Using acrylics

Most of the MM Acryl paints are ready to airbrush straight from the bottle.  There are two exceptions.  First, the skin tone acryl paints are thicker than the other acryl paints because they were designed to be brush painted.  Second, if you are doing fine line spraying, it is recommended to thin but with Acryl Thinner, not water, alcohol or Tamiya thinner.  

Testors does not recommend spraying Laquer Gloss or Dull coats over Tamiya acrylics. 

I'm sure people will disagree about what I just wrote, but these are Testors recommendations.

-Jesse 

So what you're saying is, Testors Model Master paints don't need to be thinned - they can be airbrushed straight out of the bottle? 

I came here specifically looking for information on thinning, since I finally intend to make use of the airbrush I bought over 10 years ago before I gave up modeling - at the time the only acrylics around were Tamiya's, and I think the recommendation was to thin enamels with 91% isopropyl alcohol.  Well, it was no easy task to find that particular item, and I still have 2 unopened bottles of it with my old supplies (surprisingly it didn't seem to evaporate at all in over 10 years).  I wanted to see if that was still the recommended thinning material, and found several threads giving various ideas about how to thin and what to use.  Then I found this thread and figured that rather than start another one I'd tag onto this one, since it seems to address the issue I was concerned with.

The only airbrushing experience I had was spraying (unthinned) Chrome Yellow on my Tamiya Buffalo wings (mmm...tasty) and it came out with a very pebbly finish.  I then tried to wipe the paint off with a rag dipped in thinner (don't say it - I already know!) only to get the results I figured I'd get.  But the wings were ruined as it was, so I had nothing to lose.  Lucky for me I wrote a letter to MRC (their Edison NJ office was right down the highway from where I live) asking how I could buy another set of wings.  They just up and sent me a new pair of upper wings, no charge.  Ah, the good old days!

I thin MM acrylics 50/50. Tamiya, the same. The thicker the paints.. some colors are thicker.. white.. etc.. I use Tamiya thinner.. for the others i use Testors Thinner

To remove paint use Oven Cleaner. 

jsfman-I usually add a little bit of MM acrylic thinner-think it may help slow the drying process.

For cleaning or removing paint, I use Windex or Simple Green.

 For decal prep & applying oil washes, I shoot a coat of Future.

I've never had to thin MM Acryl paints except when doing fine line spraying or dusting coats.  I always use MM Acryl Thinner too.  I've never had a problem.  One thing I love about airbrushing Acryl paints, is that since you don't have to thin them, if I put too much into the airbrush cup I can just pour the left over back into the bottle.

-Jesse

Now you made me think of a question about removing paint:  I never thought - or cared - about the kind of plastic I was dealing with.  To me, it was just styrene plastic and that was that.  But I've seen references here to hard and soft - and even brittle - plastic.  So does anyone know if, should I need to use one of the above-recommended paint removal methods, would it have a different effect on the plastic based on if it is hard or soft?  And I can't help but think that oven cleaner would be quite caustic and cause damage, but I'll defer to those who have actually tried it and have experience with it. 

And an additional question, if you will - what exactly is the difference beteween hard vs. soft plastic?  And how can I tell which is which?

I've never tried to remove enamel paint before, but I have had great success removing acrylic paint by soaking the model or model part in windex.  I let it sit for about an hour, scrub some of the paint off with a toothbrush, soak some more and scrub some more.  On average it takes me three soakings to remove all of the paint.  I've seeen no effect on the plastic from the windex.  I've even used it on vinyl tracks with no problem.

-Jesse