…to clean your airbrush?
I know there are other products besides the old thinner stand-by to clean airbrushes of acrylic paints. I do rmember a thread about the best product to clean airbrushes but cannot find it.
I hear a lot of those using Windex, rubbing alcohol (?), water, etc… Of course it all depends on the brand of paint be it Tamiya, Testors Model Masters and the like.
Any input is appreciated.
When I use Mr. Color/Alclad II paints I clean my AB with hardware store lacquer thinner. When I use Tamiya paints I clean my AB with Windex and some water.
Windex & water mix? Or either?
I only spray acrylics as well, but here is my method. For me, it depends upon the paint. Since cleaning is to remove the remaining paint in the brush, I use the thinner/cleaner for the paint I just sprayed. For Tamiya, I use alcohol, for Model Master and Vallejo I use the Testors airbrush cleaner.
When I am done, I spray a bowl or two of plain water through the brush and then use a cotton bowl to wipe it out. this gets most of it. I then spray a small amount of either the cleaner or the alcohol and then use some as well on a cotton ball and wipe the inside of the cup/bowl. I then take out the needle and wipe it down with the cleaner/alcohol until it is clean. I then put the needle back in and spray some more water. I am looking for clear spray of just water and a good flow through the brush. I occasinally remove the tip and the nozzle and clean them as well if the flow isn’t clear or as good as I would like. Every so often, I disassemble the whole thing and clean it down with cleaner. A lot depends on how much you spray and how thick your paints. the amount of the cleaner I use is usually very minimal and a bottle lasts me a long time. I wouldn’t skimp on a good cleaning solution as the brush is too important a tool.
I avoid harsh stuff and disassemble the brush as little as possible. Hope this helps.
John
I should add that when I spray Future, I do use Windex to clean. I read where others do that and it works for me so I never bothered to try cleaning it another way for that. I still use the water steps.
John
I use Windex to clean the Tamiya paint out of the AB and then I use water to clean out the Windex and rinse off the AB.
Plain cheap lacquer thinner from Home Depot/Lowes’s. It will dissolve even dried caked up acrylics.
Lacquer thinner. Windex and alcohol and the like will work to a certain extent on various paints, but you will end up having issues at some point if all you do is shoot that through them and don’t do through break down cleaning once in a while.
Want to have a really bad day? Try cleaning Vallejo type paints with alcohol. Lacquer thinner cuts through everything without much trouble.
I bought the 1 gallon container of Klean Strip from The Home Depot. It lasts for a long time.
The reason I’m asking is I use Testors Universal thinner for acrylics since I use mostly Model Master acrylics anyways. Tamiya is I want to try but want to double check with using what to clean. Although I did buy some Tamiya thinner in the big jar for that (assuming that’s what to use).
I always take apart my AB and clean between paint colors. I don’t work much with Valljeo paint but I have yet use it. I currently have Aged White (or something like that).
Question - when using alcohol for cleaning Tamiya acrylics, does it matter what % alcohol it is? I know some are 76%, 90%, well you get the picture.
Now I’m getting really confused. Like I said, I use Testors Universal Acrylic thinner for my acrylic paint. Have used it with good results and am happy with it.
I guess I should take pilotjohn’s advice as follows: (Correct me if I’m getting this right)
Model Master Acrylic - keep using what I’ve always been using (Testors Universal thinner for Acrylics)
Tamiya Acrylics - alcohol or Tamiya thinner. Would Universal Acrylic thinner work just as well?
Vallejo - Universal Acrylic thinner or lacquer thinner. Would either be fine?
Enamels - Testors thinner for enamels (that’s a given).
Also, regardless of what I use for cleaning the AB, is it well worth it to get lacquer thinner just to use every now and then?
I use my Iwata ABs to shoot Tamiya & AK acrylics. They can be easily cleaned with 91% IPA. No need to use lacquer thinner.
I occasionally use my Paasche H to spray Vallejo acrylics. In my experience, only lacquer thinner completely cleans Vallejo stuff.
Highly interesting considering AK paints are identical to Vallejo in formulation. [:S]
I use windshield wiper fluid. Pretty much the same thing as your regular Windex, but cheaper. I only spray acrylics right now (not much ventilation in the basement), and use a Testors Aztec. The windshield wiper fluid has done me well so far, but some of these other suggestions are in my “Notes” book now! Thanks all!
Eagle90
For between colors,enamels I use mineral spirits,the big jug from the hardware store,acrylics I just use tap water.
every once in awhile,I use one of those ultrasonic jewlery cleaners
I don’t understand if you are asking what to thin the paint with or clean it with.
You don’t need 14 different cleaners for 14 different kinds of paint. If you are ONLY spraying acrylics all you need is 91% alcohol, Windex, and water. Alcohol will clean everything EXCEPT Vallajo type paints (Vallejo -all lines, Italeri, AK, and AMMO). For those you can clean with WIndex.
However, if you have the ventilation just get some lacquer thinner from the hardware store or Wal-Mart. It cleans everything with a fraction of the effort.
As for thinning:
Tamiya: yes you can thin with Alcohol, but it lacks the retarder that their own thinner has, so paint is going to dry in your AB tip and it will be chalky on the models surface. You can make it work, but adding some retarder from the art supply store will help.
The Vallejo type paints are junk for airbrushing…except the Model Air line. MA can be sprayed straight from the bottle but only for general coverage. You aren’t going to be doing delicate German camo with it. To thin the Valleo types your best bet is Future in my experience. But I will not spray those unless I absolutely have to. They are way too finicky.
Model Master Acryl is another lousy paint. It sprays ok, but it is a fragile as paint comes. It will strip off from under tape 9/10 times.
Tamiya (and Mr. Hobby Aqueous if you are outside of the US) are by far the best acrylics out there. The problem with Tamiya is that they don’t make many specific color matches.
That being said, if you have the setup to do it (proper ventalation etc), I recommend enamels and lacquers. I use MM enamel and Mr. Color almost exclusively now. I thin them both with lacquer thinner. If I need to do delicate work I use Mr. Color Leveling thinner (also the best thinner for Tamiya acrylic).
I forgot to mention windshield washer fluid. It is not the same as Windex…in any way other than being blue…but it has glycol and methanol which slows drying time and increases flow. It can be used to thin most all acrylics. It’s useless as a cleaner…unless you really just want to use a lot more than necessary and work harder.
I’ve heard that rumor, too. But I don’t know if it’s true. The Mr. Vallejo of AK Interactive is not associated with Vallejo paints. But even if Vallejo does in fact manufacture the AK paint, they seem to behave quite differently in my experience. This would appear to indicate a difference in formulation. Of course, I can’t prove it because neither company is very open about the ingredients of their paint. Do you have any reliable information?
Chris
It’s pretty common knowledge that AK was a collaboration between Vallejo and Mig Jimenez…not at all rumors. It’s also pretty common knowledge that the paints are identical. As is Italeri paint, which is just relabeled Vallejo FWIW.
I wasn’t clear about my use of AK. I use AK acrylic primers, which is totally different from Vallejo acrylic primers.
dflu78 - the question is about what to clean with.