Lacquer thinner - Turpentine - Mineral Spirits ?

I'm sure that there are people who can describe this better than I, but mineral spirits is a good thinner for enamels. It's awfully similar to the testors thinner you buy in the stores. Laquer thinner is a much more aggressive solvent. I like to use it to clean my airbrush, and sometimes I use it to thin my enamels. If you're using a laquer paint, you'd want to thin it with laquer thinner rather than mineral spirits. Laquer thinner will dissolve plasic if you put it on straight, so it requires a bit of caution. I've only used turpentine to thin my artists oil paints, so I don't know how it would do with model paints. It's a great thinner for washes with oils though. It might be worth experimenting to see how well it works with model paints.

Glad you brought this up Iron Chef, because I use almost exclusively enamels. I've gotten so confused about what to use that I usually stick to the manufacturer's thinner; i.e., if using Model Master enamels, I use Model Master airbrush thinner. I'm sure it costs more than "generic" thinners, but I don't model enough that the savings are really anything that concerns me. I'd rather be safe than sorry, and end up ruining a paint job!

Part of the problem I've had is the different terms used for the same thinners. I've been confused about the term "Cellulose Thinner," which is popular "across the pond," so to speak. I believe this refers to laquer thinner, but I'm not positive. Also, for the life of me I've been unable to find White Spirits.

Hopefully someone can answer all our questions!

Mark

White Spirits are the same as enamel thinner over here , just man made, not like turpentine, which comes from trees.
Lacquer thinner is the same as cellulose thinner, just a different name.

Lacquer thinner is a hot, aggressive thinner that is ideal for cleaning Airbrushes or thinning lacquer paints. Not so ideal for thinning enamels & should never be used as a thinner for washes. Turpentine is used primarily with artists oils, not good for thinning enamels for airbrushing, but can be used for washes. Mineral Spirits is a good thinner for enamels, both airbrushing & washes, & is also good for thinning artist oils for washes. Some of your manufacturer thinners, like ModelMaster thinner, is repackaged mineral spirits at a much higher cost than the hardware variety, or Floquil Diosol, which is basically lacquer thinner.

Regards, Rick

Cellulose thinner is lacquer thinner. It can be in the form of ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, or the more common nitrocellulose or cellulose nitrate. Lacquer thinners also contain ringed hydrocarbons such as toluene and xylene. All these compounds make the thinner pretty hot (volatile). Lacquer thinner is the most toxic of the three mentioned--because of the components and increased volatility. This stuff is great for thinning lacquer paints (Duh!) and for cleaning the crud from an airbrush.

Mineral spirits contain long-chained hydrocarbons (aliphatics) and are by-products of petroleum distillation processes. Petroleum naphtha and stoddard solvent are some of the products found in mineral spirits. White spirits is another name for mineral spirits, and contains stoddard solvent as its primary ingredient (usually). This material is superb for thinning enamels, enamel-and even oil-washes, and cleaning airbrushes. The stuff sold by Testors is hotter than the stuff you buy on the shelf in the half-gallon can at Home Depot, but they will both provide the exact same results; the Testors will cure/dry faster, however. This material ranks third in relative toxicity after lacquer thinner and turpentine.

Turpentine goes by the name gum turpentine, oil of turpentine, steam distilled turpentine and gum spirits, among others. Turpentine is obtained by distilling the gum from various species of pine. It is a mixture of isomeric terpene hydrorocarbons. Composition varies with refining methods and the age, location and species of the softwood source. This material would typically be used in the thinning of oil paints, pigments, etc. This material's toxicity ranks second after lacquer thinner.

Hope this helps a little.

Gip Winecoff

Well thanks everyone for those great Responces ...
That does clear things up quite a bit.
And BTW thanks for not making me feel like a

I too want to thank everyone for clearing some things up. I'll have to print this topic for future reference, the next time I find myself scratching my head as I try to figure out what thinner to use!

Mark

Good man Gip! I was hoping you'd chime in on this one. I knew you'd come through in the clutch.

damn Styrene,

Thats a future article for FSM. Nice info.

Gip is my hero.
Always a pleasure to hear your responses brother.
You are a valuable asset to this forum with your background.

Thanks

Mike

Great info here. Can I just ask another question? Is there different types of Lacquer thinner? I ask this because sometimes I see it called Acrylic Lacquer thinner, then it might be called Cellulose Lacquer thinner, is it all the same stuff just with different names put on it? Is the stuff in the tin at my local AutoBarn generically labelled "Cellulose Thinner" the correct stuff to use. I read an article recently where a guy used "Lacquer Thinner" to thin Tamiya paints (Which are alcohol based) and claimed they spray much nicer, is this still the same stuff that I can get at Autobarn? I would like to get some to try but I am worried about buying the wrong type, (if there is a wrong type). sorry about all the questions but as you can see I am confused on ths one.

Cheers ...Snowy

Best I can figure is that acrylic lacquers work well with all types of lacquer thinners. I did a cursory web search on lacquer and acrylic lacquer thinners, and found differences in the ingredients in all the lacquer thinners I found, both acrylic and "non-acyrlic". Apparently the only difference in the ingredients has to do with spraying in cold or warm temperature conditions, and the accordingly desired cure rates. As I understand it, all lacquers are manufactured with some sort of plasticizer as an ingredient. Acrylic lacquers have had an acrylic resin added. This is a thermoplastic polymer manufactured from the processing of acrylic acid. These products are found in plastic products, paints (including both lacquers and enamels), textiles, and a whole host of other products. So go ahead and use whatever lacquer thinner you want. You shouldn't go wrong in whatever you choose. Just make sure that when you do use it, you have a well-ventilated area to use it in.

Hope this helps a little.
Gip Winecoff

Thanks heaps Gip!

Cheers...Snowy

One note I thought I might mention, I noticed some thinners include acetone (like the stuff in fingernail polish remover. Anyone who first tried acetone to remove glue spludges where not wanted can verify that it is not good on plastics. It will eat your model for dinner, so be careful not to get that kind.

Most of these products will make you deformed and mentallly incapable if you live in California but anywhere else, you should be ok.

Good info...Could you use Lacquer thinner with acylics?

I paint enamels almost exclusively and thin my paints with DuPont Enamel Reducer #3812S. In bulk it costs me 1/2 or less than the same amount of thinner purchased in the small bottles by the paint manufacturers. It works very well with Testors paints, Testors Model Master paints, Humbrol paints and even some old Pactra paints I have that are still usuable. You can buy it in a lot of automotive paint stores or automotive supply stores. Comes in pints, quarts and gallons. Last gallon I bought was 13 bucks about 6 months ago but think it's still under $20 now. Lasts a while even airbrushing.

Gip

I can tell you from experience that Acrylic thinners don't work well with other types of paint. We were once touching up some repair work on a PA-28-180. The paint went on well but seemed to dry duller than the surrounding paint. (which is unusual because of oxidation) . Even polishing it didn't seem to help. We finally noticed we had thinned the regular enamel paint with acrylic enamel reducer. Ended up and had to repaint it using the proper reducer with the proper paint.