Cleaning MM Acryl out of my airbrush

AZRhino · Post by **AZRhino** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:35 am

Any recommendations on what blow through my airbrush to clean out ModelMaster Acryl?

I have tried isopropyl alcohol, Windex, water, lacqer thinner, Testors Universal Airbrush Cleaner (#50497) and EZ Air Environmentally Safe Airbrush Cleaner.

Bottom line is, none of them seem to work for crap.

Romulan Spy · Post by **Romulan Spy** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:50 am

I normally use Windex to thin Model Master Acryl paints and I shoot straight Windex immediately after I'm done. Do not allow Acryl to dry out even a little bit in your airbrush as it will form a skin nearly as tough as titanium and will be very nearly impossible to clean out. Sounds like you need to completely tear down the brush and clean all the parts with lacquer thinner; that usually works for me.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:08 am

denatured alcohol removed dried Acryl. Acetone is even more effective - but don't spray that without good ventilation and a mask! If the paint is still stuck to the airbush, use a microbrush dipped in either denatured alcohol or acetone to take if off.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:39 am

I use EZ Air airbrush cleaner for all my acrylics. Diluted about 4 to 1, spray for 30 seconds between colors, 60 seconds for EOD.

But if it's dried.... lacquer thinner. Repeatedly. I'll pull the needle and hand clean it but the rest is just a good hard spray of lacquer thinner.

AZRhino · Post by **AZRhino** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:00 pm

The issue I have with laquer thinner is the Acryl paint forms little balls or globs when I put the laquer thinner in the color cup. I use a stenciling brush to swish the thinner around in the color cup and loosen the paint off the sides of the cup. But the laquer thinner doesn't seem to break down the Acryl paint.

I will give the EZ Airbrush Cleaner another try, and also try denatured alcohol.

Thanks for the help.

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:41 pm

I would also recommend Castol Superclean. Just dunk the tip of your airbrush in a jar of the stuff and let it sit overnight. Superclean kills everything. I do the same thing to my Badger from time to time just to give it a good cleaning. I swap out the nozzle and canal with paper towels rolled into a fine point and rinse with water.

If your airbrush has brass parts, don't leave it submerged in anything with ammonia, by the way, as the ammonia will pit the brass and damage it. Nozzles are especially susceptible to this. Windex has ammonia in it. Superclean does not.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

photoguy · Post by **photoguy** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:03 pm

Badger also sells "Airbrush Restore" that is supposed to be environmentally safe (although the side of the bottle says not to breathe the vapors, etc.) and this is supposed to be able to remove just about every paint and contaminate that one would subject their brush to.

I would also suggest removing the rubber O-Ring from the tip of the brush, and make sure you don't soak it so deep as to saturate the rear seal (back by the trigger) as many cleaners can be absorbed by rubber, and will break it down.

zysurge · Post by **zysurge** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:35 am

Lt. Z0mBe wrote:If your airbrush has brass parts, don't leave it submerged in anything with ammonia, by the way, as the ammonia will pit the brass and damage it. Nozzles are especially susceptible to this. Windex has ammonia in it. Superclean does not.Kenny

Ack! I didn't know ammonia would pit brass. This has been part of my cleaning procedure. I guess I'll switch to superclean. But I'm guessing you need to be careful not to get superclean anywhere near the rubber or teflon seals in the brush, right?

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:17 pm

Have you thought of soaking your airbrush in some Windex overnight?
It just might work, don't know for sure because I've never had the problem you seem to have because I always clean mine when I'm through with it.

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:18 pm

Double posts anyway, ugh!!!

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:53 pm

zysurge wrote:
Lt. Z0mBe wrote:If your airbrush has brass parts, don't leave it submerged in anything with ammonia, by the way, as the ammonia will pit the brass and damage it. Nozzles are especially susceptible to this. Windex has ammonia in it. Superclean does not.Kenny
Ack! I didn't know ammonia would pit brass. This has been part of my cleaning procedure. I guess I'll switch to superclean. But I'm guessing you need to be careful not to get superclean anywhere near the rubber or teflon seals in the brush, right?

Don't know about rubber but it won't hurt Teflon.

irishtrek wrote:Have you thought of soaking your airbrush in some Windex overnight?
It just might work, don't know for sure because I've never had the problem you seem to have because I always clean mine when I'm through with it.

See my above post for caution.

Kenny