Tamiya Paint and thinner

Kekker · Post by **Kekker** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 5:59 pm

So I have used Tamiya acrylic paint with their acrylic thinner for airbrushing. It tended to dry on the tip of the airbrush, but laid down nicely. I tried it for brush painting, but was always frustrated by it drying quickly and practically clotting when I tried to paint over part that had already dried.

So I had read in Scale Aviation Modeler that some people used the Tamiya lacquer thinner with the acrylic paint. I finally saw the lacquer thinner at the hobbyshop and bought some.

I mixed the acrylic paint with the new thinner and was amazed! It flowed on nice and smoothly, covered well, and there was no issue when hitting a dried bit. Since it dried more slowly it leveled beautifully.

I'm convinced - I'll be using their lacquer thinner with the Tamiya acrylics from here on out!

admiralcag · Post by **admiralcag** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:06 pm

Use the lacquer thinner for brush painting, correct?

Vern

Kekker · Post by **Kekker** » Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:47 pm

Yep - enormous improvement in how well the paint works.

admiralcag · Post by **admiralcag** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 5:25 am

Kewl! I have been wanting to try the lacquer thinner for airbrushing. Would Mr. Color Leveling Thinner work, too?

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 11:15 am

Yes or even run of the mill lacquer thinner tho' IIRC it dries a bit faster with regular lacquer thinner.

Kekker · Post by **Kekker** » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:25 pm

I looked online about Tamiya acrylics and the lacquer thinner, and there were some people who also used the Mr. Color Leveling Thinner with similar effect. If I could find it around, I'd give it a shot, too.

But for now, the Tamiya stuff will be my go-to!

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 7:25 pm

Kekker wrote:I looked online about Tamiya acrylics and the lacquer thinner, and there were some people who also used the Mr. Color Leveling Thinner with similar effect. If I could find it around, I'd give it a shot, too.

But for now, the Tamiya stuff will be my go-to!

Just a month ago, I used Mr. Leveling Thinner for the first time after someone on Keeper of the Force recommended it. This stuff produced the smoothest matte black Tamiya acrylic coat I ever painted. Before I just used ethyl alcohol and always got grainy surfaces. So I can definately recommend it.
Just be careful not to inhale its fumes (wear a mask), it´s quite agressive. It even made one of the clear plastic paint mixing jars that came with my Badger 360 crack apart.