Thinners - different for different manufacturers?!

[Jens Andrée]

Apologies in advance if this has already been covered.
I'm a total beginner on the subject and I think I've hit this dilemma on my first attempt...?

Just started with scale models, and more precise - tanks and armoured vehicles.
When I was a kid and built cheap Italeri scale models they looked like they'd been painted with a hammer due to bad choice of paint - and useless technique on my part.
I wasn't about to repeat that miserable failure so I bought an airbrush kit at the same time as I bought my first models! The kit came with a selection of body paints so I've practised on the kids to learn how to use the airbrush :D

The last couple of weeks that's been leading up to me getting started I looked at various skilled people building, painting and weathering tank models on youtube! Fantastic resource!!!
Sadly I didn't think about sticking to one manufacturer so I bought a mix of paint products. This I'm beginning to regret and I hope with a bit of help it can be rectified? (or at least made to work if I combine to correct products.)

Most of the paints I bought were Tamiya acrylics but all the weathering products (washes and pigments) I bought were Vallejo. I read that I had to add appx 20% thinner to the Tamiya paints in order to use them in my airbrush so I did.

Not thinking about a possible conflict when ordering I bought Vallejo airbrush thinner. This apparently works fine with my Tamiya paints, but I hit a major snag when I realised I hadn't bought any cleaning products... sigh.

I thought the white spirit I use for cleaning most of my large paintbrushes would do fine in my airbrush but oh dear what a mess it made... I had to apply a lot of elbow grease to get things clean.

The day after I went to my local paint shop and bought two different bottles of thinner (ethylbenzene & xylene based) and now it was a breeze to clean the airbrush when I'd used the Tamiya colours, but now the Vallejo paints started to act funny... double sigh!

I've since read something about Vallejo paints not being compatible with cellulose thinners and only water?

Is there a simple matrix available with what thinners and cleaning products that are recommended for the various paint products on the market? I know I can buy small bottles of thinner and cleaning products from each manufacturer, but they are very small and not exactly cost effective imho...

I'd prefer to make as few learner mistakes as possible in the beginning in order to focus on the actual modelling and painting - not stuck with an airbrush that's totally clogged with hard paint due to user error...

Also, should I try to avoid mixing products in the future and only stick to one brand, or is it fine as long as you pick the correct thinner and cleaning products?

My hope was to use the same thinner as I use for thinning the paint to clean the brushes and airbrush but that's perhaps not the way to go, or?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[col68]

Hi Jens
I can answer a couple of your questions if its any help
Firstly don't try to mix tamiya and Vallejo paints as they aren't compatabile. I'm not sure about the thinners.
If your only using acrylic paints in your airbrush you can use some household window cleaner I use Mr muscle multi surface which is a blue colour and contains ammonia to clean it then rinse with distilled water.

 

[Jens Andrée]

Hi Jens
I can answer a couple of your questions if its any help
Firstly don't try to mix tamiya and Vallejo paints as they aren't compatabile. I'm not sure about the thinners.
If your only using acrylic paints in your airbrush you can use some household window cleaner I use Mr muscle multi surface which is a blue colour and contains ammonia to clean it then rinse with distilled water.

Thank you!

I'm beginning to understand that I should've been more careful when shopping paint products and stuck with one manufacturer. I'll stick with Tamiya products from now on until I know better.
The weathering pigments are still useful since they go on after paint and clear coat so that shouldn't cause any issues, but I thought "all" paints today were acrylics since virtually all oil/lacquer paints are banned today and that they were compatible in a sense. This I now know is wrong.

I was tempted by seeing how people were using washes and filters, and how others were using regular acrylics to paint really realistic models and didn't think ahead like one should.
But on the other hand I've learned something new!

 

[col68]

Hi Jens
I have just realised I missed something out of my last post. I should of mentioned that it is fine to use Vallejo and tamiya paints on the same kits as long as you leave plenty of time between coats.

 

[Jens Andrée]

After doing some experimentation, and placing a fairly large order of new paints, washes, filters and such, I've now started thinning down my Tamiya acrylics with 20-25% cellulose thinner and it works really well - and cleaning the airbrush between colours, or before putting everything away, is easy and trouble free!
I've got a practise model to experiment on before I start the real work and that's really useful for me, as a total beginner.
It's so much easier to just go for it and not worry about the end results rather than messing up my first couple of models...

The cellulose thinner I've bought seems to work well with all of the products I've got so far with regards to cleaning. I've got some oil-based products I've yet to test, but if the cellulose thinner doesn't work there I can use white/mineral spirit instead.

I've learned a lot about "thinners" this week, that's for sure!

Thanks for all the help!