Future for Craft Acrylic Thinner/Binder?

[Snake45]

I'm thinking of trying to do my first model car paint job using cheap craft acrylic paint and the idea occurred to me that instead of using water or windshield washer fluid for an airbrush thinner, Future might work even better as far as adhesion, smoothness, gloss, and so forth. Or maybe a combination of Future and windshield washer fluid. Anyone ever tried this?  (I do plan to cover the color with clear lacquer or enamel and rub that out.) 

BTW, I get to still call it Future because that's what it says on my OLD bottle of the stuff. 

[John Pol]

I use windshield fluid and future for my mix with cheap craft paint

[Dave G.]

I don't use either Future or washer fluid in craft paints or acrylics anymore. I used to.

 

[John Pol]

What do you use Dave?

[Dave G.]

My own thinner blend and if I put clear in the paint it's generally Liquitex satin varnish.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Dave G.

[John Pol]

so does that work for all water base paints Dave?

Edited April 22, 2019 by John Pol

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Dave G. said:

My own thinner blend...

Which is.....? 

[Dave G.]

20 hours ago, John Pol said:

so does that work for all water base paints Dave?

All is pretty inclusive, I have no idea if it works in all. But it has worked so far in all the acrylics that I have tried it in which is fairly considerable ( about 12 brands of paint) and of those paints 5 are craft paints.

Edited April 23, 2019 by Dave G.

[my80malibu]

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 8:48 AM, Snake45 said:

I'm thinking of trying to do my first model car paint job using cheap craft acrylic paint and the idea occurred to me that instead of using water or windshield washer fluid for an airbrush thinner, Future might work even better as far as adhesion, smoothness, gloss, and so forth. Or maybe a combination of Future and windshield washer fluid. Anyone ever tried this?  (I do plan to cover the color with clear lacquer or enamel and rub that out.) 

BTW, I get to still call it Future because that's what it says on my OLD bottle of the stuff. 

There is a tutorial video on You Tube that covers this very subject. Good luck with your project.

[Dave G.]

On 4/22/2019 at 9:12 PM, Snake45 said:

Which is.....? 

Snake I tried three time to send you a message then realized in red print ( tiny) that you can't receive messages lol. Maybe you hit a limit and have to clean things out or something.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Dave G.

[Snake45]

43 minutes ago, Dave G. said:

Snake I tried three time to send you a message then realized in red print ( tiny) that you can't receive messages lol. Maybe you hit a limit and have to clean things out or something.

You can email me at SnakeACP45 at AOL dot com. 

[Deuces]

Have you guys tried rubbing alcohol to thin Future and or the craft paint of your choice???. Just curious..

[Dave G.]

On 4/24/2019 at 9:43 PM, Deuces said:

Have you guys tried rubbing alcohol to thin Future and or the craft paint of your choice???. Just curious..

On 4/24/2019 at 1:02 PM, Snake45 said:

 

There is a decent argument to using straight isopropyl rubbing alcohol ( not the methyl, and I haven't tested denatured alcohol in general for craft paints) and a drop of retarder in craft paint, it comes fairly close to what I mix for thinner but I put the retarder in the thinner. I think "true" rubbing alcohol is something like 50/50 water/ ipa alcohol.  I don't use that much alcohol in mine. In the health and beauty isle at my local stop and shop store I find 91% and 70% are isopropyl alcohol but not really rubbing alcohol.

Actually I have Pledge Floor Care, I don't have any original Future so that's a consideration when stating my claims ( or viewing them) lol. If you're going to put Future in craft paint think small amounts. Too much thins the color saturation. As a top coat/clear coat you don't really need any thinner in Future, you need correct air pressure. If you do thin it a little then the more alcohol you use the more hazy the result will be to your dried gloss coat.

Here is my finding on washer fluid in craft paint and acrylics in general. It's not the best solution for the surface tension of the paint going on. Especially the first couple of coats. The same for flow aids like glycerin. This is why I say retarder not flow aid. By the same token ipa will get you tip dry at the air brush ( actually so will washer fluid in the right conditions), again enters the retarder, this greatly reduces tip dry and aids to a certain degree, flow out. But obviously you can use too much, again think less, just enough to stop the tip dry..

Edited April 26, 2019 by Dave G.

[peteski]

Using alcohol as thinner for some brands of water-based acrylic paints will curdle them.  I don't remember which brands - I just remember reading about it.

[Dave G.]

Ya you need to cut alcohol in use with acrylic paints anyway, if you use straight 91% ipa you could very well end up lining the inside of your airbrush with basically a latex membrane. Or worse, clog it solid. That will happen with DecoArt craft paints but if the alcohol is kept at reasonable levels the same paint will go down like silk. Vallejo too.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Dave G.