Hello all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I have a question about the above product. What type of solvent is it? It smells like laquer thinner that I buy in bulk from Lowe's. Is it a lawyer thinner or a turpentine based product? Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Eric

lawyers are usually thinned with alcohol, preferebly 12 year old single malt scotch.

laquers on the other hand can be thinned with a few different strong solvents like toluene/toluol, xylene/xylol and ethyl acetate, buthyl acetate (and maybe some other xxxyl acetates). Acetone also works in some cases.


If it is this red labeled bottle you are asking about:

then the label says it is to be used with enamels or oils.
This usually requires turpentine, white spirit or similar.

Getting a good wash from Humbrol Enamels requires balsam turpentine, oil colours could work with white spirit, mineral turpentine or similar.
A simple test is to place a small drop of paint on a white saucer (or glass with a white paper beneath) and add a few drops of the solvent, if the solution is smooth and can be thinned to "nothing" without small clots then the solvent is good enough. The wrong type of white spirit (low quality ??) will cause clots to form in Humbrol enamels, other brands of enamels can behave differently so it is a matter of finding the best solvent for your preferred type of paint.

The "correct" solvent should be just "hot" enough to solve your paint to a usable wash without making a mess of the paint job underneath ....

/ Robin

Robin, aren't autocorrect and poor proof reading skills a fun combination? I was looking for specifics on what is in the MIG bottle. I assume it is a form of turpentine because most people seem to like to use turpentine for washes. I think lacquer thinner might be too aggressive for most underlying paints. What do you think?

Regards,

Eric

Couldn't resist
That typo was simply too good to let it pass uncommented

Yup, laquer thinner (as in the chemicals I mentioned) will most likely make a real horrible mess of your paint job.
I have had one bad experience with a too hot wash over Tamiya acrylics (which aren't really a water based acrylic either, more like a hybrid between enamel and acrylic).

If there isn't any listing of the contents on the bottle then going by smell (or handing the bottle in to an anlysis lab) is probably the only way to go. If you buy thinners in non modelling stores you might actually be sure of what you are getting. Then test that specific brand/type against the paints you use ....

The only good answer is to suggest that you test the combinations on some scrap plastic first. Paint job, let dry/harden/cure, test with different washes. That way there won't be any tears when the wash washes off the paint job ...
/ Robin

Robin, when I first responded to your answer the whole thing didn't show job for some reason. The entire second half of your post with the photo wasn't there. That is the exact product I was asking about. It has a strong odor but thins oils to a very fine consistency. I was asking because I want to find a generic, or Home Depot/Lowe's solution that will cost less. I am happy to see you know quite a bit about turpentines. Is odorless turpentine worth using or does it come odorless at the expense of some attribute? Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Regards,

Eric

I think if is not odourless and in that case is Turpentine have to be withe spirit because Mig Productions like AK and Ammo of Mig is all companies were Mig Jimenez was a big part of the devloping and he use for washes and streking only withe spirit or odourless tourpentine

P.S: Mig Production is out of Productions the web site is desappeared,nobody keep any more the products in stock and Abteilung 502 is not related any more with them

The first part was the quick answer, then I took some time to do some internet digging to try finding some facts.
The rest of that post was added afterwards as an Edit.

There are too many brands, types and mixtures of "thinners" so the best advice I can give you is to do the "dilution test" I described. I have experienced that the name "balsam turpentine" from two different manufacturers gave different results ...

/ Robin