I use Mr. Color Thinner to clean all the gunk out of my airbrush. And while it does a heck of a job getting through everything (it’ll even dissolve dried auto primer), I’m wondering if it’s too potent to use as a thinner for Tamiya / ModelMaster acrylics. Will it thin the paints, or completely break them down? Does it contain a retarder? Does it need one?
If anyone has tried this (using MCT as a thinner for acrylics), I’d love to hear about your experiences.
They also make a Mr. Color Thinner Leveler, which I think is supposed to be used as a thinner, but I would think it’s for brush painting. Anyone know about this stuff?
I’ve heard of people using lacquer thinners (which Mr Color thinner is) with Tamiya acrylics, but I’ve not tried it myself, Frankly, I’m a bit sceptical and don’t think it’s really necessary.
The “Levelling thinner” is essentially a thinner for the Mr Color lacquers with an amount of retarder added. I’m not sure if this will make much of a difference to Tamiya acrylic paints.
IIRC, Mr. Color is not an acrylic paint, and its thinner is essentially lacquer thinner, which usually contains some alcohol—along with some much stronger solvents that may well play havoc with acrylics.
For Tamiya, stick with their thinner or 90+% isopropyl alcohol plus a little retarder.
Thanks for the heads up guys. I’ll stick with Tamiya’s thinner - no point in messing with a good thing.
Though, MCT does make for one heck of a paint remover. I don’t consider my AB truly clean unless I’ve given the guts a good cleaning with some MCT on a q-tip.
I use Mr color thinner with both Gunze aqueous and Tamiya acrylics, I’ve not had any problems. Have a little go on some scrap plastic and see what you think, I’m no expert but as I said I’ve not had a single problem. Your right you do get a mighty clean airbrush [t$t]