How can I thin Tamiya acrilycs?

Jose,
Standard rubbing alcohol that you buy here in a drug or grocery store is 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% water. Is that available to you in Israel? If not, the 70% ethanol should be OK. One of the primary purposes of alcohol (besides being a drying agent)is to break down the surface tension of water. You can duplicate this in your Tamiya acrylics by adding a little water and a SMALL DROP of dishwashing liquid. Mix thoroughly (i.e., stir), but don't shake (agitate to the point of creating bubbles or foam).
Just as an added item, there have been reports from other modelers on this forum who successfully airbrush Tamiya paints without thinning. You might want to try it and see.

Hope this helps.

Gip Winecoff

I'd be one of those who doesn't thin Tamiya Acrylics before painting.
I've found that most Tamiya paints are airbrush ready IMO. I've used nearly all of their military colours without thinning at all.

I had problems with Tamiya acrylics for years, to the extent that, for a while I gave up using them. However, I eventually found a mixture that works for me. The bsic 'thinner' is economy auto screen wash; I don't know how easy this is to get in Israel. However, if you can get hold of this stuff, mix it with the paint in the ratio 3 parts paint to 2 parts screen wash. Now, here is the magic ingredient: acrylic paint flow enhancer, which, in england at least, you can get from artists' supply shops. This stops acrylic paint from drying too quickly. Add 3 or 4 drops to the airbrush cup, stir, and spray. Of course, you may need to adjust this, with experience, according to your airbrushing style.

On a related matter, I find Tamiya acrylics impossible to hand-paint. Does anyone have any joy? If so, are there any special technques you use?

On a related matter, I find Tamiya acrylics impossible to hand-paint. Does anyone have any joy? If so, are there any special technques you use?
Hello,
My english is poor, so i don´t know if you refer to paint with brush. For this, i find Vallejo acrilic paints are the better. (they are spanish, but i don´t commission !!). I don´t know if this is found in England, you can lookin for this in Internet searchers. Hope this help,

Peppp61

Thanks, Peppp61. I know Vallejo acrylics, and have used them once or twice. They do brush-paint very well, especially on figures. We can get them in larger model shops, or by mail order.

PS Your English is much better than my Spanish.

Well Chris, you don´t refer to brush-paint... so what you call hand-paint? Sorry...Only curiosity...

Peppp61 - It's really just a matter of use of language - I guess your term, brush-paint, is more accurate. After all, beyond Kindergarten, few of us actually paiint with our hands, but with something we hold in our hands - paintbrush, spray-can, airbrush or whatever. So, when I say 'hand-paint', I mean the same as when you say 'brush-paint'! Hope this doesn't stray too far off-topic!

Chris

chris hall:- I have had very good results hand-painting (with a brush) using Tamiya acrylics. Oddly enough, Ive found that using a brush requires more thinner than airbrushing. As long as you have enough thinner, the Tamiya paints work just fine. And, I use Tamiya's X20A thinner only. I've never found anything that works as well.

Rich

Rich - thanks for that idea, I'll try Tamiya acrylic thinner and very thin cats next time I want to hand-paint Tamiya acrylics!

Chris

that's thin coats, not thin cats - they'd leave more hairs than an Airfix 'all-in-one' brush!

I've had good sucess using 70% Isoprophol alocohol. I added several drops of dish washing liquid to the alcohol and It mixed and sprayed extremely well through my airbrush.

Boy thats interesting tips. I've switched over from modelmaster to mostly Tamiya and found it shoots pretty well.... no complaints or problems so far. Personally I've always had to thin Tamiya paints. They seem thinner than other paints but not quite as thin as I'd like. I use Tamiya thinner which really smells. I'm guessing thats why you don't want to use it to thin your paints. I might try rubbing alchohol and see how it works for me. I might also pick up some floquil flo additive and see how it goes.

Chris,

Try using just the tip of the tail - not the whole cat!!

10.4 Dave. I've got an F-14 whose tailhook needs its stripes painting!

Chris

70% Isopropyl Alcohol is what started out with for Tamiya, but now I use Tamiya's thinner.

What is the advantage of NOT thinner Shermie besides the extra step of thinning the paint? I know some paint lose their coverage capability when thinned but Tamiya doesn't.

Come to think of it, I remember I was airbrushing out of the little Pactra Authentic paint bottles over 20 years ago because I only had like 3 glass jars for paint mixing and didn't want to clean the jars. After using up half a bottle I would add thinner to it. Coverage was a little think but decent. On the down side, I use up a lot more paint, and that was not a good idea considering I was buying paint with lunch money.