paint thinner

Use brand thinner to whatever your paint brand is. Testors thinner for Testors (and Model Master) enamels, Testors Universal Acrylic thinner for Testors acrylics, Tamiya acrylics use Tamiya's thinner, etc...

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

Use brand thinner to whatever your paint brand is. Testors thinner for Testors (and Model Master) enamels, Testors Universal Acrylic thinner for Testors acrylics, Tamiya acrylics use Tamiya's thinner, etc...

 

Conversely,  I use Crown brand lacquer thinner from Lowes to thin ModelMaster enamels.   I have good results with it.   A gallon costs about 15 bucks.   Last time I calculated the cost of the MM proprietary thinner it ran more than 60 bucks buying it a small can at a time

i have also used Expo white board cleaner to thin Tamiya's acrylics.  I have also had success with it.  It is also less expensive.  

Experiment and see what is out there and what works for you 

Crown brand paint thinner is a good product too.  I thin Humbrol and MM enamels with Testors Airbrush thinner.  It does seem to spray better with that.  For brush work and general brush/airbrush cleanup, I use paint store paint thinner (mineral spirits) like the aforementioned Crown.  Of course, I use lacquer thinner as well when the occasion requires it.

Gary

I agree with Texgunner - Testors airbrush thinner gives the best results when airbrushing MM enamels.

I have had problems with lacquer thinner over the last year or so when airbrushing MM enamels, probably due to changes in the paint or thinner formula.  The thinner dosen't properly dissolve the paint.  The Testors airbrush thinner has no problems, and regular paint thinner now performs better when cleaning brushes.  Lacquer thinner used to beat all, but now it seems things are different.  It still works well with Tamiya acrylics in the airbrush though.

There are many preferences for thinner use, I'll just state mine, not saying other choices are not as good. For enamel I use DuPont enamel thinner, for lacquer it's DuPont lacquer thinner. The proprietary hobby thinners for either of those paints, I find to be priced unrealistically high. I really find the DuPont to be of consistent quality, and it does work very well for me.

While the model thinners do work well, I think it's a bit of a gouge to the customer, selling such a small container for the higher prices. I pretty much use lacquer thinner for all cleanup.

I use Tamiya acrylics much of the time, in that case I use their thinners, either X-20A or their lacquer thinner. The DuPont product does also work well for them, but I do see a small difference using the Tamiya product, and the biggest Tamiya container is quite reasonable. 

Personal choice, of course, but I think 8 bucks for a quart of the ones from the paint store, sure beats 10 bucks for a half pint of the hobby brand. Certainly if I noticed a difference in performance, I'd go with the other choice.

I'm a thrifty, (cheap,) old Irishman at heart, and find it a bit galling that the model thinner folks find it necessary to charge such a high price, for such a small amount. I can't imagine that it's so special, that the costs of making it are in line with their charge.

Again, strictly personal choice, just what I do.

Patrick 

Considering the junk some stores are selling these days as paint thinner, I only use better quality stuff. I will not buy stuff just labeled paint thinner. I will only buy stuff labeled turpentine or mineral spirits.  I do buy the half pints of Testors airbrush thinner- the cost of paint and thinner is a small fraction of kit and aftermarket stuff these days- when I can find it.  But I find the cans often not available at hobby shops, so use more of the hardware store stuff these days.

Also, when I do find the Testors stuff I only use it for thinning the paint.  Using it for cleaning would get expensive, and any hardware store stuff is fully adequate for cleaning.