What do you use for thinning Model Master Enamel paint for the airbrush. In the past (20 years ago) I would just use the Model Master airbrush thinner but there has to be something cheaper. Is it just Lacquer Thinner or mineral spirits?
I use cheap lacquer thiner to clean the airbrush and paint guns.
Odorless mineral spirits.
Lacquer thinner is intended for use on—whodathunkit—lacquers.
I have some of that so I’ll give it a try.
Been doing a lot of reading on here about the subject and it seems that the Testors is theoretical the best thing to use. $7-$9 for the 1/2 pint of Testors Airbrush thinner is outrageous though!
I’ll have to pick up some turpentine also and give that a try.
I agree with Ross, the odorless paint thinners and mineral spirits always worked great for me with enamels. I used a brand called, “Sunnyside” that I bought at a hardware store. It will cost around $6-7 a quart.
Wow, talk about regulations sucking you dry. Back here in NJ you can get a gallon of Mineral Spirits for under $10.
I use the Testors thinner for actually THINNING. I clean up with hardware store paint thinner/turpentine. If you buy the thinner in the half pint cans the price is not as bad as if you buy in the small bottles.
We have had this discussion before on thinning the Testors enamel with hardware store paint thinners. Some find it works fine for them, others of us notice a difference. I have NEVER been able to make lacquer thinner work well.
You can certainly try regular hardware store thinner on some test material and see if it works for you. I found it almost okay on flats but I could notice a slight difference. I found a lot more difference on gloss.
All those posts are well over a year old and thought that maybe somebody found an equivalent. I have to agree that the mineral spirits does flatten out the gloss colors but does work OK on the flats.
I wish the search feature here had an advanced search option!
Yeah, it’s called “PAINT THINNER” and sold by the gallon in your local hardware store.
I use the cheap stuff from Walmart for thinning, cleaning, whatever else I need it for.
Richard
I use Testor’s Air Brush thinner for thinning paint through my air brush only. For clean up I use mineral spirits and lacquer thinner. I once had a bad experience with mineral spirits and Model Master Zinc Chromate. Maybe it was the operator or I just wasn’t holding my mouth right, but I’ve never had a problem with the Testor’s stuff. The half pint can lasts a good while and it’s worth it to me for the piece of mind. For what little mind I have left.
Regards,
Michael B
This is exactly what I do…I was fortunate to get a bunch of the MM thinner on sale. Still use it only for thinning and clean up with mineral spirits.