Testors enamel cleaner question?

[CEKPETHO BCE]

The other day I bought some testors enamel cleaner and after checking their website for proper thinning ratio I noticed they also have "airbrush thinner". So I'm just wondering if this stuff is safe to use for an airbrush, or is it just for cleaning the brush? Btw the intent is to thin testors enamel paint so I could airbrush it properly.

This is the picture of the product in question.

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 2, 2011 by CEKPETHO BCE

[Kit Basher]

I have no evidence to back this up, it's just an impression, but it seems like the airbrush thinner does work better for spraying. The brush cleaner will work, but doesn't seem to dissolve the paint as well. Then again, they could both be the same stuff with different labels. If you end up trying both, I'd be curious what your take was. As mentioned in your other thread, the pros don't bother, they use lacquer thinner to thin enamel. I haven't tried that yet.

[Zoom Zoom]

Testors enamel thinners/brush cleaners...all just overpriced products you can buy much cheaper at a hardware store.

Like others have said, the pros tend to use common lacquer thinner to thin for airbrushing and to clean regular paintbrushes.

This stuff would be what I might use to thin enamel paint for a wash or to make it brush a bit smoother...but then again, I find enamels far too slow to dry to ever deal with that. Most of the brush paint I use is acrylic and doesn't take weeks to dry.

[CEKPETHO BCE]

Can anyone name some of good lacquer thinner brands and if possible pictures of what I'm supposed to look like? I'm sorry that I'm asking for too much, but I don't wanna buy the wrong thing again.

[Zoom Zoom]

Kleen Strip seems to be the most ubiquitous lacquer thinner you can find at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

It's cheapest by the gallon, but I buy quarts. And I also use their acetone as well, it mixes w/a lot of different paints and is also great for cleaning an airbrush.

There's nothing inherently wrong with what you bought; you just paid a huge premium buying mineral spirits in a Testors bottle.

[Kit Basher]

Pretty sure what you have there is mineral spirits ... good for cleaning brushes

I have to agree. After I used up my bottle of Testors, I refilled it from a gallon of mineral spirits. I can't tell any difference.

[CEKPETHO BCE]

Thanks guys. I will investigate the klean strip thinner. I guess for now I will try using the testors thing

[Kit Basher]

Don't make it too hard on yourself Andrew. Even if it's not Kleen Strip, if it says lacquer thinner on the can, it's probably OK.

Edited June 3, 2011 by basher

[John E. Bowers Jr.]

Testors enamel thinners/brush cleaners...all just overpriced products you can buy much cheaper at a hardware store.

Like others have said, the pros tend to use common lacquer thinner to thin for airbrushing and to clean regular paintbrushes.

This stuff would be what I might use to thin enamel paint for a wash or to make it brush a bit smoother...but then again, I find enamels far too slow to dry to ever deal with that. Most of the brush paint I use is acrylic and doesn't take weeks to dry.

Bob, I'm not a 'pro' by any stretch of the imagination and I use Testors Model Master enamels exclusevly simply because that's where my knowldge has taken me. I thin my airbrush mixes with lacquer thinner and get more than satisfactory results. Even rarely, when I brush or wash I thin with lacquer thinner. None of it takes weeks to cure out to a nice hard finish. I guess, in a nutshell, what I'm saying is that I have no use for the Testors thinners or any minreal spirits based chemicals.

[Zoom Zoom]

I learned about using lacquer thinner w/Testors enamels shortly after the "Model Master" and car color lines of paint were introduced. At the time, I was generally using Floquil Barrier on my models, priming, and shooting automotive touchup paint, because I had learned the art of properly buffing out lacquer paints. The color range of hobby paints back then was pretty poor before Testors came out w/the new paints.

I used to go to Valley Plaza Hobbies out in CA, and Henry Gonzales worked there. He's a well-known modeler who painted all the cars for the Testors packaging and flyers of those then-new lines of products; he's the one that turned me onto using plain old lacquer thinner. He used w/it when he was under a deadline to get all those models painted, and he was really happy w/the results (didn't hurt plastic, dried faster, much cheaper). As for the buffing out part, he used Bare Metal Foil polish, because automotive products were too strong for enamels. I then started using a lot of Testors paint, mixing my own colors from them, etc. Shortly thereafter, I found Novus #2 plastic polish at my local motorcycle shop, smelled it/looked at it and realized it was most likely the exact same stuff BMF was selling as their foil polish. A whole bottle of Novus wasn't that much more expensive than the tiny bottle sold by BMF.

[CEKPETHO BCE]

I finally got me some lacquer thinner from lowe's. They only had one kind (that I could find) so I got that. Hope they are all the same.

Can anyone tell me the exact proportions of lacquer thinner and testors enamel paint to mix so it would come out properly. Is the lacquer thinner harmful to skin and so on? I usually wear a face mask with some protective glasses when I'm spraying, but never gloves. Is it necessary to wear gloves working with this stuff?

[LoneWolf15]

A 2 to 1 paint to laquer thinner ratio will work just fine . Yes , you should wear gloves . Your local grocery store should carry boxed medical gloves , preferably the non powdered type.

As for a mask , you should always wear a respirator when airbrushing . Best results can be achieved using a multitude of light , continuos mist coats until you have an overall smooth , even , shine on your painted surface .

Applying clear , use the same ratio of clear to thinner as you did with the paint . Stay away from the whites , ivories , etc , with the testors clear , it will yellow . Straight up polishing of the light colored enamels will give you a beautiful shine sans the clear !

Donn Yost

Lone Wolf Custom Painting