Toxicity and protection

Hi,

It's great that you are concerned about these things. It's the right attitude. 

If you are brush painting, working in a well ventilated space is the main thing you can do.

I do not think you need gloves, and probably not a mask with Tamiya paints. But be considerate about the smell that may bother other people.

If you are using an airbrush, it's good to have a little spray booth to draw the fumes through a filter and send them outside.

It doesn't hurt to wear a mask. One of the currently fashionable N95 masks will be sufficient for this type of paint.

If you use more toxic paints that contain lacquer thinner, or use it for cleaning up; a better mask is a good idea.

Again, good to think about these things. And remember, household pets have little itty bitty lungs.

I'm not a fan of water or alcohol based paints at all, so I built a paint booth with an exhaust fan. I do all of my air brushing in there (also spray cans when I rarely use them). I always wear nitrile gloves when spraying.

I find it interesting how women take lacquer paint and apply that deliberately to their fingers, then two days later stick the same fingers in a pure acetone soak to remove the lacquer paint all in the cause of vanity with 0 thought about health concerns.. In fact if you live with one of these creatures or in my case two, you may well be familiar with how it's fine for them to stink up the entire house in the midst of this all important activity. But airbrushers take a different tact. Not that gloves are a bad idea, it is more convenient to just pull them off should a few droplets of paint find their way to their fingers and I have done that from time to time. Just sayin it's an observation that I find a certain level of fascination with.. I've also taken a little lacquer thinner on a tissue and wipe some paint drop off a finger plenty of time in my 70 years and counting.

Todays hobby booths are basically a floor a couple of walls to an extractor fan out a window or wall vent and they work quite well. You can do the same thing sitting in front of a window with a window fan inserted turned on to blow out and have more room to work in. You could even put up a couple foam core walls that sit on the table to each side of your work. The fan will draw out the over spray and fumes in relatively short time. I confess I made a booth though because I wanted it to be up draft. Paintrooms have kind of gone by the by these days (highly acclaimed model builder/painter and contest winner Donn Yost still uses one in his basement and shooting his paint jobs with the venerable Paasche H brushes) but that's all they were is a room with an extractor fan. In 1/1 they had sealed fixtures inside but for our use we don't have that kind of concentration of fumes at all, not even close to worry about it. So there is that.

Here is another matter. If you ( anyone) is a dedicated solvent paints painter you owe it to yourself to do something like above and to in most instances wear a mask. N95 is ok if your well vented in your work space but otherwis over the long haul you really should consider R95 cartridges, you don't smell a thing with these on. They are carbon activated though, they eat the fumes up but that comes with a shelf life once opened. But if your area is well vented, your fumes are readily extracted, personally I'd just go N95. That's personal opinion. And Bill is right, think about your small pets too.

Pastels mixed with water and a drop of dish soap accomplishes the same task as the panel liner and you can mix a variety of colors unlike the limited panel liner choices. Water clean up and no hazardous vapors or solvents.

oldermodelguy

I find it interesting how women take lacquer paint and apply that deliberately to their fingers, then two days later stick the same fingers in a pure acetone soak to remove the lacquer paint all in the cause of vanity with 0 thought about health concerns.. In fact if you live with one of these creatures or in my case two, you may well be familiar with how it's fine for them to stink up the entire house in the midst of this all important activity. But airbrushers take a different tact.

Lol. That is a hoot.

Well, thanks everyone. Most of my paints collection is made of water (Vallejo) but there are some unknow composition: Tamiya, MrHobby. Should I wear a mask when brushing with those one ? 

I keep thinking about the clouds of paint I tend to breathe. Even in water, can it be harmful? 

Ok well, so I suppose I should more often wear a mask. But what about the panel line accent color of Tamiya ? The labels talks about Acute health hazard...Is it only when used with air brush, or is it the fumes emanating from the opening of the jar ? 

Thanks again for your tips

Tamiya panel liner is intended to be applied directly to the panel lines with a small brush and capillary action fills the panel line. It isn't intended to be sprayed through and airbrush. Check out some youtube videos on it.

Optilium

Well, thanks everyone. Most of my paints collection is made of water (Vallejo) but there are some unknow composition: Tamiya, MrHobby. Should I wear a mask when brushing with those one ? 

I keep thinking about the clouds of paint I tend to breathe. Even in water, can it be harmful? 

Ok well, so I suppose I should more often wear a mask. But what about the panel line accent color of Tamiya ? The labels talks about Acute health hazard...Is it only when used with air brush, or is it the fumes emanating from the opening of the jar ? 

Thanks again for your tips

 

They have to put the warnings on there because people do stupid things. Don't stick your nose in the jar, if the room has any size to it at all it should be fine brush painting solvent paints and washes. It doesn't take long to brush on panel lines anyway once you get used to it.

For some reason people think that acrylic paints are a good thing to ingest ! Does that make any sense to you ? But that said an N95 mask should be sufficient for that substance when airbrushing. It's what I use 99% of the time for that, sanding, wood working and cutting grass in high pollen season. Just sayin...