Tamiya Acrylics Thinner?

windex for cleaning....Tamiya or Laquer thinner for thinning not Tamiya LT put just regular ol' LT from the paint dept at you local hardware store....MUCH cheaper....

wjbwjb29

regular laquer thinner works very well with tamiya paint.

 

Bill

+1

I like the drying time and texture.

I have no problems finding X-20A thinner at my LHS. I don't know if there are any proprietary 'ingredients' in the X-20 but I found that 70% alcohol for .98 cents works as good. I bought X-20A in the poly bottle only once, I'm currently using the bottle to decant the 70% alcohol.

If you haven't used Tamiya acrylics before, I'd suggest starting with Tamiya's proprietary X-20A thinner and become familiar with how the paint behaves before looking for alternative thinners.

Alternate thinners include Isopropyl alcohol, denatured alcohol, lacquer thinners and various other solvents/mixtures. Each has its own quirks and properties.

If you are used to airbrushing enamels, you may need to vary your technique a little. Tamiya's acrylics like to be airbrushed thinner than you would typically mix enamels, and you will generally get better results using lower pressure and painting from a closer distance than you would when airbrushing enamels.

regular laquer thinner works very well with tamiya paint.

Bill

Quite a few people use the likes of alcohol & screen-wash to thin Tamiya Acrylics, usually because they are cheaper or sometimes more readily available than Tamiya X-20A thinners. For all the cost, I would say that you would be wise just to stick to Tamiyas X-20A - it's not like you will ever be using gallons of it.

Thinning ratio is very Dependant on your airbrush & environment - everyone has their preferred mix, anywhere between 3:1 > 1:1 (paint:thinner) may work - do a bit of testing by starting at 3:1 & continue thinning until you get something that you are happy with. Even depending on temperature, humidity & the specific color in use, you may find yourself having to tweak your preferred ration now & again.

You can use their thinners. The small (paint-jar) sized works out very expensive, the large square poly bottle is hard to find.

Others have used IPA, (IsoPropyl Alcohol), or Windscreen wash from Halford's (UK Auto Factors, you get the idea). but my results, even with Tamiya thinners   

I use Vallejo airbrush cleaner & get better results from it that than I did with Tamiya thinners, IPA or windscreen wash. My results were closer to pebble-dash than paint!