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Hi Dakka!

I've been looking into using Vallejo's Liquid Gold and so far every guide I've seen recommends 90% or higher Isopropyl alcohol. Problem is I can't find Isopropyl alcohol anywhere except in little spray bottles that are around 70%. I'm thinking that the stuff is probably banned for sale in Australia and am wondering if there are any suitable alternatives? Would methalayted spirits work as well, or would it just ruin the Gold?

Any feedback or people's experiences is much appreciated.

I've tried spirits and they didn't work too well (It turned into a streaky horrible mess because they don't play well together). But I'm sure 70% alcohol would be okay but I'd definitely test it out before you go and paint a whole force with it.

Australia? Go to bunnings, go to the paint section, find the paint thinners, look for Diggers brand isopropyl alcohol, unless they've changed their formula it is 100%.

Granted there are places you can get it cheaper and if you want to use it for paint stripping there are cheaper sources, but i dont strip models so one of those diggers bottles lasts me like 1-2 years.

As for alternatives, I think I recall someone saying you could use Mr Color self levelling thinner, it's a lacquer based thinner that dries slower and is "softer" that you average lacquer thinner, I've not tested it though.

Seems like AllSeeingSkink knows where to find it.

Otherwise, can you find 99% ethanol? Ethanol and isopropanol are often interchangeable when used as solvents (doesn't mean it would work, but it's likely).

Ethanol is harder to get than isopropyl. Our evil government overlords place high taxes on ethanol because you can drink it.

99% Ethanol (minus taxes) is actually very cheap, it's just you'll struggle to get it unless you're registered as a laboratory or hospital or something like that, the general public can't easily get their hands on it because God forbid we buy something that can get us drunk unless it's taxed to hell We have some ethanol our lab at work and I've used it for paint stripping in the past, but I've never tried to use it to thin paint with it.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Ethanol is harder to get than isopropyl. Our evil government overlords place high taxes on ethanol because you can drink it.

99% Ethanol (minus taxes) is actually very cheap, it's just you'll struggle to get it unless you're registered as a laboratory or hospital or something like that, the general public can't easily get their hands on it because God forbid we buy something that can get us drunk unless it's taxed to hell We have some ethanol our lab at work and I've used it for paint stripping in the past, but I've never tried to use it to thin paint with it.

In France, there is also a tax on alcohol, but it only applies to the ones you can drink.
You can easily find 90+% denatured ethanol, which is pretty toxic (usually mixed with something that makes you nauseous quickly so you don't even try to drink it), and therefore the tax doesn't apply to it.

I've never bothered to check what is inn them but Revell Colour ix and Tamiya X20a have both worked well for me when using Vallejo Liquid Metal.

fresus wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Ethanol is harder to get than isopropyl. Our evil government overlords place high taxes on ethanol because you can drink it.

99% Ethanol (minus taxes) is actually very cheap, it's just you'll struggle to get it unless you're registered as a laboratory or hospital or something like that, the general public can't easily get their hands on it because God forbid we buy something that can get us drunk unless it's taxed to hell We have some ethanol our lab at work and I've used it for paint stripping in the past, but I've never tried to use it to thin paint with it.

In France, there is also a tax on alcohol, but it only applies to the ones you can drink.
You can easily find 90+% denatured ethanol, which is pretty toxic (usually mixed with something that makes you nauseous quickly so you don't even try to drink it), and therefore the tax doesn't apply to it.

Ah yeah, that's methylated spirits ("methylated" means methanol usually around 10% has been added to poison it). In Australia the slang term for it is "metho". I've never really tried metho to know how it works as a thinner for alcohol based paints, it stinks to high heaven.

I don't like it anywhere near as much as the 99% ethanol we get in the lab though.

My alternative was, throwing it in the trash and using Vallejo model, or Andrea or Scale 75 metallics.

The Liquid Gold had so much potential, but switching to alcohol was already pain enough, but in my experience, eventually every bottle of the stuff will turn against you and clump.

 Gunzhard wrote:
My alternative was, throwing it in the trash and using Vallejo model, or Andrea or Scale 75 metallics.

The Liquid Gold had so much potential, but switching to alcohol was already pain enough, but in my experience, eventually every bottle of the stuff will turn against you and clump.

I haven't used my liquid gold for a while, maybe a year or two (was using it on my Lizardmen but haven't touched them in ages), I just opened it again and it still seems fine to me. When I was using it I'd decant out a couple of drops at a time to avoid keeping the bottle open and used 100% alcohol to clean my brushes, thin it and rinse off the brushes to remove any moisture before touching the paint.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Australia? Go to bunnings, go to the paint section, find the paint thinners, look for Diggers brand isopropyl alcohol, unless they've changed their formula it is 100%.

Any electronics shops to try? Here in the UK, Maplin sells it for cleaning components.

try looking on ebay mate ...I bought a pack of 2 1L bottles of 100% isopropyl alcohol off there for like $15-$20 a few months ago

I know what you've been going through looking for the stuff too...just nowhere seems to have it, aside from those little spray bottles as you said...I spent a good couple of weeks hunting around for it all over the place until I found it on ebay

It entirely depends whether you need it for stripping models or not If you want it for stripping armies, you need big bottles of the stuff and the cheapest way to get it is just google and find places that sell it in bulk.

If you're just using it for thinning paints, cleaning out an airbrush and maybe some occasional spot stripping, then every bunnings should sell this...

https://www.bunnings.com.au/diggers-125ml-isopropyl-cleaning-alcohol_p1564443

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Gunzhard wrote:
My alternative was, throwing it in the trash and using Vallejo model, or Andrea or Scale 75 metallics.

The Liquid Gold had so much potential, but switching to alcohol was already pain enough, but in my experience, eventually every bottle of the stuff will turn against you and clump.

I haven't used my liquid gold for a while, maybe a year or two (was using it on my Lizardmen but haven't touched them in ages), I just opened it again and it still seems fine to me. When I was using it I'd decant out a couple of drops at a time to avoid keeping the bottle open and used 100% alcohol to clean my brushes, thin it and rinse off the brushes to remove any moisture before touching the paint.

Seems fine maybe ha. I'm just saying, the guys at my club all told me the same thing -- eventually this crap turned on everyone; hopefully you get lucky. I also never paint 'from the pot' and I was quite strict with using just Alcohol.

The bottom line for me is -- even if you can keep a bottle in good working condition for some time, which is a challenge - none of the hassle is worth it at all. There are other excellent water-based metallics at this point.

Vallejo also makes these which are SOOO much easier to use and just as good: http://www.wargamestore.com/images/D/77701-aluminium.jpg

Yeah I believe you, I'm just trying to figure out the *why* because it hasn't been a problem for me.

Maybe it's more humid where you live? Were you using 100% IPA?

Thanks everyone (especially AllSeeingSkink) for the replies. Lots of useful info here!