Thinning Tamiya acrylics

Plain old Isopropyl Alcohol at 91% strength or higher works great as a thinner for Tamiya acrylics.  I'm currently using aviation grade 99%, and it works like a champ.

..avoid some aggravation, please use Tamiya's Lacquer Thinner or even GSI Creos Mr Leveling Thinner, you'll be glad you did.  Alcohol base thinners don't work nearly as well with Tamiya and you run the risk of a rough coat.

You are correct,Tamiya lacquer thinner works great for spraying,however I use regular hardware store lacquer thinner for cleanup

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Eaglecash867

Plain old Isopropyl Alcohol at 91% strength or higher works great as a thinner for Tamiya acrylics.  I'm currently using aviation grade 99%, and it works like a champ.

 

I can't speak for the 99% but 91% produces a softer shine than when shot with LT. No question. It's nice and smooth but LT produces a clearer gloss. Course this comes down to preference, if someone likes the so called wet look LT will get you there. If you like the 1960's factory look then maybe 91% is your ticket. Either will polish up, the LT finish may not even require it.

Yeh, either lacquer thinner or alcohol work fine. I normally use 91% iso alcohol or denatured alcohol. Most any lacquer thinner will work but the Tamiya and Mr Color products are milder for using on plastic. 

Didn't shoot much gloss before I ran out of 91%, but the 99% definitely gives a high gloss.  When I was experimenting with different thinners for Tamiya acrylics, I found that the alcohol was the second best when it came to adhesion on Tamiya primer.  The best was MEK, but it wasn't enough of an improvement to justify the extra dangers of using something like that for all of my painting.  I also tried Mr. Leveling Thinner while experimenting, and I found it didn't do as well in the adhesion test.  For the test, I was using Dymo tape and ripping the tape off.  Never had a rough coat using alcohol, and I'm at a high altitude (5800') with a "humid" day being any time the humidity gets above 30%.  I guess its all in what works best in our situations.  

F4D Phantom

I would like to give Tamiya acrylics a try on my automotive projects. I know they make a compatible thinner. But I was told by someone that lacquer thinner works as well for airbrushing as well cleaning my airbrushes and detail brushes. Anyone have any opinions, tips or comments? Thanks. 

I use Tamiya's proprietary thinner, X-20A, to thin Tamiya's acrylic paints.  I tried isopropyl but it didn't work for me; the paint still clumped, as it did when I first tried to use water to thin it.

As far as lacquer thinner goes, yes, you can thin Tamiya acrylics with lacquer thinner with satisfactory results.  In the case of the matte acrylics, lacquer thinner makes the finish an absolute dead-flat matte.  Here I did deviate from using Tamiya's proprietary lacquer thinner, using a generic brand from AutoZone.  It thinned the paint just fine and sprayed without trouble.

I've only used this combination with the matte colors, so I can't say how the gloss colors would come out. 

Wingman_kz

Yeh, either lacquer thinner or alcohol work fine. I normally use 91% iso alcohol or denatured alcohol. Most any lacquer thinner will work but the Tamiya and Mr Color products are milder for using on plastic.

That's an experiment I haven't conducted yet, denatured alcohol in Tamitya acrylic ( especially gloss). I need to to pin a note up to do that. Does it spray much different from 91 ipa ?

the Baron

 I use Tamiya's proprietary thinner, X-20A, to thin Tamiya's acrylic paints.  I tried isopropyl but it didn't work for me; the paint still clumped, as it did when I first tried to use water to thin it.

Just curious.  What concentration of alcohol were you using?

No, I don't really see a lot of difference. I don't remember what was going on back then but when I was originally experimenting with it the higher % alcohol was hard to find. Someone here mentioned wood alcohol, denatured,  so I gave it a try and it worked. To me it was almost like spraying lacquer. This was before it was common knowledge that you could use lacquer thinner with it. But, lacquer thinner changes it's properties somewhat and isn't always what I want so for the most part, I just use denatured alcohol. To me at least, there was a notable difference between denatured alcohol and the lower percentage iso. 

With X20A, if you reduced it just a little too much it would splatter and bead and run. With denatured I could thin the heck out of it and still get good coverage. May not be for everyone but it served my purposes. You can do the same with 91% or lacquer thinner. But, with lacquer thinner, it changes. You can't just get a little Windex on a brush or paper towel and wipe it away.

Wingman_kz

No, I don't really see a lot of difference. I don't remember what was going on back then but when I was originally experimenting with it the higher % alcohol was hard to find. Someone here mentioned wood alcohol, denatured,  so I gave it a try and it worked. To me it was almost like spraying lacquer. This was before it was common knowledge that you could use lacquer thinner with it. But, lacquer thinner changes it's properties somewhat and isn't always what I want so for the most part, I just use denatured alcohol. To me at least, there was a notable difference between denatured alcohol and the lower percentage iso. 

With X20A, if you reduced it just a little too much it would splatter and bead and run. With denatured I could thin the heck out of it and still get good coverage. May not be for everyone but it served my purposes. You can do the same with 91% or lacquer thinner. But, with lacquer thinner, it changes. You can't just get a little Windex on a brush or paper towel and wipe it away.

 

I see and thanks ! 91% hasn't been available here for months. We're just starting to see 70. I have plenty of 70 and can use that in my thinner mix I use in other acrylic paint but Tamiya. It also cleans the airbrush fairly well for cheap. I'll give the denatured a shot in the Tamiya, I keep that for my friction polish I use in my wood turning anyway. What you're saying sounds encouraging.

You're welcome and if it helps in any way I'm happy for it. When I say back then, I mean about 2004. There was some reason then that 91% was scarce. 

Wingman_kz

You're welcome and if it helps in any way I'm happy for it. When I say back then, I mean about 2004. There was some reason then that 91% was scarce. 

 

Hah ! Yah I figured you meant a while back from the context of your message but hey, it just means your theory and practice is well tested ! I'm looking forward to this with very good expectations in mind..

Wingman_kz

You're welcome and if it helps in any way I'm happy for it. When I say back then, I mean about 2004. There was some reason then that 91% was scarce. 

 

I shot some X1 gloss black with denatured alcohol this morning as the test I alluded to in this thread. It went well, had a little trouble keeping it wet enough but it was good for a first test. The result was a good glossy black, I think more shiny than with 91 ipa, more like LT. No worries putting it on too wet though, in terms of running, that's for sure, no tendency to want to run at all. I need to mess with thinning and air pressure and I think it will be fine. I just grabbed my Paasche H with #3 tip, mixed 1/1 and shot around 20-22psi using the side cup. It looks like the surface has a little solvent popping going on, so something is off or too, I can drop in a little retarder. Good color and gloss though, so this will be doable. I think it could be a touch thinner and lower pressure. It's an older bottle of paint and is a bit thicker than I remember when it was a fresh new bottle.

Any thoughts Wing ?

Eaglecash867

 

the Baron

 I use Tamiya's proprietary thinner, X-20A, to thin Tamiya's acrylic paints.  I tried isopropyl but it didn't work for me; the paint still clumped, as it did when I first tried to use water to thin it. 

Just curious.  What concentration of alcohol were you using? 

Hi, Eaglecash, it's 91%.  I don't think the concentration is the issue, it's the chemical formula. But Tamiya's proprietary thinner gives me the best results, so that's what I recommend. 

Weird.  Never had a problem using 91%.  Can't get 91% anymore though due to the COVID thing and the hoarding, so I found out that 99% is even better when I started buying the aviation grade stuff.  Just curious about concentration because of what you said about the paint clumping like it did when you tried to thin it with water.

Solvent pop? No, don't think I've ever experienced that problem. When I first started experimenting with this I tried different types and brands of flow improvers and retarders. I used just plain glycerin and it worked as well as anything. Then I switched airbrushes and found I didn't need any of that, just alcohol. And lots of it. 

Wingman_kz

Solvent pop? No, don't think I've ever experienced that problem. When I first started experimenting with this I tried different types and brands of flow improvers and retarders. I used just plain glycerin and it worked as well as anything. Then I switched airbrushes and found I didn't need any of that, just alcohol. And lots of it. 

 

Solvent pop at a glance can look like very mild orange peel, but if you look closer you see tiny pin holes. It's from the fast dry and solvent escaping rapidly through the paint surface. Course too, today was very dry air here. It can be from a heavy coat with fast drying solvents or thinners, which is what I did today.

I'll mess with it some more tomorrow and see what I get.

Edit: Day 2 test of denatured alcohol in X1 black. I close to doubled the amount of alcohol and found still no real break down of the black. That is to say it was thinner but the opacity was still really good. I dropped in a little Liquitex retarder and shot 2 coats and a final dust coat. Popped that in the dehydrator for 8 minutes and it came out almost like glass. The shine is very good. And I didn't open the airbrush way up either, very easy to use this blend. This might surpass my trusted lacquer thinner method or certainly equal it in terms of ease. It does give a similar result, and a little different from 91 ipa which produces a nice look in it's own right... I'll have to decide which look I want for the 1/16 scale Model A fenders.

This went very well, very easy to spray. I'd like to try some 99% ipa but would have to order that in.