Testors Thinner

[Peterbilt359]

Ok stupid question of the day. I got a small testors paint kit that has the amber and stop light red colors. It came with a small bottle of thinner. Can I use this thinner to mix with my paint when I get ready to airbrush my model? Mike

[Snake45]

33 minutes ago, Peterbilt359 said:

Ok stupid question of the day. I got a small testors paint kit that has the amber and stop light red colors. It came with a small bottle of thinner. Can I use this thinner to mix with my paint when I get ready to airbrush my model? Mike

Dunno, but that stuff thins quite well for airbrush use with common generic lacquer thinner. 

[Peterbilt359]

11 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Dunno, but that stuff thins quite well for airbrush use with common generic lacquer thinner. 

That’s what I’m using buddy. I have a passche h single action. Mike

[Snake45]

55 minutes ago, Peterbilt359 said:

That’s what I’m using buddy. I have a passche h single action. Mike

If you have a Paasche H, a compressor with tank, and a gallon of generic lacquer thinner, you are good to go with Testor Enamels for a LOOOOOONG time! Drive on! 

[peteski]

Lacquer thinner evaporates fairly quick. If you want something closer to the original Testors thinner (which dries slower), mineral spirits or paint thinner from a hardware store should work just fine.

Edited May 18, 2020 by peteski

[Don Sikora II]

For Testors enamels in the square bottles, in my experience they airbrush the best when thinned with the Testors Model Master airbrush thinner. The small bottle of thinner that comes in the paint sets is more for cleaning brushes, don’t know what the difference is but the airbrush thinner is the ticket if you’re going to spray it. 

[Ctmodeler]

I use lacquer thinner and it sprays just fine !

[mr moto]

Like everybody has said, lacquer thinner works great and is cheap. Also, a milder alternative that still dries very quickly is naphtha (also labeled as vm&p naphtha). It's also available at the hardware store and works great with enamel. It's mild enough that guitar techs will use it to clean lacquer finished guitars.

[Peterbilt359]

44 minutes ago, mr moto said:

Like everybody has said, lacquer thinner works great and is cheap. Also, a milder alternative that still dries very quickly is naphtha (also labeled as vm&p naphtha). It's also available at the hardware store and works great with enamel. It's mild enough that guitar techs will use it to clean lacquer finished guitars.

I’ve used naptha to clean my pedal steel guitar all the parts and I have this readily available

[Snake45]

35 minutes ago, mr moto said:

Like everybody has said, lacquer thinner works great and is cheap. Also, a milder alternative that still dries very quickly is naphtha (also labeled as vm&p naphtha). It's also available at the hardware store and works great with enamel. It's mild enough that guitar techs will use it to clean lacquer finished guitars.

Agree--with a caveat. Naphtha dries ALMOST as quickly as LT but flow out better, to the point where I've achieved a factory-like finish with no further rubbing or polishing. It's like magic!

BUT!!! 

NEVER thin more paint than you will use in the next day or two with naptha, as it will begin to turn thinned enamel to Jello in a week or so. This Jello paint cannot be reconstituted, not even with LT. Needless to say, don't return any so-thinned paint to its original jar. 

Paint thinned with LT can stay good indefinitely if it's sealed well. Last year I opened a jar of LT-thinned Model Master I thinned over 10 years ago, and it was still good as new. 

One more thing about naphtha: There are those who will tell you that it's more dangerous to spray because it's more flammable/volatile than LT. BULSH! The exact opposite is true. This is why we fill lighters with naphtha and not lacquer thinner--because we don't want them to explode. (Kind of like how you burn kerosene in a space heater, but NEVER gasoline, same reason.) 

 

[mr moto]

I've never experienced the thickening problem with naphtha but it might happen sometimes. Paints can be kind of a witch's brew! Just checked the bottle I mixed up over a month ago when I sprayed the interior of my 1932 Ford phaeton and it's still okay. It's ModelMaster Afrika grau, a military color. I've heard (on this board recently) about people having this problem when thinning Testors with mineral spirits. Results might vary with MM vs. square bottle vs. Testors round bottle, etc. It could also vary by color I suppose. Pigments are supposed to be "inert" but they're really not and can have an effect on the paint's characteristics. Always test!

[peteski]

I never thin more paint than what I need for the airbrushing session.