Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've been looking at a few guides and it seems you can use different glass cleaners to thin acrylics plus clean up the airbrush afterwards.

I'm going to be investing in some actual thinners/cleaners but need to order them in and want to try out the airbrush now without having to wait!!!

I think I've got the right stuff but wanted to double check with those in the know. So is this the right stuff to use to thin paints alongside water:


And is this the right stuff to clean the brush with afterwards:



Looking at the ingredients I'm guessing either would do for both jobs, is this right?

I haven't found Windex to be much better than just plain water (for thinning) and it certainly has a more offensive odor.

Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol would be better mixed with water, this is also very good for cleaning; but neither are anywhere as good as a proper airbrush medium. Liquitex is the best.

I have the best results with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol as a thinner. I find that since the alcohol evaporates so quickly, it leaves almost a powder coat finish (which is what I was wanting for my marines).

As for cleaning, I'll normally use straight rubbing alcohol to clean the needle and nozzle, followed by flushing it with actual airbrush cleaner.

Glass cleaners you want automotive ones for thinning paints. (its only the ammonia thats doing what you want really)
Reason being is that vinegar is used as a surfactant in household ones which will corrode chrome (pretty badly)
Car glass cleaner doesnt contain vinegar for the very same reason.

check the ingredient list (perhaps check what the chemical shorthand for vinegar is ~ I'm hazey on that right now)
But typically you want the one made for your car window wiping sprayer thingy.

If you use a glass cleaner that has vinegar in, your chrome plated airbrush will not be chrome plated for long. Which will cause it to clog more. (speaking from *costly* experience, I have a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution SilverLine that is totally stripped out on the inside. (was a good excuse to get the next model up though)


As for Isopropyl, its good with some paints. Some just turn goopey nasty messes. worth testing.
I use it as a cleaner usually, sometimes add 10-15% to my thinning mix.

Thinner, I find so far Vallejo Airbrush Thinner to be the best thing, I used to praise Liquitex Airbrush medium, sometimes I mix the two.
I've tried allsorts for thinning.
Vallejo airbrush thinner, mixed with liquitex airbrush medium, and some distilled water, some flow aid / drying retarder, and maybe a splash of alcohol.
The mix seems to work better than any on their own.

I've come around to using branded thinners. If you're just spraying large areas it doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference what you use, but as I've started playing around with spraying fine detail stuff I am noticing the branded ones are better.

I'm liking Vallejo Thinner for my Vallejo, GW and P3 paints.

Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner also works great as a thinner. You have to make sure you're wearing a mask and well ventilated.

My favourite paints for airbrushing at the moment are Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous Hobby Color. They are head and shoulders better than any water based acrylic I've tried. They are best thinned with their own thinners, either Tamiya X20A or the Mr. Hobby Aqueous Hobbly Colour Thinner (yes, that's what it says on the bottle!). When you open the bottle it smells like pure isopropanol, but there's definitely more to it than that.

They do have evil paint pots though, I absolutely hate them. I've been thinking about transferring them to dropper bottles but I'm worried the solvents will eat in to a plastic dropper bottle.

If you can put up with the terrible bottles or transfer them to other bottles, they are awesome paints for airbrushing. They clog less (when used with their own thinner) and go on smoother than Vallejo's offerings. They are also stronger solvents so masks and good ventilation are a must.

For cleaners, you can use isopropyl alcohol. Vallejo's airbrush cleaner is superior though. It might be more expensive, but I use 3 to 5 times as much IPA to clean my brush with IPA than I do with Vallejo's cleaner. Vallejo's cleaner seems to actually dissolve the paint where as IPA seems to remove it in chunks and then those chunks need to be gotten out of the airbrush.

I haven't tried X20A, I'm guessing it's quite a good cleaner though. The Mr. Hobby thinner makes for a really good airbrush cleaner too.

I'll use distilled water for a lot of thinning, or Vallejo thinner. I forget the arbitrary reasons I choose one over the other -_-
I use windex to clean, a spray through after a colour change or when done for the day is ample. Cost effective and easy to get with no harm to the airbrush so long as you don't soak in it. I'll run some distilled water through at the end of the session just to make sure. Once in a while I'll suspend the end of my airbrush in an ultrasonic cleaner with windex for a few minutes, will clear out any recalcitrant chunks. Also lubing the needle occasionally helps.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
My favourite paints for airbrushing at the moment are Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous Hobby Color. They are head and shoulders better than any water based acrylic I've tried. They are best thinned with their own thinners, either Tamiya X20A or the Mr. Hobby Aqueous Hobbly Colour Thinner (yes, that's what it says on the bottle!). When you open the bottle it smells like pure isopropanol, but there's definitely more to it than that.

They do have evil paint pots though, I absolutely hate them. I've been thinking about transferring them to dropper bottles but I'm worried the solvents will eat in to a plastic dropper bottle.

If you can put up with the terrible bottles or transfer them to other bottles, they are awesome paints for airbrushing. They clog less (when used with their own thinner) and go on smoother than Vallejo's offerings. They are also stronger solvents so masks and good ventilation are a must.

What makes you like these more than say, Vallejo Model Air/Vallejo Game Air? Like you say, the pots would force me to transfer them but I'd do it if they have a good use.

I've just found they spray a lot nicer. You get a better mist of paint for a wider range of consistencies (not as sensitive to how you thin it). If I spray a line with a Gunze paint and then use the same colour in the Model Air range, the Gunze one will just look smoother.

If you are using the Gunze thinner, I find it clogs less, less tip dry. It just comes out nicer. The Gunze paints say they're water based, but they obviously have a lot of alcohol in them, you can smell it, I think it just makes them flow better out of the pot. The thinners are also a blend of various alcohols and retarders.

That said, the 3 really big downers about Gunze and Tamiya paint is that they 1. Have terrible pots. 2. Dry really fast. 3. Separate quickly. 2 and 3 mean they aren't terribly easy to brush paint with (though I know people who do, I don't like brush painting with them). You also have to shake the hell out of the bottle right before you use it, if you leave the bottle to sit even for a minute or two you'll start to see the paint separate. Despite the quick separation when it's sitting around, oddly enough it doesn't separate in my paint cup, not sure why, maybe the thinner helps bind them once they are in the airbrush.

After reading the comments and further research it seems that prolonged exposure to the vinegar (acetic acid) in both may have some effect on the chrome plating on the airbrush over time. So even though plenty of people are using the windowlene/windex for thinning paint I'll probably reserve it for cleaning the brush making sure I rinse out with water well.

IPA and water seem a better solution to thinning on the cheap and if I want to get into detail spraying then I need to look at some of the branded paint thinners probably the Vallejo one as they have some form of flow improver. Funny enough this can be mimicked by adding glycerine to the water/IPA mix if your doing on the cheap but probably not worth messing about with as no one seems to agree on the quantities/ratios.

Thanks for the comments they helped direct me in my research before jumping in head first and messing up my brush.

I will admit I've never really seen the point of trying to go cheap when it comes to airbrush thinners. The airbrush/compressor is expensive, the paints are expensive, the models are expensive. A 200ml bottle of airbrush thinner lasts ages, it doesn't seem logical to try and save money on it, lol.

I bought my current bottle of Vallejo thinner at the start of last year, I've probably got about a quarter left. Granted I wasn't painting for a while, but I'd guess that was well over 100 models and I occasionally use it as a cleaner when I forgot to bring my cleaner to my spraying table and am too lazy to go get it, I've probably used more of it as a cleaner than I have as a thinner, lol.

Lol ... It's more wanting to have a go now rather than waiting for another delivery.

Can't get anything delivered as I can't definitely be in all day to take a parcel till a week on Wednesday and my neighbours are ... erm ... not reliable to take in a package.

I can get hold of the above pictures cleaners, IPA and water but other stuff will seriously delay my start.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I checked the tank for leaks last night and sprayed water through to have a feel of the weight. I'm thinking of altering the brush slightly for comfort. The trigger is a bit low for my hands and I can see I'll be getting cramped hands if I use if for any length of time. So I'm thinking of adding some sort of pad to the top of the trigger.

Just want to get on with it!

I have never used a house cleaner for thinning paints for cleaning my airbrush. I use water based paints so water is all I have ever needed. I did pick up a large bottle of Createx airbrush cleaner years ago (still have a bit left). I only use this when I want to clean the exterior and the interior, to bring back that near new look to the brush.

I will keep a bottle of water near by when I need to change colours and just spray into a trash bin or bag. No need for a full clean in between colours. It is a gravity fed airbrush which makes using and cleaning so much easier. I more recently picked up Vallejo airbrush thinner (I did not have a source for their airbrush paints yet) and I like it a lot. Too bad the bottle I have is small so I use it sparingly.

So get some water, a pad or something to practice on and get to spraying.