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Hi guys, Just got into Airbrushing, and I bought some Acrilic, thinner for my airbrush, for when I get my Vellejo model air paints shortly.
I got the Tamiya Color Acrylic Paint X-20A Thinner Large. Is this one ok? or did I get the wrong one?



Regards,





James.

There is a lot of products that will thin acrylic paints suitable for airbrushing.

I've never tryed the Tamiya thinner, but I think (please correct me if wrong) that it is alcohol based. Which would be suitable.

Personally I like to use Liquitex Airbrush Medium, which is just a very fluid acrylic binder medium which you mix paints or inks into.
I've also had success with the popular window cleaner, rubbing alcohol, and to a limited extend water + flow aid (avoid water though as it doesnt really dry fast enough and is so easy to make run's in your paint job)

The thinner you got sounds like it should work great, have a little play around with ratio's and any paint brands you use. Keep note of anything that doesnt behave right, for example if it makes a colour go lumpy or something.

Edit; the vallejo model air line are claimed to be ready to spray right out of the bottle. So you probably wont need to be thinning them much or atall (perhaps for subtle effects or something; airbrush painters do something called 'over thinning' for extreme detail work). You could probably thin Citadel paints (or pretty much any brand of artists or craft paints) to the right consistency for spraying. The Liquitex medium I use does just fine for Citadel colours.

I second Liquitex Airbrush Medium... it really is the best option.

And yep Tamiya is alcohol based and will also work fine, but the Liquitex will keep your tip wetter longer.

I use Vallejo Airbrush Thinner and highly recommend it, I find it works better than the Liquitex medium.

Ichiban Painting was actually just tweeting about this this morning - https://twitter.com/ichibanpainting/status/250969813348917248
The vallejo airbrush thinner is good quality. I use Liquitex airbrush medium myself and that stuff also works really great.
With the Tamiya acrylic paint thinner, it looks like you should be good for using it with airbrushing - http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=606
Though with the Vallejo model air paints, they're thin enough you don't really need to thin them at all. They're great using straight out of the bottle into the airbrush.

I have used;

Thinned with the tamaya - works decent.
The liquitex medium - works well.
Golden brand medium - works very well.
Vallejo model air paints - yes, works straight out of the bottle.
worth.every.single.penny.

 Gunzhard wrote:
I second Liquitex Airbrush Medium... it really is the best option.

And yep Tamiya is alcohol based and will also work fine, but the Liquitex will keep your tip wetter longer.

But I thought you kept my tip wetter )))))))))))

I also vote for Liquitex Airbrush Medium, it's great.

 Ouze wrote:
I also vote for Liquitex Airbrush Medium, it's great.

I already have the X20 A thinner from tamiya color, seems ok. But will it affect my models in any way?
+ check my other posts selling some stuff on ebay ^^

I have used both Liquitex Airbrush Medium and Vallejo Thinner and they are both up for the task. If I had to choose, the Vallejo Thinner would get my vote, as it performs a tad better in my opinion.

Cheers.

Vallejo airbrush thinner is amazing but should always be mixed with paint in a separate container before pouring into your airbrush - clear plastic shot glasses are perfect for this. If you use VMA paints I highly recommend shaking well beforehand and even adding a couple drops of thinner 'just in case'.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
I use Vallejo Airbrush Thinner and highly recommend it

Me too, easy to get and works beautifully.

 Citizen Luka wrote:
Vallejo airbrush thinner is amazing but should always be mixed with paint in a separate container before pouring into your airbrush - clear plastic shot glasses are perfect for this. If you use VMA paints I highly recommend shaking well beforehand and even adding a couple drops of thinner 'just in case'.

hahah sweet idea mate! does anyone no were to get like eye droppers from? so I can suck some thinner up and put it into my airbrush?
and thank you to everyone for your amazing impute

Methyl hydrate for me. Works great and is a fraction of the cost of hobby brands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVngEdp7Um8

kronicpsycho wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
I also vote for Liquitex Airbrush Medium, it's great.

I already have the X20 A thinner from tamiya color, seems ok. But will it affect my models in any way?
+ check my other posts selling some stuff on ebay ^^

No - won't impact your models at all.

Tamiya and Gunze (and I think a couple other less popular brands...especially out of Japan/Korea/China) are alcohol based acrylic paints. The thinner that is designed for them is primarily alcohol as well - so in a pinch you can use one of the various alcohol types from drug stores/hardware stores (methyl, ethyl, isopropyl...). They will also thin water based paints suitably. The opposite isn't nearly as true - some of the thinners which are designed for water based paints can cause alcohol based paints to get gummy.

Generally speaking though, I recommend using the thinner which is sold for the paints you are buying. It usually isn't that much of an added cost, and it prevents the odd occasional interaction between additives, binders and solvents that pop up from time to time. If you are thinning something that doesn't have a specific thinner for it - double check to make sure you know what the base solvent is and then use a general purpose thinner like Liquitex or Golden.

The reason that I don't say always go to those right away is that there are a lot of people who are not familiar with what is what regarding paints. I have had to fix brushes which had been gummed up with mixtures of surprisingly different combinations of paints, inks, thinners and other additives - and quite often, I end up being able to pick up a barely used airbrush on the cheap as a result of someone getting confused and frustrated by their mistakes.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:

kronicpsycho wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
I also vote for Liquitex Airbrush Medium, it's great.

I already have the X20 A thinner from tamiya color, seems ok. But will it affect my models in any way?
+ check my other posts selling some stuff on ebay ^^

No - won't impact your models at all.

Tamiya and Gunze (and I think a couple other less popular brands...especially out of Japan/Korea/China) are alcohol based acrylic paints. The thinner that is designed for them is primarily alcohol as well - so in a pinch you can use one of the various alcohol types from drug stores/hardware stores (methyl, ethyl, isopropyl...). They will also thin water based paints suitably. The opposite isn't nearly as true - some of the thinners which are designed for water based paints can cause alcohol based paints to get gummy.

Generally speaking though, I recommend using the thinner which is sold for the paints you are buying. It usually isn't that much of an added cost, and it prevents the odd occasional interaction between additives, binders and solvents that pop up from time to time. If you are thinning something that doesn't have a specific thinner for it - double check to make sure you know what the base solvent is and then use a general purpose thinner like Liquitex or Golden.

The reason that I don't say always go to those right away is that there are a lot of people who are not familiar with what is what regarding paints. I have had to fix brushes which had been gummed up with mixtures of surprisingly different combinations of paints, inks, thinners and other additives - and quite often, I end up being able to pick up a barely used airbrush on the cheap as a result of someone getting confused and frustrated by their mistakes.

O ok so it's best to just get the vellejo thinner?

Vallejo thinner is very good, though thicker than Liquitex. I've used both and still prefer Liquitex but I'd use either no problem.

I also totally agree with mixing in a separate, clear, cup. I've been saying this for years hah. It also helps you get very familiar with what the 'proper' [for you and/or for the task] consistency looks like.

 Gunzhard wrote:
Vallejo thinner is very good, though thicker than Liquitex. I've used both and still prefer Liquitex but I'd use either no problem.

I also totally agree with mixing in a separate, clear, cup. I've been saying this for years hah. It also helps you get very familiar with what the 'proper' [for you and/or for the task] consistency looks like.

O thanks mate, will do! very helpful stuff! anymore tips?

$.88 50/50 Alcohol/Water mix from Wal-Mart. Does great for me. I used to use Windex, but breathing in aerosolized ammonia seemed a bad idea.

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:
$.88 50/50 Alcohol/Water mix from Wal-Mart. Does great for me. I used to use Windex, but breathing in aerosolized ammonia seemed a bad idea.

And ammonia destroys plated metal finishes which in turn causes minute leaks that lead to splattering when doing fine detailing.

You should never use Windex (or any other cleaner with ammonia) in an airbrush if you want to attempt detail work with it.

Windex also doesn't play well with Vallejo Air colors if you use some of those.

The alcohol mixes are especially great for blowing out excess paint when switching between colors... otherwise I'd always recommend a proper thinner for any actual painting.

A friend of mine recently hipped me to using 'alcohol prep pads' for cleaning out the cup and/or over-spill during use... they are really fantastic and cheap.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:
$.88 50/50 Alcohol/Water mix from Wal-Mart. Does great for me. I used to use Windex, but breathing in aerosolized ammonia seemed a bad idea.

And ammonia destroys plated metal finishes which in turn causes minute leaks that lead to splattering when doing fine detailing.

You should never use Windex (or any other cleaner with ammonia) in an airbrush if you want to attempt detail work with it.

That explains why my airbrush has stopped being as crisp, as I noticed a lot of plating damage. It can still do some fine work, so I think I might have stopped before it got too bad.