I wanted to make a thin wash using Testors black glossy enamel thinned with Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner, purchased at Michaels art supply store in Vancouver. When I put a few drops of enamel into the paint thinner, I got a glob of enamel that wouldn’t dissolve. I tried mixing it with a brush, but much of the glob just ended up stuck to the brush. I was finally able to remove it from the brush, and clean the container I was using, with Mr. Paint Remover.
I gather from on-line reading that not some paint thinners and some enamels are not created equal. I assume that Testors makes a proprietary thinner for its enamels. Any comments and guidance would be greatly appreciated!
I found this out last week. I was attempting to mix a very small amount of Model Master enamel paint with Mona Lisa and it turned into a gelatinous glob! I didn’t realize this would happen, as I was using the Mona Lisa for the weathering enamel washes and pigments with no issues.
Use this. It’s not really expensive and if you don’t use it for cleanup, a can lasts quite a while.
I like to stick with same brand products as much as possible. There are probably more stories on the internet about how a gallon of Wally World Lacquer thinner costs less than than 2 oz of Tamiya thinner etc. etc.
One ruined model puts the shadow to that as far as I care.
I’m with Bill on this. If at all possible, I use the thinner recommended by the paint maker. Past experiences with mixing brands have resulted in problems. I order the Testors enamel thinner online in the 8 oz. size, and usually have it in a few days. Hopefully Testors (Rustoleum) will keep making the enamel thinner. Such is not the case with laquer thinner, which they informed me they no longer make. So despite the instuctions on the various laquer finishes they make to use a specific thinner, they no longer make it! So in this case, you have no choice but to buy another brand of laquer thinner and test to see if it works well before using it.
Yup, Mona Lisa Thinner works with oils, not enamels. It’s great with oils, and will even work over dried and cured enamels without harming them. It just wont work with enamels.
I know exactly how you feel; many moons ago I bought a bottle of butyrate dope thinking it was paint . . . and cheaper than Testors, wow, what a deal. That car model was quite ruined, couldn’t paint over it or anything. Young and dumb in my case, but its something I will not forget.
Many years ago I stopped using TESTORS thinner! Why? I couldn’t get it anywhere where I was, and of course this was before I ever owned a Laptop! No Web! How awful. So I went to my local Ace hardware and explained my dilema to the Sales person.Turned out he was a modeler too!
Well, he put me onto a generic brand that worked well, till They closed the Ace in my town within weeks of the Radio Shack closing too! So, Lo and Behold ,who do I run across at Home depot? Joe! He had tried their Mineral spirits with his MM paints with great results. It works both with the remaining M.M.I have and the Testors little bottles too!
The story about the " HOT FUEL Proof, Dope was good, Reminded me of the time I use Winsor and Newton oil paints on my reasonabley built Piper, rubber powered plane. I didn’t think that paint was ever gonna dry! What I will do now is find what someone’s using and get a sample from them along with the brand name, and off I go if it works!
I’ve never had a problem using generic hardware store paint thinner with any enamels. For cleaning and thinning purposes for over 30 years. Ive also had great results using the Model Master Airbrush Thinner with all brands of enamels. Enamels are a pretty universal breed. Yes there are differences between the different brands in how they paint, but how they clean or mix. The problems come with acrylics for compatibility of thinners across different brands.
Indeed, not all paint thinners are alike. Paint thinner used to be called turpentine, or mineral spirits (technically not all mineral spirits are turpentine, but that is a common word for it. Back in the day, everyone made paint thinner from turpentine. However, to ease the smell, and for certain other reasons, people began to offer synthetic paint thinners which were not turpentine. Some might work with enamels, some will not. Some of the synthetics have a milky appearance, and they are bad. But since thinners now come in an opaque bottle, you have no way of visually confirming clearness. w
What I do is make sure the container says either turpentine or mineral spirits. Ever since then, I have not bought anything that did not work.
Turpentine and mineral spirits are two different things, with different chemical makeups. Turpentine is distilled from pine tree resins. Mineral spirits are distilled from petroleum.
This is what you want to use with Testors MM paints specially enamel washes. For some reason, the thinner from HD and Lowes is ok to clean but not for washes. It makes a gritty wash unlike using the red can stuff that dissolves the paint just fine.
A lot of what’s sold as thinner is actually cleaner.
Case in point. Lacquer thinner. If you go on car painter links you will see that there are thinners used to apply same to cars etc.
But no, what’s sold as same is not that. It’s a cleaning product.
“Paint thinner”. If you get lucky or are Stikpusher, it might actually thin your enamel paint. It will probably serve to clean your paint brushes after you’ve used oil paint from Kelly Moore to paint your bathroom.
“turpenoid”. Oil based paints. What are those? artist oils.
Turpentine from the piney woods of Georgia. The same and BTW removes old two part epoxy from surfaces.
