Putting paint in A/B thinning ratio and pipe cleaners.

I've had acetone in my eyes. Not fun.

I clean with laqcuer thinner for enamels and laqcuers, Windex for acrylics. I only use acetone for the rare cyano clean up. I only use mineral spirits for thinning oil washes.

Excellent. Straight forward advice and everything's covered.

Cheers fellas. 

bspeed wrote:

Plus the Acetone goes into your body pretty darn fast. Stick your fingers into a bit of acetone, I am pretty sure you just absorbed some.

Yes, but you probably got more through your respiratory system.

The good news is that since, under some conditions, your body produces very small quantities of acetone (and some other ketones) your liver knows how to crack it, and the resulting metabolites are not particularly toxic. The bad news is that it's hard on the liver, your kidneys, and your nervous system. Your nerves are insulated with fatty tissue, and acetone attacks anything of that nature.

Your eyes are essentially highly evolved nerves. Their external parts contain a lot of fatty tissue. ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION WHEN USING ACETONE. Liquid acetone produces instant damage to eye tissue.

somenewguy wrote:

Secondly, what is the appropriate thinning ratio for Humbrol enamels and can you use lacquer thinner with it?

All the paints I use regularly vary considerably in how thin they are from the bottle.  Even the same exact color and brand may have a considerable bottle-to-bottle difference and I imaging Humbrol is no different.  As such, tThere probably is no meaningful number thinning ratio that can be specified.  So add as much or as little thinner as is needed to get the paint to a consistency of 2% milk.  The more you use your airbrush, the easier it will be to consistently reduce your paints for proper airbrushing.

As for thinning with lacquer thinner, I know one modeler here who's work I highly respect uses lacquer thinner with ModelMaster enamels.  Humbrol enamels "seem" similar to ModelMaster, so there probably would be no great harm.  For me, I always use normal paint thinner that is 100% mineral spirits and reserve lacquer thinner for cleaning dried paint and other tough cleaning chores.

Andy

Bpspeed is essentially correct, but I would hesitate to use acetone except as a very last resort. The reason is that acetone causes some polymers to shrink by removing their lipid-like components (lipids are oils and "fats" in the chemical sense). While this usually dissolves the coating, it sometimes makes it tougher and increases bond to whatever it's on.

Just soaking most common paints in mineral sprits, naptha, or toluene will usually loosen them.

As for a fine cleaner for internal channels in airbrushes, get an interdental brush from the drugstore. These are very fine, conical brushes used to clean between the teeth. Microbruses are also useful. I also use an old 000 lining brush for the tiniest apertures. 

enamel paint = enamel thinner. Mineral Spirits or Naptha. Naptha will speed up drying time. Mineral Spirits likely to slow drying down a bit. ok either way.

lacquer paint = lacquer thinner. and use a good brand at that. you might want to read about "suspension vs. solution" of how lacquer thinners vary. just to know is good.

no other way around it. it may SEEM to work to use non-corresponding thinners, but it's not correct.

to clean stubborn airbrushed, you can use acetone, for any paint. but it is voilatol , nasty stuff, so its up to you. will eat up plastics and rubber, so uhm, play it safe with those materials.

I personally don't use Humbrol paints Matt, but a way to relieve the paint waste in the trough around the rim..........

Find a tiny brad or nail and gently poke holes in the trough with a small hammer. It's not as hard as it sounds. This allows most of the paint to drain back into the container. Wiping the trough with a paintbrush will help very much too.

Other than that....you might invest in a few tiny plastic funnels to use while pouring paint from those clumsy tins. Check the supermarket utensile aisle or maybe a local hardware store.

I can't offer reliable help on thinning though.