Hi. I am not going to spend another dime on Model Masters Thinner for enamel. They just charge too much. Some folks have said they just get thinner at the local home store, but could someone give me some specific brands and types that are safe for polystyrene? I see some folks use mineral spirits, but that makes me a bit nervous. Some suggest turpentine, but I am worried that it might be a bit too aggressive. I need something for general thinning as well as airbrush thinning. Could someone also point me to an online source for it if possible. Getting to the store is a problem for me.
I don’t use enamel that much, only now and then. I use thinner from Walmart that works very good with the Testors enamel paints, I use and for cleaning brushes as well. This is the same exact one I use. I use the Testors bottle to decant it, it takes less space on my work bench. It even smells like the Testors.
I used to use Testor’s airbrush thinner for years until I got sick and tired of paying so much to get so little. I went to my local Home Depot and picked up a container of low odor mineral spirits. It comes in a tan and blue metal container. It has worked flawlessly for me and it lasts me for a couple of years.
Garden vareity mineral spirits for enamel everysince i have used those. Never ever had a detrimental effect to the styrene whatsoever. Believe us, its ok…[;)] And cheap too[:p]
Okay, I’ll be the odd man out here. Lets say you buy the 8 ounce can of Testors thinner. It is what- about a buck an ounce? If you use it only for thinning, not for cleaning, then look at the cost of the paint, and thinning 1:1 that doesn’t come to all that much- certainly the paint cost even with the Testors thinner is far, far less than the cost of the kit or the PE. I get many models painted from that 8 ounce can.
Makes a lot of sense Don, but, only if one is going to use it as a thinner agent. If I can get a one size fits all product, I’ll be saving a lot more $$$ with a generic brand. Most of my modeling is done with acrylics, but I use the same paint thinner above for occasional airbrushing, cleaning the airbrush, oil washes and cleaning the tools involved. Now lets add that to the ‘‘IF’’ my paint of choice was enamel. If I was using Testors thinner for AB only and a generic one for cleaning, in my humble opinion, it would be even more expensive than using the cheap mineral spirit for everything.
I picked up some of the generic Walmart thinner. A quart for $5. That makes it about 1/8 the cost of Model Master thinner. Works great as a brush cleaner too. Very good stuff. I usually just use alcohol for Acrylics on the rare occaison that I use them.
I use the Testors thinner for painting only. Generic thinners seem to congeal the paint before I can even spray it on. Some people have said before that they use Laquer thinner for painting. The problem with that gloss paints either semm to take forever to cure or they never actually cure at all. One thing I can agree with is Testors being so over priced on their thinner.
Yes, it is a bit more expensive than using the generic for everything. However, I do find slight differences in the airbrush jobs when using the generic vs the Testors. Not a lot, but it does seem to go on a little smoother and thinner. And, again, when you actually look at the cost of the thinned paint, it is not a lot more expensive. Again, figure roughly a 1:1 thinning, and the cost of the paint bottle, and see how much you are actually increasing the cost of your paint by using the Testors vs the generic. An 8 ounce can does a number of models. In fact, the whole cost of paint AND thinner is a minor cost of building models these days, compared to the cost of the kit, and PE and resin aftermarket accessories.
I use the Testors thinner to brush paint some areas as well. It works both ways, airbrushing and hand painting. Cleanup is the cheapy mineral spirit and laquer thinner method. I use the laquer as my final cleanup stage with both methods of painting.
Don has a point there in case you agree with him that the testors thinner gives better results. The costs, if used for thinning alone and generic for cleaning, are negligable in that case.
Me on the other hand find that i have used both the brands own thinner and your run of the mill white spirits and never noticed any significant change in behavior… I do however honestly have to admit i have next to no experience with those cute little square testors bottles as here in my part of europe the revell paints are common practice.
On a holiday in the US last year i worked on a model using these testors paints and they brushed on with white spirit in a very similar mannar as does the revell paint.
I absolutely agree with Don, he does have a very valid point. But as the saying goes around here (and among Photoshop users), different modelers, different needs. Even when I was a full-time enamel user, I didn’t find any problems with generic thinners used with my enamels. So, I was getting the best of both worlds, generic thinner was and is (to me) a one-for-all- solvent. Mileage might vary [;)]
You also have to figure in the cost of airbrush cleaning, cleaning the jars, and getting all the overspray off your hands lol… I really wish Testors would sell the stuff in bulk 1 gallon jugs for a reasonable price. A gallon of the generic stuff would be like $20, I’d be willing to pay $25 o $30 for a gallon of Testors MM.
I did a few test sprays and I have noticed that the Walmart stuff works great, but… If you thin at 1:1, then it can get a bit prickly. If however, you thin at something like .8:1 .8 thinner to 1 part paint, it works very very well. Nice and smooth and no bubbles. It just takes a bit longer to dry.
While the Testors Model Master paints in the bigger bottles are nice and just a tad cheaper, there is one big advantage that sometimes causes me to buy the little square bottles. Like many of us, I am not always scrupulous about wiping lid and jar threads, and frequently get stuck caps. I can hold the square bottles in a pair of pliers while I use another pair on the cap. Pliers do not work well on the round bottles. In fact, I cut a piece of 1/8 aluminum with a notch just bigger than those bottles. When I have a stuck cap, I hold the cap with my bench pliers and place the bottle in the notch in the plate fastened to my workbench. Takes the caps off very nicely
I had the same problem with the bottles i used for my siphon fed airbrush. The lids used to get really stuck every time i left em for a week or so.
Found out that you can use a jar opener for round bottles such as yours and mine. Easily come by at the household department of the walmart or such shops. The look like weird pliers and meant to be used to open bigger jars but they work on smaller ones as well[;)]
Those jar openers work great. I always had problems opening the Testors metal 8oz. can lids. They simply wouldn’t come off, even using the jar openers. Onlu the ones with the cap in the center of the can top though. The old cans with the cap on one end of the can top worked a bit better.
