Which should I get for diluting acrylic paint (like Tamiya).

Pure IPA - 99.7%

or

Rubbing Alcohol - 70% IPA, 30% Water

One immediate answer might be - buy the IPA and add water if you want. But since it needs to be distilled water rather than tap water I'd prefer to just buy a big bottle of the right stuff rather than messing about.

Cheers,

Nigel

Thinning Tamiya with India Pale Ale? That's a new one on me! (Sorry - couldn't resist!)

Several guys in my club swear by IPA but I've never been happy with substitutes for Tamiya's own thinners, and having found a shop that can get the big plastic 250ml bottles for £6 (instead of nearly £2 for the tiny 10ml jar...) I don't feel the need for non-injested alcohol any more. The shop, in case you're in need, is Tole Haven in Romford - they're on the web. Not sure if they can mail-order it, though, as I bet the postie would go spare over H&S...

If you do want to use IPA then the sensible thing would be to mix your own so you can alter the mix if necessary. De-ionised water is very cheap and can be found in the supermarket. (Some true water-based paints need it so I've found that Tesco sells it cheaper than Halfords.) I've heard you also need some kind of retarder to keep the stuff from drying in the air.

Tom

The isopropyl form of "rubbing alcohol" is what I've always used and never felt bad about. Here in the States, the cheapo-house WalMart sells nice big tanks of 70% and 91% isopropyl at maybe 2 bucks per liter; both of which work really nicely with Tamiya. And LOTS cheaper than any "paint thinning" product. I also use this for cleaning the airbrush.

There is a non-drinkable form of ethyl alcohol (ethanol - the drink alky) available in stores here as a "rubbing alcohol"- this is so-called "denatured alcohol" and has some benzene and/or other organic solvents added. I do not use this on my paints.

PS: Isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) is a heavier alcohol than is ethyl, and evaporates slightly slower at a given temperature. I never bother with any retardants, and just add some distilled (OK, de-ionized) water to the mix when I want to slow the paint down a little.

Of course, if you went with a good IPA.... that'll slow your paint(ing) down some, too! "One splash for the paint, one for me. 'nother splash for the paint, two for me..." Heck! I wouldn't mind sharing a jar with my AB... it don't drink too much!

Bob

Hi

I use both to good effect, I will say that the 99% does evaporate quite a bit quicker and have had paint thicken in the airbrush on a slow paint job. So now I only use 70% for thinning and 99% for cleaning and stripping.

Paul

My favorite for Tamiya paints is 99¢ a gallon blue windshield washer fluid. It works perfectly.

I totally agree with Bob and Isopropyl Alcohol is the same as Tamiyas thinner, no difference. I've been using it for years, many. Not only do I thin it with Tamiya paint I aslo use it to thin Model Master paints and to this day I never had a problem...just look over my builds. I also did a high gloss paint on a car model using Tamiya light green using the rubbing alcohol.



What I like best that it dries fast and dull, you just can't use it weather or a wash. Windshield washer fluid also has alcohol in it.

Happy Modeling,
Joe

Trouble is the OP is in the UK and in the UK windshield washer contains more detergents than alcohol and just foams up the paint mix.

Good old rubbing alcohol (70% IPA) is still his best option and at about £8 a gallon is still quite a bit cheaper than Tamiyas own thinner at £1.50 for about 10 mil which equals £450 per gallon.

Paul

Paul

I've just used de-natured alcohol (also called methylated spirit over this side of the pond) on my latest build and it's come out a treat
But I've often wondered about how the Isopropyl stuff would work.


Does anyone know of a stockist for IPA around the Middlesbrough area?

TIA
Tom

[quote]I totally agree with Bob and Isopropyl Alcohol is the same as Tamiyas thinner, no difference. I've been using it for years, many. Not only do I thin it with Tamiya paint I aslo use it to thin Model Master paints and to this day I never had a problem...just look over my builds. I also did a high gloss paint on a car model using Tamiya light green using the rubbing alcohol.



What I like best that it dries fast and dull, you just can't use it weather or a wash. Windshield washer fluid also has alcohol in it.

Happy Modeling,


Nice looking paint job you have there. Is that a Tamiya gloss? You stated the color but didn't mention flat or gloss. If you used a flat, do you mind sharing how you got the gloss coat?

Thanks,

cbreeze

IPA is very flammable and rather toxic. Here in Italy is very difficult to find because could be a component for home made explosives...

Rubber alcohol is safer....

Furthermore, water in rubber alcohol is a sort of retarder. IPA evaporates very fast. If you spray it with your AB, the paint could dry before touching the model sufaces. The effect could be an unperfect "dusty" surface....

Just my two cents

Cheers

Hi Nigel
70/30 is good, get your De-ionised water from Tesco,and the IPA from from either Ebay or a local maplins
A shed site cheaper than the Tammy stuff
HTH
Andy

Many thanks for all the responses.

I went for 5L of pure IPA in the end. Figured I can get some distilled water from the supermarket and I have some acrylic retarder already so I can experiment.

Cheers,

Nigel

This is what I use. Here in Nicaragua I have no access to market ready materials. I can get Tamiya paints over here, but no online store will ship thinner overseas. No airline will let a visiting family member stow it I would say.
So as you can see it say's it's pure alcohol, and a little lower it explains it's denatured , and should not be ingested.

I use Tamiya and it works wonderfully well with it. I can safely put the left over mixture of the airbrush jar back in the paint jar without fear of affecting it's quality.

Unsatisfied with a paint job? Wet a napkin or what have you, and rub it on the surface, the paint will slide right off, maybe some left overs in panel lines, so it also does the weathering quite fine once you protect your paint job.

Go ahead and take a whiff of it, a small one or your head will hurt. It's smell is very similar to that alcohol smell present in Tamiya and Model Master paints.

I get mine from eBay, its sold for the Bio Fuel Brigade.

Paul

...which is similar to the cat piss smell

Nigel,
Unless you have your heart set on alcohol, I would recomend against either one. Alcohol will cause "dusting". Sgt. Toms once told me this is due to the paint drying before it hits the surface as the alcohol doesnt have a retardent in it. I used this method of thinning Tamiya paints before and the result is less than perfect. Try using Mr Color Thinner 250 -or- the Tamiya thinner with the yellow cap. If you really want to use a household item, try windshield washer fluid.

Thanks for the advice. I did go with pure IPA - it came today.

I already have acrylic retarder and will get some distilled water tomorrow.

What I intend to do is to make up an IPAwater mix with a dash of retarder in an attempt to emulate Tamiya thinners.

Cheers,

Nigel