Gooday all,
Many and varied are the mentions of ‘Windex’ from our cousins over the pond, could anyone tell me what the same thing is to buy off the shelves over here in the UK ?
Many thanks.
Mick C.
What you should be looking for is any window cleaner that includes Ammonia as an ingredient.
Simple Green is another cleaning product similar to Windex.
Sorry, I’m not up on brand names in the UK!
Cheers,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Ammonia ? Ahhh right so that’s the magic ingredient, got that, many thanks.
Mick C.
For more information Windex is primarily water, with some isopropyl alcohol (that why it doesn’t streak) and about 3% ammonia (which is what cleans up acrylic paints so well).
Edited! On second thought I should NOT be advising people to mix their own chemicals!
[:D], No problems Bgrigg, past master at noxious fumes from the bedroom in teen days, nothing did me in then LOL
Mick.
Speaking from personal experience, teenage boys have nothing on ammonia!
From what I’ve been able to find out, Windex isn’t marketed in the UK, but a product called Mr. Muscle is. It uses vineger for that streak free shine, which I’ve tried on windows, and works, but not as well as original formula Windex. Looks like you’ll have to go and read labels. Without meaning any offense the UK has gone a little wierd about “dangerous” products and you may be SOL. Maybe a call to a industrial janitorial service might be helpful?
Mick,
If you’re looking for Windex, I’m assuming you want to use it as a cleaner for acrylics?
You probably have a bottle of metho under your kitchen sink. This will do the job as well, if not better (and arguably, it’s less hazardous than ammonia - just don’t inhale too much of it). Metho also works as a thinner for Tamiya acrylics (will benefit from a drop or two of acrylic retarder, but it’s not absolutely necessary) Also good for smoothing down Mr Surfacer, with the added plus that it doesn’t attack styrene.
Cheers,
Phil
Phil,
By Metho, do you mean Methanol AKA Methyl Alcohol AKA Wood Naptha? It’s very similar to Isopropyl Alcohol which is what Tamiya uses (with that added retarder) as a thinner. They DO clean up acrylics, but Ammonia works that much better at attacking even cured paint. Isopropyl or Methyl Alcohol would not be nearly as effective.
Hi guys,
Many thanks for all the input, Mr Muscle works a treat for cleaning anything off [:)]
I’m wondering Phil if your metho was Methalated Spirits ?
It’s been puzzling me for a while why there are Acrylic thinners when they all say the paints are water mixable. So what’s with the thinners, and what is the retarder you mentioned ?
So far I’m finding the Acrylics are real good for the small parts you need to get done, drys real fast, but am still not convinced about the coverage of larger areas, because I’ve not really had much luck getting the thinning right. BTW I brush paint everything, no airbrush as yet.
Bgrigg, you think they are weird about safety here over chemicals, well we had a local clown had to change his act as he couldn’t get performance insurance for blowing bubbles for the kids to chase, in case they slipped on the bubble residue on the grass !! It’s getting ridiculous.
Appreciate the help guys,
Mick C.
Methalated Spirits is another name for Methanol, so probably is all the same as Metho, some more are Wood Spirits and Carbinol. You know how the Ozzies like their jargon! [;)]
Not all acrylics are water mixable, at least IMHO. Tamiya tends to clump when I’ve added water. Many of the thinners are nothing more than Isopropyl Alcohol and Acrylic Retarder, which is nothing more than glycerin in some cases. Because alcohol “flashes” dry so quickly it can cause problems with drying in airbrushes and clogging them. Basically retarders slow the process down.
Brush painting acrylics is almost an art form in itself. I pour a little thinner into a dish and dip the brush in the thinner, then the paint and then paint with it. I have an airbrush, so I don’t bother trying to paint large areas.
The Gov’t in Canada isn’t quite as bad as in Jolly Olde, but they’re sure trying hard! I hear they’re trying to ban pointed kitchen knives and force people to hire electricians to change simple fixtures over there! I’m kind of glad to see them clamp down on Clowns. Bubble residue is such a killer! I sure eventually you’ll only be able to find Clowns on the black market. [sigh]
Yep, I was referring to Methylated spirits, BUT as I understand it, Metho is more ethyl based. I found this MSDS for a “local” blend, which lists the ingredients as follows:
INGREDIENTS
Ethyl alcohol 64-17-2 95.8-99.8%
Water 7732-18-5 4.2-0.2%
Denaturant <0.1%
Denaturants may be one or more of the following: Methyl isobutyl ketone, fluorescein, diethyl phthalate, tertiary butyl alcohol, brucine sulphate or denatonium benzoate.
It makes pretty short work of Tamiya acrylics - even well-cured (20-odd years old…)
Isn’t the british version of Windex called Windo-lene, or something like that?
If Windolene was manufactured and sold by S.C. Johnston, it’s no longer listed on their products marketed in the UK. I fear such “dangerous” mixes of alcohol and ammonia are long gone there. In it’s placed are citrus based cleaners and vinegar. For windows they work almost as well. I have no idea how well they will clean up acrylics. Probably fairly well, until it’s cured.
Hello again,
Well guys, talk about learning something every day, real chemistry lesson this one was. Looks like the decent stuff ie: Windolene has gone the way of many useful things to us modellers thanks to the Heath & Safety gestapo over here. Unless of course I pop down to the local Toys R us Store and see what nastys the kids are still brewing things up with [:D]
Thanks for all the input everyone.
Onwards and upwards as they say,
Mick C.