What do you use to clean your airbrush? What do you use to thin your paints?

DogTailRed2 wrote:

...those little bottles of air brush cleaner and thinners found in model shops are expensive. Are there any cheap alternatives to clean an airbrush with.

Absolutely.  Even if you feel that the expense of the model paint brand thinner is worth the cost for reducing your paint for airbrushing, there is no reason in the world to use expensive stuf for simple cleaning.

DogTailRed2 wrote:

What for Enamel...

For enamels, both thinning and cleaning I use Kleen-Strip Paint Thinner.  It's made from 100% mineral spirits and I can buy at HomeDepot for a couple of bucks per quart.  I once did a comparison between the generic mineral spirits and Testor's Airbrush Thinner and found no difference in how they worked.

Incidentally, for cleaning purposes, I re-use my thinner.  I keep a couple of one-quart jars and put the dirty thinner into one.  After a few days the paint pigments precipitate out of the solution and form sort of a sediment on the bottom leaving clear thinner above.  I then carefully pour off the clear thinner into another jar from which I get my cleaning thinner.  By recyling that way, a quart of cleaning thinner will literally last for years.

DogTailRed2 wrote:

What for Acrylic...

For thinning acrylics, I use Tamiya thinner.  I picked up a fairly large container of it for about six bucks, and it has lasted quite a while.  A lot of people here have good luck using alcohol, and whenever my Tamiya thinner runs out, I may do some experimentation, but because I use it only for thinning, it has lasted me for a few years.

For cleaning acrylics, I use Windex, alcohol, or occaisionally straight ammonia. 

Lastly, for cleaning both enamels and acrylics, if there is ever a bit of cured paint that resists my normal cleaners, I use Kleen-Strip Lacquer Thinner, again costing a couple of bucks for a quart.  I'm not quite sure what's in it, but it attacks either type of paint with seemingly equal ease.  Please note, that it also attacks styrene plastic, so it is not suitable for removing paint from a model.

Andy 

For acrylics, here is what I use-

Tamiya acrylics- For most spraying, I thin with Tamiya X-20A acrylic thinner.  But, I use 91% isopropyl alcohol for cleaning the airbrush as it's relatively cheap.  Sometimes, for different effects, I will thin the paint with the 91%.

Gunze acrylics- For spraying, thin with either Tamiya X-20A acrylic thinner or Tamiya lacquer thinner for faster drying.  Again, clean the AB with 91%.

HTH!