I need to buy thinner for my tamiya acrylic and testor enamel paints, and the thinner for tamiya says to use for acrylic paints and the thinner for testors says to use for enamels, but do i really need to buy two kinds of thinner or will one do the job for all??? Are there any brands of thinner that work well for both or one that is less costly???THANKS
In my opinion, it is best to use the paint manufacturer’s own thinner brand. A few times I have had some problems with thinner incompatibilities. If you are wanting thinner to clean brushes and airbrushes with, mineral spirits works well for most oil based paints and warm soapy water does fine for most acrylics.
Enamel is oil based and needs its own thinner.
Acrylic is water based and is pretty easy to deal with.
I use Acrylics only and I pre-mix a bottle of 50/50 Water/Rubbing Alcohol. Then thin my paints 50/50 with that. You can use windshield washer fluid, straight alcohol, etc.