Tamiya thinning question

Hi Marc,

I'll start by saying that I have tested with Tamiya's own lacquer thinner and yes, it works. I don't know about generic lacquer thinners and YMMV with those.

I suspect that it works with Tamiya (and Mr Color) lacquer thinners because they probably contain a high proportion of alcohols (which are the primary component of the proprietary acrylic thinner), Other lacquer thinners may be less compatible.

From what I've seen, the lacquer thinner seems to extend the drying time so the paint has more time to level and so that the feathered edge of the spray pattern goes down wetter, resulting in less "dusting".

This is certainly advantageous when using gloss colours,  I have found that Tamiya's gloss acrylic paints are often difficult to airbrush smoothly using Tamiya's X-20A, Isopropyl or denatured alcohol due to the "edging" mentioned above.

Where it does excel is when you thin the paint out very lean for "glazing" or layering. I find that when you thin the paint to the same extent with X-20A acrylic thinner, it has a tendency to bead and separate, whereas with the (Tamiya) lacquer thinner, it lays down pretty cleanly (though it does too, with denatured (ethyl) alcohol).

Yes it will work even with cheaper laquer thinner. It will level better and give a nicer coat then using their alcohol based thinner. The draw back is the odor and need to clean up with thinners.

Thanks all.

montague

Yes it will work even with cheaper laquer thinner. It will level better and give a nicer coat then using their alcohol based thinner. The draw back is the odor and need to clean up with thinners.

Whenever I airbrush Tamiya I thin with either their own lacquer thinner or Gunze's Mr. Leveling Thinner. Yeah the cheaper stuff works, but IMO doesn't work quite as well, particularly if you're really thinning the paint down for post-shading or fading or whatnot. The Tamiya and Gunze thinners aren't as harsh, either.

I clean up with Windex, followed by a shot of lacquer thinner and then a cupful or two of water. The Windex slams the Tamiya paint right out of the airbrush, but the ammonia can damage some airbrushes (my Grex says not to use ammonia-based cleaners at all, so it's my enamel brush...).