and would only use Gunze’s own thinner with them, except for clean up. Its best to stick with the paint manufacturer’s own thinner.

3

Tamiya (and Gunze Mr Color) lacquer thinners are far milder than generic hardware store lacquer thinners and are formulated to be styrene friendly.

I seem to recall seeing somewhere online a test/comparison where they soaked sprue in a container of either Tamiya or Gunze thinner for an extended period and it remained unaffected, whereas the sprue soaked in generic lacquer thinner dissolved into a puddle of goo.

PS: For Tamiya’s bottled Liquid Surface Primer, in a pinch, you can use denatured alcohol to thin and clean up. (NOT Isopropyl)

4

Any benefit to using the Tamiya lacquer thinner with their acrylics? Or is that mixing apples and oranges?

I found out the hard way about isopropyl alcohol! Luckily no damage done to airbrush that a thorough cleaning did not take care of. I felt fortunate to get away with that.

I just got a bottle of the Tamiya acrylic thinner, but have not yet used any.

Thanks for the responses. Always good to hear from fellow modelers.

5

Tamiya acrylics seem to respond reasonably well to their (and Mr Color) lacquer thinner.

In particular, the gloss acrylics work well (perhaps better than with their native thinner) because the lacquer thinner extends the drying time a little, giving the paint more time to level and the paint dries with a glossier sheen than it does when thinned with Iso or denatured alcohol.

The lacquer thinner also allows you to super-thin the paint (80% thinner or more) while retaining adhesion, whereas the paint will start to run and bead if you go much past 60% when using X-20A acrylic thinner.

6

This is true. That’s why I use Tamiya lacquer thinner when spraying fine camo patterns. For other applications, I use Tamiya acrylic thinner.

7

Why do you not use the Tamiya lacquer thinner all the time? Are there advantages to using the acrylic thinner sometimes?

Thanks for all the help here, much appreciated.

8

3 reasons for me:

  1. For the 1:1 mixing ratio that I use for base coats and general camo patterns, the acrylic thinner works as good as the lacquer thinner.

  2. The Tamiya acrylic thinner is cheaper than their lacquer thinner.

  3. The acrylic thinner smells better than the lacquer thinner.

You can certainly use the Tamiya lacquer thinner for all applications.