I know a lot of people including me use Windex to clean your airbrush. This weekend I found out it can also be sued to clean off a paint job if you need to restart. I was airbrushing a thick coat of white on an airplane fuselage. I made a mistake and got a bad spot that pretty much ruined paint job. I let it dry and tried sanding away the bad spot to repaint, but that just made things worse. So I decided to see what would happen if I soaked it in Windex overnight. Well I filled bottom of bucket with Windex and put aircraft in. to my surprise, I did not have to wait overnight, it literally worked in seconds, as soon as it was covered ALL the paint just washed away not harming the plastic. It was like having new plastic again. no scrubbing, no brushing, no waiting. I was shocked.
That’s why I switched over to acrylics. Easy to use, easy to clean up, and easy to erase mistakes. Also, if you don’t need an “EXACT” match, craft acrylics can be had at such stores as A.C.Moore, Michaels, Jo-Ann Fabrics and others for about $1 a bottle + 40% off with a coupon. I went in to Jo-Ann fabrics once and walked into a 3 for 1$ sale. The bottles are also a lot bigger than other acrylics. It does take time to look through the hundreds of colors to find a close match but I think that it is worth it.
Jim [cptn]
fox
Although not a fan of spraying acrylics, I use the craft acrylics too for certain jobs, specially big ones but you better use an enamel primer otherwise they don’t have the tooth to bite and can easily come off when removing masking. I have a 1/24 Bandai Jagdpanther with a complete interior that I’m using craft acrylics on, mixed with a little Future and flow Improver to help it cycle thru the AB. A while back AC Moore had them at .25 a bottle so I bought a bunch.
And yes, Windex even the cheap one from the Dollar Store with ammonia will remove Tamiya and any acrylic.
Plasticjunkie, I use Dupli-Color Sandable Primer from the hardware store most of the time. It really covers the red putty with only one coat and holds the acrylics well. I’ve started using Vallejo Model Air acrylic primers too and haven’t had any problems so far when removing tape. I just finish painting a Spitfire with the brown and green camo and had no problem when I removed the tape.
I have found that when I used both primers on an old car body and then sprayed MM non-buffing metalizer on them, it came out nice and smooth but with a brighter finish over the Vallejo primer. I was practicing with them both to see if using the two of them I could make different shades on some of the panels on a P-47 that I’m working on. It looks like It will work well. I’ll just have to tape the panels when spraying the primers and then I can spray the metalizer in one shot.
Jim [cptn]
I’ve never used it for that (haven’t had to YET!) but I use the Dollar Tree Windex to cut my acrylic paints. 
All well and good, but I still prefer enamels like Model Masters for the best finish. But you have to be careful with initial application, as there are no easy “do overs”.
Craft store acrylics are not designed for airbrushing–the carrier doesn’t atomize well for an airbrush, and the pigments are very coarse; not small like hobby AB paints. And for the money you spend on enamel primers, flow improver, and Future, you’re really not saving that much money when you factor in the increased effort necessary to airbrush them and their relative unsuitability for things like masking, etc. You’d be better off going with a regular hobby paint in my opinion, and you’d probably get better results. [:)]
Nice reminder guys, but please be aware that in the ‘old country’ of the good 'ol UK, Windex/Windowlene no longer contains the circa 5% ammonia which is the active ingredient.
So far I haven’t found a replacement in the usual household cleaners aisle of an store…
Why worry abut the few pennies difference using inferior paints for a model? I would go ahead and use what I know works well, even if it may cost an extra buck on the cost of the model. Heck, a model doesn’t use a lot of paint.