Optional Thinner

[38 Crush]

I would like to clear coat my project with Tamiya clear shot through an airbrush. However most of the hobby shops around here don't carry Tamiya thinner for acrilics. I've heard you can use isopropal alcohal in its place, is this true? If so, what percentage alcohal (70% 90%??) works best.

38 Crush

[envious8420]

depends on how fast you want it to set up. 91 percent evaporates faster than 70 because of the higher alcohol content. its like using a hotter reducer with lacquer. the faster drying the paint is, the higher chance of paint issues. the faster it dries the less time it has to flow or self level.

hope this helped, im not fully awake yet.

[Brendan]

If you're using Tamiya's X-22, it has a tendency to yellow quite a bit. I would suggest not using it. Get yourself some Future Floor Polish, which is already thin enough to air brush. Another thing you might want to try is Tamiya's TS-13 Lacquer Clear Coat. I use it quite a bit.

[MrObsessive]

Hmmm................I've used Tamiya X-22 as a clear-coat and I've never had a problem with yellowing. I would highly recommend using THEIR thinner if you can somehow find it, as I've had bad results using Isopropyl alcohol in the past (fisheyes).

I STRONGLY advise against using the X-22 over their gloss water based acrylics!! They'll look beautiful to start, but in a couple weeks the paint will have more cracks and wrinkles in it than you can shake a stick at!

Now they may have changed their formula as this was years ago when this happened, but you know that saying about "Once bitten..........."

[38 Crush]

Thanks Guys, Now I'm not sure what to do! Mostly I paint with Testors enamals and the past I've used Testors clears. But, I had a bad experience after painting a Corvette white and clearing it with Boyds high gloss clear. within a year it was starting to yellow and continues to do so. I also noticed it also yellows in the bottle. So I thought I would try something different. The car I doing is an original AMT '58 Ford hardtop. It is true blue pearl with a pearl white top. It's the top I'm most worried about.

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[MrObsessive]

I meant to post these before, but I'm also in the middle of composing a write-up for the Merc tutorial I've been doing.

Here's a Mustang I did a couple years ago that was cleared with Tamiya X-22. The stripes were airbrushed with Krylon White, and then the X-22 was done over the whole works. You'll have to trust me when I tell you the white is just as bright today as it was when I first cleared them.

One caveat with Tamiya X-22 as well as all of their water based acrylics, is a dehydrator is nigh MANDATORY if you want these paints to thoroughly cure for rubbing out and polishing. The X-22 clear is particularly sensitive to the dehydrator as you don't want to put it in right away-------you want to wait a bit 'til it's dry to the touch. I did a Mach 5 years ago that I also painted in Krylon White, and cleared it with X-22............put it in the dehydrator right away and I did notice a slight yellowing after it was cured.

[Brendan]

If you like Testor's Enamel Paints, a clear I also use is from Floquil. It's called Crystal-Cote #F110004. The only downside to this product that I see is that it takes a long time to cure.

One thing you have to watch out for when you're getting this product is that they sometimes mix up the labels with their high gloss clear. The way you can tell the difference is that the Crystal-Cote will be clear and the high gloss will have a yellow gold tinge to it. I mainly use this clear for when I'm clearing over decals that are very sensitive. I've never had a bad reaction when using it over decals. I thin it out to 3 parts to 7 parts thinner to paint for airbrushing with lacquer thinner. The product has never yellowed on me. Hope this helps.

[38 Crush]

Well, I want to thank you guys, You've given me alot to think about. I'll try and send some pics if it turns out!

38 Crush

[charlie8575]

Just as an aside on this, I airbrushed some Tamiya X-18 (s/g black) thinned with 70% alcohol. The alcohol appears to flatten the paint slightly, which isn't a bad thing, as the s/g black is still a little shiny to my eye.

For clean-up though, shoot the alcohol. Works beautifully for clearing the airbursh of any acrylic, but you need to do it right then and there or you'll have a major problem on your hands. I did find for another "goof" that Model Master Acryl dried acrylic paint remover works very well, but be careful to follow the directions very, very carefully, or unpleasant occurrences may result.

Charlie Larkin