Replacement for Tamiya Lacquer Thinner?

I use Medea Airbrush cleaner (in the UK) as a thinner for spraying Tamiya acrylics,

Works for me, & produces a very fine pebble-dash free finish.

Do I have to dilute the PPG 876?    It's not going to melt the plastic or anything is it? 

The best thing to use for Tamiya paint can be found locally at any automotive paint supply store. This product is called - PPG 876 Acrylic Lacquer Thinner, the cost runs around $12 a quart can or pushes $50 for a gallon can. Google PPG 876 Acrylic Lacquer Thinner

I wouldn't call them a synthetic lacquer. They are simply water/alcohol based acrylics. I'm not sure about the current formulation, but at one time, water comprised some 25% of the ingredients in the acrylic paints. 

Having said that, the term "acrylic" does not mean "water based" though many equate it to "water based". "Acrylic" is a class of polymers of a particular molecular structure and these polymers are used in the binders in Tamiya's acrylic line of paints. I suspect that the ability to use lacquer thinners with the acrylic line was more by accident than by design. People have known that it's possible to use lacquer thinner with Tamiya acrylics for a long, long time (I'm going to say more than 20 years) but Tamiya's own lacquer thinner is a relatively new product (5 years or so).

The spray cans however, are a different story. They are not acrylics and are labelled on the can as synthetic lacquers.

To further confuse matters, in some countries, Tamiya runs a parallel line of enamels with the same paint numbers as the acrylics. These enamels can be thinned with plain old mineral spirits, Tamiya's own enamel thinners or lacquer thinners.

I've heard of that too.

On the other hand, why would a lacquer paint be easily cleaned with plain water... synthetic or not?

Phil,

 Thank you for the clarification. This is helpful for sure.

 About the mixture with Tamiya "Acrylics". From my understanding, the Tamiya line is not actualy an acrylic but rather Tamiya paints are a synthetic lacquer.

brickshooter

Thanks guys.  Sprues has both.

What's the difference between the plain Gunze thinner & the Gunze leveling thinner?

The levelling thinner has more retarder, though it's primarily intended for the Gunze lacquer range so I don't know how or if it changes the behaviour when used with Tamiya acrylics.

Iain, the "250" is the size of the jar (in ml) and is not a particular formulation - it comes in 50, 110, 250 and 400ml sizes.

Mr. Color Thinner 250. Works like a charm.

Thanks guys.  Sprues has both.

What's the difference between the plain Gunze thinner & the Gunze leveling thinner?

Sprue Brothers has some.

Gunze Mr. Color Thinner or Mr. Leveling Thinner. I use the latter exclusively when working with Tamiya paints and love it.