Hi,
I need to apply a coat of Dullcote to some figures.
I have the Dullcote lacquer in a jar & have been told to thin it with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) which I have.
My question is how to clean my airbrush afterwards. What product should I use to obtain best airbrush cleaning results?
Thanks in advance.

Joe.

Hey joe, I use Testors dull and gloss coats with Testors lacquer thinner and brush cleaner for it. Depending on the brand, they might have their own cleaner/thinner. From what I understand regular thinner wont do the job.

if you are talking about Testors Dullcote, it says clearly on the back of the jar "use (ONLY) Testors 1159 lacquer thinner to thin and clean up."
judging from the smell of 1159, I'd say the closest bulk product would be acetone.

Hi,
Yes, it is Testors Dullcote I am using & I have read what it says on the jar.
However, Testors 1159 is very difficult to get here in the UK. Many model merchants will not ship it overseas due to legislation regarding the carriage of substances hazardous to health.
So whats the next option?

Hello Joe,
I use a substance called "Industrial cleaner" from a company called Debus , basically it´s a "brake cleaner". In combination with a pipe cleaner it works
brilliantly, even on acrylics.
If you google it you´ll find it on E-Bay and some other sites.
Paul

A couple pointers:

If you want a really flat finish from Testors Dullcoat, let the carrier and flat coat settle...you can tell this since their will be a dark yellow gunk on the bottom and clearer yellow gunk on top of it.

Carefully pour out the clearer/upper part yellow carrier into a jar then when you reach the thicker dark yellow, pour it into another cup with a drop or two of the thinner/clearer yellow carrier liquid. Use some lacquer thinner from Tamiya to thin it and apply with an airbrush.

As for cleaning, Tamiya Lacquer thinner or even their Airbrush thinner should work fine. If you can't find either, get some regular lacquer thinner from a hardware store and that should be able to clean it no problem, just keep it away from Plastic, since it (regular lacquer thinner) will etch it!

...byzantine rules about importing hazardous substances which apply to the lacquer thinner but not the lacquer itself..

ladies fingernail polish remover is a strong acetone solution, probobly similar to the 1159 brew.

Ordinary hardware store lacquer paint thinner works just fine with Testor's Dullcote. Use it to thin (reduce) for spraying and clean-up.

That's exactly the same stuff that Testor's puts into their little 1 oz jar, but you can buy a quart can for the same price.

In the US, you can buy lacquer thinner at places ranging from Walmart to Lowes to Home Depot to Ace Harware. In fact, I bought my last can just a couple of weeks ago from Walmart. I've been using hardware store lacquer thinner for 40 years with Dullcote. Trust me, there's no difference from the Testor's bottled stuff.

In the UK, I don't know... You might have to go to an industrial paint vendor who sells materials for auto painting, but I should imagine that it would be available in a hardware store or home improvement store.

In a pinch, acetone will work. However, it's "hotter" than lacquer thinner and evaporates faster. Acetone does work very well (as does lacquer thinner) for the old Floquil Model Rail Road Paints since Floquil's xylene-based thinner is no longer available.

Note that fingernail polish, while mostly acetone, also contains lanolin (the same stuff in most hand lotions) and sometimes oils to keep the ladies' fingernails from drying out (not to mention various dyes and colors). These additives can (and often do) have an adverse effect on matt (flat) lacquer paints.

HTH,

Thanks for all these great tips!
I have managed to get hold of the Tamiya lacquer thinner (the one with the yellow top) & I also have some acetone to hand.
I'll try these out later today.
Thanks again for the advice. Much appreciated!

Joe.

Like Mike Roof, I also use regular store bought Lacquer Thinner that I use to dilute Dullcoat and Glosscoat with at a ratio of 1:1, as well as using it to clean my air gun afterwards. Been doing this for over 40 years without any issues.

Joel

Hardware store lacquer is much "hotter" then say Tamiya Lacquer thinner. Put a drop on a piece of scrap plastic, then touch it...you'll leave behind a finger print! Its great for cleaning your airbrush out though. But I find its much too "hot" that I don't want to try it over hobby paint.

Yes, you can very well leave a finger print in plastic if you let the LT puddle up and soak into the plastic. The difference is that the Dullcoat/Glosscoat lacquer thinner mixture dries in a few sec. to the point that there is no standing LC to eat into the paint below it.

Like I said, I've been using these clear coats thinned with LC for more then 40 years, and never had a problem. So that would naturally include hobby enamels as well as today's Acrylics.

Joel

I can't comment on how ordinary lacquer thinner compares to Tamiya lacquer thinner since I've never used the Tamiya lacquer thinner. I would guess that the Tamiya lacquer thinner should work satisfactorily with the Testor's products, but I don't have any first hand experience with that.

However, as compared to the Testors' lacquer thinner, what Testors recommends for their own Dullcote and Glosscote, there's no difference between Testors' lacquer thinner and common hardware store lacquer thinners.

Interestingly enough, I also use the hardware store lacquer thinner mixed about 1:3 with Tamiya's X-20A acrylic thinner to airbrush Tamiya acrylics. I find that this actually retards the Tamiya paints slightly, mitigates them drying in the airbrush tip, and results in smoother finishes (at less costs, since the Tamiya thinner is pretty "spendy" compared to common lacquer thinner).

I didn't mention this since the topic was about Testors Dullcote, but to broaden the topic a bit, it is what I do.

As long as the lacquer is sprayed and not brushed, I've never experienced any issues with it adversely effecting the plastic. Yes, if the plastic is flooded with the lacquer thinner, it will etch the surface, but spraying will not do this.

However, Testors lacquer thinner in the little 1 oz bottles will soften the plastic (if flooded on) exactly the same as the common stuff in the big cans.

When airbrushed, Testors' Dullcote reduced with either their own lacquer thinner or with the common stuff will NOT have any adverse effect on underlying layers of acrylic or enamel hobby paints. This goes for Tamiya acrylics, Testors Model Master enamel or acrylic, Polly Scale acrylics, Floquil enamels or acrylics, AeroMaster enamels, Future Floor Wax, or Vallejo acrylics - all brands that I use routinely and over spray with Dullcoat.

Also, I don't have any problems airbrushing Dullcote over artist oils thinned with household mineral spirits and used for color modulation or washes. No adverse effects there, either.

Finally, at one time, Dullcote could be purchased in spray cans (rattle cans), but I'm not sure if this is still the case. This also works just as well over any other hobby paints.

Citadel Miniatures/Games Workshop also makes a rattle can matt coat (flat) that's also a lacquer (cellulose thinners) based product that works exactly like Testors Dullcote and is a good alternative if someone can't find Dullcote locally. It makes for a very durable final coat that will allow for considerable handling of the model/figure if that's something that's desirable.

HTH,

Mike, You really got my attention when you mentioned that you cut Tamiya X20-A with lacquer thinner.

I know a few modelers who thin their acrylics with Tamiya lacquer thinner, and the results are like shooting lacquer based paints. I've been thinking of going this route, but I haven't gotten around to buying of the Tamiya thinner as yet.

I'm going to tryout your ratio of 1 part LC to 3 parts X20-A, and see if there is a difference in the smoothness of the acrylics.

Thanks for the tip.
Joel

Cheers, Joel.

I mix the lacquer thinner and the X20A together before I add the paint. The alcohol in the X20A will briefly turn "milky" when you add the lacquer thinner, but this clears up in a few moments, but I've never noted any ill effects, so I don't even wait anymore.

I usually mix my paint directly in the airbrush paint cup. What I do is estimate how much total paint I want (based on how large the job is). I then do some quick mental math to figure out how many drops total and divide for the ratios.

Then, using an eye dropper, I measure out the X20A and then the lacquer thinner. I mix these together by drawing the mix into and squeezing it out of the eye dropper a couple of times. I then measure out the paint (again with the eye dropper) directly into the thinner mixture and again mix it all with the eye dropper. I allow about 1-2 drops extra for the paint still left in the eye dropper when I do this.

Usually, right after that, I fill the eye dropper with lacquer thinner and leave it sitting until I'm finished spraying. I empty out the paint cup (if there's any paint left) and use the lacquer thinner in the eye dropper to start cleaning my air brush. Doing this keeps the paint from drying in the eye dropper, but I use the cheap glass ones Wally World (find 'em in the pharmacy section) with removable rubber bulbs, so they can be cleaned pretty easy.

Anyways, that's my system and routine. Using the eye dropper and mixing right in the paint cup makes for very conservative use of materials. You can actually mix up thinned paint in amounts as small as about 10 drops - very little wastage and mess.

Happy modeling!