Pollyscale Military Acrylics

The best way to see is buy a bottle and try mixing it with a little alcohol. If it clumps up and seperates, try something else. I think the whole thing about the acrylics drying is not just one brand, but all of them. In general, acrylics will dry much faster than enamels, so if you find a thinner that works, spray a little and see what happens, if it dries up, you will need a little bit of retarder, of course you could just put a dab in and see what happens, it can't hurt anything. Good luck!

I use PollyScale and Tamiya almost exclusively. Great paints.

Thin PollyScale only with distilled or deionized water. It is not compatible with any alcohol that I have tried (and I've tried all that are readily available, and some that are not.)

Thin Tamiya with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol for best results. Ditto parenthetical phrase above.

Forgive my ignorance, but where can you obtain destilled or deionized water other than swiping it from my local chemistry lab?

Almost all grocery and drugstores carry one or both.

Triarius wrote:

Almost all grocery and drugstores carry one or both.

Sweet...Thanks a lot for your help.

yeah in the grocery store the gallon jugs (about .64 cents US) say distilled water on them, in the drug stores it is in the baby section... all the water in the baby section is usually distilled...  it says it on the label though...

Triarius wrote:

I use PollyScale and Tamiya almost exclusively. Great paints. Thin PollyScale only with distilled or deionized water. It is not compatible with any alcohol that I have tried (and I've tried all that are readily available, and some that are not.) Thin Tamiya with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol for best results. Ditto parenthetical phrase above.

Tamiya user here as well.  I've had excellent results with *Sunnyside brand Denatured Alcohol Solvent.  It's available at any hardware store in the paint department, with the paint thinners.  (DNA) as I like to call it, seems to atomize Tamiya very well for airbrushing, improves adhesion without using a primer, and also eliminates tip dry (almost) entirely.  I stumbled on it's use from, believe it or not, FSM Paul Boyer's old book: Painting and Finishing Scale Models, circa 1991.  In one chapter Paul experiments with different acrylics, namely Tamiya.  He also experimented with denatured alcohol and reported that results were very good, if I'm not mistaken.  I've been using and thinning Tamiya with it for over a year now, and after many successfully painted models, I am sold on the difference from say, rubbing alcohols (isoprophyl).  The difference between DNA and ISO I've noticed is that drug store ISO alcohols contain water, hence 70%, 91%, etc.  To make up the 100%, for example..in the case of the 70% type, 30% of it is water, and so on.  This can cause Tamiya to bead up on the model, or inhibit atomization of the paint.  This is due to the water in the alcohol causing surface tention.  DNA is also an excellent over-all, non-toxic cleaner.  Sure, don't drink the stuff but it beats having to use Laquer thinner by a long shot with Tamiya.  Whats more is that DNA is the main ingrediant in Polly S Plastic Prep!- no wonder the stuff works so well to clean styrene plastic, huh!?  I use DNA to clean my models before painting, cleaning out the airbrush between colors and for thourough cleaning in place of Laquer thinner when im finished with the airbrush and brush painting.  Well, I could go on and on, but you get the drift.  It's really made using Tamiya for me a clear contender in leu of enamels and laquers.  Not to discredit another modelers' advise, heck, I've had good luck with Isoprophyl alcohol too!  Experiment and have fun doing it!      

 

Greg,

I keep seeing this (using DNA !) to reduce Tamiya acrylics for spraying. When I tested the combination for compatibility, circa 1988, they weren't.

However, as I recall, I was using punctillious ethyl alcohol. I wonder if the adulterants used to make it denatured change its behavior, or if it's just the water.  Oh well, back to the lab to check this out!

(Puntillious is the purest grade of ethyl alcohol you can get. Denatured alcohol actually has a fair amount of water in it.)

I'm certainly not qualified to debat the chemistry of the two alcohols, but all I know is that *DNA works great with Tamiya!  You guys should really give this stuff a shot for your Tamiya acrylics!  It's cheap, effective, less toxic than mineral and laquer thinners, and very predictable..removing a lot of the the guess-work I've encountered with other alternate thinners.  I've never heard of "punctillious ethyl alcohol", but hey, I guess I learn something new every day.  Well, it's back to the workbench for me to do some more airbrushing!  

Let's hear some more about Polly Scale guys.  I've got a bottle or two sitting around and I've read that FSM Sr. Editor Paul Boyer suggested adding Polly Scale, clear gloss to the mix as a flow enhancer for airbrushing.  Anyone try this tip?  Also, HyperScale's moderator/ Author Bret Green has had good luck thinning Polly Scale with (of all things)..Aztek airbrush "Cleaner."  What's you alls' take on this?

Mark,

     I use Pollyscale Acrylics and really like them . Pollyscale airbrushes great .The best thinner is Sodium(salt) free distilled water which usually sells for less than a dollar a gallon . I've tried both 70% and 90% isopropryl alcohol to thin it . Didn't seem to have any problems except for Really fast (as opposed to fast ) drying on the tip . Fixing to experiment with a retarder in the Pollyscale / distilled water mix to see if it's compatable before I use it on a model . If you want to slowly build up a color try straining the Pollyscale through pantyhose, cheesecloth or a very fine kitchen strainer .Thin it 10 to 15% as recommended and lower your air pressure .I was painting a model for a friend and started with the hard to get to / recessed areas and once they were done I proceeded with the rest of the model and ran out of paint .He saw it and had me decal it .Said it had a nice weathered effect.Guess I found another way to preshade. I'm thinking it would be great for mottling and weathering with some practice.      

                                   Harry